NOVEMBER 21, 2024

The mission of the church is accomplished as the Holy Spirit empowers witnesses to introduce Jesus Christ to the whole world. Today, the witness is Isaiah, who prophesied about the Messiah roughly 700 years before this scene took place.

So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter

    and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,

    so he opens not his mouth.

In his humiliation justice was denied him.

    Who can describe his generation?

For his life is taken away from the earth.

“And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.”

Acts 8:30-35

As the Ethiopian eunuch travels on the desert road, he reads from the book of Isaiah. The prophet Isaiah was called to deliver God’s words to Israel, but they did not want to hear or see the reality of their situation (see Isaiah 6). Isaiah’s prophecy contains harsh words for Israel as well as the surrounding nations, calling out their unfaithfulness and predicting their destruction. But Isaiah’s prophecy also includes precious words of comfort and hope in a promised Servant of God who will restore Israel and save the world. Isaiah 53 describes this Servant and Savior—and is the very text that perplexes the eunuch. Is Isaiah speaking about himself or someone else? Philip explains that the events of history have revealed that the Servant spoken of Isaiah 53 is Jesus!

This passage makes it obvious that Jesus’ sacrificial death was God’s plan all along. These ancient words perfectly describe who Jesus He is and what He did. He was pierced for our transgressions and by his wounds we are healed. This was God’s will, and it satisfied Jesus. These words have finally reached fulfillment and are now reaching the eunuch’s ears, which are ready and willing to hear the good news about the Suffering Servant.

Take some time to read the words of Isaiah 53 along with the Ethiopian eunuch. If you can, read aloud like he did! And then have someone (or the Bible app) read it to you, so you can hear it like Philip did.

“Who has believed our message

    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

He grew up before him like a tender shoot,

    and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by mankind,

    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

    he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

 

Surely he took up our pain

    and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

    stricken by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,

    he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

    and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

    each of us has turned to our own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

    the iniquity of us all.

 

He was oppressed and afflicted,

    yet he did not open his mouth;

he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

    and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

    so he did not open his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away.

    Yet who of his generation protested?

For he was cut off from the land of the living;

    for the transgression of my people he was punished.

He was assigned a grave with the wicked,

    and with the rich in his death,

though he had done no violence,

    nor was any deceit in his mouth.

 

Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,

    and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,

he will see his offspring and prolong his days,

    and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

After he has suffered,

    he will see the light of life and be satisfied;

by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,

    and he will bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,

    and he will divide the spoils with the strong,

because he poured out his life unto death,

    and was numbered with the transgressors.

For he bore the sin of many,

    and made intercession for the transgressors.”

Isaiah 53

Praise the Lord for this prophecy about Jesus, which is good news for Israel, for the world, for Philip, for the Ethiopian eunuch, and for us!

Questions for reflection and discussion:

  • What questions do you have about this prophecy in Isaiah 53?
  • In what ways does this prophecy shed light on Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection?
  • What does it teach about God?
  • What does it reveal about us?
  • How is this prophecy good news for all?

 

Church Reading Plan: Obadiah; Luke 5