NOVEMBER 20, 2024
The mission of the church is accomplished as the Holy Spirit empowers witnesses to introduce Jesus Christ to the whole world. Yesterday we met Philip, the obedient and bold witness. Today, we meet the seeker, a eunuch from Ethiopia.
“And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go over and join this chariot.’ 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…
And the eunuch said to Philip, ‘About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?’”
Acts 8:27b-31, 34
In this passage we learn many details about the man in the chariot. He is from Ethiopia, which corresponds to southern Egypt and northern Sudan today, an area considered the “ends of the earth” in ancient literature.* He is a eunuch, a term for a court official made infertile through castration.** He was a man of power and influence in his country, in charge of the Ethiopian queen’s treasure.
Given all of this, he probably did not have many peers or a family of his own. Perhaps he knew no one that shared his interest in the God of Israel, no companion with time and resources to join his pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
But God sees him on this dry and desolate road. God knows he has questions about Scripture that no one around him can answer. So, God sends a witness to him at exactly the right place and time as he puzzles over the prophecy of Isaiah 53. Despite the physical, cultural, social, and language barriers, he stops when Philip approaches. He humbly admits his lack of understanding and his need for a guide. He eagerly invites Philip into his chariot, asks questions, and listens to the answers. After hearing the good news about Jesus, he believes and is baptized, publicly declaring his commitment to follow Jesus in life and death and resurrection. In doing so, he fulfills another prophecy of Isaiah’s:
“Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say,
‘The Lord will surely separate me from his people’;
and let not the eunuch say,
‘Behold, I am a dry tree.’
For thus says the Lord:
‘To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
who choose the things that please me
and hold fast my covenant,
I will give in my house and within my walls
a monument and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that shall not be cut off.'”
Isaiah 56:3-6
This foreign eunuch, previously separated and excluded from the assembly of the Lord (see Deuteronomy 23:1), is now welcomed into the church and into God’s everlasting family through Jesus!
God cares about all who are separated from Him. He uses their circumstances and unanswered questions to stir their hearts toward Himself. Let us pray that the Spirit empowers us to be Jesus’ witnesses so that more can join the Ethiopian eunuch in the family of God.
*Fernando, NIV Application Commentary on Acts
** Schnabel, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on Acts
Questions for reflection and discussion:
- Who do you know that does not yet know God?
- What questions might they have? Where are they searching for understanding?
- Take some for them to find the answer in Jesus and for witnesses to show them the way.
Church Reading Plan: Amos 9; Luke 4