26The Lord's angel said to Philip, "Go south along the desert road that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza." 27So Philip left. An important Ethiopian official happened to be going along that road in his chariot. He was the chief treasurer for Candace, the Queen of Ethiopia. The official had gone to Jerusalem to worship 28and was now on his way home. He was sitting in his chariot, reading the book of the prophet Isaiah.
29The Spirit told Philip to catch up with the chariot. 30Philip ran up close and heard the man reading aloud from the book of Isaiah. Philip asked him, "Do you understand what you are reading?"
31The official answered, "How can I understand unless someone helps me?" He then invited Philip to come up and sit beside him.
32The man was reading the passage that said,
"He was led like a sheep
on its way to be killed.
He was silent as a lamb
whose wool
is being cut off,
and he did not say
a word.
33He was treated like a nobody
and did not receive
a fair trial.
How can he have children,
if his life
is snatched away?"
34The official said to Philip, "Tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or about someone else?" 35So Philip began at this place in the Scriptures and explained the good news about Jesus.
36-37As they were going along the road, they came to a place where there was some water. The official said, "Look! Here is some water. Why can't I be baptized?" [c] 38He ordered the chariot to stop. Then they both went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. 39After they had come out of the water, the Lord's Spirit took Philip away. The official never saw him again, but he was very happy as he went on his way.
40Philip later appeared in Azotus. He went from town to town, all the way to Caesarea, telling people about Jesus.
One long-standing debate surrounds the question of how a loving God could arbitrarily send somebody to hell simply because they have never heard of Jesus Christ.
But the sceptics completely miss the point...God doesn't send anybody anyplace. We get there on our own.
Jeremiah 29:13 says "You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart". And so, our Ethiopian Eunuch demonstrates the truth of Jeremiah. Read the story. He was riding along minding his own business...curious about scripture...and along comes Philip.
Divine conspiracy? I suspect so.
Read Ravi Zacharias' account of an Iranian man (in Iran) to whom Jesus came in a dream.
It doesn't mean we should cease being evangelistic in our fervor. Neither does it mean that God might provide other means of salvation apart from His Son. It does mean that anybody who seeks God wholeheartedly will find Him. In fact, God will resort to the miraculous to accomplish it.
Once again, this is a case where we let our reason restrict our wonderment at God's providence. We allow ourselves to get intellectually trapped by the skeptics...when, in truth, we should be amazed at Philip's supernatural sense of hearing and his amazing speed.
When we reduce God to the comprehensible we strip Him of his power and authority. We have successfully created Him in our own image and our wonderment ceases. Why? Because when we limit God to what we can comprehend He's no more special that we are.
Of course, then there is no requirement to worship Him...
Live boldly out there today...
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