Acts 8:26-39: An Ethiopian Finds God in an Old Book

INTRODUCTION

I wonder what was the best vacation trip you’ve ever taken.

Maybe you’ve seen the Grand Canyon…or Yellowstone National Park…Or maybe you were able to take a trip to the Holy Land.

You have memories. You have pictures.

We’ve never traveled to any of the places I mentioned. But we did get to go to Italy. That was wonderful—so much beauty! So much history!

When I was in the army in Korea, I got a five-day vacation in Japan. That was the best vacation of my life. Japan was strange…and beautiful…and exciting.

I sent home souvenirs. But the best souvenir is a photo I took in Japan of little children playing near a temple. It hangs in our bedroom. I love that picture.

I want to read you a story in the Bible about a man who took a vacation and brought home a souvenir that changed his life.

The story is in Acts 8.26-40. Here it is:

An angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”

This is a desert road. And he rose and went. And behold an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a minister of Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of all her treasure, had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.

And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up 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 some one guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

Now the passage of the scripture which he was reading was this:

As a sheep led to the slaughter or a lamb before its shearer is dumb,

so he opens not his mouth.

In his humiliation justice was denied him.

Who can describe his generation?

For his life is taken up from the earth.

And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, pray, does the prophet say this, about himself or about some one else?”

The Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this scripture he told him the good news of Jesus.

And as they went along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What is to prevent my being baptized?”

And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught up Philip; and the eunuch saw him no more, and he went on his way rejoicing.

I. Let’s get acquainted with this Ethiopian.

A. The Ethiopian was a long way from home. Ethiopia is almost 2000 miles away from Jerusalem—farther than from Marion, Iowa, to Seattle, Washington.

Jogging along in his carriage, making perhaps 20 miles a day, it would have taken the Ethiopian at least three months to get to Jerusalem and three more to get home.

He must have saved up a lot of vacation time to be able to make such a long trip.

I suppose he came to Jerusalem because he had heard to the glorious Temple that was there.

He must also have learned somehow about the faith of the Hebrews and wanted to learn more.

B. This Ethiopian was a high official in the Ethiopian government, and he was a eunuch.

In those days, in some countries, when boys with promise were singled out for work with the government, they were castrated so that they could never marry or have a family. That way they could give their whole attention to their official duties.

This man was an important man. He was, we read, in charge of all the treasure of the queen of Ethiopia.

C. Although our Ethiopian was attracted to the Hebrew faith, he could never convert to Judaism. According to Leviticus (21:17-20), no eunuch could approach God with a sacrifice.

When at Jerusalem in the Temple courtyard, he would not been allowed to see the beautiful worship rituals.

But he heard the music of worship—the priests chanting and playing on their instruments.

He listened to Bible teaching in the colonnaded porches that surrounded the vast courtyard of the Temple.

And to make the most of his experience, he bought a souvenir—a copy of the prophecy of Isaiah.

This was a costly souvenir. The book was hand-written on a long roll of expensive papyrus or animal skins, glued together. It hand written by a professional scribe. That book would have cost more than a good house. But this Ethiopian was serious about his faith.

He was happy as he journeyed home. He had had the greatest adventure of his life. He could read and re-read his precious book and reflect on the wisdom written in it.

D. Reading in those days was a daunting task.

Words were written with no spaces in between them, and there were no sentences or paragraphs or punctuation or capitalization. You had to sound out all the words. So everyone read out loud in those days.

It would have been hard to hold that big scroll and read the book in that jogging carriage.

Isaiah is, with its 66 chapters, is one of the longest books in the Bible. In his 3 months journey home our Ethiopian would have had time to read it many times.

Isaiah is a very difficult book to understand. I have read it over and over, and have read book- length commentaries explaining it, and I still have more questions than answers.

I admire this Ethiopian for his diligence in working his way through this difficult book, written in what was, to him, a foreign language. But he knew it was the Word of God and he hungered to learn its message.

But he was puzzled. He found many obscure passages as he read, and his mind was filled with questions.

II. So God sent some help his way; a man named Philip.

A. This wasn’t the Philip who was one of Jesus’s disciples. This was another Philip, who is prominent in the Book of Acts.

This was the Philip who was chosen along with six other men to help distribute supplies to the poor widows in Jerusalem.

This was the Philip that led a big revival in Samaria, and through whom God worked many miracles of healing.

This is the Philip who had four unmarried daughters who prophesied (Acts 21:9).

B. Philip didn’t know why the angel called him to go to this out-of-the-way desert road, but, as  he walked alongside the Ethiopian’s carriage, he recognized the famous words of the prophet Isaiah. Philip got excited and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

And the Ethiopian said, “How can I unless some one guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up into the chariot and sit with him.

What he was reading is perhaps—for Christians—the most important chapter in the Old Testament, the 53rd of Isaiah—a chapter that describes the meaning of Christ’s death, written hundreds of years before Jesus’s birth.

The 53rd of Isaiah includes these words:

“But he was wounded for our transgressions,

he was bruised for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that made us whole,

and with his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned every one to his own way;

and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

“Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning with this scripture, he told him the good news of Jesus.”

We don’t know how long Philip’s sermon lasted, but it was time enough for Philip to tell the story of Jesus and explain the way of salvation.

D. But Philip never got to finish his sermon. His friend beside him in the carriage got excited when he saw a river, and he exclaimed, “See! Here is water! What is to prevent my being baptized?”

And after he was baptized, that was the last he saw of his teacher, because “as they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught up Philip, and the eunuch saw him no more, and he went on his way rejoicing.”

III. What happened after? That’s all we read, but I think I know.

A. The Ethiopian read his book over and over, and by the time he got home he knew great sections by heart.

He called his friends and told them of his discovery.

He was so happy that his face fairly shone with joy, and some of his friends wanted what he had. They also believed.

So they began to meet to study that book and learn what they could. They began a Bible study, there in Ethiopia. At first, they had just that one book and the things the Ethiopian had learned from Philip.

In time missionaries came and taught them more. They got more of the Bible books.

B. And, do you know that one of the most ancient Christian communities in the world is in Ethiopia?

I think our Ethiopian friend was one of its first leaders. Someday, we’ll learn the rest of the story.

CONCLUSION

On the troop ship crossing to ocean to Korea, during the Korean War, I met a fellow soldier from Virginia. His name was Nathan Thomas, and he was from Virginia. He was an African American.

On troop ships, the bunks are like bookcases, one above another, six high—steel frames with canvas stretched out to lie on. You just climbed up to your bunk and lay there; you couldn’t sit up.

I was talking to another soldier as he lay in his bunk, and the conversation turned to spiritual things. I noticed a third soldier hovering near—this was Nathan—He was leaning out of his bunk. He just had to get into the conversation. He told us his story. He had found salvation just a few days before at Tacoma, near Fort Lewis, from where we shipped out.

The weekend before we shipped out, Nathan had gone to a church service.

The pastor, supposing him to be a Christian, invited him up to the front of the church and asked him to give his testimony.

Nathan took the microphone and said, “ My name is Nathan Thomas and I’m from so-and-so, in Virginia. I’m not a Christian yet, but I hope to be one soon.”

The pastor put his hand on Nathan’s shoulder and said, “Brother, do you really mean that?”

And that night, just days before he boarded the ship, Nathan gave his heart to Jesus.

He was overflowing with joy. Most of us weren’t very happy on that ship. We were leaving our families and loved ones and going to a war.

But Nathan had never been so happy in his life.

I remember one time when I was with him on deck; he looked up at the sky and exclaimed about how much bluer the sky was since he had become a Christian.

Nathan was experiencing the joy of the Lord. I think that was what the Ethiopian was feeling as “he went on his way rejoicing.”

Have you experienced the joy of the Lord? Are you going on your way rejoicing?