Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Acts 8:26-40 (Audio not yet posted).
And the
angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto
the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert (Acts 8:26).
Acts 8
describes how the Ethiopian Eunuch was converted and baptized. The first thing
we see, however, is that God was at work through his angel to direct these
circumstances.
Who was
Philip? This was the man who would be the instrument of bringing the gospel the
Ethiopian He was the human means.
Philip was
an apostolic associate. He was one of the seven men who had been set apart in
Jerusalem to minister to the Greek-speaking widows in the church in Jerusalem
(see Acts 6:1-7). Notice that Philip was listed second among the seven after
Stephen, who would be the first martyr (6:5). This tells us of his standing and
esteem among the apostles.
After the
death of Stephen, the church at Jerusalem was persecuted and “scattered abroad”
under the direction of Saul (8:1, 3). To persecute the church, however, was
like throwing water on a grease fire. It only spread the gospel further (8:4).
As one early Christian write would later put it, “The blood of the martyrs is
the seedbed of the church.”
In God’s
good providence, it was Philip who took the gospel first to Samaria in
fulfillment of Christ’s prophecy in 1:8 (see 8:5-6, 12). After the Ethiopian’s
conversion he would eventually come to Caesarea (8:40). Later in Acts 21, we read
of his ministry in that city and that he was known as Philip “the evangelist” (vv.
8-9). He also had four virgin daughter who prophesied, thus fulfilling Peter’s
Pentecost prophesy in Acts 2:17, “and your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy.”
Philip was
the divinely directed tool in God’s hands for the Ethiopian’s conversion. If
you want to get a job done you have the have the right tools, whether a
surgeon, a mechanic, a seamstress, a cook, or a contractor. The Lord always
chooses the proper instruments he desires to achieve his purposes.
Philip was
directed by the angel to go to the way (road) that led from Jerusalem to Gaza,
a place that was a desert (v. 26). I wonder if Philip might have questioned the
Lord’s wisdom here. Why not send him to the populous cities? Why send him to
the desert?
Nevertheless,
in v. 27a we have a report of Philip’s obedience: “And he arose and went.” The
Lord was indeed also sending the Ethiopian to that same place for Philip to
encounter him.
Have you
ever questioned God’s direction of your life? Does it seem he has sent you to
the desert rather than where you “ought”—in your mind—to be? Recall Jeremiah’s
word of the LORD to his servant Baruch, “And seekest thou great things for
thyself? Seek them not” (Jeremiah 45:5).
Let us obey
the Lord’s commands and directions so that we might be an instrument in his
hands.
Grace and
peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle
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