“Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him….The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭8‬:‭26‬-‭31‬, ‭34‬-‭36‬, ‭38‬-‭39‬ ‭NIV‬‬

What an experience for Philip! One minute he was in Samaria and the next, he was on a road deep in the desert. In the distance, he saw a cloud of dust. A chariot was approaching at high speed. The Spirit whispered, “Go and join the chariot.” So, Philip stood in the middle of the road and flagged the chariot down. 

We know the story well but…what’s in it for us? 

As we watch the story of the church unfold in Luke’s carefully documented record, we see the plan of God coming to life in real time. First, Jerusalem…then Judea. The church must be rooted in the truth through the faithful ministry of the Apostles. Then, slowly, as opposition began to eat into the people’s favour and peace in the capital city, believers left their safe haven, moved away from their comfort zone, and took the message and the life of Jesus  them. 

 Samaria came alive with the gospel…together with the inevitable trouble in the form of a sorcerer who tried to buy the power of the Holy Spirit. There will always be someone in the company who gets it wrong!

Now, from Samaria, Philip, leader in the new move of the Spirit in that region, was spirited away to reach out to man from Africa…not  an area close to Jerusalem but a whole new continent to hear the good news. Just one man, alight with the fire of the Holy Spirit, was all it took to carry the torch of the gospel to Africa. 

This representative of the royal court of Ethiopia had a heart for God. He had been to Jerusalem to worship…imagine that! From Ethiopia, a land thousands of miles from Jerusalem…in a chariot…drawn by horses. Not a cushy journey by air…not even a comfortable bus ride on a tar road. 

The unnamed official was passing the time over the tedious miles…not playing games on his cellphone…but reading the scroll of Isaiah the prophet. He happened to have reached chapter 53…just when Philip appeared on the scene. How perfectly timed! God is sovereign in all things. 

To top it all, the eunuch didn’t wait for Philip to explain his presence at this most crucial moment. He jumped right in, in answer to Philip’s question, “Do you understand what you are reading?”  Not, “Hello, I’m Philip. How can I help you?”

The situation, at face value,  seems so ordinary…like this kind of thing happened every day…a man appearing out of nowhere, in the middle of nowhere, just when someone needed him! No! This was definitely God at work to get things going in Africa. It isn’t every day that a man comes all the way from Ethiopia to Jerusalem to worship. It isn’t every day that this man happened to be reading the best Scripture possible from which to tell him about Jesus. 

So, the  gospel message goes all the way to Africa in the heart of a man who was at the very top of authority…the guy who controlled the money for the queen of Ethiopia! Only God could do that, even if it meant picking Philip up  and supernaturally depositing him on a dusty road in the desert to get the job done!

To be continued