Posted by Chester Morton / Sunday 5 February 2017 / No comments
The Ethiopian Eunuch
An angel of the Lord told Philip to move southward to the
desert highway linking Jerusalem and Gaza and he obeyed the instruction.
On that Jerusalem to Gaza highway, Philip saw an Ethiopian
eunuch who was part of the government of the queen of Ethiopia. He was a minister
of Candace and was in charge of the queen’s treasury. This eunuch had been to Jerusalem
to worship the lord and was returning to his country.
As the eunuch was seated in his chariot, he was reading from
the book of Prophet Isaiah. Indeed, he was reading from Isaiah 53:8. The spirit
of God told Philip to go and attach himself to his chariot. As he did so, he
heard the eunuch reading the text “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 has been
taken up from earth.”
When Philip heard the eunuch reading these words, he asked
him if he understood what he was reading. The eunuch said he did not unless
someone explained it to him. He then asked Philip of whom the passage was
talking about, whether it was about the Prophet himself or about another
person?
Then Philip preached the gospel of Jesus to him. As they went
along, they came to a body of water and the eunuch told Philip that if nothing
barred him, he should baptize him in the water. So they both went into the
water and Philip baptized the eunuch.
When they had both come out of the water, the spirit of God
whisked Philip away and he vanished before the eunuch but the eunuch went on
his way, rejoicing. The spirit took Philip to Azortus where he preached in many
towns until he got to Caesarea.
WAYS IN WHICH PHILIP’S
WORK IS IMPORTANT TO CHRISTIANS
Advanced the gospel
One way in which Philip’s work of evangelism is important to
Christians is that it expanded the geographical reach of the gospel of Christ.
The gospel by this singular act took the gospel beyond Jerusalem and Judea to
Samaria and to other Gentile territories.
The Holy Spirit
The manifestation of the spirit of God during Philip’s
evangelism shows that the Holy Spirit was still active after it had appeared
for the first time on the day of Pentecost.
Conduit to Africa
Probably the first African to be converted to Christianity,
it is important to note that the eunuch may have been a conduit through which further
works of evangelism were initiated to introduce the gospel to Africa.
Divine inspiration
It is also important to note that no matter how well-read one
is, he or she needs divine inspiration to understand the words in the bible.
Role of ministers of
God
There is the need for the ministers of God to assist people
to understand the bible so that they can get converted.
PROBLEMS CONFRONTING
EVANGELISM TODAY
1. The Geo-politics of a particular region where the gospel
is being planted can be a problem for Christianity.
2. The modern world thinks that the stories of the bible are archaic
so they would not bother to listen and that is an affront to the spread of the gospel.
3. Evangelism is an expensive venture. Sometimes, people lack
the funds with which to evangelize and this affects the spread of the gospel.
4. Some would-be evangelists are not well versed in the
gospel so they are found wanting when they go on evangelism missions.
5. The cultural environment in which the gospel is brought
also influences how effective the evangelism can be.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
1. a. Give an account of how Philip preached the gospel
message to the Ethiopian eunuch.
b. In what two ways
was this episode important to Christianity?
