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Acts 8:32–35
“The eunuch said to Philip, ‘About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?’ Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus” (vv. 34–35).
The Ethiopian eunuch’s meeting with Philip as he traveled back to his own country was clearly a divine appointment. God Himself had directed Philip to meet up with the eunuch, sending His commission by way of “an angel of the Lord” (Acts 8:26–31). Lest we have any doubt that God sent Philip to bring salvation to the Ethiopian, today’s passage indicates that the Lord providentially arranged the Ethiopian’s journey and choice of reading to prepare him for the good news of Jesus Christ. Acts 8:32–33 tells us that the specific passage that the Ethiopian was reading was Isaiah 53, one of the clearest predictions of the suffering of the Messiah in all Scripture.
We consider the teaching on the suffering of the Christ to atone for the sins of His people in Isaiah 53 to be so clear a reference to Jesus in part because we know the full history of what happened to our Lord. To us, Isaiah 53 reads as an eyewitness account, as Dr. R.C. Sproul puts it, because we have the advantage of knowing the Gospel records of the crucifixion of Jesus. Those who do not know the story of Jesus, however, can be uncertain about the reference of the passage. This was the case with the Ethiopian eunuch, who had to ask Philip whether the Isaianic text was about the prophet or about someone else (Acts 8:34). Without knowledge of the death of Jesus, one might conclude that Isaiah was talking about himself, the nation of Israel, or another figure. Matthew Henry reminds us that “prophecies had usually in them something of obscurity, till they were explained by the accomplishment of them.” Thus, we should be patient with people as we seek to explain the gospel to them from the Scriptures, for unless and until someone understands what happened to Jesus and what the Apostles say about Him, one can miss many of the messianic prophecies found in the Old Testament. A full understanding of their significance comes only as we believe the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles.
Philip showed such patience with the Ethiopian eunuch. Beginning with that text in Isaiah, Philip told the Ethiopian “the good news about Jesus” (Acts 8:35). He proclaimed Jesus from the Old Testament, explaining how the events of His life, death, and resurrection matched what the Scriptures said would happen to the Messiah. Evidently, the Ethiopian was unaware of all that had transpired with Jesus, and Philip informed him concerning what God had recently done in Jesus to fulfill Isaiah 53 and the rest of the Prophets.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Until people adopt the scriptural interpretations of Jesus and the Apostles, it will be very difficult for them to see that our Lord is the Messiah promised in the Old Testament. We must therefore be patient as we teach the Bible to others, not expecting them to fully grasp the significance of Jesus and how He fulfills biblical prophecy until we have explained the person and work of Jesus in relation to what the Old Testament says about Him.
For further study
- 1 Chronicles 17:1–15
- Amos 9:11–15
- Matthew 5:17–20
- Luke 24:13–48
The bible in a year
- 1 Samuel 3–6
- Luke 12:35–59