As we look at the conversion of the Ethiopian Treasurer, it will become clear that this is not the usual method of outreach. The first thing that we are confronted with is that Philip was sent by the angel of the Lord to a specific location. It was a location that was a road that came down from Jerusalem to Gaza. Another interesting point is that the account of the conversion of the Ethiopian Treasurer follows immediately from the story of the false conversion of Simon. He too heard the Gospel preached by Philip, believed, and was then baptized. In verse 25 we have the preachers (Peter, John, and Philip) starting “back to Jerusalem, and were preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.” Verse 26 then starts with the word “but.” The Lord had a specific job for Philip.
Acts 8:26 – “But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, “Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a desert road.) 27 So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” 30 Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this: “HE WAS LED AS A SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER; AND AS A LAMB BEFORE ITS SHEARER IS SILENT, SO HE DOES NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH. 33 “IN HUMILIATION HIS JUDGMENT WAS TAKEN AWAY; WHO WILL RELATE HIS GENERATION? FOR HIS LIFE IS REMOVED FROM THE EARTH.” 34 The eunuch answered Philip and said, “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. 36 As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 37 And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” 38 And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing.”
The man was coming from Jerusalem because he had traveled there to worship. He was a man with an interest in religion and evidently recognized that salvation was from the Jews. But he was not a converted man despite all of his interest and effort. As he came from Jerusalem he was sitting in his chariot and reading Isaiah. The angel of the Lord commanded Philip to go to a certain location and so he was in the right spot at the right time. He was told by the Spirit to go and join the chariot. Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading (out loud) Isaiah. As an experienced evangelist he recognized that he had been sent to this chariot this man by God. But he started off with a question and asked the man if he understood what he was reading. The man responded and asked Philip to come up into the chariot and have a seat. The man was reading from Isaiah 53 which speaks of Christ as the Lamb of God who gave Himself in sacrifice for the sins of others. The man wanted to know what that meant. So Philip preached Christ to him from that Scripture. Evidently he preached more than just the words of the text because the man wanted to be baptized and stated that he believed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
There are questions that can’t be answered now as to why this man came to Jerusalem. Without knowing the exact reason, we do know that it was God that was drawing the man. In Acts 9 Saul, even in the midst of his religious persecution, was sovereignly converted by God. In Acts 10 Cornelius was a man who worshipped God in some way though he did not know the truth and God sent Peter to him. In Acts 11 we see the hand of the Lord moving at Antioch and many were brought to the faith there. It seems to be in line with the thought of the Divine Author of Acts to set out how God is able to draw people from long distances to Himself (Acts 8), meet up with those who hate the Person and works of Christ (Acts 9), to send His people to those whose hearts He has prepared (Acts 10), and then to send His people to start churches that at least include the non-Jews in Antioch. When God designs to save a soul, He can draw that soul to Himself as He pleases. He drew this Ethiopian eunuch to Jerusalem and then sent Philip to him to preach Christ. What we have then, is the conversion of a man alone, but the glory of God is shining forth here. There is no explanation but a God determined to shine forth His glory in grace and truth.
The rudiments of how God brought about this man’s conversion are in the text. God took this man from a land of great darkness as He brought Abram from the land of Ur of the Chaldeans to the Promised Land. The Divine pressure and drawing was strong in his heart so he was willing to take a carriage trip of greater than 1,000 miles which was not an easy in those days. As a court official of the Queen who was in charge of “all her treasure” (v. 27), he was undoubtedly a man with a lot of wealth and influence. Yet he left that to travel all the way from Africa to Jerusalem to worship. Somehow, though surrounded with heathen beliefs and idolatry, he was drawn to the light on the hill. Somehow, though surrounded with idolatry and heathen beliefs and lifestyles, he was drawn to the truth. He was not satisfied with all that went on around him and so we can see the work of God in his soul.
The Spirit was working in him and he would not rest until he found God. What we want to see is that this man was not just smarter than others, and it was not just that he was a better and more intense seeker than others, but he was being drawn by God. This man was converted, but God is the One who brought this man to Himself and converted him. The man appeared to be broken to a degree as he left Jerusalem and Philip was sent to him. He was a man who had enough of a craving in his soul he went to Jerusalem to find the truth. But he left without finding it. He went to Jerusalem to inquire after the things of God, yet he left without a true conversion. It is not hard to imagine that the sinking in his soul matched the descent of the chariot down the hill from Jerusalem. He did not care if those around him knew of his seeking because he was reading out loud. Then Philip arrived to preach the Gospel. Here was a man of great importance and power and a man just shows up and asks him what he is reading and if he understood it. The man said that he could not unless someone explained it to him. In this we can see that his soul had been humbled and that his own inability to reason to the truth of Scripture was clear to him. He knew that someone needed to teach him or he would not be able to understand. God has been working on this man’s heart.
In God’s providence this man was focused on Isaiah 53, as others have been when the Lord opened their eyes to His glory in Christ. This sounds like a heart that knew its sin and longed to find real answers. Philip began with that text and preached Christ to him, likely something like his Lord did in Luke 24:13-32 when He went through the Scriptures to explain the about Himself to listening men. Philip probably preached the same things the Lord spoke to His disciples and the ones standing around. He would have told him that salvation was impossible with men but possible with God (Mat 19:26) and that Jesus called all those who were weary and heavy-laden to Him (Mat 11:28). Most likely Philip preached Isaiah 53 to the man along with John 1:29 where John said that Jesus was the Lamb of God and of Christ Himself coming not to be served but to serve and give His life as a ransom (Mark 10:45). Surely Philip preached of Christ coming to be sin on the behalf of sinners (II Cor 5:21). But whatever his exact words were, Philip started from that passage of Scripture and preached Christ to that man.
We will not get into the baptism issue, but in the space left focus on why we think this man was indeed converted man despite the relatively scant biblical material. The man knew enough to go to Jerusalem to worship, so he had been exposed to the teaching of the God or the Jews. The angel of the Lord sent Philip to the path of this man and was then told to go to that specific chariot. The man was reading about the cross of Christ and of His suffering the wrath of God in that text, so the man was exposed to that aspect of the Gospel. The man had Philip preach Christ to the man so that he came to believe that Jesus the Christ (Messiah) was indeed the Messiah and was the very Son of God. The man asked what would prevent him from being baptized and was told that “If you believe with all of your heart, you may.” He then confessed Christ in accordance with Romans 10:9 that says: “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
The Lord Himself prepared this man and his heart. The Lord Himself drew this man to Jerusalem and sent Philip to his location and then specifically to his chariot. The Lord had this man wrestling with the cross of Christ and of His satisfying the wrath of the Father. He then gave this man ears to hear when Philip preached Christ to him and then confessed Christ in truth. God is the main part of this story from beginning to end. The Gospel is all about His glory and it is His glory that shines here. He set His love on this eunuch and saved him. There are no evangelistic methods or tricks of men that got in the way here. Here was a man that God took and brought to hear the Gospel of His glory in the face of Christ. No one was there to steal the glory and so it is all God’s. We do not see anyone trying to convince this man to do an act of belief or to say a prayer. What we see is a man that went to great length to find the truth, and was then found by God on his way home. We see a man preaching the Gospel and we see a heart that was converted and so now Christ was the primary belief in the soul. God saved this man and His glory shines. We would do well to learn from this story that perhaps the way many do evangelism is actually getting in the way of the truth of how God saves souls. Human beings are to be messengers of how God saves sinners to the praise of the glory of His grace. Too often we think sinners are saved because we did something. If we think that, most likely we have not stressed their need to turn from their own sufficiency to look to Him alone. The way we proclaim the Gospel matters. If we want sinners to look to us, we will not be telling them truth in a truthful way.
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