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Suppose someone important needed to hear the gospel. Would God Himself preach the good news
of Christ to them or send an ordinary ole' preacher? Another thing, would God make special
provisions for a man of prestige? The conversion of the Eunuch answers these questions for us.
"But an angel of the Lord spake unto Philip... and the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near... join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?... And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other? And Philip opened his mouth... beginning from this Scripture, preached unto him Jesus... and the eunuch saith, Behold, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God... and he baptized him" (Acts 8:26-38 ASV). The Eunuch was an important official from Ethiopia, a man of authority, over all the Queen's treasure. Yet, he was without Christ and lost. Even the elite must hear and obey the gospel of Christ. But hear from whom? Since he is so important, surely the angel that spoke to Philip will preach to him. Not so! Though the angel was in the perfect place to speak to the man of learning, he did not (Acts 8:26). We need to realize how important it is for us to acknowledge that the angel purposely avoided telling the Eunuch what to do to be saved. The angel was an heavenly being. Not only did the angel avoid preaching to this official, so did the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:29). The Spirit was at the same location as the preacher, Philip, at the same spot in the road. He, like Philip, had the sinner in sight. Yet He did not tell him what to do to be saved. This is a vital distinction of operation. Why didn't the angel whisper in the ear of this sinner and tell him what to do to be saved? Why didn't the Holy Spirit gently nudge or show himself to the Eunuch? How powerful would it have been for the angel to have spoken to the man? It would have been even more impressive for the Holy Spirit to have acted upon him. But they did not? Why? Paul gives us the answer. He said, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves" (2 Cor. 4:7 ASV). The "treasure" is the valuable soul-saving gospel of Christ and the responsibility of preaching. The "earthen vessels" would be human agents. "Earthen" is of the earth, not heavenly or divine. "Vessels" are containers that hold things. In this case, the treasure of the gospel has been placed within men. Therefore, Paul is saying that the message of heaven, though inspired, must come from the lips of flesh and blood to sinners, not heavenly beings. This means that neither an angel nor the Holy Spirit nor the Christ will ever tell a sinner what to do to be saved, except through a human agent (Acts 9). Search through the book of Acts and see if you can find one occasion where a heavenly being told a man what to do to be saved. You will not find such a passage from the day of Pentecost until the close of revelation in the first century. Though the Eunuch was a God-worshipping man, having traveled over 1,000 miles from Ethiopia to be in Jerusalem to worship, he was without Christ and lost. He was a Bible reading man, but he was lost. He was a man who was willing to learn. When Philip preached Christ to the man, baptism was a part of the sermon because, seeing water, the student asked his teacher if he knew of any hindrances that would prevent him from being immersed (Acts 8:36). It is impossible to preach Christ fully to a sinner and leave baptism out of the sermon. You have to mention baptism early in the story of Jesus for He was baptized by John. At the end of the story, Jesus commanded the disciples to go and baptize men in every nation (Matt. 28:18-19). Some people want to leave out both these chapters in the history of Christ by leaving out baptism. It is a mutilated Gospel that leaves baptism out of the sermons addressed to sinners. Apparently, since the Eunuch now knew who Jesus was, only one thing stood in the way -- trust of the Suffering Servant (Isa. 53) — to which, the Eunuch promptly made the good confession, saying, "...I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God" (Acts 8:37; Rom. 10:9-10), Then he was immediately baptized in water unto the remission of his sins (Acts 8:36-39; 2:38; 22:16). After coming up out of the water, the Eunuch continued his journey homeward, rejoicing in his new salvation (Acts 8:39). Here are just some of the things we have learned from this conversion: In order to be saved, the sinner must believe in Jesus Christ as the only begotten, and he must confess, with his mouth, his heart-felt faith (Acts 8:37; Mark 16:16; Romans 10:9-10). Though repentance is not mentioned in this event, we know the Eunuch repented because God has "commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent" (Acts 17:30 ASV). This includes this elite official of Ethiopia. God does not have one gospel for the elite and another for the middle class and yet a third for the so-called lower class. He established one gospel for all. Before the Eunuch went on his way rejoicing, he was baptized that he might be saved (Acts 2:36-39). Just as Jesus commanded men to believe, He also commanded them to be baptized (Mark 16:16). The baptism He commanded is immersion, not sprinkling or pouring. We could discuss the meaning of the word baptizo which means "to immerse, plunge, or dip." Or, we could give you deep and important reasoning, such as, if baptism is sprinkling why did John's baptism require "much water" (John 3:23). However, let me simply ask you to consider a few vital details recorded in the text. Though the Eunuch was making a long journey, both Philip and he "went down into the water" where the preacher baptized him. Why go into the water and get soaked if sprinkling or pouring will suffice? He would not, especially since he was on a trip. Baptism is a burial (Rom. 6:3-4). Here are a couple of humorous little illustrations to help us see the important difference between immersion and sprinkling. The first is a poem entitled, "Never Baptize A Cat." Never baptize a cat! It's hazardous to you! You'll look a bit like scat when he gets through with you! And again, by way of the world's electronic library, we have the story of preacher's son: Those who substitute sprinkling and pouring in place of God's command to immerse make the faulty argument that the Eunuch could not have been immersed because the place was desert, thinking that Luke meant a waterless place. The text does use the word "desert" but, as Thayer tells us, it does not mean an utterly barren waste, but a wild, uninhabited region. He defines "desert" as "solitary, lonely, desolate, uninhabited." Being waterless is not a part of the understanding of the word."The son of a minister was in church one morning when he saw one being immersed. He was greatly interested in it, and the next morning proceeded to baptize his three cats in the bathtub. More than 100 years ago, a Princeton professor of Greek was traveling on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, in the same area the Eunuch had traveled over 2,000 years ago. His traveling companion was a Baptist by the name of A. J. Holt. The professor chided Mr. Holt on his conviction of immersion in water because, at that moment in their ride, there was a distinct lack of water in sight. Within moments of the professor expressing his disbelief of the Biblical narrative, the pair came upon a body of water that Mr. Holt described as an ancient pool about 100 feet square and about 20 foot in depth at the time. Suppose, however, the travelers had not seen water, would that alter your understanding of the clear Bible narrative that says, "both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him" (Acts 8:38)? Surely not! God commands immersion, not sprinkling or pouring. If you were the preacher, what would you do? Here is what one preacher did: Having preached in the forenoon, the preacher mounted his horse to go to another appointment. As he rode along, a stranger fell in with him, and said: "Preacher, I heard you preach this morning; here is a stream of water; I want to be baptized. What hinders me?" Folks, don't be an atheist. And, don't consider yourself a special case. All men are saved in like manner as the Eunuch. Why not do what the Eunuch did? Be immersed for the remission of sins and then go on your way rejoicing in your Biblically approved salvation. |