26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is a desert place. 27 And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, "Go over and join this chariot." 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" 31 And he said, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: "Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. 33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth." 34 And the eunuch said to Philip, "About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?" 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 36 And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?" 38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
Do I have that kind of obedience? To just immediately get up and go? I have to admit, I think I would struggle with that. I struggle with action when something is impressed upon my heart to do ... I tend to end up doing it, but sometimes I talk myself out of it.. and then it bugs me afterwards sometimes (not always). It's hard sometimes because I don't know if that impression is just a random thought, or if it's God saying "hey girl, I want you to do thus and such". And that's where my hesitation comes from. Then I wonder.. did Philip know this was an angel from the Lord? Was it obvious to him? Was he so in tune with God that he immediately recognized one of his messengers?
The bible tells us that we can entertain angels unaware... so how does one really know?
Anyways, Philip immediately went.
Found a eunuch.. A COURT OFFICIAL for the queen of Ethiopia. So this bloke is not just some random person, but a person highly placed in Ethiopia. He's reading from Isaiah and doesn't understand what he is reading so Philip explains it to him.
The man is baptized, Philip is whooshed away, and the court official goes away rejoicing.
Amazing isn't it?
Wouldn't it just blow you way.
Here you are reading from the bible, you don't understand it, some fellow comes up, explains it to you so you totally get it, you get baptized and he disappears.
That would TOTALLY freak me out.
Wouldn't it you?
I don't know.. but I am imagining that the Court Official immediately told everyone that happened, and therefore the gospel of Christ got spread to Ethiopia.. that type of event is not something that you just quietly file away is it? Understanding who God is.. and then having the one who explained it disappear?
It's just amazing and inspiring. I want to be a Philip (not that I want to be whooshed around that would just be potentially terrifying) but to be that open and obedient? That knowledgeable of scripture to be able to so easily explain it to someone with questions. Ah yes, I want to be like Philip. :)