Whosoever Believes

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

WHOSOEVER BELIEVES

Acts 8:26-31

26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road — the desert road — that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it." 30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked. 31 "How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

NIV

We could spent time exploring all the information about this Ethiopian eunuch in order to grasp the truth about this portion of the scripture. First we have to notice that he came to Jerusalem during one of the feasts, to worship. This would lead us to believe he was actually a Jew who had either moved, or had been captured and taken away to a region in Northern Africa known at the time as Ethiopia. He had risen to a high rank in the court of Candace, which is a name much like Pharaoh, given to the ruler of the land. This man was to Candace like Joseph was to Pharaoh. We should also note the title eunuch was used two different ways in those days, one being a man charged with the care of a haram, the other as a person of high rank in a court of a ruler, which as Candace was the Queen, she would not have a harem, so this title referred to his rank. So now here he is traveling home from having worshipped in Jerusalem and God has determined to move the Gospel into this region called Ethiopia and to use this man to do it. God directs Phillip to head south to the desert road where, of course, he knows this man is traveling. Here is our life lesson, as we see Phillip did as he was directed to do. We are not sure where Phillip lived, or if he had a home in Jerusalem or in some suburb, or perhaps even up in Galilee, but Phillip, who had headed up to Samaria to escape the persecution was now being told to head south. If we are open to hearing from the Lord, he will direct our paths. Of course the purpose of sending Phillip was so that he would meet this Ethiopian eunuch and be able to witness to him, leading him to Jesus as his savior. Does God have any other purpose? We are told that God sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. His purpose for sending Phillip to meet this man was so this man would then take the truth of the Gospel to others who lived in the region of Ethiopia. God directs the paths of his believers so that we might meet those who need Jesus. So often we become so self-orientated seeing God as our Savior, our redeemer, our provider, our God, that we do not see or are open to his directing our paths in a certain direction so that we will meet the one who needs the truth explained to them. We cannot be certain that God caused the persecution of the church in order for Phillip to go into Samaria in the first place, that would be out of his character to persecute those he has saved,  but we can be certain God has directed him to travel this road, and his purpose was to bring the Gospel to others. We should not lose sight of the purpose of God, to bring salvation to the world, so that whosoever believes in the name of Jesus should not perish but have everlasting life. This Ethiopian eunuch was one of those whosoever believes.