These verses are all about God’s grace.
The Lord went out of His way, so to speak, to bring the gospel to this retreating sinner.
From the providence which brought these men together to the saving of his sin-black soul.
Did any man anywhere have less right to the gospel than this man? None!
(That no man anywhere had any MORE right to the gospel is beside the point.)
But the authority to scripturally baptize belongs to the Lord’s church and to those to whom she has duly an specially ordained.
And then there was the relatively scarcity of water in that hot, desert region.
And this Ethiopian man “went on his way rejoicing.”
They are related, but not too closely related.
Let’s notice that Philip was caught away, the man went away, and Philip declared the Way.
How can anyone think that the Ethiopian wasn’t immersed when he was baptized?
If you didn’t know anything about what baptism is supposed to picture,
If all you had were the words of this verse of scripture,
Would you think that Philip poured water on his head and called it “baptism?”
And then they both came up out of the water.
They came up out of the water.
That sort of thing happens when people are submerged in water.
The only way to picture Philip sprinkling or pouring water on this man would be to read these verses with a predisposition to find sprinkling or pouring and nothing else.
If the paedobaptists – the baby-baptizers – would let the Bible speak instead of their false teachers,
That is what happened to Adoniram Judson and thousands of others.
“The Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more.”
In my simplicity and faith in the omnipotence of God, I never knew that there was any other explanation for this statement than that Philip was miraculously transported from Gaza to Azotus.
It wasn’t until I started reading the ideas of men, that it occurred to me that some people look at this differently.
They say that it was nothing more than the reversal of verse 29:
“Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.”
Have you ever seen a praying mantis, or a frog snatch their supper? It’s in a blink of the eye.
Perhaps it wasn’t quite that quickly that Philip was taken, but it was almost that quickly.
Some of us were talking about this sort of thing a few weeks ago.
There is a natural desire in most of us to be just a little different from the crowd – not a lot, but just a little different.
And this is especially true of people in positions of leadership;
So where 90% of the commentaries suggest one explanation for a verse and 10% suggest another, there is a little Satanic voice that tells us to look more deeply into the minority decision.
I am as guilty of this as any man, and you need to be aware of that.
Then Albert Barnes and Adam Clark better have some really strong arguments to the contrary.
When they can only say that it isn’t logical or necessary for this to be miraculous,
I have to respond: “But what does the Bible say?”
To the law and to the prophets; what saith the Word of the Lord?”
There must have been a good reason for this special “catching away” whether we are told about it or not.
The fact that he went on his way toward the Horn of Africa, doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t rather have gone with Philip or back to Jerusalem.
Probably his responsibilities in Ethiopia demanded that he continue his journey.
But the journey which began with confusion and questions now became one of great joy.
Why was this man so fully of joy?
I can only speak theoretically,
Because I supposed that any of us might have been rejoicing with him, but for a variety of reasons.
Yet the root of all of them would have to be God’s grace.
His journey began in perplexity, but ended in joy, because of the Word of God.
Psalm 119:14 says, “I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches.”
And verses 111 & 112 say, “Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart. I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even unto the end.”
Our hearts agree with the Biblical statements about the lost being in darkness and ignorance.
And there is no darkness so deep and terrifying as spiritual darkness.
But the light of Lord hath shined on and into our hearts
And now he was possessed by the Holy Spirit, who brings with him the key to the scriptures.
“When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth.”
From then on whenever he opened Isaiah or Ezekiel and came across those passages which are so difficult, he could pray and the Holy Spirit would have given him guidance.
And he went on his way rejoicing.
I wonder what sort of past this man had.
Once or twice I wondered out loud if perhaps he wasn’t much like Joseph had been in Egypt.
Although there are some commentaries which say that this refers to his office and not his condition.
Whether he was a great sinner or a greater sinner; a chief sinner or the chiefest of sinners,
It was as if a load of sharp rocks were lifted from his back.
There is a joy which comes with freedom, and when the Son made him free, he was free indeed.
We could go through each point and aspect of salvation and show where he had more and more reason to go on his way rejoicing.
And in addition to these there was the joy that came with obedience.
Unlike many of you, I am not getting a refund from the IRS, so I’ve had no reason to do my tax return.
I have dreaded it, fought it, delayed it and fretted over it.
But last night I spent several hours obeying the command to prepare my tax return.
And today, I feel much better about it.
Obedience has that capability.
But nevertheless his obedience to the Lord through his ordinance probably gave him some joy and satisfaction.
The Ethiopian’s salvation brought all of his life, brought the universe, into proper adjustment.
It corrected, rectified and eliminated the sin problems of the past.
It gave him joy for the present moment.
It gave him the tools with which to face the problems of the future.
And it gave him a Biblical hope which takes us all beyond the grave and into the glory of God.
Certainly he went on his way rejoicing.
I can testify that I went on my way rejoicing when I surrendered to the Lord so many years ago.
What about you?
Oh, look and see the grace of God.
The Spirit took Philip to Azotus.
Azotus was the name of the once infamous city of Ashdod.
Perhaps they did, perhaps they didn’t, during the days of David or Solomon.
Perhaps the Babylonians helped and after the captivity Jews began to reside there.
I honestly don’t know.
Of course they didn’t, because nobody deserves the grace of God.
I am told that Azotus was about 35 miles north of Gaza.
Between the two was the former Philistine city of Ashkelon, but Philip wasn’t dropped off there.
What was his purpose in Azotus? With whom did he speak? What did he do?
There was obviously some divine reason, but we aren’t meant to know, or even to speculate.
And from there he continued to travel north, preaching the gospel in Joppa, Lydda, Saron, Arimethaea and other communities along the way.
Do you suppose that he spent time with Joseph’s family in Arimethaea?
How much influence did he have in Joppa?
And forasmuch as Lydda was nigh to Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not delay to come to them.”
Could it have been through the evangelism of Philip?
Please don’t confuse this city with Caesarea Philippi which is north-east of the Sea of Galilee.
This was a community which was formerly known as Strato’s Tower.
King Herod had developed it and renamed it to honour Augustus Caesar.
It was about 60 miles north-west of Jerusalem.
It was right on the Mediterranean Sea under the slopes of Mt Carmel.
And after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD it became the Roman capital of Israel.
It was here that Philip eventually settled, married and raised a family.
He probably continued to travel and preach, but this was his home and he probably started and perhaps pastored a church in this community.
What are the lessons we ought to learn from Philip and this eunuch? Here are just a handful:
Anyone can become a useful servant of the Lord, even servants.
If we are faithful to the Lord in little things, we may some day serve Him in major things.
One person, even the most humble, can accomplish things which have eternal significance.
You might lead only one person to Christ, but that person could become the next apostle to “wherever.”
And even though the world might not know your name, the Lord does, and your fame before Him is what really matters.