Acts 8:30 “And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?”

Acts chapter 8 from verses 26 to 40 contains one of my favourite stories in the Bible. It deals with the salvation of an Ethiopian eunuch, who when the scripture is explained to him by a man called Phillip, he believes and trusts in Jesus Christ as his Saviour.

Phillip is quite an example to us as Christians in the book of Acts. But he could be you or I! Because he was a very normal guy… we first meet him a few chapters previous where he’s waiting tables and washing dishes… yep, God uses ordinary people, nobodies in this world, yet called to the most wonderful and important work in the world… God’s business, which is the salvation of souls.

And it’s a wonderful story how God leads Phillip to go to a desert place, and he doesn’t know much more at that point other than that God told him to go… so he goes!

Obedience matters! We kind of get to thinking that we can just basically do whatever we want based on what everyone else is doing or within very loose malleable parameters of God’s word… and that God has us to make good on it for us… but that’s not true. None of what follows in this story would happen without Phillip being obedient to God’s word himself.

And so Phillip arrives at the place at where God told him to go, and it just so happens that there’s a chariot passing by with a guy in it who’s reading the Bible! God’s timing is something else! It’s going to be a one time meeting too, and yet all it takes is one meeting…. But how are we doing with all the time and opportunities we have with other people?

The man in the chariot that Phillip goes to talk to is from Ethiopia, a land far away, but he’s been on a journey (aren’t we all!) because he’s spiritually hungry and looking for answers… and he’s looking in the right place this day!… the word of God!

And in his chariot as it’s going along, he’s been reading a famous Old Testament prophecy about Christ from the book of Isaiah chapter 53… but he’s not quite sure who it’s talking about and what it all means… and that is okay!… because we all need help to get into the Bible for ourselves, to meet Christ for ourselves in the pages of scripture…

And Phillip is both willing and ABLE to introduce this man to Christ through opening the Bible to him “Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.”

… Could have you? Because this is meant to be how we help others as Christians. What’s missing massively these days is not just the word of God itself, but people who can help others get into the Bible for themselves, who can relate not their own wisdom and philosophy and opinion… but the scripture to their life. Can you and do you open the book to others?

But it’s got to be open and have related and translated to our own personal lives first. If you’re a Christian… have the lives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob ever related to you? Has their experiences and model of their lives ever made one shred of difference to our thinking and decisions we’ve made as Christians?

It’s not all just meaningless stories to maybe have the right answer in a Christian trivia contest one day, God has given us all of scripture so we don’t need to fumble around in our life. We have everything we need for our perfection and completion in Christ… if we just used it.

And it’s important to realize, that up to this point, all they had was Old Testament. It’s the same God the whole way through from Genesis to Revelation… and the Old Testament was all that the apostles of Christ preached from… and also all that Jesus himself preached from. Challenge yourself to get something from the Old Testament other than misappropriating some wealth and health promises to Israel!

Phillip shows us how we can truly be helpful to others as Christians. He helped a lost man get into the Bible for himself so that this man knew he needed to be saved, wanted to be saved, got saved, and started following Christ for himself in his own life.

Jesus said “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God”… it’s not just empty words. As Christians we are on a journey through a place that is not our home, to our eternal home, and our food and strength and sustenance for that journey is the word of God “If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”

And so… Understandest thou what thou readest? Do you? And can you help someone else? And it’s all about Christ, point people to him, because the book is about him! Opening the Bible… “at the same scripture” … is how you truly lastingly help someone else as a Christian, help that will extend a lifetime beyond your maybe even just one time meeting “the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing”.

Blog Acts Bible Christian Ethiopia Eunuch Gospel Holy Spirit Isaiah Philip Reading Salvation Scripture Understand Witness