Center for Biblical Theology and Eschatology
The Ethiopian Eunuch Finds Joy
by Dr. Warren Gage
Who is this message for? Does anyone identify with these spiritual disabilities? Then here is a text
of Scripture for you! The last utterance of Jesus before He ascends into the heavens is a
prophetic oracle. The oracle is found in Acts 1:8. Jesus prophesies
the certain spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth as a consequence
of the Spirit's coming in power. Acts 1:8 precisely outlines the spread of the gospel in Acts, as the
places where the first disciples would be witnesses to the living Christ begins
in Jerusalem (ch. 1-7), then extends into all Judea and Samaria (ch. 8-12),
and finally is taken to the ends of the earth (ch. 13-28) in the missionary
journeys of Paul. Acts begins in Jerusalem and ends in Rome, the capital of
the world empire. It's a picture of the triumph of the gospel. The gospel ascends
to Rome, the seat of power in the earth, and makes its inroads, almost humorously,
even into Caesar's household (Phil. 4:22). In keeping with the oracle of Jesus, as Acts opens, Christianity first grows
rapidly among the Jews in Jerusalem. For the first seven chapters, Christianity
is as Jewish as Levy and Cohen! But in Acts 8, the sovereign hand of God begins
the grafting of the Gentiles into the church. In Acts 8-10, three
conversions take place: (1) the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8), (2) Saul
of Tarsus (Acts 9), who becomes Paul the apostle to the Gentiles, and (3) Cornelius,
a Roman centurion (Acts 10). It's interesting that the eunuch, Paul and Cornelius descend respectively
from the three sons of Noah—Ham, Shem, and Japheth. They are a divine
picture that God had now begun to fulfill the promise to Abraham that in him
all nations of the earth would be blessed. This is the beginning of the great
multitude gathered in heaven from every nation, tribe, people and tongue. I want to focus on the very first of these conversion stories in Acts 8,
the story of the Ethiopian eunuch. It's striking that the very first
Gentile convert to Christianity identified in Acts is a black man from Ethiopia.
We are safe in our understanding that he is black, because the word "Ethiopian"
means "black of complexion." The conversion of the eunuch occurs during the Samaritan revival.
Multitudes of Samaritans were responding in faith to the preaching of Philip
(Acts 8:5-6), and right at the height of the move of the Spirit in Samaria,
an angel of the Lord suddenly comes to Philip and instructs him to leave Samaria
and go south into the desert. Philip was probably wondering what in the world
is God doing! But the text reports (vs. 27), "So he arose and went."
He obeyed, even though the last thing an evangelist wants to do is leave town
when everybody is answering the altar call! But something far more significant was happening. The Great Shepherd
of the sheep was teaching Philip something of the heart of a true shepherd.
He was being instructed to leave the ninety-nine safe in the fold in Samaria,
and to go and find the one sheep, a black sheep at that, who is lost out in
the wilderness. Parenthetically, the setting of this encounter is significant. It is in
the desert, which matches where the eunuch is both spiritually and physically.
The desert is barren. So is this man! But as the divine drama of this man's
salvation unfolds, as he comes to faith, the topography changes and he comes
out of the desert into an oasis, a place of much water, a place of refreshing
and fertility. He has no faith in the desert, but he comes to faith as they
approach the oasis. The artistic imagery that is the backdrop of the eunuch's
salvation is striking! Returning to the story, Philip obediently goes into the Gaza desert,
and he is directed by the Spirit to come alongside a chariot, where he hears
a man reading aloud from the scroll of Isaiah.
In ancient times, parchment, which was called vellum, was prepared from
very expensive calfskin or lambskin. Because it was very costly, all the space
was used. There were no spaces between the words; they all ran together, and
there was no punctuation. Scribes when they copied very intentionally made
maximum use of all the available space on the vellum. Consequently, the only
way to pick out words was to read the letters aloud, to sound out what you
were reading, and then you would hear what sets of consonants connected to
produce words. Because the eunuch was reading aloud, Philip recognized the
Scripture the eunuch was reading. Now in Acts 9-10 we know the names of those converted—Paul and Cornelius.
But here in Acts 8 we are not told the name of this black man. He is
identified only as a man of Ethiopia who was a eunuch. Luke identifies
him as an Ethiopian only as the story opens, but refers to him as a eunuch
the rest of the way through the story (vss. 34, 36, 38, 39). So he is emphasizing
that he is a eunuch. Emasculation was a practice in ancient royal courts for those who were
singled out for promotions to very trusted levels of service. For example,
eunuchs were appointed to watch the king's harem. The harem was obviously safe
under the watch care of a eunuch, who was incapable of being sexually tempted.
He was immune to seduction. Emasculation was a way of making sure a high-ranking
servant would remain loyal, and singular in focus. Castration takes away nearly
every reason for treachery. This eunuch had likely been castrated to remove
the distraction of any sexual interests and to prevent him from fathering children.
This would eliminate two of the driving forces in a man's planning for his
own life—sexual expression and fathering progeny. As a consequence,
the eunuch would have no temptation to self- deal to favor his own family.
As a trusted official given charge of all the queen's treasure, he was apparently
given the privilege of creating a comfortable living out of her vast
wealth. When it says he served under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians,
"Candace" was not a name but a title like "Pharaoh." The
Candaces were queens in Nubia (now Sudan) in the upper Nile region. This reinforces
the fact that this man was black because all the Nubian queens were black. Here's the setting... This eunuch has traveled a long distance to worship in Jerusalem.
It would have been an incredibly difficult and dangerous journey. Somehow,
perhaps through some Jews who had been scattered into the nations of the earth,
this man had become a worshiper of the God of Israel and learned that He accepted
worship in Jerusalem. Almost certainly, his reasons for coming to Jerusalem
were spiritual. He must have made this hard journey to Jerusalem hoping
to offer sacrifices for his sins at the temple. Equally certain is the
fact that when he arrived in Jerusalem, he would
have been disappointed. First, he was an Ethiopian, and so he could
not enter the Temple beyond the court of the Gentiles. First century Judaism
described Gentiles as "dogs" and "unclean." And there was
no way that this Gentile could disguise himself and sneak into the Temple.
His black skin gave him away. But he had an even greater hurdle in his physical disability. The law
in Deuteronomy 23:1 declared that no one who was emasculated could enter
the assembly of the Lord. The Mosaic Law had erected a wall of partition.
The place where he had come to find God was off limits. He was excluded from
the temple precincts and the sacrifices, and now he is on his way home. All
this way, and still no answer to the deepest longing of his heart! Note the pathos in the way Luke relates this. He introduces this man of Ethiopia
(vs. 27), but you don't pick up what he is doing at the moment until vs. 28.
In between identifying him and telling what he is doing is a quick survey of
his life, like a biographical summary of the tragedy, the success and
the driving passion of this man. After having his life flashed before
our eyes, we pick up with where he is right now. He was returning, he was on
his way home from Jerusalem. He had been separated from God's people and banned
from the Temple. His long journey had proved fruitless. Jerusalem had turned
up spiritually sterile, like the desert through which he was now passing on
his way home. He was troubled, disappointed, and full of questions! But here he is sitting in his chariot, reading the scroll of Isaiah. He has
not given up. His persistent quest to find the true God continues! The eunuch
has arrived in his reading of the scroll of Isaiah at Isaiah 53. As he reads
vss. 7-8, he has a question. His question is, "Who is the prophet talking
about, himself or some other man?" Isn't it ironic that the verse this eunuch is reading
as Philip comes alongside his chariot describes a man who dies childless?
The eunuch is intrigued that part of the pain and suffering of this man is
that he would die childless. He knew the same pain because that was his destiny
as well. Verse 35 reports: "Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning
at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him." He unfolds the NT understanding
that Isaiah's Suffering Servant is Jesus of Nazareth. The prophecy of
Isaiah 53 may be the clearest description of the events surrounding Jesus'
death of any passage in all the Bible! Certainly by the number of quotations
and allusions to Isaiah 53 in the NT (which is somewhere around 40 references),
we know Isaiah 53 was the central passage of the OT for interpreting the passion/death
of Jesus. Isaiah was a primary instructor of the apostolic community
of the first century, and in particular Isaiah 53 was central to the development
of the gospel. So Philip could begin right there, he could pick right at that
point and unfold the gospel to the eunuch with great ease. So what would the eunuch think as they read down to vs. 10?
In verse 8, he read that Jesus died without descendants, so how could He see
His seed and prolong His days? This is where Philip would teach him about the
resurrection, that this Jesus was not just crucified and buried, but that He
rose from the grave! His life was cut short without descendants in vs. 8, but
He was awakened from death in the resurrection to behold His offspring in vs.
10! Jesus prolonged his days when He rose from the dead! And as the Ethiopian
came to faith, Jesus "saw His seed." And as you and I come to faith,
He continues to "see His seed." Now as Philip preaches Jesus to the eunuch, they begin to pass out of the
desert into an oasis, a place of much water. The excitement builds in the eunuch
as the light of salvation dawns in his heart, and he poses a question: "Look,
here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?" The eunuch's
question perhaps anticipates some further legal barrier that would prevent
him from receiving baptism. He says, "Look, I don't want to be disappointed
again. I have already been judged a foreigner and a eunuch, and on those grounds
an outcast. Is there some hidden fine print that is going to keep me from faith
in this Jesus and being baptized in His name?" Philip's response in vs. 37 is to call him into faith, which the eunuch emphatically
declares, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."
And then the Ethiopian, with the bold, decisive style that must have characterized
his role as the overseer of the royal treasury, commanded the chariot to halt!
They both go down into the water, and the eunuch is baptized! Then as they
come out of the water, Philip is suddenly snatched away by the Holy Spirit,
and the Ethiopian sees him no more. And Luke adds that the eunuch went on his way rejoicing. How
did Luke know that? Philip was snatched away to continue his missionary work,
and there is no evidence that this man ever returned to Jerusalem or met with
the apostles. So how did Luke know? I think we have an answer. We don't know how far Philip continued in Isaiah, but it is certainly fair
to assume that the eunuch would continue reading the scroll of the prophet.
For the first time Isaiah made sense. He had just met his Lord through this
new understanding. He wasn't about to stop now! So he keeps on! Isaiah 53 represents a monumental shift in the flow of Isaiah.
Everything following this chapter is a picture of a new age that is lived out
under a new covenant. We know this from the way these chapters are quoted in
the NT. So as the eunuch reads these chapters, he is reading
about new realities in a new age under a new covenant. Specifically,
as you move from Isaiah 53 to Isaiah 54, the tone and mood shifts
from a minor key to a major key, from a lament to a song of joy!
Joy is a recurring theme throughout these chapters! He has finished reading Isaiah 53, and Philip has been snatched away. He
gets back in his chariot and picks up the scroll again, and begins to read
at chapter 54. (Read Isaiah 54:1-3.) How would this promise to a barren woman have landed on the ears of
the eunuch? Though he was a man, he had felt the same emotional wounds
of a barren woman. He was unable to father children as she was unable to birth
them. And he lived with the disappointment that his name would never be carried
on after him. He was almost certainly ridiculed for his barrenness, as Sarah
had been ridiculed by Hagar (Gen. 16:5). Yet here is a barren woman promised
so many children, she will need to expand the size of her tent. In a modern
setting, it would be like telling an infertile woman to get a larger house
with extra bedrooms for her unborn children that were on the way! Who is this once-childless woman who now rejoices? Isaiah doesn't
identify her, but the apostle Paul does! He quotes this very text in Gal.
4:25-27, and identifies the barren woman as the heavenly Jerusalem
who gives life to all the children of promise. The earthly Jerusalem
had rejected the eunuch, but the heavenly Jerusalem was welcoming
him into life everlasting. Paul compares the Gentile Christians of Galatia
to Isaac, miraculously born in fulfillment of the promise that Abraham would
be the father of many nations (Gen. 4:28; Gen. 17:3-6). When Paul finishes
quoting Isaiah 54:1, he says, "We, just like Isaac, are children of
promise" (4:28). Isaac's name means "laughter," and his
miraculous birth removed the reproach of Sarah's barrenness. Likewise, our
new birth is an occasion for laughter and joy in the heavenly Jerusalem. The heavenly Jerusalem is considered barren
until salvation and life are brought to the Gentiles. The barrenness
of the heavenly Jerusalem comes to an end in the ingathering of the Gentiles.
When you read Isaiah 54 and Galatians 4 together, the picture is this. The
heavenly Jerusalem rejoices because bringing salvation
and life to all the Gentile nations of the earth is just like the miraculous
birth of Isaac! So the heavenly Jerusalem is summoned
to joy and laughter because salvation is being extended to the nations. The
reproach of her barrenness has ended! The eunuch could rejoice because heaven
was rejoicing! He was now a citizen of a better Jerusalem
than the one that had just rejected him. As you continue reading Isaiah 54, the prophet describes how God renews His
marriage vows as Jerusalem's husband, and bedecks her with jewels and precious
stones, which is a preview of John's vision of "the new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed
for her husband" and "decorated with every kind of precious
stone" (Rev. 21:1-21). The eunuch is now a citizen of this heavenly
Jerusalem! The eunuch continues to read. The good news continues into Isaiah
55:1-2. Remember the eunuch had access to all the treasures of Ethiopia,
and his wealth doubtless was the only reason he had had any measure of acceptance
and respect while he was in Jerusalem, but that wealth is not necessary to
full acceptance in the heavenly Jerusalem! This passage declares that these treasures were of no value when it
came to acquiring salvation. So the opening words of Isaiah 55 would
only cause the eunuch to laugh with delight! The blessing of salvation is offered
without cost. He is freed from supposing that his money would
be required to create a spiritual advantage for him. It didn't. It
still doesn't! The eunuch continues to read, and comes to Isaiah 56. It only gets
better. He can hardly believe what he reads! The chapter begins with "Thus
says the Lord," and the eunuch reads. Vss. 1-2 are a setup. Salvation
is about to come to those who love righteousness. He comes to vs. 3, and it
explodes out of the scroll! The two reasons he had been excluded from
the temple in earthly Jerusalem are gone in the
temple of the heavenly Jerusalem. He was
the foreigner excluded. He was the eunuch who was held back from joining the
assembly of the Lord. Now those reasons for exclusion are gone! Imagine the joy of this man! 700 years before his birth, God ordained Isaiah
the prophet to pen words for him, an Ethiopian eunuch, that anticipated that
day when he had met rejection in Jerusalem and been told he was excluded from
the assembly of the Lord because he had been emasculated! But now he reads something different! He reads vss. 4-5. Now he reads of
full, unhindered access to God's holy dwelling place. He reads that he is given
both a place and a name in God's new house. God promises
the eunuch an everlasting name that is better than the remembrance of his name
that would have been perpetuated in sons and daughters. He will have
an everlasting name because he is linked to the Servant of Isaiah 53 that Philip
identified as Jesus who rose from the dead, never to die again, giving to this
eunuch the same hope of everlasting life! He continues to read...vss. 6-7. Speaking to this eunuch as a foreigner, God's promise to take foreigners
who join themselves to the Lord (renounce all idols and pagan gods to follow
the Lord exclusively), who desire to serve Him (used of the Levites)
in a new priesthood, and who love the name of the Lord, He promises to bring
them into His holy presence and fill them with joy in His house of prayer. He had been rejected from entering the assembly of the Lord in Jerusalem.
He had been cut off from bringing a sacrifice to the Lord God. He had left
Jerusalem, disappointed, rejected and alone! But now he reads the promise
of the Lord God that he is being invited into a new priesthood, to worship
and rejoice in a new temple called a house of prayer for all nations. I was surprised to discover that this is the only time in the OT that the
phrase "house of prayer" is used. It comes in a prophecy of what
the temple of the Lord God will become when the heavenly Jerusalem starts bringing
forth Gentiles children. "House of prayer" is the special
title for the temple of God under the NC. "House of sacrifice"
is the title for the temple under the OC. II Chron. 2:6, "But who is able to build Him a temple, since
heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him? Who am I then, that I
should build Him a temple, except to burn sacrifice before Him?" II Chron. 7:12, "Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night,
and said to him: 'I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for
Myself as a house of sacrifice.'" Prayer took place in the temple of the OT, but only after sacrifices had
been offered. Under the NC, the one sacrifice of Christ perpetually avails
for all who would come to God, and therefore prayers may commence immediately! We recognize the last line of vs. 7 as the declaration that Jesus cites in
the Gospels when he cleanses the temple of the moneychangers who were making
the house of God a den of thieves. Jesus' actions are a picture of what was
going to happen to that temple in just one generation—not one table was
left standing when the fury of the Son of God was released on that temple.
Forty years later not one stone would be left standing in that same temple
as it was destroyed by the Romans. Even as Jesus was leaving the marks of destruction in the earthly temple
in Jerusalem, by citing Isaiah 56:7, Jesus was prophetically calling forth
the new title for anything that henceforth would be called the temple of God.
It is a house of prayer! You can see this in John's Gospel, which develops a war between two temples.
John chooses to record the cleansing of the temple at the beginning of his
Gospel. John 2:15: "When He (Jesus) had made a whip of cords,
He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen, and poured out
the changers' money and overturned the tables." Then He challenges
his opponents, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise
it up!" At the end of the Gospel, Jesus' opponents do destroy the temple of His body,
and they begin by scourging Him with a whip. Do you see the irony? Jesus'
action at the beginning of the Gospel predicts what will happen to Him at the
end of the Gospel! The difference is that in destroying the temple
of Christ's body they were dooming their own temple to destruction. One is
raised up again in three days, the other is destroyed a generation later in
AD 70! Two destructions, only one reconstruction! Why? The temple of Christ's
body has replaced the Jerusalem temple. God ordered the raising of the one
and the destroying of the other ("not one stone was left on another"
Matt. 24:2)! The enterprise of heaven in the first coming of Jesus was to begin construction
of a new temple—a living temple! So the word of the Lord for all the eunuchs and foreigners who love
the name of the Lord is that you are living stones being built into a new temple.
You are a new priesthood allowed to come into God's presence and bring the
sacrifice of praise. You were once not a people, but now you are the
people of God, proclaiming the praises of Him who called you out of darkness
into His marvelous light. You can find something in virtually every chapter that would be a direct
hit into the heart of this eunuch, and increased his reason for rejoicing.
This man took a scroll of Isaiah back to Ethiopia that was stained with tears
of joy! How much did this encounter with Philip and Isaiah change this man? The tradition among the early Christians and that is testified by the church
fathers was that this eunuch went on to become the "father" of the
church in Ethiopia. Tradition tells us that he fathered the Coptic Church,
which is one of the oldest expressions of Christianity that survives to this
day, and traces its roots directly back to the first century and this eunuch.
Not even the rise of Islam could take the cross of Christ away from these people.
They still hold to it today! It has been one of the most persecuted churches
throughout history. It is the church that gave us Clement of Alexandria, Origen
and Athanasius. Through the centuries, the millions of this church call this
eunuch their father. He, a eunuch, was chosen in the good mercies of to be
the father of faith in Africa! Is there anything, Christian, that our God cannot do?
| Dr. Warren Gage is an assistant professor of Old Testament at Knox Theological Seminary in Fort Lauderdale, Florida from 2002 to 2007. |