Articles
He Preached Unto Him Christ
He Preached Unto Him Christ
Acts 8:26-40
Isaiah wrote his book 700 years before the coming of Jesus. Sometime after the resurrection of Jesus the Ethiopian nobleman made his trip to Jerusalem to worship. On the way home he was reading from Isaiah 53. Not knowing the story of Jesus made the passage difficult. Do you understand what you read? How can I unless someone explain it to me?
Try reading Isaiah 53 and NOT allow yourself to remember all the stories of Jesus that you know. What would you make of this chapter? It speaks of someone! But who? I can completely empathize with this man! In the providence of God, He brings a seeking heart together with the answer. Philip begins with this scripture and preaches unto him Jesus.
Reading Isa. 53 we can summarize the main points: 1) He was despised and rejected by men. 2) He suffered for our sins and iniquities. 3) In such suffering He did not retaliate. 4) He died and was buried. 5) He did no violence or deceit. 6) Though he was put to death He would prolong His days and see His 'offspring' [a reference to his resurrection and glory]. 7) He would be victorious over his enemies and divide the spoil of such victory with His followers.
We read in Acts that they came to certain water and the Ethiopian asks: "Here is Water. What hinders me from being baptized?" Baptized? How did he learn about baptism? How did he learn that those who believe the story of Jesus needed to be baptized? Whatever else you want to include in the phrase 'he preached unto him Jesus', you HAVE to include the teaching on water baptism! I know many preachers would have preached to this man all the way back to Ethiopia and never mentioned baptism but NOT Philip. What we learn from the New Testament is that WHEN they believed they were baptized (Acts 8:12), even the same hour of the night (Acts 16:33). We see that they were 'commanded to be baptized (Acts 10:48). They were taught to 'repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38). We see that those who received the preaching of the apostles were baptized (Acts 2:41). Even Saul (later called Paul the apostle) was commanded to 'arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord' (Acts 22:16).
I rejoice that it was Philip who preached unto this man and NOT many of our modern day 'preachers'. They went down into the water and Philip baptized him.
