"The Submissive Will of Philip" (Acts 8:27a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/18/2017 10:26 AM

My Worship Time                                                            Focus:  “The Submissive Will of Philip”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 8:27a

            Message of the verse:  “And he arose and went.”

            One has to be willing to be used by the Lord.  Paul speaks of this in 2 Timothy 20-21 “20 Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. 21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.”  God uses holy tools to do His work.

            As we have been looking at the life of Philip we have seen that he is such an instrument, one that was used by God as he did not hesitate, but “arose and went.”  Philip was actually leaving a thriving work in Samaria; however he obeyed the voice of the Spirit and left.  MacArthur writes “By willing obedience he became the means by which God saved the eunuch.”

            We now move to the next main point “The Searching Worship of the Eunuch” and this will cover Acts 8:27b “and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship,”

            As I first look at this Eunuch I find he desired to worship, and also he must have been a trustworthy servant of the queen of Ethiopia as she let him go to Jerusalem to worship the Lord.  We do not know how this man came into contact with Judaism for the Scripture does not reveal that to us.  Ethiopia was south of Egypt and was actually on the outskirts of what was the known world at that time. Now as far as the word Candace, this was not a proper name, but an official title, similar to Pharaoh or Caesar.

            This Eunuch has a vast hole in his soul as it was his desire to get to know the One true God.  I have to believe that the Spirit of God put that in his heart, and now the Spirit of God was about to use Philip to tell him how to fill that void that was in his heart.  As this man left Jerusalem, because of the spiritual state it was in at that time this void was still there.  Now the term eunuch was also used of Potiphar in Gen. 39:1 in the LXX version of the Old Testament.  We are not sure if he was a true eunuch of not, but if he was he could not enter into the Temple in Jerusalem.  My thoughts are that he was not a “true” eunuch as we have to believe that he was a proselyte. 

            John MacArthur writes:  “God’s sovereignty in salvation does not obviate man’s responsibility.  That God rewards the seeking heart is the clear teaching of Scripture.  In Jeremiah 29:13 God said, ‘You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart,’ while in John 7:17 the Lord Jesus Christ said, ‘If any man is willing to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak from Myself.’  The eunuch is a classic example of one who lived up to the light he had. God then gave him the full revelation of Jesus Christ through Philipp’s ministry.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful that the Lord used His Word along with a desire that I had for some time to understand the truths of salvation.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To continue to trust the Lord to give me wisdom to teach the book of Revelation in our Sunday school class.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “That food would be available and sold the next day.”

Today’s Bible Question:  “What was Jairus’ occupation?

Answer in our next SD.

12/18/2017 10:59 AM