Tuesday, December 19, 2017

The Scriptural Word of Truth and more (Acts 8:28-35)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/19/2017 8:14 AM

My Worship Time                                                             Focus:  “The Scriptural Word of Truth”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 8:28

            Message of the verse:  “28 And he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah.”

            I have to believe that the eunuch did not find what he was looking at while he left the city of Jerusalem.  As he still had a desire to know God after leaving Jerusalem he was reading from his OT Bible from the book of Isaiah.  The eunuch knew that in order to find out about God the best place was looking at His Word.  The eunuch must have paid a great price for the scroll of Isaiah while in Jerusalem as books during this time period had to be written by and copied by hand and this would take a scribe a very long time to copy each book of the OT.  I can think of no other reason than the leading of the Holy Spirit as to why he would have purchased the scroll of Isaiah, as the portion that he was reading certainly spoke of our suffering Lord.  John MacArthur writes “Perhaps Isaiah had special meaning to him, since the book speaks encouragingly to eunuchs (Isa. 56:3-6).”

            Paul writes in Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”  Paul is saying that there are some of God’s attributes that can be seen in nature, however to understand the truth about who the Messiah is and what He has done it is necessary to read and study the Word of God.  Jesus says the following in John 5:39 “"You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;”  The Pharisees studied the Law and then added things to it and tried to get the people to follow what they taught, however they missed what the Scriptures had to say about the Messiah as their hearts were too hard to understand this truth about Him.  In the 24th chapter of the gospel of Luke we read the following from verses 25-27 “25 And He said to them, "O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?" 27 Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.”  This portion of Scripture which speaks of Jesus giving a sermon to these two men was one sermon that I would have liked to have heard as Jesus began at the beginning of the OT and went through it showing things about the Messiah, and one of the places that He would have had to talk about was the portion that the eunuch was reading.

            John MacArthur writes:  “Paul’s grand words to the Romans serve to enrich the understanding of this account:

‘12  For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; 13  for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED." 14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 15 How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, "HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!’”  (Romans 10:12-15)

            “All the essentials were in place; the Spirit’s work of preparation was complete.  Philip had obeyed the Spirit’s call and was in place to meet the man.  The eunuch’s heart was seeking, prepared by reading the Scriptures.  All was set for the next step.”

            We will look at this next step:  “The Proper Presentation” which is found in Acts 8:29-35:

29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go up and join this chariot." 30 Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?" 31 And he said, "Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this: "HE WAS LED AS A SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER; AND AS A LAMB BEFORE ITS SHEARER IS SILENT, SO HE DOES NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH. 33 “IN HUMILIATION HIS JUDGMENT WAS TAKEN AWAY; WHO WILL RELATE HIS GENERATION? FOR HIS LIFE IS REMOVED FROM THE EARTH." 34 The eunuch answered Philip and said, "Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?" 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him.”

            Can you imagine what must have been going through Philip’s mind at this time, for as we look back Philip was told to leave a thriving ministry in Samaria and go to what he may have thought was an obscure road to do what.  Next he runs into a eunuch who was reading the book of Isaiah and then he is told by the Holy Spirit to get into this man’s chariot.  We have to believe that this man was not alone and that his entourage must have been impressive, but Philip continued to obey the Spirit of God as he got into the chariot with this man.  Acts 4:31 tells us “And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.  The Holy Spirit and boldness goes together. 

            We will begin looking at Acts 8:30-34 in our next SD which will show us that salvation must center in on Scripture.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As a believer I must always be ready and willing to follow what the Spirit of God would have me to do.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  As I prepare for my Sunday school class this coming Sunday, which is Christmas eve, I pray that what I will have to say to the class along with the other things that are planned will bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Memory verses:  Philippians 4:1, 8 “1 Therefore, my beloved brethren whom I long to see, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.”  “8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and anything of good repute, dwell on these things.”

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Ruler of the synagogue” (Luke 8:41).

Today’s Bible question:  “God raised Jesus from the dead and He no more will have to return to what?”

Answer in our next SD.

12/19/2017 9:27 AM

 

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