Philip's Divine Surprise

Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.

“How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

Genesis 13: 14-17

It didn’t take long for the Early church to begin to be stretched in number of different directions, from the desert in the East to the metropolis of Rome to the West. From the Turks and Barbarians in the North to the continent of Africa in the South.

One example of this happening from early on, was with Phillip the evangelist, who, one day was led by God to the South Road, running down east of Jerusalem, heading down towards Egypt.

As he was walking, Phillip came across an official of Ethiopia. The official was a man of means, who happened to be sitting in his chariot, looking a bit confused over a Bible passage. Struggling over the passage Isaiah 53, he asked Phillip if He would explain it to Him.

Phillip pointed out that this was a prophesy describing how the Messiah would arrive and be rejected by the people He had come to save. He used this as an opportunity to point the official towards Jesus. Convinced by Phillip’s message, the man got baptised before heading back to his life in Ethiopia.

Now at the time this was an unexpected occurrence. Up until this point the Gospel had been preached to Jews or Samaritans. This was one of the first instances of a foreigner coming to Christ in the history of the church.

This would have been a surprise to most people at that time, but Phillip was open to God surprising him because he chose to live with an understanding that God wanted to use him.

Phillip would have started the day had no idea how his day would turn out. And even after he left the man he had no idea as to what God would do with that engagement. However, God does not require us to have all the answers, He simply asks us to trust Him.

It is always helpful to walk with the continual awareness that God reserves the right to surprise us.