To the Ends of the Earth
Isaiah 56:3–8,
Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from his people”; and let not the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” 4 For thus says the Lord: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, 5 I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. 6 “And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant— 7 these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” 8 The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, “I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.”
So a few weeks back, Melissa and I were visiting family, and one night as we were all talking, we got into the topic of sleepwalking. This is often a funny conversation, at least for Melissa, because she claims that I have a terrible habit of talking in my sleep. But on this night, in that conversation, talking in your sleep, well, that ain’t was nothing. Because I have a couple family members who seriously walk in their sleep.
In fact, one of my cousins had this crazy story. She struggles with falling asleep night, even when she’s exhausted, and therefore, she takes a well-known sleeping aid. The problem, though, with this medication, is the side-effect of prolonged grogginess. One Sunday morning, she says she got up and did her usual routine before her church’s Sunday service. She ate breakfast, got dressed, got there on time, the whole thing. And then after the service, as she was driving back home, she said that suddenly she just woke up. Driving down the road, out of nowhere, she snapped out of this strange haze that she had no idea she had been walking around in the entire morning. She said it was this surreal experience, almost like her eyes had been open the whole time, but then suddenly she was truly conscious of what was going on. Can you imagine what that’s like? It’s scary, right? Well, she doesn’t take this medication anymore. And as she told this story, and it was funny, and we laughed.
But in the days since, I keep coming back to what that must have been like, and I’m fascinated that you could really walk through the motions of your day, be going about your life, and not realize that you’re actually asleep — or, at the very least, that you’re not fully awake.
Imagine with me. . . . Imagine if right now, as awake as we all feel, what if we all suddenly just woke up. Just like that — all of a sudden we all just snapped out it. It’s crazy. And well, I think something like that helps us understand what’s going on in Acts 8:26–40.
There are just a few things I want us to do in the text today. First, I want us to make an important connection in this story that I think Luke wants us to make. And then second, I want us to see two sides of the story that help shape the way we think about life.
The Connection from Isaiah 56
We’ll start with the connection. It goes like this: once upon a time, around 700BC, there was a prophet named Isaiah and he was chosen by God to speak the word of God to the people of Israel. That is now the Book of Isaiah, and it’s typically divided into two parts.
Chapters 1 to 39, are known as the the Book of Judgment, and then Chapters 40–66 are known as the Book of Comfort. This latter section, the Book of Comfort — the section we read from earlier — is called the Book of Comfort because it contains some of the most explicit gospel promises in the Old Testament. The actual word “gospel” is used several times. So Isaiah gives lots of good news, and I think we find in these chapters some of the most beautiful verses in the entire Bible, including, of course, the amazing text of Isaiah 53 about the Messiah as a Suffering Servant who is punished on behalf of his people.
But I think the main part of this gospel section in Isaiah is a vision of God’s new creation. Isaiah foretells of a day when Israel will be restored and all the nations will come to worship God. That is what this section of Isaiah does more vividly than any other part of the Old Testament.
We see that clearly in Isaiah 56. We learn here that the grace of God and the worship of God is not just for the people of Israel, but it is for the outcasts and for the foreigner. That’s what Isaiah 56 tells us. Verse 3,
Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, “The LORD will surely separate me from his people”; and let not the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”
Then in Isaiah 56:7, we see that God’s house is a “house of prayer for all peoples. The Lord GOD who gathers the outcasts of Israel declares, ‘I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.’” And the Book of Isaiah ends with God saying that the coastlands afar off who have not heard his fame and glory, they will see his glory. God says that his glory will be declared among the nations.
And all of this means that the gospel of God goes beyond Israel. The good news of God’s grace and mercy and love is for all nations all over the earth, and that good news will advance to the ends of the earth.
The Connection to Acts 8
Okay, we fast-forward to the Book of Acts in the New Testament. Jesus is raised and ascended, his Spirit is sent, and the apostles are given a promise in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” And there is a question here for us.
In chapters 1–7, we’ve seen the gospel witness in Jerusalem. And we’ve seen, after the stoning of Stephen, that the church in Acts 8:1 was “scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria.” Actually the first part of chapter 8, which Pastor Joe preached last week, is Philip, and then Peter, taking the gospel to Samaria. So we have Jerusalem, and then Judea and Samaria, and well, what’s left? [end of the earth]
So then the question begins to build for the reader, for us: How will Luke show us the gospel’s advance to the ends of the earth? What will he do to signify that we are now in the last stage of Jesus’s promise in Acts 1:8?
Well, it starts with Philip, in verse 26.
26 Now man angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south4 to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 27 And he rose and went. And there was an nEthiopian, a oeunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, pwho was in charge of all her treasure. qHe had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah.
Okay, so right away this is pretty interesting. God directs Philip to this encounter with an Ethiopian man. Now we know that Ethiopia is a Gentile nation, and if we had a map of the Roman empire of that time, we could see Rome, we’d notice that Ethiopia is way down here south of the Red Sea. It was outside of Roman rule, which means it is foreign.
But not only was this man a foreigner, he also happened to be a eunuch, which Luke tells us straightforward.
But not only was he a foreigner and a eunuch, but he had come to Jerusalem to worship — which means that, though a foreigner, this man was a God-fearer. He worshiped the God of Israel. He had, in the words of a certain Old Testament prophet, “joined himself to the LORD” (Isaiah 56:6).
But not only was this man a foreigner, and a eunuch, and a seeker of God, but as Philip approached him, this man happened to be reading the Book of Isaiah.
Are you tracking? We see what Luke is doing here? Keep reading:
29And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, r“How can I, unless someone sguides me?” And the invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:
“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. 33 In his vhumiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” [Isaiah 53:7–8]
34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and wbeginning with this Scripture xhe told him the good news about Jesus.
So prophet Isaiah foretold of a day when the gospel would advance to all nations — a day when foreigners and eunuchs, when Gentiles and outcasts, will hear the gospel and become part of the people of God. And here, in Acts 8, this Ethiopian eunuch hears the gospel and believes.
And now we see it: Isaiah promised the day would come, and now Luke tells us this story to say the day is here.
Luke wants us to make the connection to Isaiah 56 and know that the gospel has now advanced, and is advancing, to the ends of the earth, like Isaiah promised, and just like Jesus said in Acts 1:8. His witness has advanced in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and now to the end of the earth.” Here in chapter 8 marks a transition in the Book of Acts and in world history of the gospel going to all nations, to the ends of the earth, and this is still happening today.
In fact, think about this, how do you think we heard? Minneapolis is not exactly right around the corner from Jerusalem (it’s 6,223 miles). We have heard the gospel because what Isaiah said is true, and because what Jesus said would happen is happening. The gospel is going to the ends of the earth. That’s the big connection in this text, and I think that is what Luke wants us to see in this story. The main point of the passage, and the sermon, is that the gospel is now advancing to all nations. But there are also two pieces in the story that I want us to see in closing, sort of like application.
In this big movement of the gospel to the ends of the earth, which is still happening today, we get this amazing perspective from both sides of the gospel’s advance, from the side of seeking and from the side of speaking. The Ethiopian stands as the Seeker Exemplar. And then Philip stands as the Speaker Exemplar. And I think this has something for all of us. First, the Ethiopian man.
First, the Ethiopian Man . . .
So if you’re here and you’re not a Christian, but you’re interested in Jesus, (which, if you’re here I think that’s the case, or you’re just being really nice to someone) — well the Ethiopian man models for us how we might go to learn more about God. Look at a couple things here.
First, let’s get clear who this guy is. Luke does something pretty neat. In Isaiah 56 there is the foreigner/Gentile and then the eunuch/outcast. And here in Acts 8, that is all found in one person. This man is an outcast in the sense that as a eunuch, according to Deuteronomy 23:1, he is cut off from the assembly of God. He has not been able to be part of God’s people. But as an Ethiopian official, with his own chariot, making his own trips, he is sort of a big deal. In fact, he is the CFO of the kingdom of Ethiopia and he looks like the Old Spice man. That’s who this guy is. And he wants to know God. So he has been to Jerusalem to worship, and he is reading the Bible.
One thing to say here, to learn from him, is that if you are unsure about Jesus but you’re interested in investigating more, hanging around Christians and reading the Bible is a great place to start. There are so many stories in history of people reading the Bible and then the lights come on. I have a story like that. I grew up around the church, but it was when I was reading the Bible one day when all of a sudden it clicked. And that could be your experience, or maybe it won’t be. But you have to read the Bible to find out. If you are wondering a good place to start reading, try the Gospel of John. Grab a friend and dig in.
So the Old Spice man was reading the Bible, and we can learn from him there, but the main thing we can learn from him is the question he asks Philip. He had been reading Isaiah 53, that famous passage about the Messiah as a Suffering Servant who is punished on behalf of his people. He reads from Isaiah 53 and then asks the question. That’s in verse 34.
And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” (Acts 8:34)
He wants to know who Jesus is. That is his question. Who is this Messiah? And that is the most important question you could ever ask. Notice he doesn’t say to Philip, “About how many years, I ask you, is the age of the earth?” That’s not what he says. He doesn’t ask him the Christian position on national policy, or even how Philip defines marriage. Now, if he would have asked these things, Philip would have continued the conversation, and I’m sure they will eventually get to these topics. But the first question — the main question — is “who is Isaiah talking about?” Who is Jesus Christ?
Because everything else about everything hangs and falls on that answer.
And so my encouragement to you would be to investigate there. Look into the claims of Christ. See what this man said about himself, and what he did, and how he changed the world. If you are interested in God, or in spiritual things, you have to investigate Jesus [there will be more on that on the website this week.]
So we’ve looked at the Ethiopian eunuch, who shows us the seeking side of the gospel’s advance. And now Philip shows us the speaking side.
Next, There Is Philip . . .
In Philip, we as the church, as Christians, see the model speaker. And it really has to do with the unsuspecting scenario in which Philip found himself.
It’s fascinating that this encounter happens, which Luke tells us took place on a backroad that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza. I say backroad because Luke says, “This is a desert place” (v. 26). It is out there. Away from what feels like the front-lines of ministry.
So while the action is taking place in Samaria, while the gospel is being preached in all the villages of the Samaritans in verse 25, God sends Philip to the desert in verse 26. And it’s in this desert, out in the middle of no where, totally unplanned, that we first see the gospel advance to the ends of the earth. Which means . . .
The movement of the gospel that went on to change the world happened on a old, unforeseen desert road — where it was not expected. And I don’t think this is just a one-time time thing for the gospel’s advance, but we actually see here a paradigm for how the kingdom of God expands.
It doesn’t quite happen the way we’d think. Now to be sure, there is teaching in the synagogues. You have your public debates, your podcasts, your conferences. But then there’s just this desert road. And on this desert road there’s a conversation. And it’s there, where nobody would have thought, sort of like a stable in the little town of Bethlehem, we see the new creation of God begin taking over the old.
It’s where we never would have thought.
It’s in that long day of parenting when your patience is already wearing thin, and then you have this situation come up that presents an amazing opportunity to teach your children about the grace of God. And he gives you the grace to do it.
Or it’s when you team up on a project at work, and in the project you embody this amazing combination of competency and servanthood. You are leading and you are listening, and one of your colleagues pulls you aside later and wants to know, “Why do you do it like that?”
Or it’s when you’re in a dark place, and your own hope feels so dismal, and you’re not trying to show anybody anything, you’re just trying to hold on. And someone comes to you and says, “I was thinking about you the other day and what you’ve gone through, and I just want you to know, that your faith is such an encouragement to me.”
See, Christian, it’s when we find ourselves in these places, in what feels like is away from the action, that God is working through us to advance his gospel. It’s here, in those unsuspecting, unremarkable moments, on the desert road, as we’re going about our day, that all of a sudden we wake up.
We wake up and we realize that we’ve been walking through the motions, going about our lives asleep, as if our mundane moments don’t really matter. And now, we’ve snapped out of it. Now we realize that it’s actually in these moments, it’s in these little encounters on a desert road, that God is fulfilling his promise to the world through us. Just us.
Christian, what you do matters. Wherever you are, whatever it is you do, it matters, and God has chosen to work through you to advance his gospel to the ends of the earth. And he’s doing it.
