Acts, Chapter 8

Please read the chapter in your Bible.

Verse 1: “And Saul was there, giving approval to his death.

Saul. We did read about him in the previous chapter, in verse 58. Saul could not agree more, this Stephen, with all his fantastic hallucinations, he must die. Deceiving the crowds, he deserved death.

Yes, that was Saul’s conviction. BUT . . . God!

You see, from the day of birth till the day of death, not one single day between, Stephen was not alone in this world. From his one step to the other, here or there, God was there with him. It was absolutely impossible for Stephen to dodge that reality. That day, when the stones rained down on him and caused his physical death, Stephen suddenly experienced in full that he was with God, eternally with God! I do not know where you are. But I am most sure that you are not alone! You may be ten thousand meters up in the air, you may be in a prison cell or a hospital ward, I don’t hesitate for one moment, I can tell you straight and honest, no matter where you are, God is there! If you are determined not to believe me, you have made up your mind to reject God, your great Creator. When your time in this world is up, you will not, you cannot have God with you. That will be hell! In hell you will not meet your mates, you will be alone! Alone with your eternal regret and pain, because of your rejection of the God, Who was there when you did not want Him. I plead with you: ’Seek the Lord, while He may be found ‘ You will find Him at the Cross of Jesus. Turn to a Bible, find the four gospels and allow Him to speak to your heart.

Verses 1 – 3: “And Saul was there, giving approval to his death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.

Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.”

‘Saul was there . . .!’ And that meant trouble. Many Christians landed in prison. That trouble would lead to the glory of God! The whole prison reverberated because of singing Christians. Around the grave of Stephen godly men mourned, but heaven too was reverberating with glory songs, one of God’s servants did come Home.

Yes, there was dire trouble, BUT GOD!!

Verse 4: “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.”

=35 =

Dear Lord, all this is so very precious. You chose Saul to scatter Your children throughout Judea and Samaria. No longer could they care for home and garden or bank accounts. But ‘they preached the word, throughout Judea and Samaria, wherever they went.’ Lord, YOU, not Saul, YOU were in control! Nowhere or ever will that be different.

Verse 5: “Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there.

Verse 6: When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said.

Verse 7: “With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed.”

I will re-emphasize! Stephen and Philip were useful to God, for Him to speak to convince the people of Israel. That happened during a period of transition. Soon that period would end. God would leave Israel to her own devices. He would then occupy with the Church of the Lord Jesus, until that Church is complete and with Jesus in Heaven. After that, on earth, God will again deal with Israel. From day one, Israel still in slavery in Egypt, miraculous signs were God’s means by which to attract Israel to Himself. But today Israel still will not!

Today sinners need to hear and believe His Word about Jesus His only Son. See Him die on the Cross, risen from the grave because ‘God so loved the world that He gave His Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have life ever lasting.’

Verse 9: “Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great,

Verse 10: and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, ‘This man is the divine power known as the Great Power.’ “

Well, we have concluded that not one person ever is alone in this world. Never! Because God is in the world He has made!

I do wish all my readers to know it! I wish the world to know it! Not only God, the great Creator is omni-present. God’s archenemy, the Devil also is always present in this world. God’s archenemy, Satan, is the source of all evil and pain. If never before you knew that, you do now. Now you need to decide! Will you choose for eternity in Heaven with God, or eternal hell here on earth, and in the hereafter. Hell with Satan. In the Bible the God of all power, all grace and all love shows you the way. HE ALONE IS LORD, the God Who longs to forgive and heal.

Verse 18,19: “When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said: ‘Give me also this ability, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

Verse 20: “Peter answered: ‘May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!

Peter? Was not that a very harsh answer? You told Simon to perish. Was that like Jesus? Was it? After all, Simon himself believed and was baptized (verse 13).

Verse 21: ‘You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.”

Do you get it? What did Peter say? You have no part in God’s mercy and grace? No!! Peter did not say anything like that! Did he say: You have not got eternal life, the life of God? No!! He did not! Peter did say: ‘You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right with God’

Oh, how do I wish it, pray for it, that every one who becomes born of God, through faith in the precious blood of Jesus, that every such person may learn and know, that they, in the family of God, are a new born baby. Has to learn, to know how to live in God’s family-life. A learning experience of 80 years, or more! Simon still had to learn the first steps in walking with God.

Like any youngster, Simon thought that money would help him escape that learning process and experience. But . . . he had a precious privilege. Peter taught him about it.

Verse 22,23 ‘Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps He will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”

How many times did others see sin in my heart, while I myself never did see it? How often was I not growing up in the life of God because sin kept me captive? I can’t tell you. But day and night I rejoice in one truth that will never change.

‘If we confess our sins, HE is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.’ (1 John 1:8 – 10).

My Lord and Father in Heaven, how dear He is to me!

Verse 24: “Then Simon answered, ‘Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

Simon! You did have that correct. You sought the fellowship of your senior in the family of God. That’s how you taught all of us a lesson.

Now, please read the verses 14 – 17 in this chapter. And finish with verse 25.

Verse 25: “When they had testified and proclaimed the Word of the Lord, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.”

What again were our Lord’s words to His disciples, on the Mount of Olives?

Acts 1:8 “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

And so it did happen. They did start in Jerusalem and preached the Gospel in many villages in Samaria. Do we realize what that meant? Time was at hand for the Gospel to go out ‘to the ends of the earth’. Israel remained determined in her rejection of her Messiah. Soon she would be left to her own resources. The transition period will come to its end. Again I urge you to take your own Bible and read the verse 26 – 40 of this chapter.

Verse 26: “Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip: ’Go south to the road – the desert road – that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.

Verse 27: “So he started out”.

Yes, he did. Onto the desert road! Was that a good place for preaching? There were no crowds on the desert road. A few kangaroos and dry cacti plants, yes. Did the angel of the Lord not know the road map? Yes, he did And the angel also knew why Philip must be on that lonely road..

“ . . . and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace. queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship.”

Ethiopia – Jerusalem! That journey would have taken a few weeks. Now on a lonely, desert road with deeply searching questions, no one to answer them. In his hands the prophetical Word of God. The eunuch was not alone on that deserted road. He was alone with God! Many servants, many slaves, many days from home, pressing questions, yes, yes, BUT GOD!

Verse 28: “And on his way home was sitting in his chariot, reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet.

Verse 29: “The Spirit told Philip: ‘Go to that chariot and stay near it’ “.

Verse 30: “Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ Philip asked.

Verse 31: “ ‘How can I?’ he said ‘ unless someone explains it to me?’ So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him

Verse 32: “The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture:

‘He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,

and as a Lamb before the shearer is silent,

so He did not open his mouth.

Verse 33: “In His humiliation He was deprived of justice;

Who can speak of His descendants?

Because His life was taken from the earth.”

It will not surprise me when some of my readers are, like the eunuch, puzzled by this segment of the Bible. The eunuch wished someone would explain it to him and graciously God provided that someone for him.

No, the prophet did not speak about the prophet. He served as God’s spokesman when he referred to someone still to come. Someone Who would be treated and behave like a sheep is treated by the slaughter or a lamb in the hands of the shearer. Someone Who never received justice, could not have descendants, because His life ‘was taken from the earth’. That Someone came into the world in the Person of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, the son of Mary, the Son of Man.

Verse 35: Then Philip began with that very passage (section) of Scripture and told him the Good News about Jesus.”

It was such a humble beginning. On a lonely, desert road. A simple donkey-cart. An ignorant, inquiring Eunuch, but also . . . the Word of God from the heart of ancient Isaiah and . . . an obedient servant of the Lord.

Verses 36 – 38: “As they travelled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, ‘Look here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?’ And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.”

Years later a servant of the Lord would teach and explain the meaning of this type of baptism of believers, by full immersion (Romans, chapter 6).

The servants of the eunuch must have witnessed the scene, to stand aghast. Their master, what on earth was he doing now? They did not know that their master, in worship and obedience, was bending his knee to his Master and Lord.

Verse 39: “When they came up, out of the water the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.”

One day, then some time ago, the esteemed leadership of the nation of Israel decided to, for once and ever to stop the preaching of the Name of Jesus. It must not continue; It must not spread any further. We forbid it, they said. Puny people.

This day, on that desert road, one kilometre after another, it did spread, all the way to Ethiopia.

Verse 40: “Philip, however, appeared at Azotus, and travelled about, preaching the Gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.