“And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” “… But now Christ is risen from the dead.” 1 Corinthians 15:17,20
We do not know just how long after Pentecost that Philip the evangelist was told by God to go “…south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (Acts 8:26) The purpose of God in sending an angel of the Lord to speak to Philip, was to encounter an Ethiopian eunuch of great authority, who had come to Jerusalem to worship, and was returning to Ethiopia. This man, in his chariot, was reading the book of Isaiah, but was at a loss to understand what he was reading, in particular concerning the fifty-third chapter of the book of Isaiah which spoke of Christ who, “…was led as a sheep led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so He opened not his mouth.” (v.7) It was at the moment when this man was reading this passage, that Philiip ran up to his chariot, being directed by the Spirit of God to do so, that Philip asked: “Do you understand what you are reading?” The man answered that he could not unless someone would guide him. It was then that Philip, “…opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus unto him.” (Acts 8:35) The Spirit of God so moved in the heart of this Ethiopian eunuch that he asked Philip if he could be baptized. Philip’s response was very simple but clear: “If you believe with all your heart, you may,” to which the man answered: “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” Why is this story in the Bible, and why is it so very important? What does it teach us about the resurrection?
First of all, it is an account of something miraculous, so miraculous that this stranger who had come to Jerusalem to worship, leaves with the writings of the Isaiah, then being led to a very passage which speaks of the sacrifice of Christ, the Savior of the world. The second miracle is that of Philip, the Lord’s servant and messenger, who comes along side to explain of whom the passage speaks. So empowered by the Spirit of God were the words of Philip that this man came to the conviction that indeed this Jesus Christ, having been crucified outside of Jerusalem on a cross, was indeed the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world. In Philip’s presentation of Jesus to this man, he not only spoke of Christ’s death and burial, but the essential fact of His resurrection. Why? The resurrection was God’s clear declaration, confirmation, and certification that Christ was indeed the Son of God, the Savior of the world, for according to Jesus’ very words before His death, He declared that He would be raised from the dead, death no longer being His captor. He conquered death to declare first of all that He was God come in the flesh, and that He came for the purpose of accomplishing a perfect and eternal salvation for sinful, fallen man. But He also conquered death to declare the glory of His Father, for in that resurrection is revealed the very power of God to overcome every enemy denying and defying that Christ was the Son of God, and that He had just provided the means by which sinful, lost, hopeless and helpless man could be saved. In the resurrection of Christ was fulfilled all the prophesies of God concerning Christ’s coming, ministry, suffering and death, then rising from the dead. The resurrection would become the testimony of a perfect saving work of Christ committed to those who would believe Him for it, not only with regard to sins forgiven, and sinful man crucified with Christ, but the assurance and promise of a power that is not of this world, but of God. It is a power that overcame death, and every principality, power, might, and dominion, which defied it. This is the certain hope of the believer.
Dear Father, Grant us resurrection power. In Jesus’ name, Amen.