Acts 8:26-40 | Helping People SeeSample

We come to find the Ethiopian was reading from Isaiah 53. Now, when you’re a Christian and read this passage, you see Jesus written all over it. But try, for a moment, to read it without knowing who Jesus is or the events that transpired concerning his arrest or crucifixion. Try reading it in the context of Isaiah – written hundreds of years earlier – without the foresight of knowing how exactly this would be fulfilled.

Questions are bound to come up, like: Who is this about? What’s going on here? What is this talking about? Questions like the Ethiopian.

What Isaiah sees is a dilemma. How is Israel, God’s chosen servant, going to carry out her mandate to show the way of God to people who don’t see God and bring God’s salvation to the world when Israel herself refuses to see and fails to live according to God’s salvation?

This is the question of the Ethiopian. Who is this lamb to be led to the slaughter? Who is this one to be deprived of justice in humiliation? Is it Israel? Isaiah himself? Someone else? Isaiah doesn’t tell him. It’s going to take someone who’s come to see the full picture to help him see.

And here, Philip is able to share with him the good news about Jesus. Ironically, Jesus is all three. As the embodiment of Israel, Jesus takes on the role of the servant on Israel’s behalf. He is led like a sheep to slaughter for them. And for the rest of the world. As a prophet, Jesus shows people the salvation of God by being the salvation of God. Isaiah’s very name means “salvation of the Lord.” And yet Jesus is still wholly different. He is greater than Israel, greater than Isaiah. He is Yahweh-come-to-earth-visiting-his-people-and-bringing-his-salvation-fulfilling-the-promises-he-made. He is the one by which we see the way of God in this world and can be saved.