Acts 8

I bet that I'm a little arrogant when it comes to Bible knowledge. I have been given the gift of discerning Biblical truths and teaching them to others. I'm very grateful for that gift. If I'm honest, pride creeps in on that one too. It's a gift I'd not want to trade for many others. But I realize my own sinful nature about this when I "discover" something new in the Bible. Such was the case in the 8th book of Acts today. This is the chapter that talks about how persecution enabled the expansion of the early church. Let me share with you what I saw today that was new to me.

Acts 8:4 says, "But the believers who had fled ... went everywhere preaching the good News about Jesus." Now really, do you think that if you were run out of town for being a Christian that you would go everywhere "preaching the good news?" Would you still think of it as good news after watching Stephen get stoned to death and being run out of town yourself? One of the things I like to do is to imagine myself in Scripture. I don't know about you, but I find this verse to be rather unbelievable. I have a hard time seeing myself in it.

Acts 8:14 says that the apostles back in Jerusalem sent Peter and John to Samaria to validate the claims of the converts to Christianity. So people were saying they were believers --- and Jesus' apostles weren't willing to believe it without seeing it for themselves. Maybe it was the newness of the faith (in Jesus) that caused them to want to verify claims of Christianity. But doesn't this suggest something about the posture Christians should take towards people who say they have become Christians?

Acts 8:15 & 16 talk about how Peter and John "prayed for these new Christians to receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon them." It goes on to talk about how they (the new believers) had "only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus." Apparently this was the reason for the Holy Spirit's absence? But alas the Holy Spirit came upon these new believers when the apostles laid hands on their heads and prayed for them to receive the Spirit.

Now theologians will tell you that this was a special case. What we believe today is that the Holy Spirit comes upon us instantly at conversion. I don't want to argue that point (because I agree with it). However, perhaps we have missed the definition of conversion.

Do we understand the criteria necessary for conversion to have occurred? If so, then despite the claims of modern day televangelists, it is NOT as easy as just "saying a simple prayer." Just proclaiming yourself to be a Christian really may not be enough. It makes me wonder if we haven't just tried to put this whole conversion process into a neat little box that we can comprehend. More than that, it makes me wonder if conversion might really be much bigger than I can really comprehend.

Okay, the last point is found in Acts 8:39. The Holy Spirit had been speaking to Philip, telling him precisely what to do in Ethiopia. Soon Philip comes upon a eunuch, explains some Scripture to him and then baptized him. This verse says that, "When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away. The eunuch never saw him again ... Meanwhile, Philip found himself farther north ... (of where he had gone into the water)." So here is Philip ... magically transported to another physical place. (This is quite like the old Star Trek TV show where people would be "beamed" to other places like magic.)

You know, this is really quite an interesting and amazing miracle. In most of God's miraculous works, He simply manipulated inanimate objects like burning bushes or churning waters. Here God takes a live human and physically transports him to another location. If Philip had any question about where God wanted him to go next, I reckon this would have clarified it for him! I'm sitting in Denver tonight, and should I step out of the shower or hotel swimming pool and suddenly found myself in St. Louis --- it would rock my world. Let me tell you!

So here's the odd thing. Scripture doesn't go on to record anything else about this incident. There's no place where we get to find out Philip's reaction. Did he realize where he was at and say something like, "Holy crap! What just happened here?" Isn't that what you or I would probably do? But that's not what Luke (the author of this book) considers to be the most remarkable part of this story. Rather, Luke focuses on the conversion of the eunuch and the role of the Holy Spirit. I know, I know. We shouldn't be surprised at this. Still and all, I marvel at it.

We serve an amazing and incredible God. If ever you had to wonder about that, look at Acts 8 and note the peculiar ways in which He works. As the song says, "too marvelous for comprehension, like nothing ever seen or heard." Surely it is true!