And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
Comment: This is the end of a story. We meet here a man from a different (non-Jewish) culture, who has somehow been brought to be considering the Jewish scriptures. He is reading a passage which is about the Messiah Whom God is going to send, a book written by Isaiah about 700 years before Jesus, the Messiah, was born. He can’t make head nor tail of this book but God ‘plops’ Philip next to him on the road as he travels and Philip explains what/Who the passage is all about. In these five verses they travel quite a distance on the road but also a long way in understanding the story of Jesus from an Old Testament prophetic view point to a recent historical fulfilment of that prophecy in the life/death/resurrection of Jesus. They’ve obviously talked about the issue of belief, trust and baptism. Philip and the man, at his request, go into a nearby body of water and the eunuch is baptised. God takes Philip back on to his tour of evangelism. The Eunuch, a different man now, not searching for the truth but believing in Jesus, Who claims to be the ‘the Way, the Truth and the Life’ continues his royal duties under Queen Candice.
Prayer: One day Father, maybe not until we get to heaven, but we would love to know what happened to that converted man.
As I read it! 