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Acts 8.24-28
June 26th 2016
Milk
Okay we left off with Peter and John having a very frank discussion with Simon Magnus, a man who believed and was baptized but eventually turned from the faith.
At verse 23 we read Peter say to Simon . . .
Acts 8:23 For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.
24 Then answered Simon, and said, “Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.”
25 And they, when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.
At this point Luke continues and takes us into a new theme of Philips life who got the ball rolling in Samaria and says:
26 And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.
27 And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,
28 Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.
So let’s go back to Peter and John with Simon Magnus – verse 23 where Peter says to him:
Acts 8:23 For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.
In other words, based on what you have done in offering to purchase the power to bestow the Holy Spirit on others, I perceive that your soul is really in the “Gall of Bitterness” and in “the Bond of Iniquity.”
We know that Simon believed and was baptized but Peter perceived that within his person resided some very unhealthy attributes which caused Peter to say that he was “in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity.”
Acts 8:23 For
Translation? Peter seems to be saying:
“I stand staring at one who is has the poisonous bile of bitternesss within him while being in the chains of iniquitous inequality with life.”
Peter could be borrowing from the book of Deuteronomy 29:18 where Moses warns against practicing idolatry and says:
“Lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood.”
Bitter roots of the heart are warned against I scripture and are used to illustrate attitudes or practices that grow into our hearts just as a roots of a plant burrows its way into the surrounding soil spreading bitter poison systemically throughout the soul of person as the roots deepen.
In addition to this people are described in scripture as being “in “ or “chained to attitudes and/or actions too.”
Proverbs 5:22 says
“His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.”
Psalm 9:15 “The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.”
Proverbs 26:27 “Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.”
Looking upon Simon Magnus here Peter sees (or perceives) that the man’s heart is trapped by his own bitter roots.
We have a biblical premise that is so intriguing. In the human existence almost all of us are faced with two general approaches (or paths) every minute of every day – the path of war and warfare or a path of bondage – to something or someone or another.
In my estimation those who are equipped for life’s warfare (by nature and nurture) tend to have a better go of things over the course of their lives than those who prefer to be enslaved (by some sort of captor) that provides temporary escapes and securities – but at a very high price – the loss of freedom.
In my humble estimation this is the bottom-line to it all: those inclined to warfare are fighting for the right to be free and to be completely emancipated from all captors except God – and this is constant daily war.
Biblically, the war is fought by our allowing God to lead the way and to battle according to His commands.
Also present biblically however is the over abundant theme of Man choosing rather to be in bondage to idols, or Pharaohs, or religious tradition or pleasures – even to slave labor – as a means to not . . . have to fight.
And the bottom line, overriding factor in every decision we make is . . . FEAR.
Those who choose warfare have overcome their fears. Those who turn to elements of bondage have been overcome by fear and turn to task masters to protect them and provide them security at a very high price.
I don’t typically make didactic statements in the name of God but I will venture to make one here:
“God does not want any of us to fear anything or anyone . . . but Him.”
When Jesus came into His own town He entered into a synagogue, stood up, opened to the Book of Isaiah and of all the passages in scripture read the following from Isaiah 61:1
“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound,”
And then before sitting down said to all those that were there:
“Today this saying has been fulfilled in your ears.”
“God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son . . .” to do what?
Jehovah anointed Him to . . .
preach good tidings unto the meek;
sent Him to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound,”
Built into God sending His Son to do these specific things is the FACT – the FACT – that in God’s estimation – again IN GOD’S ESTIMATION – warfare (done the right way) is superior to bondage of any type or to anything.
To Him, who I maintain holds liberty and freedom right up there with His own character, it is all, all, all about emancipation from bondage, from taskmasters, from being prisoners or slaves to ANYONE and EVERYONE but God through Christ.
This means bondage to anything that exercises control over you – anything except God.
Herein lies the paradox because when we allow God to become our taskmaster and we become His servant, fear flees and we become humble before others (not proud),willing and compliant to their will and desires and even evils (but in love).
And through this means alone believers and followers of God become simultaneously FEARLESS, FAITHFUL, HUMBLE, LOVING and absolutely free – from sin, substances, religion, men, and every other thing on earth seeking to take us captive.
In His protective hands we become wild, radical slaves operating in genuine love – and the TRUTH will have set us free.
Everything else is a captor.
Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) to be free in Him, we have to engage in warfare.
To us this warfare is all spiritual. It is all based in allowing and letting Him work through us by His Spirit.
It is not war AGAINST flesh and blood because that is a war in the flesh.
It’s a war of death, and dying to the flesh, and living to the Spirit – allowing, letting, desiring Him over the promises of other taskmasters.
This is our war – and it is not an easy one – that’s why on this earth so many substitutes exist ready to step in place of Him as God.
This is the picture we have all through and I mean all through the Old Testament narrative – and even in the New Testament narrative of Jesus life death and resurrection at the hands of a people who feared loss of religious tradition or loss of social status or the gain of pain for having chosen Him.
In the case of the Children of Israel they groaned under the bondage under Egyptian rule (which is always a type for sin in scripture) and God heard their prayers and sent Moses to liberate them.
But from the get-go they were fearful – terrified – and they were constantly unsure of which way to walk.
We read an extremely interesting passage in the Old Testament regarding the two choices of warfare or bondage most human beings face.
God had just led Moses to lead the Children of Israel out of the bitter chains of bondage to Egypt – where their toil was relentless and nearly unbearable for somewhere between 250 and 400 years.
Then we read in Exodus 13:17
Exodus 13:17-18 “And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was closer to Canaan; for God said, For perhaps the people will change their mind when they see war, and will return to Egypt: so God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea.”
Truth be told there were two ways to exit Egypt and to go into the promised land of Canaan. One was only a few days’ journey but was through a territory of the Philistines, a very warlike people.
The other way was a much longer route through the wilderness – which of course would be full of other types of trials and difficulties which they nation would slowly but surely face.
Why would they have trials in the wilderness too? Because God wanted to prepare them for fearless warfare – which would ultimately include facing the Philistines.
But when they first came out of Egypt they were not ready to meet this enemy face to face. This is why we read:
“And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was closer to Canaan; for God said, For perhaps the people will change their mind when they see war, and will return to Egypt: so God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea.”
By having them take the longer less fearful route God was able to teach them to deal with the stressors and trial of life in the wilderness BY RELYING ON HIM – before entering into the battles that waited them in the promised land – where He demanded that they fully rely on Him there too.
And so what we read about in Exodus (and all the way up to Joshua) was God leading them through different trials where they would learn that there was no need to fear, that He was on their side, and that they could look to Him and trust that He would deliver them.
And what a battle this was for Moses as their leader.
Right off the bat Pharaoh pursued them with chariots and horses and upon seeing them the fearful COI said to Moses in Exodus 14:
“it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in this wilderness.”
Do you know what Moses said to them in reply?
Exodus 14:13 “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.
14 The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
And then do you know what the LORD did? Put a pillar of fire between the COI and the Egyptian armies, parted the Red Sea, made the ground dry for the COI to travel over, then delivering them to the other side, drown all the pursuing Egyptians.
The COI would face thirst – and seek to go back to captivity – and God would provide for them.
They faced starvation, they faced death, they faced difficulty – and in every case they turned and looked back to captivity as their answer – and in every case God stepped in and provided.
And then after forty years of wandering and preparation and teaching them that they could rely on Him to always make a way, to provide, and to have victory God sent the COI into the promised land which was filled with nothing but WARFARE – and His command for them to let Him lead, to trust in Him, and to not fear – that He would protect them, He would provide for them, and if they trusted Him He would deliver them.
(beat)
These physical illustrations in the Old Testament are example for us today as believers who too must constantly choose to engage in warfare (with Him as the lead and way) or to flee in fear back to bondage.
Like the COI, God does not take us a force us to enter warfare the moment we have been liberated from our captives but takes us through the wilderness and gives us opportunity after opportunity to learn to trust Him in the trials and difficulties of our new lives.
Like the COI we will fail, we will turn back (at least in our hearts) at times and yearn for the days in mindless bondage.
We grow weary in warfare. We tire of waiting on the Lord and wonder if He will ever show up. And so we turn to the idols, the promises, the utter allure of the tangible, and in fear surrender to the enemy – which thrives on the fears of others.
Scripture presents us with a number of key reminders relative to our warfare. All of them will help bring us to a place where we thirst for liberty in Christ over bondage to anything else.
The first I’ve already mentioned but today, unlike the Nation of Israel, our warfare is NOT against flesh and blood – either others or our own.
Paul, appealing to imagery of a warrior and warfare, says in his letters to Timothy and telling him in 1st Timothy to “war a good warfare,” and in 2nd Timothy 2 saying
3 “. . . endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”
Then he gives us these outstanding insights on how to wage such warfare, saying in Ephesians 6 beginning at verse 10:
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.
All of his advice speaks to feeding the spirit, reaching to God by the Spirit, living by the Spirit.
This increases the strength of the Spirit and diminishes the strength of the flesh.
Paul adds in 2nd Corinthians 10:1 saying:
“Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:
2 But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.)
Notice that last term, “strongholds?”
We pull them down in our lives by leaning on Him through the Spirit the waging war to remain free.
I am personally convinced that those who seek and want and desire liberation through Christ (which is a freedom that surpasses every other type or kind) will have it.
I am equally convinced that those who prefer bondage to warfare will also receive their hearts desires – here and there – God is that good.
But He is always here to liberate anyone who grows tires of the shackles and is ready to put up a fight – through Him.
Peter describes Simon Magnus here as being one who was in the bile of bitterness and in bondage.
It seems that at this point in his life he desired to be free, and received Christ through belief and water baptism, but Peter concluded that his vices thrived strongly within him.
Due to the way history describes the man and the way he winds up it seems he remained dedicated to his captors – whether they be his own flesh, his own will, selfishness, fear, or Satan himself, Simon, though believing and one who submitted to baptism, would go on and let the gall of bitterness and chains of bondage reign.
I am personally convinced that the ground whereupon the Word of God landed in Simon’s heart was the thorny soil that Jesus described and the “cares and riches of the world” which served to choked the growth of the word out so it could not thrive in him and produce fruits of the Spirit.
Final scripture about Simon Magnus here in Acts:
24 Then answered Simon, and said, “Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.
Remember from last week that back in verse 22 that Peter said to Simon:
“Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray to God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.”
But here Simon puts Peter’s suggestion back on Peter and askes that he would pray for him too (or instead).
Maybe he sought additional prayer or maybe, as is often the case, Simon did not feel equipped or able to pray to God directly and sought what he believed was a worth intermediary in Peter.
It’s a strange thing when some people either do not believe they are worthy enough to pray or they think others are more worthy or equipped to speak to God for them and will ask them to pray on their behalf.
Even in prayer we are forced to choose to enter warfare or to pass it off to a waiting substitute.
God seems to desire since the death of His Son for seekers of truth to seek him out directly – which is what Peter first suggested to Simon – “go to God and pray to him” but we do not know if he ever did.
And this wraps up the Simon Magnus narrative in the book of Acts. Luke continues and says:
25 And they (speaking presumably of the Apostles Peter and John who had been speaking with Simon Magnus) when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.
And then at verse 25 Luke now launches into a new story for us to consider, saying:
26 And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, “Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.”
As you know by now the word angel (angellos) is used in the Scriptures in a variety of ways and here it has been supposed by some to mean literally a celestial messenger sent from God.
Some have supposed that it means a dream that Philip had and others think a vision, and some think it was Christ Himself.
Since the word properly means a messenger; and all that it can be shown to signify here is, that the Lord sent a message to Philip of some type or kind.
Having said this I think that the best interpretation of this phrase is to say that God communicated this specific message to Philip by his Spirit.
Could be wrong but I base this on verses 29 of this chapter where we will read
“Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.”
And then at verse 39 where we will read again:
“And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more.”
However it very easily could have been a literal angel (for all we know) as angles did play a role in communicating God’s divine will throughout the NT.
Whatever the mode of messenger it said to Philip:
“Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.”
At this point we are introduced to the conversion story of a man – a eunuch – and from it take away a number of insights.
First of all Philip was first led to Samaria but once his work was done there God chose to move him to another location –
Toward the south of Samaria into Gaza,
or AZZAH, (according to Genesis 10:19) which was a city of the Philistines that was given by Joshua to Judah and had some other interesting biblical history.
(verse 27 and 28)
27 And he (Philip) arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, (28) was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.”
A couple of things – we talk sometimes of the Spirit being able to reach people without the added aid of preachers or teachers. This is true. But when someone is seeking and is in need of instruction God will often send others to step into their world and open scriptural truths to them – this is what we are seeing in the case of Philip and the Eunuch.
It’s really a touching story how here we have a man sitting roadside and reading Isaiah and God caring enough about his heart and mind that he had another man leave his local (in Samaria) just to reach this single Ethiopian eunuch with the truth.
I’m sure this happens all the time not only in our lives but in God moving us to reach others.
Ethiopia was one of the great kingdoms of Africa and is often mentioned in Scripture under a larger general name of Cush.
Eunuchs were commonly employed to attend to the females of the harem (these would be actual eunuchs – you know – without a portion of their man parts but the word is often used in scripture to describe any confidential officer or counsellor of state. This may be the case here.
Or the guy could have been castrated.
The term eunuch means a bed-keeper or chamberlain and not all were necessarily mutilated it was a very common practice in Eastern courts.
The law of Moses excluded them from the congregation as
Deuteronomy 23:1 says:
“He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD.”
There is debate what the line, “shall not enter into the congregation” actually meant.
But Eunuchs were common among the Greeks and Romans. In an interesting address of Jesus He describes three classes of eunuchs in Matthew 19:12, saying:
“For there are some eunuchs, which were (first) so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were (second) made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs (third) which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.”
Church historian Eusebius says that Origen, an early church father who contributed greatly to the concept of Trinity, took these words to heart and cut his “own stones off in a fit of fleshly piety.”
To me if God gave us stones I am in no position to cut them off. But Jesus Himself admits that some have made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven’s sake and did add:
“Let him who can receive it receive it.”
I have to admit that in days past when my levels of testosterone have gotten me into trouble I have considered the option and as with all things here at CAMPUS, including circumcision, if anyone wishes to become an official eunuch Kathy Maggie and Linda will take care of it for you after the meeting.
Whatever type of eunuch this particular man was he was also one of great authority – an officer of the court and a Jews –which we know because he was in Jerusalem to celebrate the holy days which only a Jew would do.
We also learn that he served under Candace, who, we learn from the historian Pliny, was one of many queens in Ethiopian who all shared the name Candace just like the title Pharaoh was shared by the sovereigns in Egypt or Caesars in Rome.
Apparently this Eunuch had the charge of things in Candace’s treasury so he was an officer that was held in high trust.
So sitting roadside, in his carriage – which was probably a platform born by human beings or animals, we find this eunuch doing what?
Reading Isaiah! The word of God!
The lamp to our feet.
He was in all probability reading the Septuagint translation of Isaiah (the Hebrew translated into the Greek) as this translation was made in Egypt, for the special use of the Jews in Alexandria and throughout the rest of Egypt.
Why he was reading the Isaiah we don’t know. It may have been simply because he was a Jew or possibly he had been to Jerusalem at the time of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, that he had heard a lot about him, and that he opened the scripture to see what it said on the subject.
The Bible is a really interesting book because to those who do not seem to care or seek, it is a mishmash and seems to offer them nothing at all in terms of insight or value.
My own father who is a very crafty street survivor, inventor, and horticulturalist cannot read the Bible – he does not care for its contents and frankly admits that he cannot understand what he reads.
On the other hand, those who seek – even if they do not have spiritual eyes to discern and interpret, the Bible can open eyes and change hearts.
Of course to the believer it is the living word that does not return void. So for some reason this Eunuch was reading from Isaiah and by the time Philip arrived on the scene he had some questions.
Which we will cover next week.
Comments, Insights, Questions?
