A TREASURER FINDS TRUE TREASURE

          Acts chapter eight opens with an ominous cloud.  Stephen has been stoned and a great persecution has arisen against the Jerusalem church. Saul of Tarsus is on the rampage, ravaging the church, entering house after house; and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.

Many of the early believers found themselves in the midst of a diaspora - - scattered throughout Judea and Samaria (Acts 8:1-3).  But, as is often the case with trials, a sliver lining appears:  those who had been scattered went about preaching the word (Acts 8:4).  Philip, one of seven who aided in ministering to the Grecian widows in the Jerusalem church, decides to go to Samaria.  On an earlier occasion this village had rebuffed a visit from Jesus, so riling up James and John (sons of thunder/Mk.3:17) that they asked Jesus if He would grant permission to incinerate them (Lk.9:51-54).

Surprisingly, this time the Samaritans were welcoming - - they not only gave attention to Philip’s words but were also being baptized (Acts 8:6-13).  The apostles sent Peter and John to corroborate this event and to pray for these new converts.  On their return home to Jerusalem, the apostolic duo of Peter and John continued to engage in preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans (Samaria was both a village and a province).  

          Philip was told by an angel of the Lord to head south to a desert road descending to Gaza.  There, he met up the treasurer for Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians (Acts 8:26-27).  The treasurer had been to Jerusalem to worship Jehovah and was returning home.  Some have speculated that he might have traveled to Jerusalem to inquire about Jesus on behalf of the queen.  While riding home he was reading aloud from a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.  Philip asked him if he understood what he was reading and he humbly invited Philip to join him and provide some guidance. 

          Using the text of Isaiah 53, Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture, HE PREACHED JESUS TO HIM (Acts 8:35).  The very next verse states:  As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, ‘Look!  Water!  What prevents me from being baptized?  A fair question here is, “Who brought up baptism?".  While the word baptism is not in the text of Isaiah 53, it does contain a vivid picture of a suf- fering servant (Jesus) who sacrifices his life for others.  With confidence one can safely deduce that while preaching Jesus Philip interwove the sub-ject of baptism.  It seems that Philip called upon the treasurer to imitate Jesus by dying with Christ by means of a watery grave called baptism.  No other explanation makes sense.  So when our believer friends contend that baptism in not all that important, or if they are so bold as to argue that baptism is certainly not essential, let us kindly but firmly ask them to read with us the text of this delightful eighth chapter of Acts.  What a story!

It is a story of the impact of the greatest story ever told.  (Philip) ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch; and he baptized him.  On his way home, in a most unexpected place, a treasurer finds true treasure - - SALVATION IN CHRIST JESUS.     

                                                                                                                Terry Siverd / Cortland Church of Christ