There was an Ethiopian…. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. (Acts 8:27-28)
Think about what was happening in Jerusalem about the time the Ethiopian visited there. Many thousands had become followers of Christ (Acts 4:4; 6:7). Recently, the temple authorities had resorted to violence yet again, brutally stoning a Christian named Stephen (Acts 7:57-60). That same day, they unleashed “a great persecution” against the church (Acts 7:57-60; 8:1; 9:1). Many believers were arrested and imprisoned. Many others were scattered as refugees (Acts 8:4-5). While in Jerusalem, how much of this conflict had the Ethiopian heard or seen? Had he talked to people there? Did he ask about Isaiah? The wrong people would have given the wrong answers. Jerusalem’s experts—lawyers, scribes, priests and elders—were the very enemies who kept opposing Jesus and had Him killed (Acts 3:17; 13:27). Their ignorance and lies would have led the Ethiopian astray. But God was kind to the Ethiopian. God sent Philip, one of the scattered refugees, to bless him with the truth of the Gospel. In one way or another, the conflict between truth and lies would continue, even in distant Africa. But now, as a follower of Jesus, the Ethiopian was firmly on the side of truth. For Jesus is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).