Now we are ready for the third big movement of gospel proclamation. Remember that Jesus had said, "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

That begins to unfold, step by step, just as Jesus had said. After Stephen was killed in Jerusalem, Philip preaches about Christ in Samaria (8:4-25). Next, "an angel of the Lord" directs Philip to a desert road leading from Jerusalem to Gaza. There Philip meets an Ethiopian eunuch and the Holy Spirit tells Philip to talk with him. You can't get more toward "the ends of the earth" than that.

The man seems to have been a convert to Judaism. As such he would have come to Jerusalem to worship in the temple. But because he was a Gentile, and a castrated male, he wasn't even allowed into the temple precincts. Jewish law banned such people from temple worship. He was deeply hungry for God, but God's own law seemed to push him away. Though he was an important official of the queen of Ethiopia, he probably experienced serious prejudicial treatment.

The man is reading from a scroll that contains Isaiah 53, the famous passage that so wonderfully prophesies about Jesus Christ: "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth." (I've always wondered if this man had been present in Jerusalem during Jesus' death and resurrection, and if that was what piqued his interest in this passage.)

It was customary for Jews in that day, and for many today, to read the Bible out loud. Philip hears him reading and asks if he understands what he is reading. "How can I," the man from Ethiopia says, "unless someone explains it to me?" Taking a seat alongside him in the chariot, Philip takes the opportunity to explain how this important Scripture speaks about Jesus, the suffering servant of God and the Savior of the world. So the Holy Spirit used both Scripture itself and Philip's explanation of it to bring this man to faith in Jesus Christ.

Strangely, it's the man from Ethiopia who asks to be baptized. He must have been very familiar with the recent religious movements around Jerusalem, including John the Baptist, to make a request like that. Philip, not knowing if they would ever meet again, baptized him on the spot.

This astounding story deeply informs us about how the gospel works. It tells us that the Bible often needs to be explained. It also tells us again what we have seen all along in Acts---that this is a movement directed and empowered by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is leading the way.

Even though we often need some explanation of God's Word (preaching), when the Holy Spirit speaks through it directly to the human heart, Scripture packs divine power to transform. The gospel (the story of God's saving love), says Paul, "is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes" (Rom. 1:16). That same power brought the Ethiopian eunuch to faith in Jesus Christ.