DIVINE ACTIVITIES IN SUPPORT OF THE TESTIMONY (5)
[p. 65] DIVINE ACTIVITIES IN SUPPORT OF THE TESTIMONY (5)
JT The Spirit of God seems in this section to have in mind to stress how the work of God continues in spite of difficulties, the opposition being particularly stressed, and firstly the attack on Stephen, his death and martyrdom. Paul says, “thy martyr Stephen”, (Acts 22:20). Now the work is proceeding. Stephen was the leading one among the deacons chosen by the disciples and confirmed by the apostles, and now another one, Philip, is purchasing to himself a “good degree, and great boldness in the faith”, (1 Timothy 3:13). But another thing intended to affect us in view of the current exercises of the brethren, is the appearance of Saul of Tarsus, and his persistent violence in attacking the assembly and those who formed it.
ENJ Would this suggest that even those who have been instruments of the enemy might be blessed, if our exercises are taken up definitely?
JT That Saul should be blessed at this juncture is very striking, and shows the persistence of heaven in pursuing the dispensation, and maintaining it in its full height, the conversion of Saul being a striking illustration of it, as the Lord said of him, “This man is an elect vessel to me (Acts 9:15)”. The Lord had selected him. The apostles had appointed the deacons, but Paul, or Saul, was not amongst them. He was in the hands of the enemy still; he says in writing to Timothy that he was an insolent overbearing man, but “mercy was shewn me ... for a delineation of those about to believe on him to life eternal”, 1 Timothy 1:16. So that I think we have good ground to be encouraged at this time in regard to what is current [p. 66] among the saints here as to the enemy’s work, and that something may be secured for us, to meet this long enduring trial of unionism, extending actually as far as I can understand for at least ten years; so that it is a question of the saints getting to God about it, and He will do something.
The references to Saul are striking, because first it says, “Saul was consenting to his being killed”, and then the Spirit returns to him again in verse 3, “Saul ravaged the assembly, entering into the houses one after another, and dragging off both men and woman delivered them up to prison”. So that the violence of the devil is seemingly aroused, and it is a question now of our being faithful and holding fast.
PAH In spite of this terrible opposition, there is an increase in testimony.
JT That is what we see, and it is not in specially appointed vessels, but as it says in verse 4, “Those then that had been scattered went through the countries announcing the glad tidings of the word”. That is to say, it is simply scattered persons; and then another deacon is taken up specially in the service of the gospel.
PAH We are told in chapter 6 that “the word of God increased”, Acts 6:7 after the murmuring was met.
PRP Have you any thought as to why the Lord allowed Saul to go so far before striking him down with light from heaven?
JT I suppose the Lord would strengthen the whole position of those engaged in the service. The facts relative to Saul are enlarged on in the next chapter, and I believe the presentation of the facts is to encourage us. It is said after Saul’s conversion in chapter 9:31, “The assemblies then throughout the whole of Judaea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, being edified and walking in the fear of the Lord, and were increased through the comfort of the Holy Spirit Acts 9:31”. The Lord came in, specially taking up Saul of Tarsus, and thus encouraging the saints generally, that the work should proceed, and that there should be comfort, and to stay the hand of the devil at this juncture — as we get in the Old Testament, “the land had rest forty years”, (Judges 3:11) and so forth. Certain periods are characterised by rest.
JM Would Saul then be the chief instrument in the hand of the enemy at this juncture?
JT Well, the facts are thus presented; but then the Lord is showing that He is greater, showing what He can do for us.
JAA Saul was a very religious man. How does that apply to our present situation?
JT It is a matter of public influences. As regards the position in the British Isles, in the House of Commons there are, it is said, a considerable number of so-called lay preachers, which is remarkable, as they are not the kind of people you might expect God to select for the government of the land; they are working people, but yet they have a religious character; but we cannot trust such evidence of religious zeal. Paul is a sample of a religious zealot; his zeal is notable. “As to zeal, persecuting the assembly”, (Philippians 3:6) which was a mere matter of zeal with nothing behind it of God at all, in spite of his religion.
ENJ Would it be right to say that Paul’s exercises commenced as he witnessed the sufferings of Stephen? I thought we might see in this, that if we suffer there will be fruit.
JT I have no doubt the Lord intended to give signal evidence of His continuing care for the assembly. It had come to a crisis, and Saul was set for the destruction of it, and he intended to ravage and destroy it; as he says himself, he persecuted the assembly. So I think we should be encouraged that the Lord is looking at the matter, and perhaps something is going to come out of it, and it is a question [p. 68] of the state we are in whether He can take us on and use us. Scattered persons are mentioned here, and we read of them later at Antioch and elsewhere (chapter 11:19); and that is the point to be before our minds, to see what God is doing. Then He takes Saul, a special instrument, actually out of the hands of the devil, and uses him as no other man was ever used in the service of God.
RMcC God meets this impossible situation in a wonderful way.
JT That is what I have before me. The Lord loves to come in for us, and signalises certain circumstances by coming in manifestly by Himself, as it were, on our behalf. He says of Saul, “This man is an elect vessel to me (Acts 9:15)”. The Lord allowed Saul to go as far as Damascus; that is, altogether outside his proper sphere, Jerusalem, where he had been brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, and to come into the sphere of the gentiles, before He takes him up.
PAH The assembly was precious to the Lord then, when He said to Saul, “Why persecutest thou me? (Acts 9:4)” and it is just as precious to the Lord now.
JT The assembly was perhaps never more precious to the Lord than it is at the present moment. Not indeed that it was not precious at the beginning, but the peculiar revival of the truth, extending on to our own times, is an indication, I believe, of how precious the assembly is to Him, and how insistent He is in taking care of it and bringing it through to the end.
WJB When difficulties arise, is there a tendency for us to resort to human reasoning to find an answer to the difficulty? I was thinking of the earlier part of Acts, where they cry to the Lord, “Behold their threatenings (Acts 4:29)”. Do we need to be preserved from human reasonings in finding solutions to difficulties?
JT I would say that. You refer to chapter 4. The threatenings were “in this city”, the very city [p. 69] they were in; that is, where we are now for instance. What is current ought to show what God can do for us in the midst of it. There are several references in the Scriptures, especially in Acts, to this city where the Lord was crucified, where the worst evil that was ever perpetrated was committed, it was Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the sphere of persecution against the people of God.
CMcC Do these scattered persons show the right spirit by continuing to preach, even though under persecution? They are not deterred by it or cast down.
JT That is very good, and we should be encouraged by their example. So it says, “Those then that had been scattered went through the countries announcing the glad tidings of the word. And Philip, going down to a city of Samaria, preached the Christ to them; and the crowds with one accord gave heed to the things spoken by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs which he wrought”. We have to remember that Philip was a deacon appointed by the twelve, but now he is purchasing to himself “a good degree, and great boldness in the faith (1 Timothy 3:13)”. The apostles did not give him that, he purchased it to himself. So that it is a question of what is within us, as it is said of David, “David strengthened himself in Jehovah his God”, (1 Samuel 30:6). It was something in himself.
ENJ Are you referring to the fact that there was that which they could see in Philip?
JT Yes; there it was. He was not sent to preach the gospel. He was a deacon, but he purchased to himself a good degree and great boldness in the faith, showing what is within the range of any of us. Then we have another difficulty arising here, an that is in verse 9. “A certain man, by name Simon, had been before in the city, using magic arts, and astonishing the nation of Samaria, saying that [p. 70] himself was some great one. To whom they had all given heed, from small to great, saying, This is the power of God which is called great. And they gave heed to him, because that for a long time he had astonished them by his magic arts”. So that now we have another element to overcome at this point in this man who has magic arts, the work of the devil directly, and human pride attached to it.
JSP Is this something that is more subtle than persecution?
JT Well, I think it is. It is a peculiar kind of opposition. Then another thing comes in at this point. There were many converts through Philip, but they did not receive the Holy Spirit. That is a sort of defect in the service, so in this connection Peter and John are sent down from Jerusalem. At that time Jerusalem was the centre of God’s work, and the apostles were there; they had not been scattered, so they send Peter and John to meet the apparent defect of Philip, which might have upset Philip’s work and turned him aside. In this we see the remarkable evidence of God’s persistent continuance in carrying on His work against all efforts of the devil.
JM Is there a lack of completeness seen in Philip’s work, so that what was needed was the coming in of the Holy Spirit as the seal of the work?
JT Well, God has certain sovereign rights, and we cannot assume that He must do so-and-so; we must wait on Him to do it. Sometimes it is said that a person receives the Holy Spirit because he believes, but it is not always so. In this case it was not so.
AM Do you think the defect was in Philip’s preaching, or in those that heard?
JT I think it was the general position. God would assert Himself in the midst of all this great work, and show that He had His own sovereign rights, and they cannot be interfered with. That is [p. 71] to say, things cannot be done or expected to be done automatically in the work of God. They must proceed from God; we have to learn that. However great the evident results may be, we must learn that God has His rights, and intervenes when He wishes.
AM I notice that when the apostles came down they prayed for them. Would that be bringing God into the situation?
JT It might be assumed that God was ignored in a sense in what these seven men were doing; they are very successful, but then God is saying, ‘I have to say to this matter, I have certain rights’, and we have to ask Him about it. Peter and John prayed for them.
PAH So that really God seals the position by the bringing in of the Holy Spirit, and brings to light that which is spurious in Simon.
JT That is the idea, to bring the work of God on to its proper level, and this implies the sovereign activity of God, and that He must be waited on. We cannot say that things must be done, we may arrange preachings and so on, but we must see that God has His rights anyhow. We have to wait on Him. So they prayed. It says, “And the apostles who were in Jerusalem, having heard that Samaria had received the word of God, sent to them Peter and John; who, having come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit”. It is Samaria, the whole province that is in mind, not simply one town. Peter and John put the matter in the hands of God, so that He might give the Holy Spirit. It might be said the Spirit had already come, which was true, but at the same time God is saying that He must give Him, and that we must look to God for Him. It is not an automatic matter, for it goes on to say, “for he was not yet fallen upon any of them, only they were baptised to the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands upon them, and they received the Holy Spirit”. That is the position, so that the act of Peter and John is acknowledged, and God is acknowledged in it, and therefore the work proceeds. Then Simon’s case is met, this magician who gave himself out that he was a great one. The case is met by Peter, who discerns and exposes Simon. We have to watch for an exposure of what is counterfeit. This man was not converted according to God, nor was he in fellowship according to God.
JAA The enemy was saying, “This is the power of God which is called great”, but God was to show that the power to go on with things stood in relation to the Holy Spirit.
JT The whole position is restored to its normal setting, which is very important, I should say, in this chapter.
AM Would this be an illustration of what Paul says to Timothy, “Lay hands quickly on no man”? 1 Timothy 5:22 Do we need to be alert as to how the enemy may get in in this way? Had Simon been received, what harm he might have done.
JT At the time of a so-called Welsh revival a great deal was made of a certain man who was used apparently, but it turned out to be counterfeit; not that there were no converts, but the work itself could not be said to be of God. The enemy took advantage of it, and took it out of its proportion.
ENJ Are the operations of the Holy Spirit one whole? I was wondering if the fact that the Holy Spirit did not come readily to these converts would show that God had the work in hand at Jerusalem, and other parts, and no isolated work was to flourish without being connected with what He already had in hand.
JT That is a good remark; so in chapter 10 we have Cornelius. He was a subject of the work of God before, and the Spirit of God came to him. He had a vision. He was owned by heaven itself, and Peter [p. 73] was brought into it, and Peter began to preach to Cornelius. Quite a company was gathered to hear him in Cornelius’ house, and then what happened was that the Holy Spirit Himself fell upon them that were hearing the word. The Holy Spirit Himself came upon them; there is no statement of their being converted directly. It was just a question of the hearing of the word that Peter was preaching, and while Peter was preaching, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were hearing the word.
AM Would there be a kind of reference, do you think, to the rise of the clerical element here in connection with Simon, and the danger of it that is always present?
JT Quite so.
AM I was thinking of the mercenary idea that seems to be uppermost in men’s minds. Really we have to discern what lies behind these things. No doubt Peter sees it, and says, “Thy money go with thee to destruction”.
JT Paul said he had a right to these things, for God had ordained that a preacher of the gospel should live of it; but Paul said he took nothing of them. We have that over against what we have here, showing it is necessary to maintain the right balance in the use of Scripture, and in the preaching.
ATG Are we to learn something from the fact that the heart is mentioned: “Thy heart is not upright before God”?
JT Yes, I would say it is a question of new birth that is involved. John’s ministry was not yet brought into the Scriptures, but it came in in due time. The Lord had reserved John. He said, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?” (John 21:22) That is what the Lord answered Peter, and John’s ministry comes in, and it deals with new birth and with the inwards of a man, and so, “Except any one be born anew he cannot see the kingdom of God”. (John 3:3)
[p. 74] That is to say, we have to see that God has His own way; that it is not altogether merely what is said in preaching, but what God does sovereignly, and that is what you get in John 3 and 4. John 3:3 is “Except any one be born anew he cannot see the kingdom of God”. That is to say, no matter what preaching he listens to, or whatever gift there may be used to convert him, there has to be a sovereign work of God; and so here, Simon’s heart was not changed. That is to say, the real work of God had not taken effect in him.
JSP You would say Peter was faithful to him? He says, “Repent therefore of this thy wickedness”, and it causes Simon to ask Peter to supplicate for him.
JT But then the solemn thing is, that we have no further record as to what happened; the matter is just left. So we see that we must bring God in in all these cases to get results for eternity, however much preaching there may be.
ENJ Should we be able to discern the good fish from those that are not good, and not be after numbers so much as quality?
JT Yes, that is Matthew. Matthew is brought into this whole position as well as John, and it is very interesting to discern how God brings in His servants and makes way for them for their ministry; but yet it is all a question of what God is and does.
PRP Would you say that this is a sort of principle as to everything that is done by us, as to waiting for God’s hand to be manifested in it?
JT Well, I think that is the thing that God is saying. He has His rights, and whatever machinery we may bring into it, however much preaching, we have to come back to this, that God must do the work, that He is the source of everything.
AM Would the expression “Having ... shod your feet with the preparation of the glad tidings of peace”, (Ephesians 6:15) be in relation to divine Persons going before in the gospel?
JT Very good. Preparation, too, is another good word.
AM Philip went down apparently on his own exercises, which may be a good thing to do, but possibly his feet had not been sufficiently shod with a sense of real dependence on God. He must come in and seal the work.
JT I am sure that is very good, and I hope we will perhaps take it on a little too. This chapter contemplates that after the death of Stephen the word of God is used. First of all we have, “Those then that had been scattered went through the countries announcing the glad tidings of the word”; a thing to be noted, because the word is a question of God. It is God’s word, not merely what He has said, but what He may still say, and therefore provision has to be made for the word, and we have throughout this chapter remarkable references to the use of Scripture in the service. The first reference is “the glad tidings of the word” (verse 4), and then we have in verse 12, “But when they believed Philip announcing the glad tidings concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptised, both men and women”. And then the next one is in verse 14, “And the apostles who were in Jerusalem, having heard that Samaria had received the word of God” (notice the word of God) “sent to them Peter and John; who, having come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit”. That is to say the preaching of the word is in mind, and that the gift of the Holy Spirit should come in after that; and so Peter and John are sent for that purpose. And then the next reference is in verse 25, “They therefore, having testified and spoken the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and announced the glad tidings to many villages of the Samaritans”. This time it is the word of the Lord, not the word of God, or the word, but “the word of the Lord”. They returned to Jerusalem and announced the glad tidings. Not saying what glad tidings, but it was simply the glad tidings, and they announced it in many villages of the Samaritans. And then so as to make the thing clear, another reference is in verse 35, “And Philip, opening his mouth and beginning from that scripture, announced the glad tidings of Jesus to him”. That is another term or title, as we may say, of the glad tidings, “the glad tidings of Jesus”. Then we have finally in verse 40, “And Philip was found at Azotus, and passing through he announced the glad tidings to all the cities till he came to Caesarea”.
I mention all that because it enters into the subject before us, the question of the continuance of the testimony, of the preaching in spite of all difficulties, and that God is asserting His rights in it as to His testimony, that He may take up a man like Philip and use him, and finally carry him away; it says he was found at Azotus. He was raptured, you might say, because he was so honoured in heaven. It says, “But when they came up out of the water the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip”; that is, he was raptured. It does not say where he was taken, but he was taken away, “and the eunuch saw him no longer, for he went on his way rejoicing. And Philip was found at Azotus”, showing that God is honouring His servant at this juncture.
PBP In saying all that, have you in mind that the enemy is particularly attacking the testimony of the glad tidings, and that what is before us in this city has that in mind? I mean the matter of unionism and associations. The enemy is really seeking to attack the testimony of the gospel.
JT And the answer on our side is to continue persistently with the truth of the gospel, with the [p. 77] testimony. Keep at it! Keep at the truth, so that there may be results.
JSP Linking ourselves up with the things of this world would put us in bondage, but having the light and truth before us would set us at liberty, would it not?
JT The chapter is a study for every one of us, whether in this city or any city, at the juncture we have reached in the ministry which has been given lately in these countries. The Spirit of God has helped us in a remarkable way; that is my own judgment about it; and the question now is whether the brethren will go on steadily with the truth, with the testimony. There is only one testimony. It cannot be linked up with any particular country, and God is going on with that testimony. In this chapter it is to be the gift of the Spirit. Even though the Spirit has been here for centuries, God gives Him to the believer. At the end of the chapter we come to the end of the testimony as to Philip; he is found at Azotus; he is raptured, God is honouring him. That is, God is saying that the Spirit of the Lord in the power of the rapture is going to take the assembly according to 1 Thessalonians 4.
ENJ Is the great thing in view in the preaching of the gospel, that there might be material secured for the assembly? I was thinking of Philip’s converts. Where they had not received the Holy Spirit, they would hardly be ready to form part of the assembly until they did receive the Holy Spirit, and that is God’s sovereign gift.
JT Philip is owned later as an evangelist: “Philip the evangelist”, and he “had four virgin daughters who prophesied”, (Acts 21:9). It is simply to show the links in what God is doing that I refer to it.
ENJ There was great rejoicing in the city of Samaria over some who had received the forgiveness of their sins, but there is something further than that.
[p. 78] The great thing is that souls should be secured for the assembly.
CMcC In the rapturing of Philip, does God show that though He comes in sovereignly, it is all His own work, that He is delighted with persons going on in the testimony and standing for things and being found in line with what He is doing?
JT Just so, and the great work now is to see to it that souls who profess to have light and to have received blessing should receive the Holy Spirit, that full room is made for the action of the Holy Spirit.
AM Do you think it had to be an angel that spoke to Philip? Would that be possibly a suggestion that he has not sufficiently honoured the Holy Spirit in his service? The Spirit takes him on later, but not at first.
JT I should not like to discredit anything Philip did. Whilst an angel directed him, that is simply to bring out the place that angelic service has in the testimony, that even in some cases angels are used to guide the servants. While angels are used in the ordinary affairs of this world in which we are found, yet they are also used in more exalted work than even perhaps directing armies and the like, which has often happened in our own times. The angels are at times used in more exalted work, and this is an instance of it, in that the angel is used to direct Philip where to go. I would say, I am looking to the Lord about my movements and service, and the Lord may direct me, and I hope He will, I am counting on Him. Here it is not the Spirit that directs Philip at first, so it says, “The angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, Rise up and go southward on the way which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza: the same is desert”. He is directing him away from Samaria to a desert place. And it says he rose up and went. He goes immediately, and [p. 79] does what he is told; and then we hear of the Ethiopian who comes into the picture; and then it says in verse 29, “And the Spirit said to Philip, Approach and join this chariot. And Philip, running up, heard him reading the prophet Esaias”. He was reading chapter 53. You were alluding to some defect in Philip, but I am just wondering if there is. Philip moved exactly as he was told by the angel, and then by the Spirit of God, and then he is finally raptured by the Spirit of the Lord, not by an angel. It seems to me that whatever we may think of Philip’s preaching, he is honoured throughout until he is raptured. His house is evidently right too, for he had four daughters who prophesied.
AM Do you think he would really be becoming more spiritual?
JT I think that is the way to put it. He was progressing. I do not think there is any real hint of defect in his preaching, but he is advancing spiritually, normally I would say; so that the chapter is full of instruction for us as to the service of God; both as to the service itself and as to the work of the Holy Spirit, and the converts.
JAA There is that which is desert. Does that indicate that there are no resources apart from God and the power of the Spirit?
JT Yes, and that the servant is tested by being sent to a desert when he had been preaching. He has plenty of opportunity to preach. We often hear of persons saying they do not get invitations to preach. Well, Philip is an example. He was not invited to preach, or even sent to preach, and yet he preached and was used of God; so it is a question of everyone taking up his work. If he has no work allotted to him, let him do something, whatever he finds to do, and do it with his might. That is what Philip did.
ENJ Would we as thus seeking to announce the glad tidings rely on the faithfulness of God?
[p. 80] We have an example of it here in the eunuch getting blessing, answering to the prayer of Solomon in 1 Kings 8:41 - 43, “as to the stranger also, who is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name’s sake; ... when he shall come and pray toward this house, hear thou in the heavens thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for”. God is working, and He is faithful, and we should be watching and seeking to be in line with what God is doing Himself. He was about to bless this man.
JT That is just it. Philip had found work in Samaria, and he had done it. That the Spirit was withheld is not much to say, because the same was true of others; the men at Ephesus did not even know that the Holy Spirit was come. So we are not to make so much of this passage, as if Philip was in any way defective, but rather to show that Philip was a servant; he had been appointed to deaconship, and now he is purchasing to himself a good degree. He is not asking to be invited, he is doing what he finds to do and doing it well. The point is that each of us is to do what his hand finds to do, and do it well; that is what Philip did.
AM Do you think we are often greatly tested in relation to personal evangelising? We have to do with our neighbours and so on, and would not that be a good field for us to work on, so to speak, more than expecting platform occasions and so on?
JT Well, exactly. Platform occasions, of course, give more distinction and honour may be, but the point is to be humble and take a low place, and do anything that comes in our way that may be profitable.
DHB The result of Philip’s preaching in Samaria was that there were those prepared for movement, the paralysed and lame were healed.
JT Quite so. That is what we see in chapter 3. The man who had been lame, walked and leaped;
[p. 81] that is, he was fit for fellowship. He remained with the apostles. He was like Jairus’ daughter; she walked. She was twelve years old, indicating that at that time a person might be fit for fellowship.
RMcC Why is it that baptism is mentioned several times in this chapter?
JT Well, I think baptism is what the passover was in Israel. It is a sign. It ought to be immersion, not simply sprinkling. The person should go down into the water; that comes out here, the fact of immersion, being completely covered by the water, and coming up out of it, so that it becomes a sign not only of death, but of resurrection. That is in the second chapter of Colossians. The sign of judaism, which is the passover, is not to be compared with the grandeur and greatness of the sign that is seen in Christianity in a man being baptised, going right down into the water and coming up again; the baptiser and the baptised going right down into the water.
AM It is a part of the gospel that Philip brought to him, and it enters into the preaching in that sense.
JT Just so. The man was reading Isaiah 53; a beautiful testimony about the Lord Himself. Isaiah says, “When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and left alone of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, and like one from whom men hide their faces; — despised, and we esteemed him not Isaiah 53:2,3”. Philip said to the eunuch, “Dost thou then know what thou art reading of? And he said, How should I then be able unless some one guide me? ... And Philip, opening his mouth and beginning from that scripture, announced the glad tidings of Jesus to him”. Philip shows a good example to us in evangelising, to use whatever scripture is read; and then he baptised him. I think that is a glorious statement,
[p. 82] and shows how the service of God is carried on, and how we may be taken up to serve God; starting small and doing what we can, as the Lord says of the woman, “She hath done what she could (Mark 14:8)”.
JM Is it an intelligent following of the Lord on the part of the eunuch? He saw the Lord as one whose life was taken from the earth, who had nothing here, and he desired to be identified with Him.
JT It is a passage that is not easy to open up in doctrine, but it would open up much to us if we look into it carefully, and wait upon the Lord about it. What does His life being taken from the earth really mean? It is not a question of the Lord going to heaven. It says, “His life is taken from the earth”.
JM I was wondering if the eunuch being baptised would indicate that he was a man who could intelligently follow this.
JT Quite so. God is gracious, and reached him on the way of the desert, and at the same time Philip has to go through that experience; undoubtedly he becomes a better servant after he has gone to the desert and met the eunuch and got on to his chariot. What an experience it was, and how agile Philip was! He ran and discerned what the man was reading. He was alert, a remarkable man and near to God in that peculiar way.