“Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?”
It’s a life-changing question the Kandake’s official asks Philip after reading about the Messiah Jesus from Isaiah.
Perhaps you have asked yourself this same question about conversion to Christ.
ACTS of a Queen’s servant on the road to Gaza
If you have not read our previous scene from Acts 8, click here.
35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him.
Kandoc’i – Servant of the Queen of Ethiopia
Philip joins this official (not named in Acts) of the Candace or Kandake of Nubia on the Nile (referred to Ethiopia in Acts).
Two Men Talk of JESUS
NOTE: I choose to identify this representative of the Queen with an Ethiopian sounding name based on my personal experience and previous conversations with Ethiopian friends. Philip's encounter with this Ethiopian eunuch must have been life-changing for both.
36 Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said,
“See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?”
37 Then Philip said,
“If you believe with all your heart, you may.”
And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
Acts 8:37b NKJV – The Ethiopian responds to Philip from his heart to be baptized for Christ
38 So he commanded the chariot to stand still.
This scene of Baptism
Let’s pause here for a moment to consider what our black brother has asked this Hellenist deacon of a Hebrew church back in Jerusalem.
No matter your background, no matter your sin, it makes us the same: Listen:
Let’s go down, down, down to the river (Never the same)
Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go down in amazing grace [x2]
What does it mean to be BAPTIZED?
Religious doctrine of your past could easily sidetrack our discussion of baptism here, but prior to continuing on our mission trip with Philip from Acts 8, allow me to point our talk of JESUS toward both definition and evangelism.
Baptized defined:
- Start here: “baptized“ occurs 51 times in 44 verses in the NASB20.
- βαπτίζω –
- to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge (of vessels sunk)
- to cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean with water, to wash one’s self, bathe
- to overwhelm
- Learn more: From a derivative of βάπτω (G911)
- βαπτίζω –
We have already addressed this in the early chapters of Acts in this series, but here is a brief example from an earlier post:
One other series from the Gospel of John and discussion of John the Baptist. [Click below]
Returning to Talk of JESUS between Kandoc’i & Philip
and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him.
ACTS 8:38b – the moment Philip baptized the Ethiopian official of the Queen in the Name of Jesus Christ
Now here’s something you will NOT experience at any baptism (but remember with God all things are possible and the Lord had a purpose here to evangelism beyond this event on Philip’s mission).
39 Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.
ACTS 8:39 – Yet another sign, this to the just baptized Ethiopian official who had proclaimed:
“I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
The eunuch no doubt continues his long journey home up the Nile in Africa, where the Gospel will travel with our brother, Kandoc’i, who will in turn preach Jesus Christ in this first century mission field and court of the Kandake of Ethiopia.
Philip the Evangelist
But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities, until he came to Caesarea.
Acts 8:40 NASB
We cannot be certain if Philip running to catch up to this official, Kandoc’i of Ethiopia in his royal chariot was akin in any way to a sign of Elijah running ahead. [Read more.] However after the Ethiopian in the chariot was baptized, the Spirit of the Lord snatches Philip away!
One more sign for the evangelist to preach and one more miracle for our Ethiopian brother Kandoc’i to witness to his queen and all of the officials of his country far beyond Jerusalem.
We find Philip next in Azotus Ἄζωτος (Ashdod), a distance by air of over 100 km (<60 miles)! From there we learn that the evangelist will settle in the important Roman port city of Caesarea, a place with which we will become more familiar on the mission journeys of ACTS of the Apostles.
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