Do You Understand

How often do you read something in the Bible and miss the context?

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” ¹

You are part of the royal court of the Queen of the Ethiopians, have journeyed up to Jerusalem to worship the one true God and are now just beginning your long trip back home. As a man of God and with the rare personal copy of the Isaiah scroll, you are reading away the miles. It is an interesting text but what does it mean to you? As your entourage travels south, a man approaches,

So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. ²

Philip had an advantage and he was willing to share it. He had met the One the text was talking about and knew the context in the light of recent events at Jerusalem. He also was indwelt by the Holy Spirit and acting in obedience to Him.

And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. ³

Gives pause to think—if someone asked us about a Bible verse, could we ‘beginning with this Scripture’ tell them the good news about Jesus? Not only was Philip able but the Holy Spirit moved in the Ethiopian to believe the Word, repent and be baptized,

And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. ⁴

Do you understand the Way of the LORD enough to explain what you understand such that the Holy Spirit could convince another person about the Way of the LORD so they could go ‘on their way rejoicing’?