Philip preached on the Gaza Road (Acts 8:26-40) By Rev. Katherine Liu Bruce

 Philip preached on the Gaza Road (Acts 8:26-40)        3/24/2026

By Rev. Katherine Liu Bruce

Christian Arts Ministries: Biblical Precepts & Gospel Music

  

Scriptures reading Acts 8:26-40

      ²⁶ Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road- the desert road-that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” ²⁷So h started out, anon his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, as important official in charge of all the treasury of Canace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship,²⁸ and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. ²⁹ The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”

³⁰ Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. ³¹ “How can I”, he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture:

“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. ³³ In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.”

³⁴ The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?”³⁵ Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

³⁶ As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?” ³⁷ And Philip said, “if you believe from all your heart, you will be saved.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” ³⁸And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.⁴⁰ Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

 

Verse 25 To testify the word of the Lord is to witness according to personal experience of the Lord, and to speak the word of the Lord is to preach and teach according to the revelation of the Lord.

Verse 26 The desert road. Possibly the road to Desert Gaza, the old city that had been destroyed in 93 B.C. and that was inland from the Gaza of N.T. times.

Verse 27 Ethiopian. Not from present –day Abyssinia but ancient Nubia, south of Aswan. The story shows how far the gospel was spreading. Candance. The hereditary title of Ethiopian queens. Ethiopia is Cush (Isa.18:1) the land of the descendants of Cush, the son of Ham (Gen.10:6). The gospel had spread from the racially pure Jews to the racially mixed Samaritans through Philip and Peter and John (vv.5-25). Now the angel of the Lord directed. Philip to contact an utter Gentile from Ethiopia. Through this the gospel spread southward to Africa. Proving that the Ethiopian eunuch was seeking God.

Verse 29 The mentioning of the Spirit here, as in v.39; 10:19;13:2; and 16:6-7, indicates that in this book the Lord’s move in spreading His kingdom through the preaching of the gospel was by the Spirit’s leading and directing, not by man’s device and schedule. Hence, this move was not the act of man but the act of the Spirit. This is altogether different from today’s degraded practice.

Verse 32 Referring to Christ the Redeemer. It must have been sovereignly of the Spirit’s teaching that the eunuch opened to the passage concerning Christ as the sinners’ redeeming Lamb, a passage good for gospel preaching.

Verse 35 Told him the good news about Jesus. Before the coming of Jesus, the Jews understood Isa.53 as referring to the Messiah. This interpretation was abandoned as Christians applied the prophecy to Jesus of Nazareth, and Isa. 53 was then considered by the Jews to be referring either to Isaiah himself or to the people of Israel, who would be a light to the nations. etc.

Verse 36 This indicates that Philip preached water baptism to the eunuch. In this gospel case, water baptism was particularly emphasized, but no mention was made of Spirit baptism. This should give us strong instruction that we must pay attention to water baptism, which signifies the believers’ identification with Christ’s death and resurrection (Rom.6:3-5; Col.2:12), as well as to Spirit baptism. Spirit baptism produces the reality of the believers’ union with Christ in life essentially and in power economically, whereas water baptism is the believers’ affirmation of the Spirit’s reality. Both are needed (10:47), and neither can replace the other. All believers in Christ should properly have both, just as the children of Israel were baptized in the cloud (signifying the Spirit) and in the sea (signifying water) 1 Cor.10:2

Verse 37 Many ancient MSS omit this verse. 

 Bibliography,

Lee, Witness. The New Testament (R.V.) Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1985.

Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie Study Bible (NIV). Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986.