Ethiopian Encounter

Nº 364

JuLY 22, 2025

The shortest road to an understanding of the Bible is the acceptance of the fact that God is speaking in every line. - Donald Gray Barnhouse

This week I am teaching a Christian camping course to 39 eager Ethiopian students in Addis Ababa. For them to receive a master’s degree in Youth Ministry, they need to know the basics of Christian camping.

Luke records the Apostle Phillip’s encounter with an Ethiopian. Phillip was experiencing a remarkable season of ministry in Samaria when the Spirit of God redirected him to a remote desert road, south from Jerusalem toward Gaza. There he met the Ethiopian treasurer.

The high court official was riding in a wagon, reading aloud, trying to understand a dramatic and confusing passage from Isaiah 53. Bewildered by the difficult scripture, he invited Phillip to unpack the verses for him. Climbing aboard the wagon, “Phillip began with that very passage of scripture and told the good news about Jesus.” (Acts 8:35)

Once the meaning of the passage was clear and the message of the Suffering Servant understood, the royal official trusted Christ and asked to be baptized.

The age-old, three-part ministry formula played out in this story; the Spirit of God used a follower of God to explain the Word of God. It worked two thousand years ago and when those three components converge, they still work today.

Excelsior,

Dan Bolin