Our text for this teaching is taking from the book of Acts 8:26-33 but before we go there, let me give us a little bit of a thematic run down of what had happened before this time. Jesus had died and He has risen on the third day, and He was with His disciples for forty days before His ascension to the Father.
“The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach… So, in this place, it appeared that Luke was writing to a particular man known as Theophilus. The Bible didn’t say so much about this man, he was definitely not one of the disciples of Christ, he was not even mentioned as part of those Pharisees that were following Christ secretly while He was alive, like Nicodemus or Joseph Arimathea. I did a bit of searching about him in the Bible, and the next place he was mentioned again was in Luke 1 when the same Luke was writing to him. From verse 1-4. It says:
“Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.”
So, even though the Bible didn’t give so much account about him: whether he was a high priest or an important figure in authority, I perceived in my spirit that for Luke to be writing to him to set the record straight about Christ Jesus, he must be an important personality at the time. But the most important thing is that what Luke wrote to him was not for him alone, but to all of us as a whole in the body of Christ and those writings have become an important part of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ today.
2 until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, 3 to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. 4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
So, in this place, we saw that Jesus commanded them to wait for the promise of the Father and that they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from that moment of His ascension. Now, fast forward to chapter 2, the Bible says:
“When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
As at this account, the promise of the Father that He said to them had come upon them and one of the evident signs that they had received that promise is that they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Before this time, there was no such thing as speaking in other tongues. But the sign that they had received the promise of the Father is in their speaking in tongues.
“And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. 7 Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” 12 So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?” 13 Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.”
So, because of what happened here, people’s attention had been gotten already. And when Peter saw this move of the Spirit, he quickly took advantage of it and preached his first powerful sermon.
“But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. 15 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.”
Now when Peter was done speaking, see what happened next:
37“Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” If you remember, one of the things we said last week while we were examining the roles of believers in the ministry of the Holy Spirit to the unsaved world is that we must take on the responsibility of speaking and preaching about the kingdom of God. The Bible said in that place that when Peter was done preaching, “they were cut to the heart”, in other words, the Holy Spirit was doing the work of salvation in them. And they by themselves asked the question: what shall we do?
38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
By the time Peter made altar call, the Bible says:
41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. 42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.”
By this account, thousand of people had been added to the church such that administration was becoming a bottleneck for the apostles themselves. The reason is because they were all in one place together. Administering three thousand people is no small work at all.
46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
Now the boldness of the apostles was increasing on a daily basis such that miracles had been accompanying their ministrations. In Acts chapter 3, a man was healed at the beautiful gate by Peter and John, this miracle became so pronounced that at the end of the day, an additional 2000 people were added to the church. In Acts 4:1-4
“Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, 2 being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.”
Because of the increasing number of the church and the notable miracles they were doing, the authorities became jittery and they began to look for every means to stop them from proceeding. Peter and John were given strict warnings not to preach again in the name of Jesus and they were severely threatened. But they continued still and they church continued to grow still. But remember, it was not the end time agenda of God that the church should be in one place they way they were at Jerusalem at the time. The plan of God was that when they received the Holy Spirit, they were supposed to spread the good news of the kingdom to the ends of the earth. Acts 1:8 says: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
The idea was for them to start from Jerusalem and spread to the ends of the earth. But the church was growing and growing in Jerusalem and nobody was willing to spread to the other side because of fear and threats from the authority of being persecuted or imprisoned. So, God needed to do something in order to make sure that His end time plan is not sabotaged by the apostles who were already enjoying growth of the church howbeit, not spreading. So, what did God do? God raised an excellent persecutor in the name of Saul to carry out this agenda.
“Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. 3 As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. 4 Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. 5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them.”
Acts 8:1-5
So, the persecution of the church brought Philip to Samaria and he preached the gospel there and the whole city was won for Christ and they sent for Peter and John to come lay pray for the new brethren so that they might receive the Holy Spirit which eventually was what happened (4-17).
Now let us jump to verse 26:
“Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert. 27 So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, 28 was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet.
So, from here, we were told that this man was a man of great authority, he had access to resources, he was a religious man, because he was returning from Jerusalem where he had gone to worship. Don’t forget the conversation between the woman at the well and Jesus in John 4:20 when she said to Jesus: “our fathers worshipped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” Jerusalem at the time and even till now represents a place where people go to worship. Millions of people across the globe still visits Jerusalem till now, and visit some important places there and offer worship.
We were also made to understand that this man was educated, because he could read. He was reading the book of Isaiah the prophet.
29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him.
The simple understanding here is simple: a man may be rich, have great authority, be religious, be well educated and still, not have spiritual understanding of the word of God. What gives life or spiritual meaning to the word of God is not the letter, but the Spirit. Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 3:4-6: “And we have such trust through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
No matter how highly place you are in the society or the number of certifications you have had while understudying the word of God, if you don’t give yourself to the Holy Spirit, there is no spiritual understanding that you can glean from the word of God. It is not by qualification; it is simply by the Holy Spirit.
32 The place in the Scripture which he read was this:
“He was led as a sheep to the slaughter;
And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
33 In His humiliation His justice was taken away,
And who will declare His generation?
For His life is taken from the earth.”
34 So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him.”
Acts 8:26-33
Difference between Natural Understanding and Spiritual Understanding
It is possible to read the word of God and not get the needed spiritual understanding from it. There is natural understanding and there is spiritual understanding. The reason why the word of God appears to be less effective or less potent in the lives of many believers today is simply because many have tried to understand the word of God naturally. Natural understanding talks about the place of intellect and logic to find meaning or relevance to the word of god. But it does not work this way. The word of God cannot be understood naturally because they have been spiritually designed. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says: “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
Spiritual understanding is what we get when the Holy Spirit gives us insight into the word of God. In all the letters of the apostle Paul to the church, there was never a place that he prayed for the church to have natural understanding of the word of God. He was always praying for them about spiritual understanding. In Colossians 1:9 he said: “For this reason, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding…”
How to Gain Spiritual Understanding from the Word of God
- We Need to Lean on The Holy Spirit
In this regard, we must lean on the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of our understanding to see beyond the letters. Jesus said in John 6:63: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” The word of God has spiritual life in it and that life cannot be gotten until one allows the Holy Spirit to open our inner eyes to it. In Matthew 13:16-17, Jesus said: “But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; 17 for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” Everything that the word of God has for us is for our taking, but we need to partner with the Holy Spirit to be able to lay hold of them and appropriate them accordingly.
- We Need to Cultivate the Habit of Meditating on The Word of God
No one can gain any spiritual understanding from the word of God outside of meditation. Meditation is not soul travel. What some certain religious practices call meditation is soul travelling. Meditation is your recreated human spirit focusing on the word of God until it has been able to get out the life that is in that word. It is like you holding on to a bone and not letting go until you have sap out the marrow that is in it. That is what meditation does. Psalm 119:15-16, 97-100 says:
I will meditate on Your precepts,
And contemplate Your ways.
16 I will delight myself in Your statutes;
I will not forget Your word.
Oh, how I love Your law!
It is my meditation all the day.
98 You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies;
For they are ever with me.
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers,
For Your testimonies are my meditation.
100 I understand more than the ancients,
Because I keep Your precepts.
- We Need to Study the Word of God with A Spiritual Intent
Studying the word of God must be with an intent. It must be with the intention of laying hold of the promises of God. To gain spiritual understanding, we must be intentional with the word of God. You must take the word of God like all your life depend on it and without it, you are worthless.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
- Don’t Rush Out of The Presence of God
To gain spiritual understanding, we must cultivate the habit of tarrying in the presence of God. And this is why you must not allow any other thing to jeopardize your time and moment with God, what we usually call quiet time. Jesus didn’t jeopardize His moments alone with God. In Mark 1:35-37, the Bible says:
“Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed. 36 And Simon and those who were with Him searched for Him. 37 When they found Him, they said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.”
Anytime it was time for Jesus to be alone, He usually shuts down every form of distractions and tarry in the presence of God. Deep spiritual understandings are gotten from such times. Lamentations 3:25-26 shows us something in this regard.
The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.
26 It is good that one should hope and wait quietly
For the salvation of the Lord.
Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore, tell her to help me.” 41 And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:38-42
- Be Deliberate About the Word of God
I believe you have learnt something!
Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Obayomi Abiola Benjamin!
Feel free to share your thoughts or testimony in the comment box below. I promise to respond to them as soon as possible!