In obedience to a Divine summons, Philip had betaken himself to the way that goeth down from Jerusalem to Gaza.  And if at first he may have wondered why he should have been called upon to leave his rapidly progressing work in Samaria for a desert road, he was not for long left in doubt as to what was required of him.  For as he walked along he was overtaken by an Ethiopian stranger returning in his chariot from Jerusalem.  This man, who was the chamberlain or treasurer of Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians, had heard somehow in his distant home, of the Jewish religion, and had undertaken this long journey to make further inquiries regarding it.  We are not told how he had been impressed; very possibly the actual fruits that he witnessed were very different from what he had expected.  But one treasure at least he had found, a Greek copy of the prophecies of Isaiah, and this he was eagerly searching on his return journey, to see if he could find further light there.  One passage specially arrested his attention, the touching passage in which the prophet draws out his great portraiture of the Man of Sorrows.  But, then, how reconcile the thought of this Messiah, suffering, wounded, dying, with the great King and Conqueror whom the Jews at Jerusalem had been expecting!  Could it be that he had anything to do with our Jesus of Nazareth, of whom he had also heard, and whom, because of the Messianic claims He had put forward, the Jewish leaders had crucified on a cross?  Oh, for some one to help him!  Help was nearer than he thought.  Prompted by the Spirit, Philip ran forward to the chariot; and no sooner had he learned the royal chamberlain’s difficulties than he “opened his mouth, and beginning from this scripture, preached unto him Jesus” (Acts viii. 35).

We are not told on what particulars Philip dwelt; but, doubtless, starting from the prophetic description of the Man of Sorrows, “despised and rejected of men,” he would show how that description held true of the earthly life of Jesus.  And then he would go on to show the meaning and bearing of these sufferings.  They arose from no fault on the part of Jesus; but, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities.”  And yet that was not the end.  The life which had thus ended in shame had begun again in glory:  the cross had led on to the crown.  And as thus he unfolded the first great principles of the Christian faith, Philip would press home on the eunuch’s awakened conscience that they had a vital meaning for him. “Repent,” can we not imagine him pleading as Peter had pleaded before, “and be baptised . . . in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts ii. 38).  The eunuch’s heart was touched, and he asked that he might be baptized.  Satisfied that he was in earnest, Philip agreed to his request.  And when they came to a certain water, “they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.”  Thus “the Ethiopian changed his skin,” and “went on his way rejoicing” to his distant home, to declare in his turn to his countrymen the tidings of great joy.