Gary:
Please stay with us and at the end of the program we’ll let you know where to send your questions for Dave and Tom to respond to in a future Contending for the Faith. You are listening to Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call.
UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURES
We turn now to our final segment, Understanding the Scriptures and we resume our excursion through the book of Acts. Once again, and along with Dave Hunt, here’s Tom.
Tom:
This is our “Understanding the Scriptures” segment, and we’re in the book of Acts. We’re in Acts, chapter 8. We’re going to pick up with verse 32. But first, a little background. The Scripture is presenting Philip who, being led by the Holy Spirit, joins an Ethiopian eunuch who is reading from Isaiah 53 and, as we mentioned last week Scripture tells us the Ethiopian eunuch didn’t quite understand what he was reading. Verse 31: “And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.” Verse 32-33: “The place of the scripture which he read was this,
He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb
Before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth; in his humiliation his judgment was taken away; and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.”
Verse 34: “And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?”
Dave:
Interesting verses, Tom, we don’t have time to exegete them fully, but apparently he was reading aloud to himself. Apparently he had a copy of, at least this part, of Scriptures, the prophet Isaiah, so apparently this was more common than we sometimes admit. We talked about that, because the Bible says, the Bible urges, even a young man, Psalm 119:9, to give heed to the Word of God—it must have been available. Psalm 1 talks about “blessed is the man, he meditates in the law of God day and night.” How would he do that? They must have had copies of this. So here’s someone from Ethiopian—whether he picked this up in Jerusalem or whether he brought it with him we don’t know—but he is reading, interestingly, a Hebrew prophet. One of the most powerful passages about Jesus and His sacrifice for our sins on the cross: “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer; so opened he not his mouth…” Now, of course, why was that? Because he took our place. And we had no answer to give. We’re guilty. “In his humiliation his judgment was taken away.” In other words, because he doesn’t defend himself, he doesn’t have a group of defense lawyers there, he’s not being dealt with justly, he’s falsely accused, they have false witnesses, etc. Now, Tom, I don’t know if you’ve ever been falsely accused, probably everybody has. Wow. How to just keep your mouth shut and not defend yourself. I’ve had that experience a number of times before a group of false accusers when it was no point in even trying to defend yourself. I think Israel finds itself in that situation today. So many lies are told about Israel in relation to their mistreatment of so-called Palestinians claiming they chased them out, etc., when in fact they didn’t. And I often fault Israel, “you are letting the Muslims win this propaganda war. Why don’t you speak up and tell them the truth.” Maybe it’s just frustrating. What’s the point? The world will only condemn us no matter what they do. But, Christ’s situation was not that. He could not retaliate, he could not reply because He took our place. So, in His humiliation, his judgment was taken away. Wow. How maddening that He’s being falsely accused. And then it says, “who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.”
And yet the Scripture says He will bring many sons into glory because through His death for our sins and His resurrection, we can be born again if we believe in Him, we trust Him. We can be born again and become the children of God. So, He is the first-born, the Scripture says, of the new creation. He is the progenitor of a new race. He’s called the second man, the last Adam. He’s like Adam. The first Adam was the father of the human race. Jesus Christ, then, is like the father, the progenitor, of a new race of born again people who will inhabit a new universe when God destroys this old universe of sin and sorrow. There will be a new universe He will create and it will be inhabited only by those who have allowed Him to give them new hearts, to make them His children through faith in Christ. And, the eunuch says, “I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?” Well, it’s pretty clear. It’s talking about him. The prophet is saying He is lead as a lamb to the slaughter. He is despised and rejected of man, etc. So, he’s not talking about himself. I love this verse 35, “Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.” Now, Tom, it’s been many years since I attempted such a thing and advocated it because I don’t have than many Jewish friends. I should really carry it in my pocket at all times for when the Lord sits me next to a Jewish person on the airplane. But, you type up Isaiah 53 just on a piece of paper. Don’t give any reference, don’t say where it came from and don’t put the verses there so they would suspect it came from the Scriptures. Give that to a Jewish person to read, or to any person to read, Jew or Gentile, and ask them “who do you think this is describing?”
I think almost 100% of the time they’ll say, “well, that’s Jesus.” Well, wait a minute, this was your Hebrew prophet, Isaiah, inspired of God. He’s talking about someone in the future who is going to come. Well, it says, “all we like sheep have gone astray, we’ve turned everyone to his own way, but the Lord, Yahweh, has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” So our sins were laid on Him. He was bruised for our iniquities, wounded for our transgressions. Bruised for our iniquities, that is God’s judgment upon Him. So, He takes the punishment we deserve. I don’t know you could explain that away, and it certainly couldn’t have been Isaiah. He made no such pretense. Furthermore, if we go back to Isaiah 9, verse 6, Isaiah himself, the same prophet who’s telling us of this one who will come, who’s called the servant of Yahweh in chapter 52, he is, well this is what it says: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.” Well the child is the babe in Bethlehem. A son, the eternal Son of God. The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. “The government will be upon His shoulders.” So, He is the Messiah, without a doubt. His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor. One of the names of Jesus is Counselor. So let’s go to him for counseling, to His Word. Then is it says, “The mighty God.” So this one who is going to be born of a virgin, is the mighty God. And then, it gets even stronger. “The ever lasting Father.” Now, Jesus said, “I and my Father are one.” The babe born in Bethlehem is both the Son and the Father. That brings us to the Trinity. I don’t see how you can escape these prophesies. And, in fact, this is the basis for our preaching the Gospel, and Philip began right there to preach Christ. And we need to get back to the Old Testament. We need to get back to the prophesies that make it very clear who the Messiah would be, how you would recognize Him when He came. You wouldn’t accept a false Messiah. And we need to preach the Gospel on that basis.
Tom:
Verses 36-37: “And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
Now, Dave, back in verse 35 it says he “began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus” So we don’t have everything that Philip taught this Ethiopian eunuch, but I’m sure he laid it out.
Dave:
Absolutely. He laid it out from the Scriptures that “he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5) So,
Tom:
And fulfillment of prophesy. That’s what I mean. Who He is, why He came, how He is the Messiah, fulfillment of prophesies, etc. So, my point is that when the eunuch says, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God,” I mean, there are a lot of people that believe that Jesus is the Son of God, okay, but this doesn’t save you, so, I know that Philip gave him the Gospel.
Dave:
Well, Tom, that brings us to something that is controversial among Christians: the mode of baptism, by sprinkling or immersion, for babies or for believers, and it says very clearly that he says, “what would hinder me from being baptized?” Philip says, “If you believe with all your heart, you may be baptized.” So, baptism is clearly for believers. You must believe the Gospel. You must have become a Christian before you’re baptized. If anyone is offended by what we just said, we are only standing up for the Word of God.
Gary:
Dave and Tom will take up their discussion on the topic of salvation next week, we hope you can join us. This is Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry or The Berean Call.
Does God love only some of us? Has He already determined those elect who will live forever with Him in heaven? Are you one of the elect? And if not, is there anything you can do about it? The doctrine of Calvinism, its five points and their implications for the body of Christ are discussed and debated in two powerful books from Dave Hunt and The Berean Call. Debating Calvinism, Five Points Two Views, features a written debate between Dave Hunt and James White, published by Multnomah. In an easy to read format, Hunt and White exchange energetic letters addressing this long argued topic. Co-author of The Seduction of Christianity, and co-host of Search the Scriptures Daily Radio, Dave Hunt: “The influence of Calvinism is growing greatly in the church today, it’s very important that we understand, and we did debate in Calvinism so that you could have a debate in writing. You can go back and forth and read exactly what each side said, think it over carefully rather than an emotional debate.”
And in what some are calling the definitive work on this topic, don’t miss Dave Hunt’s What Love is This? Calvinism’s Misrepresentation of God. In this recently expanded and updated edition, Dave exhaustively documents the unscriptural nature of this doctrine that comes perilously close to blasphemy. Once again, Dave Hunt: “We did a new revised updated edition of, What Love is This? because so many Calvinists were criticizing what I had said. I went through all of their criticisms and answered them in this new and expanded version.” Debating Calvinism, Five Points Two Views, and, What Love is This? Calvinism’s Misrepresentation of God in e-book or hard cover are both available from The Berean Call. Information on how to order in just a moment.
And now, to tell you more about our ministry, here is TBC Administrative Director Tom McMahon.
Tom:
The name, The Berean Call, is taken from the Book of Acts, Chapter 17 verses 10 and 11, where we find the apostle Paul entering the synagogue in the Greek city of Berea after he had just come from Thessalonica. To these Bereans he preached that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah sent from God. They were commended for being noble or fair minded, not only for their willingness to hear what Paul had to say about the matter, but more specifically, because they “searched the scriptures daily” to find out whether or not what the apostle saying was found in God’s Word. That’s what we hope to encourage through this ministry. Our prayer is that we can be used of God to stimulate Christians to look to the Bible alone as their rule of faith, authority and practice in living lives pleasing to our Lord and Savior. Gary.
Gary:
If you are a serious student of God’s Word, we offer a wide variety of items that you will find helpful, from books and tracts to audio and video tapes, CD-ROM, our internet website and much more. For a complete list of materials, or to get a copy of today’s broadcast write to us at PO Box 7019, Bend, Oregon 97708. Call us at our toll free order number 877-882-4253, that’s 877-88Bible, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org. If you would like a copy of this broadcast, ask for Program #4205, and be sure to mention the call letters of this station. Get a pen or pencil ready, we’ll repeat our contact information in just a moment.
Next week, we’ll return to our series of programs based on Dave Hunt’s latest book, Judgment Day, and, “Is Jerusalem a Muslim holy place?” In Religion in the News, “Was Katrina a punishment from God?” We’ll take a look at that story and address the question: “What is the Emerging Church?” We hope you can tune in. If you have questions or comments about this program we urge you to contact our offices. Search the Scriptures Daily Radio Ministry is made possible by God’s grace, your prayers and your financial support. I’m Gary Carmichael, and for Dave, Tom and everyone here at The Berean Call, I would like to thank you for joining us and invite you to tune in again next week. In the meantime, if you desire to know God’s truth, search the scriptures daily. For more information about The Berean Call, write to us at PO Box 7019, Bend, Oregon 97708. Call us toll free at our order number 877-882-4253, that’s 877-88Bible, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org.
