Why Did God Choose to Give Us the Bible?

5 Minute Lessons on the Kingdom of God

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Persecution Scatters the Believers
"¹... A great wave of persecution began... sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria.

...⁴the believers who were scattered preached the Good News about Jesus wherever they went. ⁵Philip, for example, went to the city of Samaria and told the people there about the Messiah.

...¹²the people believed Philip's message of Good News concerning the Kingdom of God (the rule and reign of God) and the name of Jesus Christ. As a result, many men and women were baptized.

...²⁶an angel of the Lord said to him (Phillip), "Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza." ²⁷So he started out, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, ²⁸and he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah.

²⁹The Holy Spirit said to Philip, 'Go over and walk along beside the carriage.'

³⁰Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, 'Do you understand what you are reading?'

³¹The man replied, 'How can I, unless someone instructs me?' And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him.

³²The passage of Scripture he had been reading was this:
'He was led like a sheep to the slaughter.
And as a lamb is silent before the shearers,
he did not open his mouth.
³³He was humiliated and received no justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth.'

³⁴The eunuch asked Philip, 'Tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone else?' ³⁵So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus.

³⁶As they rode along, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, 'Look! There's some water! Why can't I be baptized?' ³⁷'You can,' Philip answered, 'if you believe with all your heart.' And the eunuch replied, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.' ³⁸He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.

³⁹When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰Meanwhile, Philip found himself farther north at the town of Azotus. He preached the Good News there and in every town along the way until he came to Caesarea." (Acts 8:1‑40 NLT)

Why did the Ethiopian eunuch want to be baptized?

These are the clues:

1) "...The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, ...Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah." (Acts 8:27‑28 NLT)

The Ethiopian eunuch had been to Jerusalem to worship at the Jewish feast of Pentecost. He had heard the Apostle Peter preach in Acts chapter two to repent and be baptized as followers of Christ. Three thousand Jewish believers put their faith in Jesus Christ as the Messiah that day and were baptized. The Ethiopian eunuch understood that followers of Jesus demonstrated their faith in Him by being baptized. These are all clues as to why the Ethiopian eunuch wanted to be baptized.

2) Within the preaching of Jesus, water baptism could have been mentioned.

"So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus." (Acts 8:35 NLT)

The "Good News about Jesus" was a quotation of Isaiah 53:7‑8 from the Greek translation that the eunuch was reading from.

3) Water baptism is referred to as a believer's baptism. See Mark 16:15‑16.

"¹⁵And then he told them, 'Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. ¹⁶Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.'" (Mark 16:15‑16 NLT)

Water baptism is for all of those who believe and receive Jesus as their Messiah, King, Lord and Savior. It's interesting how Acts 16:31 defines belief or faith.

How does Acts 16:30‑31 in the Amplified Bible define faith?

"³⁰And he brought them out [of the dungeon] and said, Men, what is it necessary for me to do that I may be saved?
³¹And they answered, Believe in and on the Lord Jesus Christ—that is, give yourself up to Him, take yourself out of your own keeping and entrust yourself into His keeping, and you will be saved; [and this applies both to] you and your household as well." (Acts 16:30‑31 AMP)

The point that we are trying to make about faith is that it is not just an intellectual assent about facts, but saving faith entrusts itself to the keeping of Jesus the Christ to be saved. It's not an assent to facts, it's a commitment of your life to Him.

4) Vines Greek Lexicon defines baptism in the following way: "baptizing into the name" (Matthew 28:19), would indicate that the baptized person was closely bound to, or became the property of, the one into whose Name he was baptized.

5) The title of our lessons is "Why Did God Choose to Give Us the Bible?" We find the answer to this question in Acts chapter eight verse 35. God gave us the Bible to reveal Jesus as the Christ or Messiah, who is the anointed King; He is God's only begotten Son, our Savior and Lord. This is why we have the Bible, that Jesus may be revealed to us. This is revealed from the Scripture, both Old and New Testament.

We want to hear from you!

We would love to hear your feedback on these lessons and how you use them in your own study or in discipling others. If you have any thoughts, stories, testimonies, comments, or questions we would love to hear them!

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What Was the Message of Jesus?