The Gospel Goes To Ethiopia

The good news of Christ continued to spread
On ev'ry day by chance and by intent;
To Gaza road went Phillip, angel-led,
To Ethiop's treasurer he was sent!
"Do you understand what you are reading?"
Phillip asked, of the Scripture in his hand;
"How can I? An explainer I'm needing?"
So Phillip taught Jesus Christ to the man!
He believed, and seeing water ahead,
"Why can't I be baptized right here today?"
The eunuch, filled with joy, eagerly said;
And so it was done, with no more delay!
In a thousand such ways, both far and near,
The gospel of Christ the known world did hear!

Why was a black man, the treasurer for Queen Candace of Ethiopia, on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to worship the God of Israel? Because he was Jewish; when the Queen of Sheba visited Solomon, David and Bathsheba's son, and king of Israel, in the time of its greatest wealth, size and power, she took back with her a number of Jews who made their home in Ethiopia. This was almost a thousand years before the birth of Christ, 3000 years before our time today. There are a sizable number of Jews in that country today; many have migrated back to the modern nation of Israel. Obviously, the eunuch was descended from those Jews. Therefore, he became a convert to Christianity, and probably witnessed to his fellows in Ethiopia about the good news of Jesus and salvation by grace.

"Now an angel of the Lord said to Phillip, 'Go south to the road---the desert road---that runs down from Jerusalem to Gaza.' So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethioian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Phillip, 'Go to that chariot and stay near it.' Then Phillip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. 'Do you understand what you are reading?' Phillip asked. 'How can I,' he said, 'unless someone explains it to me?' So he invited Phillip to come up and sit with him." (Acts 8:26-31) [The eunuch was reading Isaiah 53:7-8.]

For a complete description of this incident, please read Acts 8:26-39. By this date, there were thousands of believers being scattered from Jerusalem to places both far and near. Desoite personal hardship, they were eager to tell others the stoy of Jesus and his resurrection. The story above is but one example of how the gospel was spread to nations throughout the known world, especially in the Roman Empire. Wherever they went, new churches were being established---Turkey, Malta, Greece, Egypt, Rome, etc. For a time, the apostles remained behind in Jerusalem, staying out of sight of Saul and other persecutors; however, they began making longer trips---James went to Spain, Thomas to India, etc. John went to Ephesus in Turkey, Peter to Antioch, also in Turkey. In the end, they were all slain---martyred---for the cause of Jesus Christ. John lived the longest, dying in a Roman prison on the Isle of Patmos in 103 A. D.