THE KING’S BUSINESS
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Word o f God that God revealed to the eunuch the fuller truth. This indicates the reason why some o f us never get these revelations from God, viz., we neglect the Bible, and thus do not afford God the opportunity that He would have for mak ing us larger revelations o f the truth (cf. Matt. 22:29). The Writer o f this record believed that Isaiah was the author o f that part o f the book o f Isaiah in which this prophecy is recorded, i. e., the latter part o f the book, which so many “scholarly” modern critics are telling us is not by Isaiah. Most o f us, if we have to choose between the authority o f Luke on a point like this and that o f German infidels and their echoes in other lands will be content to abide by the authority o f Luke, espe cially as Luke’s authority has stood the test o f 1800 years while the authority o f any German critic has not stood the test of eighteen years. Wednesday, November 29. Acts 8:29, jo. It is evident from the record here that God does not expect us to speak about His salvation to everyone we meet. It is also evident that if we wish to have His lead ing as to whom to approach He will give it. There are many o f us who never hear the Spirit say to us, “go near to that man,” but that does not' prove that the Spirit has never said it: It may be that is the reason that we never heard the Spirit say it was because we were not listening closely enough for the Spirit’s voice and so we did not catch “the still small voice” when it spoke. Note carefully the two first words, “ Go Near.” I f we are to win men to Christ we must begin by getting near to them. One o f the great mistakes in a large portion o f the church in our day is that we are trying to save men from a distance. The three words AND PH IL IP RAN ought to sink into our hearts. It is an unusual thing to see one man run after another to speak about Christ. W e run after other men for almost every rea son under the sun, but rarely for this pur pose; but that was the only way Philip
could catch his man and it is the only way in which we can catch anyone the Lord wishes us to catch. W e wait for men to come and seek us. Oh for a few Philips, not to merely go after men but to RUN after men. Here again we have an illus tration o f the promptness and earnestness o f Philip’s obedience to God. The question that Philip put to the eunuch was a very pertinent one, “understandest what thou readest?” and yet some o f us would think it impertinent if someone would put it to us when we were studying the Bible, but if we were to tell the truth about our Bible reading what would we have to answer to that question ? Do we really understand what we read? Do we make an earnest effort to understand it? A h ! Bible read ing will never help us any unless we under stand what we read. Thursday, November jo. Acts 8:31-33. The eunuch’s question o f Philip was a suggestive one. How could he understand the Scriptures unless he had a guide. Well, he could not unless he had a guide but the guide did not need to be a human guide, though he supposed that a human guide was necessary. There is One, a Divine Guide, always ready and always at hand to guide any believer when he studies the W ord o f God (John 14:26; 16:13; 1 John 2:27). It is very important that we under stand what we read in the Word o f God (Matt. 13:19, 23; 15:10; 24:15), and it is the privilege o f every one o f us to under stand if we seek the guidance o f the Holy Spirit and put ourselves in such attitude toward God and His truths that the Holy Spirit can guide us. The eunuch was thoroughly in earnest in his search for the truth: Philip was an absolute stranger to him, nevertheless he thought that probably he could explain the W ord o f God and he besought this unknown worker to come up into his chariot and sit by him that he might point out the meaning o f the Word o f God. I f he had been like some o f us he would have resented the thought o f being taught by anyone else, especially by
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