The saga of the Ark of the Covenant reads like a soap opera. The Ethiopian version begins with the Levites who sought to protect the ark from the evil King Manassah and Pharaoh Necho, an Ethiopian, was given custody of the ark. However the good king Josiah wanted the ark returned to Israel and fought his ally Pharaoh Necho for it. Unfortunately King Josiah was killed in battle in the ark has remained an Ethiopian custody all these hundreds of years.
According to legend, the Ark of the Covenant was to be presented to the Messiah “When He rules on Mt. Zion.” Fast-forward several hundred years and the Ethiopian Treasurer traveled to Israel likely under orders from Candace, the Queen of Ethiopia to investigate the rumors of the appearance of the long sought Messiah. When the Ethiopian treasure arrived in Israel he found out that the prospective Messiah had been crucified. One can only imagine his confusion, how could the man who was crucified possibly be the Messiah?
When one considers that the disciples of Jesus who lived and shared his ministry for 3 ½ years still did not fully understand the mission of Jesus it certainly makes sense that the Ethiopian treasurer was very confused.
God arranged a divine appointment between the Ethiopian treasurer and the deacon Philip. The Ethiopian had started out on his arduous 1500 mile trip home and was resting in his chariot and reading from the Book of Isaiah. Philip joined the Ethiopian and his chariot. Philip taught the Ethiopian from Isaiah chapters 52 and 53. The correlation between Isaiah 53 written hundreds of years before the crucifixion of Jesus was obvious to the Ethiopian. He became a believer and was baptized in the nearby river. Acts 9:39, “And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.”
No comments:
Post a Comment