Thanks for joining me!
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 2nd. Corinthians 4.7
Understand what you’re reading? was Philip’s question to the Ethiopian eunuch who was returning to his homeland after having gone up to Jerusalem to worship.
It was not a question just to satisfy Philip’s curiosity, it was a question of location, to know where the eunuch was with respect to the Revelation necessary to do the Will of God.
The eunuch had knowledge of God. The trip to Jerusalem was not only an exploration, the Ethiopian knew who God was and where he could find him, his long trip to Jerusalem proves it; however, the eunuch lacked the necessary Revelation to fulfill what God demands as part of His Will.
I wanted to begin with this fragment of the story of the salvation and redemption of one man, the Ethiopian eunuch, because this story illustrates the problem many people are facing today of not knowing what God demands, and how to fulfill His Will.
The problem is not for lack of knowledge but for lack of revelation. To have knowledge about a subject of the Bible does not necessarily mean to have Revelation about the message of the story we read; largely because we lack the necessary guidance to lead us along the path of Revelation.
This reminds me of another fragment in the book of the prophet Isaiah.
One day, the prophet Isaiah presented God’s complaint to the people of Israel, that His people were exposed to captivity for lack of knowledge.
Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. Isaiah 5:13
However, if we consider that the average Jew of his time was familiar with the Scriptures, by the customary reading of the Law and the prophets during each Sabbath, in the synagogues, as Jesus’ dialogue with the rich young man discovers,
The young man said to him, “All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?” Matthew 19:20
It is a little incomprehensible to us that Isaiah presents to us the complaint of God, that captivity is for lack of knowledge.
The fact that people were taken captive for lack of knowledge has to be understood more broadly, as the absence of the will of not being taught. The eunuch clearly stated it,
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. Acts 8:31
It’s not about having knowledge, it’s about having Revelation. The Ethiopian eunuch found it under the guidance of Philip. We discover how to do God’s Will as we allow ourselves to be taught by others. God gives Revelation to those who are willing to work on it in humility.
The problem of our societies, and it is a matter of teaching, that we are self-sufficient, that we do not need anyone else to solve a situation. Our societies are building on foundations of pride that move us away from the Revelation of God’s Will.
Only he who believes that he no longer needs to be taught is the one who is exposed to being taken captive.
The believers of Berea give us a lecture:
And these were nobler than those who were in Thessalonica, for they received the word with all diligence, searching the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so. Acts 17:11
I encourage you to approach God with the right motivation: I need you to teach me. May the Almighty prosper you.
Pastor Pedro Montoya
Twitter: @pastormontoya
Treasure in Earthen Vessels 