SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURES
Philip F Eagle
Acts 17: 11; 8: 26-38
I wanted to say a word from these passages about searching the scriptures. One of the passages refers to a company, and the other refers to an individual, both searching the scriptures.
I was thinking that this company, the Bereans, received the word “with all readiness of mind”. It is good when we are together in occasions like this one to have a “readiness of mind” to receive and to hear what is being said, a readiness of mind to hear what the Lord would say today. We get a lot from reading the scriptures. We may read the same scripture a few times, but something different comes out of it each time. The Holy Spirit delights to be able to bring something fresh and living every time you read a passage. These people here were “more noble than those in Thessalonica … daily searching the scriptures”. What an exercise that is, to search the scriptures daily! There may be some point in the day when you just have the impression that you should read a passage of scripture in a certain book; you may hear something said in a reading which makes you think about a certain passage, but it says, “daily searching the scriptures if these things were so”. You feel they had a joy about it - we have spoken already this evening about celebrations, and you can feel the eagerness, the enjoyment of these people here, searching the Scriptures. Perhaps they imparted something to one another, perhaps rejoicing to find out that these things were the truth; and the light that was found in the Scriptures. You may read a passage of Scripture and you may have read it a few times, but you might see something you had never noticed before. I am not wanting to be fanciful at all. They would have heard Paul preaching, or Silas preaching, and then they got something from searching the Scriptures. Are we ready in our pathway here? We have busy schedules, and there are things to be done, matters to be attended to at work, and we are busy. But do we leave the door open for Christ and for the things of the Christ? During the day, you may get an impression, perhaps just a small one, something to enjoy; and then you have to search the scriptures if these things are so.
I thought of this other passage because we have a man here, an individual this time, and he was searching the Scriptures as well. He was reading, he was reading a book in the Bible, the prophet Esaias; I think we might say he was searching the Scriptures. I think the spirit of this man was humble: “How should I then be able unless some one guide me?”. How wonderful it is that we have the Holy Spirit to help us! There are some passages of Scripture which are hard to understand. It has been said that you would always pray to the Holy Spirit before you read the Scriptures. It is a simple truth, a simple fact I have often thought about; how much sense it makes to get the help of the Holy Spirit to understand the meaning of a passage.
This man wanted to understand what this meant, he had a desire; you might say he had a “readiness of mind”. He read this passage, well-known to us, and the questions were there. He wanted Philip to come up and guide him. Philip gives him a different aspect, a different impression, a different view; we know this because the eunuch asked to be baptised. Philip was ready to help him; he was guided by the Holy Spirit: “opening his mouth and beginning from that scripture, announced the glad tidings of Jesus”. Think of what it led up to for that man, what a joy it must have been to be baptised. It says, “he went on his way rejoicing”. It should be a matter of rejoicing to us if we get something from a passage of scripture. This man may not have been reading a vast passage of the scripture; we are told of something he was reading that just struck him, and it changed his life. You might be able to read something, it might be a small passage, and might never have seen what is contained in it before. You may see a different aspect, you may see something that is new or living about it; and it may help you in your pathway here. Reading this passage here that was explained to him by Philip changed the eunuch’s life.
What an exercise it would be; as we read more in the Scriptures, and get the Holy Spirit’s help, it can change our life, how we see things, how they are in our eyes. Around us things are unstable, very unstable; people wonder what is going to happen, but the Scriptures are stable, and they can help in our pathway here, reading them and knowing the encouragement that is in them.
This is an exercise to me because I feel I need to read the Scriptures more and more; but the encouraging thing is that if you only have the opportunity to use a small portion, there will be something for you like there was with this man, that will make you rejoice.
May it be so for His Name’s sake.
Word in a ministry meeting in London
12th February 2019