A Round-Trip to Remember!

Scripture:  II Corinthians 8:9 - 'For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich.'

Who knows if when his foot touched the ground of Jerusalem, that he expected that which was to come. This was a Jerusalem that was abuzz, as if someone kicked the hornet's nest - this was the Jerusalem where the experience of Pentecost [Shavuot] exploded, and souls, plenty of souls were being 'saved' [Acts 2:46,47], following that weird report so very hard to explain [Acts 2:1-11]. This was the Jerusalem where such a stirring took place through two radicals, Peter and John, with godly power eventuating in healings, and signs [Acts 3-5], where a certain 'perfect soundness' [Acts 3:16] moved toward widespread transformation bringing with it by the thousands new disciples of this Jesus, reportedly resurrected and risen! This Jerusalem was home to a religious elite which sought to push back against this unrecognizable anomaly, while increasing numbers of disciples required the placing of a dedicated bunch of seven men to be deacons, including Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenus and Nicolas [Acts 6]. Herein preaching, great works, and miracles were occurring, as well as confrontation to include the violent death of Stephen, despite revival. It was quite the volatile mix! It was wild!
Who knew if when he stepped in that place that his own journey would take on such an acute turn being privy to so much more than a tradition.

And when he left Jerusalem to return home, having the nothing of the desert, the presence of scripture, and the arrival of a stranger, could he have known that his world was about to flip.
However it was concluded, he was a eunuch [Matthew 19:12] - a man who was lacking a natural affection for women, he was black [Ethiopian], he was a dignitary and a foreigner [Acts 8:27], and he was stalled in his understanding of Isaiah 53 [Acts 8:30-31]... but God!
The bringer of clarity here was God's man Philip who opened up the Word of life:
"The place of the scripture which he read was this 'He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: In his humiliation his judgement was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.' ... Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. As they went on their way they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said 'See here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?' And Philip said, ' If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.' And he answered and said 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.'" [Acts 8:32-33 & 35-37]

After being baptized he rejoiced greatly, continuing on his way, mysteriously absent of Philip, [by divine transport]. Now that's a Lyft!

How great a grace is that, God's Reach At Christ's Expense. And how 'rich' is that? How great a love is that, the same which reached for us?

At great cost the divine entered the constraint of humanity, leaving the heavenly, to reach you and I, being born through human frailty into earthly frailty, to take on human frailty bodily. And then to submit to our lesser tendencies taking on that cross, and that crown, we see the wages of our sin, taken by the 'Lamb of God', to be utterly and eternally relieved of it. Hallelujah! Aint-a that good news! Amen!

Prayer: [LORD] Bless this given hour;  let heart, and lips, and bended knees
be Spirit-led to flower.  Amen.

(by McNeal Brockington)