Acts (Session 6) Chapter 8

okay acts chapter eight and uh we're going to talk about simon magus uh sorcerer and we're going to talk about this strange character the ethiopian treasurer and so we were in chapter seven last time where we reviewed this incredible uh commentary on the entire tanakh the old testament by our friend stephen the first martyr but in this session we're going to explore the the fourth persecution the one that is clearly instigated by saul and then we're going to encounter a number of things but one of them will include the encounter between philip the deacon philip and the ethiopian treasurer and so i want to remind you of the marching orders that opened the book of acts in chapter 1 back there jesus said but ye shall receive power after the holy ghost has come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in jerusalem and in all judea and in samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth it's interesting how this verse really gives us an outline of the entire book of acts it mentions four areas jerusalem all judea samaria the uttermost part of the earth now the first seven chapters encount were focused on jerusalem but with chapter eight we're going to shift gears here a little bit for the rest of this unit what we call unit one which goes from the chapter we're in now all the way through to chapter 12. we're calling that the first unit of acts the focus will be on judea and samaria and subsequently from chapter 12 on it will go to the uttermost part of the earth now judea of course surrounds jerusalem and samaria lies further to the north of jerusalem the center of attention is beginning to shift away from jerusalem to samaria and then later to the outermost parts of the earth so in the first verse of chapter 8 and saul was consenting unto his death as he alluding to stephen of course and at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at jerusalem and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of judea and samaria except the apostles so we see that god using this persecution to spread uh the gospel the word and there of course connects this to chapter seven and connects them together in other words and the death is speaking of here of course is stevens the one that we uh just studied last last week now the we must always keep in mind that these chapter breaks are man's invention sometimes they're in appropriate places sometimes they're actually they seem not to be quite in the right place but anyway this persecution we're dealing with caused them to spread into other regions verse two and devout men carried stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him i often get questions about cremation obviously the biblical practice is burial and so what about cremation many people ask me you need to realize that cremation is a pagan practice and it's practical hygiene for many cultures of course but it's not a biblical practice planting the body in the earth like a seed is a testimony and evidence of your faith in a future resurrection in first corinthians 15 deals with that and i've had a number of families who discovered that their military hero had specified cremation or somehow took place and they're really quite disturbed because they felt that was a very empty procedure and a very frustrating procedure for people who really look to the burial and the resurrection that god models so clearly in the scripture so i mentioned that i wouldn't say cremation is prohibited but it certainly is not a biblical practice and it's something that you should give consideration to anyway as for saul he made havoc of the church entering into every house and hailing men and women committed them to prison so this saul is now armed he's he's a a real troublemaker and he was aggressive if you know anything about saul he really was full of zeal he was intensely devoted to what he believed was right but of course sincerity is not enough and zeal without knowledge and we're going to see another example of that shortly in this very chapter when we encounter simon magus therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word then philip now this is the deacon philip not the apostle philip as i understand it went down to the city of samaria and preached christ unto them so this is fulfilling those marching orders we're now literally specifically reaching out into samaria and that was an anathema to the jewish mind but it was clearly the instruction that god gave his followers there scattered abroad the actual greek there is passed through it occurs 43 times in the new testament and in philippians 1 says but i would but you should understand brethren that the things which happen unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel we'll see again and again when persecution takes place it actually benefits the the gospel the church is never hurt from the outside those persecutions tend to spread the church it can be hurt from the inside and we'll see that later in this chapter and so philip is the not the apostle he was one of the deacons here and he was introduced in back in acts chapter 6 as an evangelist in he will become in chapter 21 of this book samaritans were looked down up by the david regarded sort of as half jews and so samaria was not a choice district to go out and evangelize in but that's where philip was sent and the people with one accord gave heat under those things which philip spake hearing and seeing the miracles which he did so philip is also a deacon doing miracles interesting now for unclean spirits crying with a loud voice came out of many that were possessed with him and many taken with palsies and they that were lame were healed that's quite a list quite a list quite impressive and there was great joy in that city indeed you can imagine but there was a certain man called simon which before time in the same city use sorcery and bewitched the people of samaria giving out that himself was some great one well we see those all the time don't we on television and elsewhere but see there's that adversative con conjunction again which implies opposition okay and simon magus is a magician or a sorcerer if you will to whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest saying this man is the great power of god you've got to be careful of that that's a very dangerous place to put yourself to pass yourself off as the power of god and to him they had regard because of long time that he bewitched them with sorceries and but when they believed philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of god and the name of jesus christ they were baptized both men and women so in effect philip is beginning to encroach on simon's uh area of influence here then simon himself believed also now that's interesting simon himself believed also you know james reminds us that the devils also believe and tremble so believing is not enough so let's not be misled by that that phrase simon himself believed also and when he was baptized he was even baptized wow he continued with philip and wondered beholding the miracles and signs which were done so he's ready to join this he thinks this is pretty exciting stuff see one can believe a great deal about jesus christ and yet not be saved no one's saying that simon was insincere that's not the accusation here simon was baptized but was he saved could he be baptized and not be saved is it possible he was clearly self-deceived boy that could be many of us that are listening to this presentation now when the apostles which were at jerusalem heard that samaria had received the word of god they sent unto them peter and john in other words peter and john are apostles very heavy guys the sharp guys they're going to check this out to make sure this is all as as reported and essentially up here and john are always paired together here but this is the last time you read about john he disappears from the narrative record but he shows up of course on patmos when he's in exile and he pens the revelation and also the letters jesus's letters to the seven churches and so uh he disappears from the record at this point from from the historical record the narrative record who when they were come down that's peter and john prayed for them that they might receive the holy ghost for as yet he was fallen upon none of them only they were baptized in the name of the lord jesus so they were baptized in the name of the lord jesus but they hadn't seen the holy spirit come upon them and that's something that that was at this stage of things expected and so how could the samaritans be saved and yet not have received the holy spirit at the moment they pre-profess faith see for 500 years temples in the south at jerusalem and in the north at mount gerizim had been rivals see the samaritans worshiped a different a different style than they did in the south and south of course it was the temple of jerusalem but in the north it was a mount gerizim under the samaritans and note that the issue for them was which temple to worship at that shows up in john 4 in the narrative there if the spirit had immediately fallen on these samaritan believers the body that is the body of christ might have suffered division through the centuries that could have continued the implicit split between them and so but when the apostles from jerusalem came and identified themselves with the believing samaritans the work was recognized as of one body god's intention was to build a single body of christ not pieces and parts that's that that's missed by many people but that's really what's going on here and that's dealt with of course in first corinthians 12 for the unity and so on we'll get on here in verse 17 of chapter eight so then laid their the then laid the their hands on them and they received the holy ghost and when simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles hands that the holy ghost was given he offered them money saying give me also this power that on whomsoever i lay hands he may receive the holy ghost see the simon that seemed quite logical quite a logical extension he was willing to pay his way isn't that great see he didn't ask for the spirit for himself he wanted the power to give the spirit that's what he's really after here and so uh we call it so semini semini is a verb now in our vocabulary meaning buying and selling position or office within the church the purchase of spiritual things that's what that's where that word derives is from this incident with simon magus but peter said unto him thy money perish with thee because thou has thought that the gift of god may be purchased with money thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter for thy heart is not right in the sight of god repent therefore of this thy wickedness and pray god if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee wow he lays it on him see simon still had the opportunity to repent he was a believer in a sense but he was not saved he repent and said to precede that for i perceive that thou art the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity then answered simon and said pray ye to the lord for me that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me so he asks for prayer and he doesn't repent that's a key aspect here he wants the apostles to pray for him thinking that their power would be greater than his this is the last place you read of simon in the scriptures yet we read a lot about him in the early church writings by the way he became the first what might call an antichrist one that fought the church going from place to place opposing the gospel so he's a bad apple he's a loser difference between believing about christ and totally trusting him uh with your life that's the difference it's called faith believing's not enough trust is a key part of that so let's understand that just being we use the term believer a little loosely but no it's not believing about christ it's leaning on him that's the issue here don't let miracles or supernatural events fool you because satan is not only capable of it of is not only capable of it prophecy says he will deceive many in the end times satan is going to deceive people in the end times through miracles his man himself apparently is raised from the dead so these may be counterfeits may be real doesn't matter they're going to be convincing simulations if they're not real they apparently would certainly seem real so he can do miracles that's why it's so important when you see a miracle happen find out who's getting the credit that's one of the critical issues here your protection is the word of god if it's not in the bible treat it with caution and remember acts 17 11 that's been our trademark for what 40 years or longer continuing then in verse 25 and they when they had testified and preached the word of the lord returned to jerusalem and preached the gospel in many villages of the samaritans so things continue as they were and the angel of the lord spake with philip now who he gets a strange assignment here the angel of the lord spake unto philip saying arise and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from jerusalem unto gaza which is desert so he's gone up north to samaria now the angel sends him down south in fact southwest of jerusalem to the road that goes to gaza gaza being on the coast of course so it was one of the five cities of the philistines which was destroyed by alexander and if you let's just take a look at this here see after the stoning of stephen the believers in jerusalem were scattered and philip one of the seven helpers he goes to samaria so he goes up north many were healed up there then simon the magician arrives and peter and john investigate they return after admonishing simon and so philip then is sent to the jerusalem gaza road which is down as you can see to the southwest of jerusalem and there he meets the ethiopian treasure okay so let's see what happens here he that's philip arose and went and behold a man of ethiopia a eunuch of great authority under candace the queen of the ethiopians who had the charge of all her treasure and had come to jerusalem for to worship and he was returning and sitting in this chariot and he read isaiah the prophet now a couple of things here when you see in a eunuch that traditionally is one that was castrated so he would be safe with the harem in the ancient structure over the years that term comes to mean just a high officer he may have been a eunuch biologically but not necessarily that's a term that was used more loosely in more re in later years so we're that i wouldn't make too much of that here but it was the concept of him maintaining himself clean free of outside influences as the idea of being a eunuch it's interesting that the scripture here points out that his specific responsibility was the treasure of the ethiopians and that's going to be more important than most people realize to the real significance of this story and he was returning he's sitting as chariot read isaiah the prophet now this is kind of strange because he's an ethiopian he's visited jerusalem but he's on his way home confused and he's reading isaiah and god supernaturally has philip join him to deal with this so i want to get into this a little bit why is he returning confused and what was his mission for the queen it doesn't tell us we're left to infer that a little bit so that brings us the see the ethiopian and by the way don't visualize a guy by himself in a chariot he was the treasurer responsible for all the treasures of the queen of ethiopia he was part of a caravan of troops and protection this isn't a lone guy in the desert he is a major officer with appropriate guards and so forth and he was responsible for all the treasures and so and by the way just as a footnote though eunuchs were not allowed in the congregation of israel that's a law in deuteronomy 23. so what on earth is this guy doing worshipping in jerusalem he didn't just go and visit he worshiped which means he had some kind of access there maybe he was a proselyte maybe he was a philosopher there are ethiopians that believe their descendants of levi and that's my suggestion that is probably true here but we'll move on here i'm going to insert a little background here that you need to have before going forward to understand what's going on here i want to talk about the ark of the covenant and i also want to talk about the mercy seat most of us confuse those two because we lump them together they're always described separately in the scripture the mercy seat we visualize as the lid on top of the ark of the covenant but they're actually separate items they're built differently and they have different destinies and we're going to talk about what the scripture hints at as a special gift to the messiah from ethiopia is it possible that these relics have a future that most people are not aware of there are a number of theories of whatever happened to the ark of the covenant we know it was in solomon's temple it was not in any subsequent temple so for some reason it disappeared so there's several there's at least six different theories about the ark of the covenant some scholars think it may have been uh taken by pharaoh shishak in second chronicles 12. very possible very possibly but i don't think so i'll show you why some think it was hidden by jeremiah mount nebo and that comes from a rather spurious passage in second maccabees too and most serious scholars don't give much credence to that for some reasons today the official position in israel is that it's still lies hidden somewhere underneath the temple mount and that is the official statement of the the israeli revenant some feel that when the babylonians took the southern kingdom captive for 70 years that somehow they took the ark of the covenant and used it for gold or whatever it is they feel it disappeared when taken by the babylonians others and this is the official legend within ethiopia there is a story a legend that there that queen of sheba visits solomon and while she visits they have a child an illegitimate child by the name of menelik the first who is raised by the priest till he's 19 as the legend goes whereupon he takes the ark of a covenant with him and leaves a replica and goes to ethiopia and they've been guarding what he brought down there ever since that's a legend that was promoted by the early kings of ethiopia in order for them to claim solomonic descent it incidentally has been incorporated in the constitution of ethiopia that's the legend they believe quite sincerely but most bible scholars know for reasons i'll show you that that's not biblical so we know that story isn't true and for that reason most scholars have dismissed the whole ethiopian thing because they know that it's not biblical what they've overlooked is that the ark may have gotten down there by a different path and it may actually be the ark and of course there's another view and that's the one we're going to explore here it was taken to egypt during manassas atrocities now you need a little background here that manasseh when he after hezekiah we have manasseh hezekiah was a good king but he succeeded by manasseh who tried to wipe out judaism he destroyed every copy of the torah he could find and he was on a rampage he had there was blood border border under his leadership and there was a because of that there's a major judgment pronounced upon them because of his atrocities he succeeded by josiah a kid about eight years old initially and josiah is a good kid and during his reign a copy of the torah that was hidden is discovered he reads it and realized how far they've fallen and he institutes a major revival and a passover and one of the things that he does in second chronicles 35 he tells the levites to return the ark of the covenant to the holy of holies so the fact that the ark is somehow around in the days of josiah apparently tells you that the legend by the the like the first and all that is just not biblical it's not true because if that is true then the chronicler is wrong and of course we don't buy that so i want to show you an alternative view of the ark of the covenant the levites when manasseh was doing his his uh rampages the levites in order to protect the ark of the covenant in the mercy seat apparently snuck it out of the temple out of jerusalem in fact out of israel they sought protection under pharaoh neko of egypt okay we find that in second kings 21 when you get to second chronicles 35 and that was your special reading assignment for this session josiah seeks the ark's return and in that verse and now he subsequently in that verse josiah dies fighting necco and so uh very strange that uh between verse 3 and verse 20 of that chapter there are some events we want to pay attention to josiah asks the the levites to return the ark well i think i've got some slides on this so let's get into it we'll discover that the ark was transferred from elephantine island it was put under protection feroneco at elephantine island that was a island fortress that was pharaoh necklace capital in those days right in the middle of the nile and we know from archaeological confirmation that the tabernacle was set up there for two centuries it later moves up river to lake tana and it's there for eight centuries and so uh it's currently whatever they have is currently being guarded in a special compound in oxen in ethiopia and apparently whatever they've got they know it's destined to be presented to the messiah when he rules on mount zion and so this is a documented tradition 642 in elephantine island egypt we actually we actually went there the arc the german archaeologists have confirmed that the the that the tabernacle was set up there by the levites in 470 bc this whole thing moves up to to lake tana up north there's a huge lake called lake tana on which there are a number of islands and one of these islands is tanakirkos island and it takes special access to get on that island the monks won't let anyone on that island and uh bob carnuck a good friend of ours has has managed to develop a relationship with them bringing the medicine over the years and making many visits so it was through his access that we have made several trips there in fact even the discovery channel made one of those trips and they could only make it because bob made the arrangements for them to get access but that was very rare but anyway it's there um at three at 3 30 a.d in other words eight centuries later the ark is transferred from lake tana to aksum ethiopia and that's where it currently remains under guard it's been under guard there for uh you know the better part more than 1500 years 1800 or whatever almost 2000 years and it's destined to be presented to the messiah and mount zion that destiny is detailed in isaiah chapter 18 the whole chapter and that's also mentioned in zephaniah 3 10 and there are other illusions also so that raises an interesting question was the ethiopian treasure that we encounter in acts chapter 8 on an errand for his queen is it possible because the ethiopians are anticipating whatever they've been guarding for so long they are destined to present to the messiah when he rules on mount zion the possibility is that they had heard that messiah had come so she dispatches the treasure to go check it out when he gets to jerusalem he finds out the messiah has been crucified he's confused he's on his way home confused and god supernaturally arranges for philip to meet him and explain to him the scriptures which he does and we'll take a look at that here as we go the mentality legend i've summarized to you let's see if i've got it right here the queen of sheba visited solomon in those days ethiopia included saudi arabia by the way so the queen of sheba was ethiopian they had a son menelik who grew up there until he was 19. he then returned to ethiopia and brought with him the ark of the covenant leaving behind only a replica that's the legend they apparently have been guarding this object for over 2 400 years and this legend has been included in their constitution it served to ascribe solomonic descent for the early ethiopian kings which makes me believe that that was contrived for their benefit because they wanted to be able to claim descendancy from solomon now this traditional legend of ethiopia is something they still embrace however it's not compatible with the biblical record since the ark is referred to in the subsequent days of josiah in second chronicles 35 3. here's what it says in second chronicles 35 3 and he that is josiah said unto the levites that taught all israel which were holy unto the lord quote put the holy ark in the house which solomon the son of david king of israel did build it shall not be a burden upon your shoulders serve now the lord god and and his people israel very interesting that he's asking them to do that nowhere in the scripture does it say they complied that's his instructions and it's very interesting that the when you study carefully the passage surrounding josiah you'll discover that he gets his instructions from god through hold of the prophetess why because the levites have set up shop outside the country that's why and they're under protection of pharaoh nico and so he's telling him come back he says the ark should not be a burden on your shoulders that tells you they're in travel because the instruction of the torah is that the ark is to be born on the shoulders of the levites so they're apparently traveling in that form remember david gets in big trouble because he had it on a cart and that caused a guy to get killed no there's a god means what he says and says what he means the way the ark is to be transported is on the shoulder of levites and that's apparently where it is it's being traveled somewhere we'll know subsequently that they're traveling in under pharaoh nick of egypt it shall not be a burden on your shoulders key phrase there so it doesn't say that they complied with his instruction the levites had apparently taken the ark and the mercy seat with it of course out of the temple out of jerusalem in fact out of the jurisdiction and the atrocities of manasseh who is attempting to eliminate mosaic judaism that you have to uh you know read the the account of manas it's really grim so what has been overlooked by most scholars is that the ark may have arrived by another series events which are alluded to in that same chapter everybody overlooks the possibility they know that the ark that the mentality uh legend is wrong so they just dismiss it out of hand rather than looking further and so let's take a look further on in this very same chapter after all this when josiah had prepared the temple before this big revival neko king of egypt came up to fight against kashmesh by euphrates and josiah went out against him get the politics here the enemy of israel of course is the assyrian empire to the east but the assyrian empire at this time is starting to fall apart pharaoh neko from egypt is taking up arms against assyria the enemy of israel josiah does a bizarre thing he takes up arms against pharaoh neko you know the usual proverb is the enemy of my enemy is my friend if pharaoh neck is going up against assyria the enemy of israel what on earth is josiah doing taking up arms against feronecka you see now fairness was puzzled you can understand why okay now so he says but he sent ambassador to him saying what have i to do with thee thou king of judah i came not against thee this day but against the house wherewith i have war for god commanded me to make haste forebear thee from meddling with god who is with me that he destroyed thee not that's pharaoh neko lecturing josiah pharaoh neko is confused he's going against assyria and he would assume that that's that that israel is saying great they're our enemy too see no so so uh pharaoh neko sends ambassadors to josiah saying what have i to do with the king of judah he's puzzled i come out against thee this day but against the house wherewith i have war for god come in pharaoh nico's claiming that god commanded him and you're going to find out in the next verse the chronicler says that nicole heard this from the mouth of god really god is speaking to a pharaoh of egypt what are you talking about here anyway he makes the claim here he says that i the god commanded me to make haste forebear thee from meddling with god who is with me that he destroy thee not that's his advice to desire josiah ignores that okay so let's go ahead and take a look here nevertheless josiah would not turn his face from him but disguised himself that he might fight with him and hearken not unto the words of neko from the mouth of god and came to fight in the valley of megiddo notice that that verse 22 is a comment of the chronicler it's not a false claim of pharaoh neko the chronicler you know uh uh endorses the fact that somehow neko heard this from the mouth of god that tells me that the and we know this archaeologically the levites had set up the tabernacle on elephantine island he somehow is getting a direct communication from god himself but josiah chooses to ignore that and he goes against him enemy what on earth do you suppose josiah is going against pharaoh neko for he's certainly not going to take spoil what's he doing what's he fighting for my theory my conjecture he wants the ark back he's told the levites to bring it back they haven't applied he's going down to get it that's i think his concept however in verse 23 the archer shot at king josiah and the king said to his servants have me away for i am sore wounded so strange stuff and the rest of the chapter of course goes and this rest of the chapter of course goes on the issues here why did josiah persist attacking for an echo and my conjecture is of course and why did feroneko feel that god was on his side how could pharaoh neko have instructions from the mouth of god these are all issues you have to join here somehow and why did josiah always rely on the prophetess hulda rather than the levitical priesthood because they're not present that's one reason and by the way one other fact that helps raise this the cloud here a little bit and that is pharaoh neko is not an egyptian see again remember pharaohs are titles of kings of egypt this pharaoh happens to be believe it or not ethiopian ethiopians back in those days were known for their skill at warfare the ethiopians have a very proud military history back in the ancient times by the way and you could this is not a spurious thing you can find this in the public commentary in other places okay the ethiopians believe that they have a been entrusted with a special prize here there's a 2400 year history of a sacred relic guarded by the ethiopians from its tenure at elephantine island in upper egypt from 642 bc that's before the babylonian captivity to tonic kirkus island on lake tana for eight centuries and then it's moved to a very complex uh fortress compound that's called saint mary's of giants it's got a church type title but it's actually a fortress compound it goes down at least seven stories and it's got tunnels all the way to the red sea and uh it's protected it's protected until they can deliver whatever they're protecting there to the messiah when he rules a mouth zion so that's what they believe they're doing so i want to give you a quick look at some ex summary of some of our expeditions to ethiopia to give you a little grasp of what goes on here and uh that's gone our guide and and our group now there's also something you want to know that there are ethiopians of the jewish faith they call themselves better israel the house of israel they're falacias in the press they consider themselves jews there's about 30 000 of them today they observe the sabbath circumcision dietary laws ritual cleansing they're very jewish in their practices they have a bible written in geese that's their language that's a derivative of the septuagint interestingly enough the bible has some things most bibles don't have and i'll show you that in a minute however the guardianship of the ark of the covenant is a government and christian commitment let that sink in for a minute it's the government that's behind the protection here and they've guarded it for 2 400 years secondly it's they're christians these are levites that are christians that believe they're um they belong the ethiopian church is a christian church it has a lot of practices that we don't particularly deal with but but they are they are very much after the orthodox greek orthodox tradition anyway um as we go there of course you got to realize they are they are dirt poor the ethiopians are happy people but they are the poorest people you can imagine and there is a documented tradition of the elephantine island and then the toronto carcass island and then axon and mount zion these are this is not hearsay they're documented and it's destined to be presented as i pointed out now so we're going to go from jerusalem like the ark did and we're going to head down to elephantine island which was the capital of pharaoh neko's when he was the uh pharaoh of egypt it's right on the nile it was right on the border of upper and lower egypt as they call it okay it was the elephantine island we went there it was an early advanced outpost of egypt it's the southernmost border town fortified installation serving the first dynasty fortress and the military importance was very clear in the 25th dynasty which is known as the ethiopian dynasty and the temple of a served the jewish colony prior to the persian occupation of the fifth century bc and that's in the official guidebook of the german institute of archaeology at the elephantine museum there so you can go there and actually see that stuff if you're interested in that so the old the old cataract church is a tradition and we of course stayed there and elephantine island was there and we actually checked this out the german archaeologists corroborate the elephantine island part of this travel well we go from the elephantine island then down to lake tana lake tana is a gigantic lake and on that lake there are a number of islands one of them is known as tana kirkus island and the ark has moved there and it remains there for eight centuries think about that that's a long time and so we actually went that way and we ended up actually they still have bull rushes just the way isaiah 18 describes them and when you go in that area you want to watch out for the hippos because they are hugely dangerous and the place is infested with them of course and that makes it colorful but there's town of kirkus island that we will approach and we have special arrangements made so that we can go and take a look around a little bit and i won't show you all the things we found because some of them require way too much explanation but we actually they opened their inner place to us and showed us some of the things that they maintain are there since the days of uh way back uh to the days of of uh josiah and so on so we were there with bob cornuche and checking some of the things that are still there from those days and they showed us their bible and this is kind of interesting because they have pictures in their bible of mary and joseph and the baby visiting there when they took departure in egypt in the early years of of of the nativity and so forth and so so they have things in their bible that we probably haven't dreamed of having in ours and so forth but actually then we they finally moved the thing to a well-protected fortress after eight centuries they move it to exon and that's where it is to this day they are waiting until the messiah rules at zion because they believe it's their their job to deliver what they've been guarding to the messiah they have no idea what they're guarding it's inside a marble carrier the ark itself is wood covered with gold and apparently it's deteriorating what's on what we regard as the lid is a separate item called the mercy seat it's hammered gold and i and it's our conviction that uh the the uh it has a destiny that most people haven't even guessed it and i'll come back to that this is a picture of what they call saint mary's of zion this is the the building the top tip of it it actually goes down underground very deeply and it is manned by a guardian who spends his life there there's a young boy assigned to him and when he dies that little boy takes over he grows and and they they have handed it over and the person's guarding never leaves that place and stays with that day and night his whole life and succeeded and they have an unbroken line of succession uh there at aksum this way when a woman has his baron and goes to the church and then yields a child that child belongs to the church and those have a special name and the the the best of them is assigned to be the next guardian with the guy and so forth they have a whole procedure they use there and so on and so once a year it's usually in january they have a holiday called tim cat and they don't take out the actual ark itself they take a replica they use for ceremonial purposes they call it the tableau which is their way of expressing the ark the total package if you will but they take it and they spend two days going down to the riverside and back i want you to get a picture of this imagine yourself visiting there and you see these ethiopians wrapping themselves in fresh white sheets and singing in the spirit round the clock for two days prior and round the clock two days during tim cat and singing and celebrating what do they think they're celebrating they are reenacting from their point of view the baptism of christ they take this thing down to the riverside go through some ceremonies and and they have the whole thing they do but they feel that is celebrating the baptism of christ at the jordan these are levites celebrating the baptism of christ i mean let that sink in it's a it you have to be there to it's just overwhelming but they go with this whole procedure down and uh they go down by the riverside and then at the riverside they have their readings and all their ceremonies it's all in ghees which is the ethiopian language and uh so let's recap what the the what acts tells about uh philip here in chapter eight picking up at verse 29 then the spirit said if he'll go near and join us after this chariot and philip ran this to them and heard him read the heard him see he's reading isaiah out loud phil branded two and heard him read the prophet isaiah and said understand this thou what thou readest and he says how can i except some man should guide me and he desired that philip he would come up and sit with him he's got guards and stuff but he invites him up there now if you we know from what he's been about to read that he's reading in the region of isaiah that is around isaiah 53 but i'm going to suggest what you do in your study time is pretend you are the ethiopian treasurer and read chapter 52 and 53 remember those chapter divisions are man's break points and what it tells him to do is keep himself clean there's something that's got to be explained to you that's in the isaiah and that's why i think how can i know somebody guide me what does philip do he explains to him why the the messiah was executed in jerusalem and that he's going to be coming back that's what he's going to do here so let's take a he heard him ready he heard it out loud and so forth and so and he said should somebody guide me the word guide there is a medical technical term meaning from an authoritative teacher and as he's reading the greek translation of isaiah 52 and 53 both the eunuch and philip are prepared by the holy spirit for this interview let's keep that in mind let's read isaiah 52 starting at page at verse 11. depart ye depart ye go ye out from thence touch no unclean thing go ye out of the midst of her be be clean that bear the vessels of the lord that's the kind of instruction you would give a eunuch you see for you shall not go out with haste or by flight for the lord will go before you and the god of israel will be your rear lord you'll watch your back behold my servant shall deal prudently shall be utterly exalted and extolled and be very high and that of course is going right into the uh it says in many at the end of chapter 52 says and many were astonished at the his visage was so marred more than any man his form more than the sons of men so shall he sprinkle many nations and the king shall shut their mouths at him for that which had not been told them shall they see and that which they had not heard shall they consider so see mr eunuch you're about to have your confusion relieved here shut their mouths and that which has not been told them shall they see and that which so forth so philip ran through the two of them and heard him read the prophet isaiah and said understand this without readers he said how can i accept someone should guide me there's that term and he decided philip that he would come up and sit with him the place where the scripture which he reads was this he was led as a sheep to the slaughter as a lay as a lamb dumb before his shearer so he opened not his mouth in his humiliation his judgment was taken away and who shall declare his generation for his life is taken from the earth that obviously is isaiah 53 as you i'm sure recognized and so and the eunuch answered philip and said i pray thee of whom speaketh the prophet this of himself or some other man and that's just the opening philip needs philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him what the person of jesus praise god indeed he preached the person the lord jesus and as they went on their way they came unto a certain water and the egg said see here is water what doth hinder me to be baptized and philip said if thou believest with all thine heart that thou that thou mayest and he answered and said i believe that jesus christ is the son of god praise god so philip obviously baptizes him he commanded the chariot to stand still and they went down both into the water both philip and the eunuch and he baptized him and when they were come up out of the water something very strange happened can you imagine imagine the eunuch now he's coming out of the water and the spirit of the lord caught away philip that the eunuch saw him no more and he went on his way rejoicing boy this guy's had a full day he has philip supernaturally come explain the very thing that's been bothering him he decides to embrace the messiah so he gets baptized and begins the conversion to christianity in ethiopia that's the beginning in a sense of the ethiopian church they adopt much of the practices of the greek orthodox so it's the kind of place that we might not normally be comfortable in without a lot of homework but it is a christian church and they and it exonerates jesus christ and uh so uh but it's interesting uh the minute he gets baptized coming out of the water philip disappears i don't think he just disappeared i mean the spirit took him north for a whole other set of episodes and it's a very impressive exit and so uh and but philip was found at azotus passing through he preached in all the cities until he came to caesarea now zotus is the is the ancient name for ashdod today and uh so caesarea sebastian that's built by herod in honor of augustus the greek sebastis and it's between carmel and joppa about 55 miles northwest of jerusalem don't confuse this caesarea with caesarea philippi which up in the northern part of israel it's a much less impressive place caesarea here it was it was a primary harbor and it was the headquarters for the roman detachments in judea this was really the roman headquarters they came to jerusalem during the holidays but their primary base was caesarea and the roman procurators resided there and the president ruined there at caesarea has an inscription that acknowledges pontius pilate by the way so don't confuse this caesarea with caesarea philippi which is north of the sea of galilee a different place altogether and so so okay so the the guy's baptized and reports to the queen and by the way let me suggest you when he gets to the queen do you know what i think he said he told her not yet i think he was detached to see if the messiah was ruling if they were supposed to deliver the ark of the covenant he goes there and fights he's arrived but he's been killed so he's only back confused encounters philip who explains that he's going to come back there's a second coming involved so he returns to the queen and tells his report is yes but not yet there's another day coming when the messiah will be ruling and that's when that's our cue you follow me now what they do not well i'll get to that i think let me get get ahead of my slides here there are some lingering questions here why was the ethiopian treasure visiting jerusalem i think to check it out why was he then confused because the messiah has come but he's been killed and i think he was on a mission for the queen what did he report my conjecture this is just chuck missler's conjecture nothing more the queen says has the time come and he says not yet that's the basis my presumption now i want to share with you something that's been overlooked i think by virtually everyone we had a very strange appointment bob and i had the opportunity to be invited into the home for the evening of the guy they called the administrator he's the guy to whom the guardian reports you follow me and so we reviewed not just with him but with a young guy that's his potential replacement we had our bible this young guy had his bible he would see where we're reading and he would re read the geese version to the old man the man to whom the guardian reports and we tried to explain to him what we see the scripture what we think the scripture's teaching he received us very politely but he didn't by a word we're saying because he is committed to the legend that they've got in the you know that's what they believe and they believe that for centuries and so he was very polite to us but he didn't buy what we're saying and so we tried to explain it all and realized we really weren't getting anywhere but it was very polite and it went on for several hours but later on when bob and i were back at our hotel having a night cap before turning in late that night we realized something else while we were there going through this whole procedure showing our bible the young guy showing you're being our translator in effect we realized the young guy was taking notes all the way through and he's the guy that is destined to be the replacement of the administrator and bob and i realized later that that meeting itself may serve god's purpose because they have no eschatology they they they just they just their conscious consciousness goes to what they call dooms a word for doomsday the tableau is going to be delivered to the messiah and that's it they have no idea why or they have no eschatology developed at all and so so their commitment to the solomonic legends were obviously an obstacle but uh there was no real interest in this so okay so i want to talk and as we tried to explain to him the ark of the covenant isn't the issue it's our understanding we didn't get a chance to see it ourselves nor would we if we had the chance we want to stay away from that but we understand that it's wood that's it's been it's old and it's covered with gold leaf it's not holding it doesn't have any substance the lid as we think of it the mercy seat is hammered gold and we believe that it's the mercy seat that's the issue and i'll show you why so i want to talk a little bit about this strange thing called the mercy seat i think it has a very distinctive destiny in the scripture and you look at i joined most of the guys that used to quote jeremiah 3 16. jeremiah 3 16 says it shall come to pass when be multiplied and increased in the land in those days saith the lord ye shall and no ye shall say no more the ark of the covenant of the lord neither shall it come to mind neither shall they remember it neither shall they visit it neither shall that be done anymore i'm i join a lot of guys as they as far as the ark the jeremiah 3 16 says it's it don't it does not have a future it's not going to be relevant in the going ahead because jesus has replaced all that that's sort of the flavor we talk about because we don't read the next verse that's what jeremiah 3 16 says and i'm guilty of using that verse over the years long ago as a way of putting the ark of the covenant thing on the shelf and getting on to the next subject i didn't read the next the verses quoted to dismiss ark legends but want you to notice what the next verse says at that time they shall call jerusalem the throne of the lord and all the nations shall be gathered unto it to the name of the lord to jerusalem neither shall they walk anymore after the imagination of their evil heart it changes the subject from the ark to the throne let's talk about that throne a little more the throne of the lord we're talking is the subject at hand see the ark is no longer the focus of worship in jerusalem it wasn't in nehemiah's temple it wasn't in herod's temple and it won't be in the temple that they rebuild it'll be this destined to be desecrated by the antichrist it's ultimately going to be replaced by the throne of the lord as all nations shall be gathered in that's the millennium that's after the lord jesus christ sets up his kingdom the ark and the mercy seat were two separate objects it may shock you to realize we lump it together by presumption in the scripture the ark and the mercy are always described as separate pieces of furniture now in fact it's even start more startling than that you'll discover that the mercy that the holy of holies is defined as the location of the mercy seat not the location of the ark of the covenant and the holy of holies was defined by the president versus number seven verse 89 first chronicles 28 11 and elsewhere something else goes on at yom kippur every year of course there's an elaborate procedure which enables the high priest to to enter the holy of holies in leviticus 16 15 then shall he shall he kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring his blood within the veil and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock and sprinkle it up on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat a little phrase that everybody did not only we have the mercy seat which is characterized by two cherry bim on top of them hammered gold he sprinkles it between the cherry of him and in front of them why nowhere in the tory define explanation that's just what he does every year at um after great ceremonial preparation high priest goes in and does all that or did when they had the ark of the covenant okay sprinkle it upon the mercy seat and before the mercy seat strange phrase that before keep that in mind okay and so that's the sprinkling of blood and soul and the permanent sins of the people once a year on yom kippur and so jesus christ known as the lamb of god shed his blood as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins this is all in a way of re anticipating the shedding blood of jesus christ obviously okay the mercy seat is uniquely suitable for his throne because the mercy seat makes his kingdom possible in effect so in ezekiel 43 we have a strange phrase there verses six and seven it says i heard him speaking with me out of the temple and a man stood by me and he said to me son of man the place of my throne in the place of and the place of the souls of my feet where i shall dwell in the midst of the children of israel forever and my holy name shall be the house of israel no more defiled neither they nor their kings by their whoredom or by the carcass of the kings in high places strange little phrase there and the place of the souls of my feet the imagery that is being suggested here on yom kippur is that the blood of of the offering is spread between the cherubim and in front of them the imagery that suggested it's as if the lord is sitting there and the blood is for for before his feet you follow me and so um interesting now this verse is a prophecy that's specific to the second coming of christ known as the messianic reign we see in this verse that god speaks from the temple and from his throne and a place where he will dwell in the midst of the children forever and in the mercy and in mercy shall the throne be established he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of david that's not the temple of solomon the tabernacle of david judging and seeking judgment and hasting righteousness the throne shall be established and the tabernacle of david is going to be brought up at the council for jerusalem where james quotes from amos chapter 9 verse 11 on this very issue another reference we will explore all that when we get to acts 15 in the next section session and that's the next section next unit when we get to unit two when the son of man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory matthew 25. and zechariah 6 and speaking of saying thus saith the speaker of the lord of hosts saying behold the man whose name is the branch and he shall grow up out of his place and he shall build the temple of the lord and even he shall build the temple of the lord and he shall bear the glory and shall sit and rule upon his throne and shall be a priest on upon there's the temple again and his throne once again wow the only object in all history that is suitable for the throne of christ is the mercy seat because it makes his very kingdom possible in effect this suggests the mercy seat may have a distinct place in biblical prophecy as it relates to christ's second coming when he will rule and reign in the earth the in the temple on mount zion and the ethiopians have been given the mandate to present him that very thing not the earth covenant that's not to be relevant here it's going to be the mercy seat they don't know that all they know is they're supposed to deliver it to him when he rules but i believe that's going to be his destiny it'll be the mercy seat not the ark which will be the special gift of ethiopia to the messiah when he rules and view him that's what isaiah 18 talks about and zephaniah 3 10 this peculiar gift that is going to be given to them 7 310 from the rivers of ethiopia by supplements even the daughter of my dispersed shall bring mine offering a special offering that bring is to bear entry as in royal procession yabel and it's offering a mention a a tribute or a present isaiah 18 the whole chapter is on this but at that time he shall present and be brought into the lord of hosts that a people tall and smooth of skin and from a people terrible from the beginning hitherto a nation meted out and trodden underfoot whose land the rivers have spoiled to the place of the na to the place of the name of the lord of hosts the mount zion and the present that's going to be so anyway wow that's a quick snapshot so i think the event in acts 8 is an exclamation point it is best taught when we go back in the whole background from second chronicles 35 and all that but then when you after you see the possibilities then you get to acts eight and it sort of puts the period at the end of the sentence in terms of of an uh authentication at least in my mind i suspect i don't know of course i don't i suspect they actually do have the ark or the to mercy and it's their mandate to present that to our lord as he rules in mount zion and i also have a theory i can't prove it but i think all the artists have the whole picture wrong about the cherry a bit we know there's two cherry been face to face and their wings touch but from my point of view it's the one sail on this side that touches the other one here and it makes a chair both the cherry bim imagine a mirror image of me here our wings touch here and they're out this way there are thrones of that design in egypt ancient thrones like that so there's two creatures but it makes a seat a seat from which to rule and it's my suspicion that that's the design if and i haven't yet to see an artist render it that way they all guess from the meager insights we have we do know that ethiopia takes a picture of it every year for inventory purposes but it's highly classified and we've tried to get a glimpse of that but nothing's quite worked so we don't know either so we'll just watch and see and watch to see what god is going to do in his timing so for the next session i want you of course to read acts chapter 9 because we're going to get head on the conversion of this radical guy saul who becomes one of the most powerful men in christendom in the history of the church probably one of the greatest minds that ever walked the earth certainly brilliant brilliant incredibly well prepared guy in both the hebrew from gamaliel and from the best greek schools he quotes from three of the ancient greek poets in some of his things he has a brilliant education brilliant mind a phenomenal human being and we're going to pick up the beginning of his career and next session but it course becomes really the subject of the whole unit two when we get there so with that let's close with a word of prayer

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Published: Thu Oct 15 2020