It answers the query of the skeptic. What will God do with men in the dark corners of the globe who have no access to the gospel? If the Lord can get His gospel to a man on a desert road, He can get it to a man on a desert island. And if I know such a man who has yet to hear the good news in my corner of the globe, I like Philip need to “arise and go.” The angel who spoke to Philip, speaks to me by Philip’s example. The condition of the lost are not helped by my “what if’s” and my “what about’s.” My responsibility to the lost is to arise and go preach. The Lord can and will take care of the deserted travelers, the lost colonies. He took care of the eunuch, an honest man, a sincere man, but a lost man on a desert road who was looking for the right path. The Lord sent him a preacher to show him the way. Will the Lord not send the preacher today? Will He not send me? Will He not put me and the lost man on the same road, in the same chariot, looking for the same path that the eunuch found? He surely can. He surely will.

It answers the excuses of the indifferent. The conversation between Philip and the treasurer is one example of a thousand similar conversations that undoubtedly took place in the days following Pentecost. Philip—without a filmstrip, without a chart, without a digital projector, without a correspondence course, without a commentary, without a tract—sat side-by-side with the eunuch in his chariot and beginning from the Scripture, “preached Jesus to him.” Were the saved men at that time better educated to explain the Scripture? Were the lost men in that day better equipped to read and understand the Scripture with the guidance of some knowledgeable soul? Did the gifts of the Spirit which equipped men like Philip and the Apostles give them an unfair advantage in teaching the lost? Did the Lord of Harvest bid us pray for workers to send to His harvest and then not supply us with the tools to bring in the sheaves? Surely, our day is not so different. Surely, there is no difference in the nature and abilities of saved men who preach and lost men who seek. Surely, the example of Philip and the eunuch, like the account of every conversion, is an example for our imitation, not just for our admiration. The record ought to inspire us to do the same, and not just to say, “I wish it was that easy today.” It never was easy.

It explains the wisdom of God’s foolishness. Men would not have distributed the gospel this way. They would have chosen some “wiser” means and method and organization. The record of Philip and the eunuch teaches us how the first century world was turned upside down by common folks with uncommon faith. A Christian asks a stranger who is lost but looking for answers, “Do you understand what you are reading?” A short time later the stranger asks the Christian, “What prevents me from being baptized? Two men, once strangers, leave each other as brothers. So simple. So grand. So foolish. So wise. Simple people without airplanes, without email, without fax machines, without printing presses, without word processors, without radio and television turned the world upside down by talking to their neighbor. Would such a plan work today? Can regular folks go everywhere preaching the word? Do we need some program to make it possible? Do we need to hire someone to get it done? Or do we just need folks foolish enough to ask, “Do you understand your Bible?” and patient enough to read it with them for awhile?

The record of the Ethiopian nobleman’s conversion teaches us a great deal. It shows us how to be saved. And even more, it teaches how the saved are to reach those who are still lost. Somewhere, out there, is a noble man who is searching. Go find him and preach to him Jesus.