Salvation to the Nations
God used the redemption of three men to spread the Good News throughout the earth (Acts 8—10).
John “Hannibal” Smith, leader of the A-Team in the 1980s television series of the same name, always had a plan to accomplish his mission. When it worked (and it always worked on TV), he would sit back contentedly and say, “I love it when a plan comes together!”
The Bible tells us God makes plans: “‘I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for prosperity and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope’” (Jer. 29:11, NASB). God’s redemptive plan for mankind came through Jesus Christ’s work on the cross. His plan was prophesied in the Old Testament and executed to perfection, as recorded in the New Testament’s Gospel accounts.
But God had another plan as well: to take that Good News from Jerusalem to the whole world. He didn’t need social media, telephones, computers, billboards, magazine ads, airplane banners, emails, TV broadcasts, or streaming capabilities.
Luke, the Scripture-writing doctor, recorded Jesus’ description of God’s plan to the apostles in Acts 1:8: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” God infused His witnesses with the Holy Spirit’s power to take the Good News of Jesus around the world—and that is what the book of Acts is all about.
When God repopulated the earth after the universal flood, He used Noah’s three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth (Gen. 9:18–19). According to Genesis 10, Ham’s descendants populated Africa, Shem’s descendants populated Asia, and Japheth’s descendants populated Europe.
In three consecutive chapters (Acts 8—10), Luke recorded three salvation testimonies from the descendants of Noah’s sons who became witnesses for Christ and key instruments in the propagation of the gospel around the world.
The Ethiopian Eunuch
An angel of the Lord directed Philip the evangelist to leave a successful ministry in Samaria and travel south to the desert. There he met a man from Ethiopia, which today is the area of southern Egypt and northern Sudan. A descendant of Noah’s son Ham, the man was a keeper of the treasury, a distinguished position of responsibility and authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He was probably an incomplete proselyte to Judaism because, though he worshiped in Jerusalem and possessed a copy of the Holy Scriptures, he was a eunuch and therefore did not have access to the Temple.
The Holy Spirit directed Philip to the man’s chariot at the precise time the eunuch was reading Isaiah 53:7–8. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked (Acts 8:30). The eunuch admitted he needed someone to explain the text concerning the suffering Servant. “Of whom does the prophet say this?” he wondered (v. 34).
Philip began to teach the eunuch from those two verses in Isaiah, taking him on a gospel ride through the Old Testament as he “preached Jesus to him” (v. 35). Philip’s instruction was imbued with the power of the Holy Spirit, which caused the eunuch to say, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God” (v. 37). So, when they came to a body of water, the man asked Philip to baptize him.
Through the eunuch, God provided a strategic witness to take the gospel into Africa. As confirmation of this divine appointment, “the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more” (v. 39). No doubt God used the born-again African dignitary, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to spread the Good News throughout his continent.
Saul of Tarsus
Saul of Tarsus was a Benjamite, “a Hebrew of the Hebrews,” and “a Pharisee” (Phil. 3:5). He had studied under the well-known, well-respected Pharisee Gamaliel (Acts 22:3) and had an unmatched zeal for God. That zeal was the fuel that pushed him to go to Damascus to breathe “threats and murder” and persecute anyone who was part of “the Way” (9:1–2). He posed a great threat to Christ’s newborn church, which may be the reason Jesus Himself confronted Saul on the road to Damascus.
Face to face with the glorious Christ, Saul was so overwhelmed he fell to the ground, trembling. He heard Jesus call his name twice and was blinded by the light shining around him. Then, he endured three days without sight, no doubt to cause him to ponder what had transpired. The Lord sent “a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias” to help Saul recover his sight and receive the Holy Spirit (vv. 10, 17). Saul, who once persecuted the church as a representative of the synagogues, immediately began preaching Christ, the Son of God, in the synagogues (v. 20).
Saul (his Hebrew name), thereafter known as Paul, descended from Noah’s son Shem. Like all Jewish people, he was a Semite whose roots reach back to Asia. As an apostle and author of much of the New Testament, Paul was a key part of God’s plan to take the Good News of the gospel to the ends of the earth.
Cornelius the Roman Centurion
Pastor Warren Wiersbe (1929—2019) accurately summarized the testimony of Cornelius the Roman centurion in The Wiersbe Study Bible when he wrote, “The seeking Savior will find the seeking sinner.”1 Unlike the eunuch, a semi-Jewish proselyte from Africa, and Saul, the Jewish Pharisee, Cornelius was unquestionably a Gentile, “a devout man and one who feared God” (10:2). As a Roman centurion, he was responsible for 100 soldiers.
Through a vision, God set up a “blind date,” as it were, for Cornelius to meet the apostle Peter. Peter presented the whole gospel message to Cornelius. The centurion’s Gentile relatives and friends were “all present before God, to hear all the things commanded [Cornelius] by God” (v. 33).
Peter’s task wasn’t easy because it was unlawful for Jews to keep company with Gentiles (v. 28). But God gave Peter a vision to persuade him to go to the Gentile’s home to preach Jesus the Jewish Messiah. Cornelius and his entire household waited to hear Peter share the message of salvation.
When the Jewish believers witnessed the Gentiles being filled by the Spirit of God and speaking in other languages, they marveled. Peter said, “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality” (v. 34)—and the Good News became available to the Gentiles, beginning in Europe.
The Cloverleaf Mappa Mundi
An interesting mappa mundi (a medieval map of the world) is kept in the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem. With Jerusalem as the center, The World in a Cloverleaf features three cloverleaves representing Asia, Africa, and Europe. Highlighted in the center of the map is Jerusalem, demonstrating that Israel is the bridge between the three continents. God’s plan to spread the gospel included saving men who would carry the Good News to their own people on those three continents.
It brings to mind my own family, which includes believers whose ancestors originated from those three continents. My daughter-in-law, Zipporah, is African-American; my wife, Alice, is European; and I am Jewish. Thus, we are a living reality of what God started in Acts 8—10.
God’s plan for a future and a hope (Jer. 29:11) for His creation is unprecedented and unparalleled. It’s better than anything Hannibal Smith could have imagined. And it continues to come together as believers “make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt. 28:19).
ENDNOTE
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- Warren Wiersbe, The Wiersbe Study Bible, NKJV (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2018), Acts 10:2 n.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
