“And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:
“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth.
In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.”
And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.” (Acts 8:27-40)
In times like this I hear a lot from people looking for justice, and they don’t always like when I respond with the idea that such an evil will work out for good. It can feel trite to say something like that and come across almost like it was good that what happened happened. I have this attitude because I believe and trust in our Savior who is turning all things out for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). That means I know that whatever happens, it is an act of mercy and grace, working to draw the many to Himself. The questions to Christians is: how can we look at injustice with this kind of positive attitude?
As Philip quoted the passage in Isaiah and preached Jesus to the Ethiopian eunuch, we see clearly that our Savior suffered the greatest injustice of all. As the completely perfect, sinless God-man, Jesus could not be convicted of any wrong doing. He is the only one in history completely and truly innocent. Yet He suffered greatly for our sins that were cast upon Him. And Jesus did it with a quiet grace and deep love for us. Three days later, the worst injustice in history was turned into the greatest victory by Him rising from the dead and giving those who believe eternal life. Injustice can be turned around and used for good.
That injustice brought salvation to the Ethiopian eunuch. That injustice led to millions across the world and across time being given eternity in Heaven. It led to an evil murderer putting down his hatred and picking up love. It even led to teleportation! (ok, so this is a bit of fun, but try to wrap your head around what happens to Philip in v39-40 – that was about a 30 mile trek to Azotus!) God is a brilliant “turn-around” artist. He is able to take the evil things and turn them around. Joseph realized this when he met his brothers after becoming the second in command in Egypt. Philip realized this when he, on the road because of the great persecution and Dispersion, got the opportunity to bring salvation to another.
Evil’s power is destroyed at the hands of God and turned into good. I pray that you let Him use the evils and injustices in our world to change you for good and use you as an instrument of love towards others.