Easter – The Eunuch Isaiah 53:3-10; Acts 8:26-38

Isaiah 53:3-10 (NIV) 

    He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.  Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  [4] Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.  [5] But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.  [6] We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  [7] He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.  [8] By oppression and judgment he was taken away.  And who can speak of his descendants?  For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken.  [9] He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. [10] Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

1. Isaiah 53 shows us a shocking description of the violence, vicariousness (substitution), and voluntariness of the coming Messiah’s death

Isaiah 53:8 (NIV) 

    By oppression and judgment he was taken away.   And who can speak of his descendants?   For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken.

Isaiah 53:5 (NIV) 

    But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Isaiah 53:10 (NIV) 

    Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering…

Isaiah 53:4 (NIV) 

    Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows…

Acts 8:26-38 (NIV) 

    Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road--the desert road--that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." [27] So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, [28] and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. [29] The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it."

    [30] Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked.

    [31] "How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

    [32] The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture:

    "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,

        and as a lamb before the shearer is silent,

        so he did not open his mouth.

    [33] In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.

        Who can speak of his descendants?

        For his life was taken from the earth."

    [34] The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" [35] Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

    [36] As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?" [37]  [38] And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.

Deut. 23:1 (NCV) 

    No man who has had part of his sex organ cut off may come into the meeting to worship the Lord.

Isaiah 56:3-5 (NLT)

     3 “Don’t let foreigners who commit themselves to the Lord say, ‘The Lord will never let me be part of his people.’  And don’t let the eunuchs say, ‘I’m a dried-up tree with no children and no future.’ 4 For this is what the Lord says: I will bless those eunuchs who keep my Sabbath days holy and who choose to do what pleases me and commit their lives to me.  5 I will give them—within the walls of my house— a memorial and a name far greater than sons and daughters could give.  For the name I give them is an everlasting one.  It will never disappear!

2. Genuine conversion happens when the Gospel of Grace grips our hearts, and when it becomes intellectually coherent and existentially moving to us

Romans 5:6 (Msg)
   ...We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.