Race
Relations
One of the most treasured encounters
in the NT is the meeting that took place between an olive-skinned Jew
named Philip and a black-skinned Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-40). The
location was the Gaza desert south of Jerusalem; the occasion a return
trip from Jerusalem to Ethiopia by the eunuch in a chariot; the
motivation an instruction to Philip by the Spirit to approach the
chariot, engage its passenger
What Philip found was an Ethiopian
reading an OT passage in Isaiah 53, a passage describing the suffering
Servant of Jehovah (a.k.a., Jesus of Nazareth). The Ethiopian’s
interest in the meaning of Isaiah 53 was of far more importance to him
than skin color, nationality or societal status. Philip was a vagabond
preacher; the Ethiopian a man of great authority under Candace, queen
of the Ethiopians. In modern parlance, he was her Secretary of the
Treasury.
Philip took Isaiah 53 and began to
“preach Jesus” to the man. In the process of evangelization, he no
doubt called attention to 53:6: “And
the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us ALL.” The
atonement made in Jesus’ blood for the sins of the WHOLE world was the
greater truth that established a bond between these two men—so
different, yet both the objects of God’s love for sinners, for ALL
sinners without regard for nationality or skin color.
America is in desperate need of
healing in terms of race relations. There is NO greater remedy for
racial strife than a renewed understanding of the Cross and what God
accomplished there on behalf of ALL men—black, white and everything in
between.
America’s great need for racial
healing is exacerbated by the fact our political elites want to rid
America of Jesus of Nazareth and the truth he represents. Racial strife
will persist and grow as long as people continue to reject the ONLY
true remedy. Police reforms, laws and false narratives have NO chance
of bridging the racial divide that’s destroying America.
As olive-skinned Philip and the
black-skinned Ethiopian discovered, there’s NOTHING like the Gospel of
the grace of God to establish commonality and friendly ground between
those for whom Jesus died and rose again. At the conclusion of
the encounter, the eunuch went on his way REJOICING, Philip to do more
PREACHING! Scripture tells us the two never saw each other
again in this life (8:39). But for the last 2,000 years, they’ve shared
in heaven the company of Jesus, the One that made them one in him!
One who loves God has no problem
loving those whom God loves. The problem with race relations in America
is not that we have TOO MANY racists, but TOO FEW that love God!
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