Magyar Egyház, 1967 (46. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1967-10-01 / 10. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 7 MAGYAR Bishop Louis Nagy: ON HISTORY S CHARIOT must be! God sends His angel to the evangelist Philip. A flourishing congregation must be abandoned so that one soul could find Christ. Head: Acts 8:26-39 Gaza, Wittenberg and Debrecen are three cities that are really far apart, but today they come especially close to our hearts. Long ago something happened in these cities, or in their vicinity, something which is very important to us. After the first Pentecost, a chariot was rolling along on the highway to Gaza, in the desert, there are two people in it. Their conversation touches upon the eternal question asked of the Bible-reading believer: “Do you understand what you are reading?” The crying sadness of mortal man answers: “How can I, unless some one guides me?” A thirsty soul found Christ on the dusty desert road to Gaza, because an angel-sent fellow traveler led him to Christ. The man from Ethiopia still drives the same chariot but he is a new man, with a new heart, living a new life. The light of this encounter falls upon Wittenberg, and Debrecen, 450 and 400 years ago, as the chariot of history speeds through these towns. And the question, “Where do I find God?”, has been answered ever since with the same words: “You will find God in His Word.” The only worthy way to celebrate the 450th anniversary of the Reformation, and the 400th anniversary of the acceptance of the Second Helvetic Confession (and thus the 400th anniversary of the Reformed Church in Hungary) is if we let the Holy Spirit mount the chariot of our fate, and if we let Him explain to us what has been hidden to the wise, but what has been revealed to the babes and to the humble. I. A believer is on his homeward way from the temple in Jerusalem. Very likely he was in the city when Pentecost was celebrated. Maybe he even saw the men “filled with new wine” as they spoke of Jesus of Nazareth, but he paid no attention to them. One could speak a great deal about this Ethiopian’s trip to Jerusalem. He travelled approximately one thousand miles. He could not enter the temple, because he was not a Jew, only a Proselyte. What a great hunger and thirst for God he must have had to travel such a great distance so that he could stand at least in the narthex of the holy temple, and whisper his prayer and hope that his prayer would find its way through the open door of the temple to the throne of God. We know that no one has an unquenchable desire for God, unless God Himself puts this disturbing desire into the heart. God Himself called this man from Ethiopia, because He wanted to entrust him with something very important. We have a glimpse of heaven through his story. Wherever the angel of the Lord appears, something really important happens. Outside of Jerusalem there was a flourishing Christian congregation only in one place, in the city of Samaria. Philip had to leave this, and he had to take the desert road to Gaza to wait for one single soul. Oh, how immeasurably precious one soul Today when the continent of Africa is trembling with unrest we have a message for them: the Lord tells that this dark man is just as important to Him as the Christians in Samaria. His blood was shed for him, too, He, the Lamb of God, took their sins upon Himself, and He died for him, too. He is as important to Christ as the whites are, as a matter o'f fact, a successful mission had to be interrupted so that one dark man could become His. However, we want to speak of something else today. We are primarily interested with the fact that this man while riding in his chariot reads aloud the Word of God. He was searching for God in the temple, and now he is still searching for God. Why does it have to be Isaiah? . . . This book had a sweet message for the childless; God promised them an everlasting name instead of a name through sons and daughters, a name that cannot be and shall not be cut off. (Is. 56:5.). Just imagine, he reads this passage, then he turns back the scroll and reads of the suffering servant of the Lord. Who is the one who suffered silently, who has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows? Who is He? He reads the Scripture but he does not understand it! He does not notice that someone is watching him, someone who experienced Pentecost, someone who met Him of Whom he was reading. How should he know that a heaven-sent interpreter of the Word is waiting to get into his life’s chariot? When Phillip begins to talk to him, the God-searching soul is still groping in the dark. “Do you understand what you are reading? This Ethiopian is a rich man, he is influential and of high rank, but he is humble too, “How can I understand it, unless someone guides me?” He asks Philip to get in his chariot, and to sit beside him. Philip opened his mouth and beginning with this scripture he told him about Jesus. And the Ethiopian high official celebrates Pentecost far from Jerusalem on the road to Gaza. He finds Christ. He is not visited by an angel; an angel sends a man to him whose language he understands. He is not told by the angel what to do. he learns from the Scripture what has to be done. God speaks to us through the lips of man. Through His Word He teaches us the gratifying secret that Christ has given us life through His suffering and death. Blessed was the Ethiopian, because God sent him an interpreter of His Word. Philip led the Ethiopian from the written Word to the living Word. Now the man acknowledges his faith in Christ visibly. He is baptized, so that he might show that a new life has begun for him. He, too, becomes an evangelist; he is going home to his pagan world to bear witness throughout a lifetime that he who searches for God will find Him in His Word and that God sends witnesses to sit in our life’s chariot so that we may become acquainted with our Lord and Saviour. CHURCH
