But when they came up out of the water [the] Spirit of [the] Lord caught away Philip, and the eunuch saw him no longer, for he went on his way rejoicing.
The baptism is over, and Philip vanishes from the desert road. Two questions follow. Who took him away? And why does the man he just baptised travel on rejoicing instead of searching for him?
Philip did not choose to leave. One writer weighs the exact wording of the removal.
Verse 39 calls for special notice. And here I have no doubt the wording is deliberate. Its speed and abruptness are meant to drop the idea of the person. It is not as if the Holy Spirit as a person came and took him. He was caught away, not by man, nor by human means, but by the sovereign power of the Holy Spirit. The definite article is left out of the phrase on purpose.
Philip neither asked for this nor arranged it.
The miracle only established the new convert's faith, which is no doubt what God worked it to do. There is not a hint that Philip wished it, still less that he asked for it in prayer. It was God acting for the honour of His Son, by that Spirit's power at work on earth. And surely there was a wise and gracious purpose in the witness of it — and he was not alone — for the man returning to his native land with the gospel of salvation.
One writer's answer turns on a single connecting word.
Philip's mission to him had now ended. He had preached Jesus to him. He had baptised him at his own request. Then "the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away." He disappeared as suddenly as he had come, or even more so. The two who had met in the desert never met again on earth. The eunuch continued his homeward journey without turning aside to try to find Philip. "He saw him no more" is the writer's statement, and he gives the reason. The word should be read "for," not "and": "he went on his way rejoicing."
Losing the preacher cost the eunuch nothing. The preacher was never the supply.
Philip is caught away; the mere human teacher is not to take the place of the Divine. His coming and his going are both well suited to assure the new disciple. He may safely rest in the all-sufficiency that has now met him and ministered to him.
The same hand that sent the preacher took him away, and left something behind that could not be taken.
"He went on his way rejoicing." The Spirit of the Lord catches Philip away. Yet the eunuch's heart is so full of the truth that we may be sure everything that happened confirmed it in his eyes. How could anything seem too great and good to him whose heart had just made the acquaintance of Jesus? Did he not feel all the more settled in Jesus because there was now no other object before his soul? It was the Lord who had brought Philip, and it was His Spirit that had taken him away; but it was He too who had given him, and left him, Jesus for ever.
He had travelled a long way to Jerusalem and found nothing there. Grace met him on an empty road instead.
The Queen's treasurer is received among the disciples of the Lord by baptism, which sealed his faith in the testimony of the prophet Isaiah. He had made a hard journey from a far country to Jerusalem, to seek salvation in legal duties and ceremonies, but with faith in God's word. Now he goes on his way, rejoicing in that salvation. A beautiful picture of the grace of the gospel! He carries home with him what grace had given him in the wilderness — what his tiring journey to Jerusalem had not obtained for him.
The chariot was not empty. One writer notes who else was on the road that day.
As they came up out of the water, we read that "the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away." No doubt God stepped in here with a miracle. And notice: the eunuch was not the only one who saw it. That man was not driving his own chariot that day; someone else was driving it. He had a fine carriage, and I expect there were a good many servants looking on. It is a fine thing when the master takes a stand for Christ; you will generally find that a blessing then comes to the servants as well.
- Carried by God. Philip's removal was no human arrangement. Sovereign power moved him, and he never asked for it.
- Carried, then confirmed. The miracle served the new believer. It strengthened a faith just formed on the testimony of the prophet Isaiah.
- Carried away, not bereaved. The human teacher steps aside so he cannot take the place of the Divine. The new disciple rests on an all-sufficiency that has already met him.
- Carried by joy. He did not search for Philip because he was rejoicing. With no other object before his soul, he was more settled in Jesus, not less.
- Carried home. Jerusalem's ceremonies never gave him what he came for. Grace handed it to him in the wilderness, and he carried it home to a far country.
And Philip was found at Azotus, and passing through he announced the glad tidings to all the cities till he came to Caesarea.
The Spirit takes Philip from the water where he baptised the Ethiopian official, and he turns up far away on the coast. These few travel notes hold a whole life of preaching: how God moves His servants, why He removes them, and what happens to work no one records.
Azotus is the old Philistine city of Ashdod. One writer follows Philip's route from there up the coast to Caesarea:
He was found at Azotus, the ancient Ashdod, situated north of Gaza. From there Philip worked his way north. He preached the Gospel in all the cities until he reached Caesarea. The Gospel had now reached Samaria and Judea, though some places in each province may still have been unvisited. It had been planted in both. So the commission given to the disciples (Luke 24:47), and repeated in more detail to the Eleven (Acts 1:8), was being carried out.
The new believer lost his teacher almost as soon as he came to faith. One writer sees that loss as a kindness:
Philip is carried away. The merely human teacher is not to take the place of the Divine One. Both his coming and his going are well suited to assure the new disciple of one thing: he can rest safely in the all-sufficiency that has met his need and ministered to him.
The miracle belongs to God's purpose, not to Philip's request. Notice what it did not do to Philip himself:
There is not a hint that Philip wished it, still less sought it in prayer. It was God acting for the honour of His Son, by the power of the Spirit at work on earth. Carried to Azotus (or Ashdod), Philip stays the same simple-hearted, tireless preacher of divine grace.
We know almost nothing of what happened in those towns. One writer names some of them and points to the day when the full account comes out:
Philip was caught away and was found about twenty miles north of Gaza, at Azotus. From there he started out again, preaching the Gospel. Many cities heard his voice. Many Gentiles lived in these coast towns, which included larger places like Jamnia, Lydda, Joppa and Antipatris. The day of Christ will make known the labours and also the reward of this great Evangelist.
Philip was set apart in Jerusalem for a task that had nothing to do with preaching. The name he still carries late in the book of Acts is a different one:
Philip was a true evangelist. What is more, he had not lost his place as an evangelist when we find him very late in the book of Acts. That is an important hint. Those who begin as evangelists should not lose that place later. They should not grow weary of the work, or give it up for another. Philip is still called an evangelist later on. In fact, that is just when he is given the name... Yet Philip had been set apart by the laying on of hands only to take care of the tables and to look after the poor in Jerusalem. But God called him to another work, and this was his work.
Caesarea is where the travel record stops. One writer ties Philip's arrival there to two later scenes in the same city: Peter's mission to Cornelius, and Paul's stay in Philip's home:
So this evangelist reached Caesarea before Peter came there on his remarkable mission to Cornelius. I venture to think he had a part in that beautiful work in Caesarea, recorded in Acts 10. In chapter twenty-one you will find that he lived there. When Paul came, he stayed with the fully trained gospel worker, "Philip the evangelist"... The apostles had a greater idea of the evangelist than many people have nowadays.
Commentators differ here. Another writer reads the same facts differently:
The first Gentile to receive the call was Cornelius, an officer in the Roman garrison at Caesarea... Remarkably, both Philip and Saul had already visited Caesarea, yet neither seems to have preached the Gospel there (Acts 8:40; Acts 9:30). In this we see the sovereignty of God. He has His own time and His own instruments to carry out His work in every place.
- Carried — Philip did not ask to be moved. God carried him to Azotus, the old Philistine Ashdod north of Gaza.
- Withdrawn — God took the teacher away. The new believer now rests on divine all-sufficiency, not on the man who preached to him.
- Restarted — the miracle changed nothing in the man. He was the same tireless preacher, starting again in the next town.
- Unrecorded — the towns along that coast heard him, but the labour and the reward wait for the day of Christ.
- Lifelong — years later he is still called "Philip the evangelist". Those who start in that work should not grow weary of it or trade it for another.