Here is the account of a man searching for God. He seemed to be going about it in the right way, but he was getting nowhere! His story has been a help to many people.
This man was “an Ethiopian eunuch, who was an important official in charge of the treasury of the queen of Ethiopia … He had been to Jerusalem to worship God and was going back home in his carriage. As he rode along, he was reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah.” (verses 27-28.)
Although he had been to church, and was reading the Bible, he was still confused! (verses 31,34.) Would he ever find the truth?
The problem was that the church in Jerusalem had given him the wrong message! There in the Temple of God, he had been taught by the very priests who had rejected and crucified Jesus! (Acts 5:27-31.) There he had seen sacrifices; STILL being offered by those priests - priests who had not accepted that Jesus’ death “once and for all” on the cross had already satisfied God for all sins. (Hebrews 7:23-27. 9:11-25,24-28. 10:9-14.)
Today people are still getting the wrong message through various religions and churches. People are still being taught that they need priests to offer sacrifices for their sins every day! (Hebrews 10:10-14)
But God’s true message is: “There is no longer any sacrifice for sins.” (Hebrews 10:18.) Jesus’ sacrifice was “once” and it was “for all” sins. (Hebrews 10:26.) “It is finished”, Jesus cried out when He died on the cross. (John 19:30.)
The Ethiopian official had not been taught about Jesus. He had believed the priests, and so he thought their sacrifices were what God still wanted!
On his long home-ward journey across the desert, he tried reading from the Scriptures. But he couldn’t understand the prophet Isaiah’s message. Who was the innocent substitute he was reading about that would die for our sins? (verses 32-34. Isaiah 53:1-7.) He was searching for God, but had been confused by his church, and left unable to understand the Bible!
I wonder do you ever feel like that? Are YOU really searching for God?
I hope, like this Ethiopian, you will come to realise God’s true message, and understand the wonderful Gospel message of the Bible.
But if a person rejects Jesus - not believing His sacrifice was “once” and was “for all”, and not believing He is the only Priest that is needed, then nothing else of what God says will make sense. (Hebrews 1:1-3.) You need to trust in Jesus. He is THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE. (John 14:6.)
How could this Ethiopian know and trust Jesus to be the only way to God? No one had taught him about Jesus! (Romans 10:13-15.)
To find out all that happened the Ethiopian on that desert road while he was searching for God, we would need to read further than Acts chapter 8, verses 26-34.
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