Read: Acts 8:26-39
The Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away. (v. 39)
The first time I went to a magic show, I was mesmerized as the magician made objects disappear and reappear, and sawed his assistant in two. Yet I was also skeptical. I was convinced there was a natural explanation for the “magic” I was seeing.
The book of Acts is full of events that appear supernatural. In fact, these events represent a “new natural.” Take, for example, the final verses of Acts 8. The chapter ends with Philip’s encounter with an Ethiopian eunuch. Philip shares the gospel, and the eunuch believes and is baptized. He’s toweling off when Philip disappears. Yet that was no magic trick—because of Jesus’s resurrection and ascension, heaven now supports the work of God’s kingdom on earth. This includes healing bodies and souls, opening prison doors, and, occasionally, routing apostles through heaven when necessary.
Why is this weird story included? First, because it actually happened. Luke asserts that he’s simply relaying eyewitness accounts from Jesus’s earthly ministry (Luke 1:1). Second, the story illustrates the kinds of things that happened after the resurrection—that is, after Jesus made the barrier between heaven and earth permeable. Third, it establishes that there are no barriers to the Lord’s work in, and through, his servants.
What does this mean for you and me? It means that with heaven on our side, there are no barriers to the work the Lord wants to do in and through us. In our “new natural,” the resources of heaven are available to us.
As you pray, ask the Lord to show you what’s possible.
Ben Van Arragon is an ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church in North America. After twenty years of congregational ministry, he now serves his denomination as a pastor wellbeing consultant in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
