City Life Starter

Written by Paul Lane

The Word

³⁸ And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. ³⁹ And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Acts 8:38-40 (ESV)

 ⁵⁷ So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” ⁵⁸ Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

John 8:57-58 (ESV)

⁹ When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.” ¹⁰ And he said, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if you do not see me, it shall not be so.” ¹¹ And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. ¹² And Elisha saw it and he cried, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw him no more.

II Kings 2:9-12 (ESV)

Reflection

In a lecture, 1965 Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman, describes something called spacetime.  It is the combination of the three dimensions of space plus the dimension of time.  This was a concept arising from Albert Einstein’s Theory of Special relativity, which explains why the common understanding of physics breaks down when traveling close to the speed of light.  You see, in spacetime, you have a light speed budget, and you can use that budget to travel fast or to pass time.  So, if you travel close to the speed of light, time does not pass as fast for you.  This is known as time dilation, and this concept has been tested and confirmed experimentally many times.

There is also the concept of warping space, most famously used in the popular Star Trek stories. The concept here is to build a machine that deforms space itself, then move across the warped space, so that when the deformation is released it looks like you just skipped over that space. In this concept, one does not actually travel faster, or even near, the speed of light.  So, people traveling with “warp drives” would not experience time dilation and would age at about the same rate as people on their home planets.

The funny thing about all of this is that there is very good scientific support for both of these ideas, and yet we have hints of these things in the Bible.  Am I saying that Philip had a warp drive or that Jesus was traveling at the speed of light, therefore did not age?  No, not necessarily, but who knows.  Shakespeare wrote, “There are more things in heaven and in earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in our philosophy.”  When Jesus says “before Abraham was, I am” claiming that he not only existed before Abraham, but that at that moment he was experiencing existence before Abraham was born, He is claiming something bigger than even controlling the winds and the waves.  He is claiming something that only God could claim; that He is the author of the universe.

So, when Philip teaches the eunuch the meaning of the prophecy, baptizes him and then is whisked away to Azotus, God is demonstrating that His kingdom is not bound by this world’s limitations. We see the same thing when Elijah is taken up to heaven, when Peter sees a sheet full of animals, and throughout all of the miracles of Jesus.

As Christians we are taught to think of God as our father who owns the cattle on a thousand hills.  That is to say, God is not going to run out of resources.  But he is also not going to run into any limits that prevents Him from supporting us.  If we can believe through scientific exploration that time is influenced by speed, what is so hard about believing that God himself could not supersede physical laws from time to time, particularly when He had something to say to His people.

Application

We are to remember that God has a plan.  It was the Holy Spirit that told Philip to stand by the chariot, and through God’s providence the eunuch’s heart was open to learn.  Are there places in your life that the Holy Spirit is prompting you to stand?  Is there a prompting of the Holy Spirit that you could say yes to today?  Is there a chariot of the curious just around the corner from you?

If there is, you never know where it could whisk you off to.  It could be a simple encouragement to someone who needs it, or the trigger to a world changing event.  Either way, following the leading of the Holy Spirit will change the flow of many lives for good, including yours.

Prayer

Dear Lord, open the eyes and ears of my heart.  Lead me into Your presence and into the work You have for me.  Give me the grace to be faithful to Your call, and the boldness to carry out Your directions to the fullest.  Lead me not to an ordinary life, but to a life full of Your wonder, always. In Jesus name I pray, amen.