The Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip (Acts 8:39)

2024-11-01

And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing. (Acts 8:39)

This was a miraculous event where the Spirit took Philip away after the eunuch’s baptism, and brought him to different location, namely, Azotus, or Ashdod.

The phrase “caught away” is used elsewhere and translated “take by force,” “pluck,” and “pulling.” Consider these usages.

“And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matthew 11:12). The believers were taken by force; they were forced contrary to what they wanted and had no choice. This was the case with Peter: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not” (John 21:18).

“When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side” (Matthew 13:19). The word was taken away from them. They had no choice; they could not understand and therefore could not believe because it was taken away.

“And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:28-29). Nobody can take the Christian away from the hands of the Father or the Son. Nobody can take them away by force, because God is greater than anything else.

The apostle Paul was “caught up” to heaven. “I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter” (2 Corinthians 12:2-4).

We Christians will be caught up to be with the Lord on the Day of Christ. “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). There will be no choice of ours; we are taken by force without our consent.

Some people need to be saved by fear, and we need to pull the unbeliever out of the fire by preaching the Gospel to them. “And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh” (Jude 1:23).

Even the Lord Jesus Christ was caught up to the Father, for it was the will of the Father. “And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne” (Revelation 12:5).