What Happened To Philip? | thebereancall.org

What Happened To Philip?

July 21, 2007
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In this regular feature, Dave and Tom respond to questions from listeners and readers of The Berean Call, here’s this week’s question:Dear Dave and TA:During our small group Bible study two questions arose concerning the water, John:3:5, and the catching away of Phillip Acts:8:39.My understanding of these two scriptures respectively, is:

A)The water is the Word of God, and B)Philip was raptured.Could you expound on both of these two items?Thank you, and God bless.

Tom:

Let’s begin with John:3:5.

Dave:

Are they allowed to ask two questions, Tom?

Tom:

Yeah, they are, if we have time.

Dave:

Okay, John:3:5, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”Now I can remember a doctor calling me one night, and he said:I just delivered a baby, and I gave the gospel to the mother and she got saved, so we had one born of the water and one of the Spirit tonight, and he was quite excited.I don’t think so, because that would be rather redundant.Unless you really are alive and then you get born again you’re not going to go to heaven.So, born of that kind of water, I think everybody has that, and you couldn’t even be talking to them if they didn’t.So, Paul talks about the washing of water by the Word.Jesus said, “I am the Word of God, I am the living Word.”And He’s the bread of life, and “if any man thirst let him come to me and drink.”The Bible ends, “Whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely.”So you’re talking about the water of life, which is really the gospel, but this is the Word of God.But the Spirit of God applies it to our hearts, and we’re born again of the Spirit of God.

Tom:

Dave, I always thought this referred to water baptism.Having been a Roman Catholic, that was the teaching of my former church.

Dave:

Well obviously, it doesn’t because the thief on the cross didn’t get water baptism.Of course, Tom, as a Catholic you know it was baptism of desire.

Tom:

Right.

Dave:

That, if you really desired it.

Tom:

Well, that’s how they had to answer that particular dilemma.

Dave:

Right, but no, baptism is not essential to salvation, let’s dealt with that in the past.Paul said, 1 Corinthians Chapter 1:17, “Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel:” And when Paul tells us, This is the gospel that I preached unto you, it has nothing about baptism in it, but Romans:1:16 says, “The gospel is the power of God unto salvation unto everyone who believes.”Okay.Now, as far as Phillip being raptured—

Tom:

Well, let me read that verse, Dave.

Dave:

I know that verse well, but go ahead.

Tom:

Okay, Acts:8:37—

Dave:

He was caught away by the Spirit.

Tom:

Okay.“And Philip said, If thou believest (there’s a relationship here) if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.(talking about baptism, the Ethiopian eunuch wanted to be baptized) And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”So obviously, it’s a believer’s baptism,“And he commanded the chariot to stand still:and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.”“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.”So, that word, “caught away” Dave, that’s the same Greek word that we find in 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4:17, which we referred to as the Rapture, he was raptured away, but it’s arpazo

Dave:

Tom, I—well, the class is listening, I guess, and I won’t offend them, but I object to calling it a Rapture.The Rapture, we are going to be taken to heaven, Philip was not taken to heaven, he was caught away by the Spirit of God to another place on this earth.So, we don’t want to confuse that with the Rapture.Now, some people try to say, in Matthew 24, beginning around Verse 30, when Jesus says:Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, you know, and so forth—And He shall send his angels—they will gather His elect—That’snot the Rapture.That’s like what happened to Philip.They are going to gather—this is Israel, my elect, this is every Jew who is left alive, and sees Christ and is born again through faith in Him.They will all be taken up, I can’t say they are caught up in the air, they don’t meet Christ in the clouds, in the sky, they are, somehow, taken back to Israel, and Ezekiel 39, I think it’s Verse 22, or somewhere around there, no, 21—I don’t remember Verse numbers, but—

Tom:

You get close, you’re usually in the ball park.

Dave:

I’m usually close, yeah, and it says, there will not be one Jew left anywhere on this earth who hasn’t been taken back to Israel.So, that’s what I would call it.

Tom:

Yeah, well, Dave, there are some other verses that are closer than that, for example, Paul was caught up to the third heaven, “caught up”, same word.

Dave:

That’s different, Tom, he was taken to heaven.Philip was taken to another place.

Tom:

Right, well, there’s another verse, Revelation:12:5, a child was caught up unto God.So, but the point you’re making, which is really true, these are not the Rapture, the Rapture is a particular event, and even though the Greek word is the same and we get the term, Rapture, from, actually it’s from the Latin rapturos.

Dave:

But Tom, I like this analogy though that they have made here, because people had problems back there.Matthew:24:31 where it says, He will gather his elect from the four winds of the earth.He’s going to bring them back to Israel,—not be one Jew will be left who is not back in Israel.Well, how is that going to happen?Well, you’ve got a good example.

Program Number: 
2907c

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