The Trial of Stephen, Part 4
Acts 7:30–35 NKJV
“And when forty years had passed, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai. When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he drew near to observe, the voice of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and dared not look. ‘Then the Lord said to him, “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.” ’
“This Moses whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush."
We continue our prolonged study of the defense Stephen makes of the Gospel as he is on trial for his life. It would be good to review what we have learned so far. Stephen began his defense with the call of Abraham. From this we learn that God is sovereign over the entire world. What He wills shall come to pass. God told Abraham that He would give Abraham numerous descendants and the land of Canaan. This would not occur in Abraham’s day, but at God’s appointed time four hundred. The theme of God’s apparent delay in action is one of the central points of Stephen's address along with the fact that God’s timing is perfect and according to His purpose.
Stephen brought up Joseph as a leader of God’s own choosing. Joseph was not the one whom his brothers had chosen. In fact they considered killing him in envy and were stayed only by the opportunity to make money from him by selling Joseph into slavery. In spite of this, God made good on making Joseph their leader, by whom Jacob’s family found deliverance from the famine through the very person God had appointed. Again, we see that there was an apparent delay in which Joseph spent time in Egyptian slavery as well as being falsely accused and jailed. But when the time was right, God delivered Joseph out of prison and set him up as second in command over all Egypt. The faithfulness of Joseph’s brothers could not annul the faithfulness of God.
Last week we say that the LORD then chose Moses and delivered him from drowning through the actions of his mother. He was placed in an ark made of bulrushes and “found” by Pharaoh’s daughter and raised in Pharaoh’s house. He became learned in the wisdom of Egypt and grew in favor in Pharaoh’s house. This preparation would take a long time, some forty years. And when Moses slew the Egyptian taskmaster, he was betrayed by his own brethren who had seen Moses kill the Egyptian. The one God had chosen to lead Israel was rejected by his brethren. Moses had to flee to the desert where he served as a shepherd for his father-in-law and had two children. It looked as though God’s promise vanished in the desert with Moses.
This week, we were told that Moses spent forty years Moses in the desert. By this time, most men would be at the end of their lives and suffering from the ravages of age. But God was just beginning to use Moses. At an age where most have retired from life, Moses’life was abruptly changed. This is the way God works. Even Abraham, whom we mentioned waited until 100 to be the father of Isaac. He was beyond the age of begetting children and so was his 90 year-old wife, Sarah. But at 80, Moses was not a broken-down old man. God had preserved his bodily strength and would continue to do so even to the end of Moses’ life. the time was now right for God, and he appeared to Moses in a burning bush. He did not appear to him is some man made temple but in the harsh wilderness. God’s presence is not limited to the church or temple. He is LORD over all and omnipresent. What is important is that God appeared to Moses and called him to return to Egypt to be the agent of God’s deliverance of Israel in accordance to the promise He had made with Abraham.
God did not appear to Moses in a man-made temple such as the Temple that was dedicated to Yahweh in Jerusalem. This is a subtle point, but as Stephen was accused of claiming that Jesus would destroy this Temple. The Temple was especially sacred to the Jews as it was believed to be the special presence of Yahweh in Israel. God had used Solomon to build this Temple, even though Solomon admitted that the entire universe could not contain Him. After the Temple was destroyed, God used Zerubbabel to rebuild it. It would later become extensively modified and upgraded by Herod the Great, even though Herod was not a Jew but an Edomite. So, what is important is the special presence of Yahweh which gave significance to the Temple. The Lord is above any human building. God appeared to Moses in the stark desert. And when we read about Jesus in the Incarnation became flesh says that His own body was the Temple of the special presence of God. The Jews would destroy this Temple which the LORD would rebuild in three days (See John 2). And Paul mentions that the living Church is the Temple of God’s special presence in both the assembly as well as in the individual members. The Temple made of marble, gold and other precious materials as a special presence of God to the Jews is not obsolete. What is important is that the special presence of God comes into our midst no matter where we are on this earth.
Where God is present, this place is holy unto the LORD. Stephen reminds the hearers of what happened at the burning bush, that Moses was commanded to cast off his sandals as this place was holy ground. When Jesus came to the Temple in Jerusalem which was supposed to be a holy place of prayer unto the LORD, it was anything but. His being in that place made it holy, so Jesus had to cleanse the place. But once the presence of God left, the Jewish Temple reverted to form. We make much about the veil of the Temple tore at Jesus death. the Book of Hebrews tells us that by Jesus’ death, the way into the Holy of Holies was made available to all believers. But there is something else to note also. When the veil tore, what did the people see? The Ark of the Covenant? Nope. What they saw was an empty room. This is a good metaphor of the Jewish religion of Jesus’ day. It is written in the prophets that Yahweh was seen leaving the first Temple before the fall of Jerusalem. Here again before the second fall of Jerusalem under Rome, it was seen that the Holy of Holies was devoid of the special presence of Yahweh.
The LORD tells Moses at the bush that “I AM the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Exodus does not use “I was” but “I AM.” Jesus reminds us that Yahweh is the God of the living and not of the dead. Even though they were dead to this world, they got to see the fulfillment of the promise that He had made with the fathers. In the case of Moses' day, they would see their ancestors freed from Egyptian captivity and brought through the hand of Moses and then Joshua into the Promised Land. Jesus is John 8 reminded the Jews and also us that Abraham rejoiced to see His day, saw it and was glad. We remember that Moses and Elijah appeared alive at the Transfiguration of Jesus, a time of the revelation of the very special presence of God. Stephen was about to receive a similar privilege when he sees the heavens opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He would pay for this privilege with his earthly life, but all is well. He is present with the LORD even as Moses, Elijah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all believers whose earthly lives have ended.
The LORD reminded Moses that He had taken note of the sufferings of His people. They had suffered a long time, and that greatly. But now was the time of their deliverance from captivity. And it would be the very one whom the Israelites rejected who would bring this deliverance. We can see where this argument is going in relation to Jesus, the ultimate deliverer and fulfillment to the promise given to Abraham. Israel had suffered a long time and was groaning in bondage. But as Paul reminds us in Galatians, in the fullness of time, God sent His Son. Like Moses, Jesus was rejected. Yet it is by the hand of Jesus that deliverance has been provided, not just to Israel in one place and time, but to all people everywhere who will receive Him as both LORD and Savior.
As far as application is concerned, we must be reminded that Jesus says: “I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” He is the only way to the Father and eternal life. We should not be looking for some earthly leader, secular or religious, to deliver us from our troubles. This age is about to pass away. We might groan at the treatment that we are receiving because we confess Jesus Christ. We yearn for the time of our deliverance from this evil world. However, we must also remember Paul at the beginning of Galatians tells us that we have already been rescued from this present evil age. It interestingly does not use the future “will rescue,” We hardly think along these lines but groan. And, indeed, we do suffer in this world. But we are already rescued from the consequences of this evil age which is hurtling towards eternal judgment. So, we need to be patient and say “Maranatha” (Come Lord Jesus). Stephen suffered for a few short seconds as the stones were thrown at him. But the LORD had already stood to receive Stephen. Everything will be all right. We just need to hold on. we also need to redeem the time and boldly proclaim Christ to the world as Stephen did.
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