Today’s reading is Acts 7.
If you have been able to read with us earlier in the week, you’ve already noticed some great parallels between Moses and Jesus. Both were rejected by their brethren. Both performed signs and wonders. Both were raised up by God to be the ruler and redeemer of His people. In the midst of all this, Stephen brings to mind a promise given by Moses: “God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.” Moses had promised this. In other words, allowing another prophet to come along and supersede Moses was not rejecting Moses at all, but believing him. However, the Israelites were making their same mistake over again. But it is an interesting and subtle mistake. Israel didn’t worship the golden calf because they had no trust for Moses or because they hated him or because they simply rejected him. It is actually trickier than that. The problem was the people got scared because it seemed to them Moses had disappeared. They had a leader they had followed and trusted, but now he had gone up into the mountain and been gone for 40 days. It may be that God had even killed him up on that fiery mountain. Rather than trusting God, who had just told them not to make idols, they had put their trust in Moses. Because Moses wasn’t coming back, they freaked out and rejected God. What happened here? It wasn’t that they didn’t trust Moses, it was that they put too much trust in Moses and the devil was able to twist that very trust to get Israel to abandon God for idols. In Stephen’s day, they were doing the same thing again. They were putting too much trust in the man Moses, and the devil was twisting that trust to get the people to ignore the very words of the man they supposedly trusted. He had said the Prophet was coming. He had said they should listen to the Prophet. But the people weren’t listening to him. What an amazing and shocking twist. It also shows how the devil works. He is subtle and crafty. His tricks run deep. The point for us is Jesus is the Prophet. Jesus is the one God was bringing. Don’t put your faith in Moses the man, but in the God who spoke through him. We have a Prophet. We have a Redeemer. We have a Ruler. His name is Jesus. Let’s put our faith in Him.
Tomorrow’s reading is Acts 7.
A Word for Our Kids
Hey kids, Jesus fulfills all of the Old Testament. Moses himself had promised by the Holy Spirit that God was going to raise up a Prophet for the people to follow. On the one hand, this referred to the string of prophets God used throughout Israel’s history. However, ultimately, it referred to Jesus. It referred to the ultimate Prophet. And that ultimate Prophet is Jesus. Jesus is Prophet. He is Priest. He is King. Trust Him. That was always God’s plan. Don’t let go of Him.
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