Midweek Review #14 (Acts 7:23-53)

Brothers and sisters, we need a mediator. We need

Jesus. We need one who is like Moses, who can go between us and God.

The promise of Deuteronomy 18 .15 is there is coming another Moses. This is important.

Someone who is like Moses, but greater than Moses. If you'll turn with me back to Acts chapter 7,

Stephen will make mention of a few things. And if we had time,

I would love to to take this study deeper. Maybe we'll have a chance to talk about it at a Sunday school class or just over dinner or something one day.

The parallels between Moses and Jesus are astonishing. Their unusual birth, the fact that they were taken out of Egypt, out of Egypt I have called my son

Jesus, was brought down to Egypt and brought out of Egypt. Forty day fast.

The body of Moses was never discovered. It was taken away as a picture of Jesus not staying dead, but rising from the dead.

There are a number of parallels, but here's just four quick ones that I see in this text. Because we don't have time to explore the whole range.

I one time did a study of it and I think there's 20 or 25 that are just blatant, amazing comparisons between Moses and Jesus.

But the first one I want you to see is that he's a prophet. Deuteronomy 18 15, the important verse to make note of.

Jesus is this promised prophet. What does the prophet do?

A prophet speaks for God. Moses received the living oracles.

We saw earlier in Acts chapter 7. He received a word from God. That law that came from God, we call that the

Old Covenant. It was all the rules and regulations and the ceremonial and the moral laws of God by which

Israel could relate to God. The Old Covenant set

Israel apart as a nation, a particular people that belonged to God, and they were blessed when they obeyed those things, and they were cursed when they disobeyed them.

Here's the problem. They couldn't keep them. And each law that they were given exposed that their hearts were wicked.

They were not able to keep the law of Moses. And so what the law of Moses turned around and did, like a mirror, it showed the people how sinful they really are.

The Old Covenant governed the relationship of God and his people, but it could not save.

It could only point forward to the New Covenant. You see, it's great that Israel had

Moses, and Moses did bring true revelation, and the law is good, but the New Covenant is better.

It's a new and better covenant, according to Hebrews. Why? Because in the

New Covenant, Jesus gives his body and he gives his blood, and in the giving of his body and blood as a sacrifice, our sins are taken away, and in that transaction where we become a new creation in Christ, his

Holy Spirit comes to live inside of us like a fountain of living water, and the

Spirit living inside of us is actually able to change our hearts and our desires, and we can keep the law from the heart in spirit and in truth under the

New Covenant. The Spirit gives us the power to overcome. The New Covenant, Ezekiel 36,

Jeremiah 31, promised there, initiated by Jesus, is a better covenant. So here's the point.

Moses is a prophet, and he brings the Old Covenant, but there's coming a greater Moses, whose name is

Jesus Christ, who brings the new and better covenant. That's one thing. The second thing you notice in the text here is the miracles that are worked.

God sent a ruler and Redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him. This man led them out, performing what?

Wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea. Never had the world seen something like this.

The God of Israel sending plagues upon the nation of Egypt, powerful things happening, until finally the death of the firstborn, and the

Israelites are brought out safely by the hand of God, by an outstretched hand of God.

The Torah, the first five books, the Pentateuch, ends this way.

In chapter 34, the last three verses says that there's never been a prophet like Moses.

There's never been someone who can part the waters of the Red Sea, and the people can walk through on dry land.

There's never been plagues like this from heaven to bring a people out. The miracles that Moses did were profound, and the world had never seen it before, and the

Pentateuch ends that way. Deuteronomy 34 just abruptly ends that way, kind of like the end of Malachi ends with John the

Baptist, and just strangely you're waiting for the forerunner, until this man from Galilee performs a miracle at Cana at a wedding, and this the first of many signs he did.

And this man cannot only part a Red Sea, he can walk on water, and he can raise dead people, and open blind eyes, and open deaf ears, and raise the dead, not just physically, but spiritually, giving them a new heart, a greater

Moses. Jesus did miracles greater than Moses. That's the comparison that Stephen is showing.

He's pointing out the miracles, the signs and wonders that Moses did. They point to a greater

Moses, Deuteronomy 18 15 to 20. Third, he's a ruler and a judge.

You must listen to everything he says, according to Deuteronomy 18. Those who rebelled against Moses, they were snake bit.

Remember the rebellions when people would rise up over him? Even his own brother and sister at times tried to take that authority, but no,

Moses was the ruler and the judge. In the same way, Jesus comes into the world as a ruler and a judge.

He speaks, and we must listen to everything he has to say. And finally, he's a redeemer.

He's a redeemer. See that word? Acts chapter 7.

Who made you a ruler and judge? This man God sent as both ruler and redeemer.

Moses was a redeemer of Israel. They were caught in physical slavery, slaves under the harsh taskmasters of Pharaoh, and by the blood of a

Passover lamb, they were delivered. They were redeemed by God and brought out, finally, after 40 years into the promised land.

We have a greater Moses. We have a redeemer who spiritually brings us out of our deadness and our slavery to sin, and into that promised land which is eternal life, beginning here and now, and lasting for all eternity.

There is a redeemer. Wonderful old hymn. If I had a singing voice,

I would sing it right now for you, but I don't have a singing voice.

I can just tell you, there is a redeemer. His name is Jesus. He's greater than Moses. His blood was put on a cross to atone for sins.

Come to him, and you'll find him to be a perfect Savior. This is what

Stephen is doing. His intention is greater than self -defense or self -preservation. His intention is to preach the good news.

We're gonna wrap this up in a minute, and I want to tell you, Christians who hear this word are very bold.

Very bold to speak about a redeemer who's greater than Moses. Very bold to evangelize and to say hard things to people in the world who don't want to hear it by any means, but notice the boldness of Stephen.