Sunday Acts 7:17-36

Stephen explains the life of Moses.

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Stephen continues his history of Israel. This is not new information to the people that he is talking to. They know all of the history of Israel. Stephen is using the familiar stories that they all know by heart to paint the picture of the Christ.

He started with Abraham and then continued with Joseph. Now he moves on to Moses. Stephen highlights certain aspects of Moses’ life to show the parallels with Jesus. Moses is a type for Jesus. They both were sent by God to deliver God’s people from bondage. Moses was sent to rescue the people from physical slavery and lead them into the promised land. Jesus came to deliver people from spiritual bondage and lead them into the Kingdom of God.

Like Jesus, Moses had a supernatural element to his infancy. Pharaoh had decreed that all of the male Hebrew babies would be killed. Moses’ parents hid him for three months then his sister put him in a basket in the Nile river where he was found by Pharaoh’s daughter. She assigned Moses’ mother to nurse Moses until he was old enough to come live at her house. Like Jesus, Moses was rejected when he tried to bring reconciliation. Moses was not fully accepted as God’s representative until his second appearance. This points to the second coming of Jesus.

Stephen is also making the point that God is not concerned with geography. God led Moses in Egypt and even in Midian. God appeared in physical form through the burning bush in Midian.

God has a plan. The center of His plan is reconciliation through Jesus. Stephen is making the case for Christ. We need to see our lives in light of God’s plan. We are here as followers of Christ to point others to Christ.