Act 7:30 | KingComments | STEP | Moses was forty when he fled. In the wilderness forty years “had passed”. Forty is the number of trial. In the power of his life God formed him in the wilderness. Who would choose such an education, in the loneliness of the wilderness, when all the challenges of life lie before you? But God taught him lessons there that he could not have learned in any other way. Moses is called by the Lord when he is eighty years old. That is at the end of his natural life, as he himself says in Psalm 90 ( ). Before the Lord can use someone, a person has to learn to renounce his natural capacities. Moses learned that. Yet it is not enough not to rely on one’s own abilities. Now he must learn to trust in God’s power. Moses is now ready for God to appear to him. He does that as an Angel in a flame of a burning thorn bush. Moses’ attention is drawn to the fact that the thorn bush burns but does not burn up ( ). The thorn bush represents man by nature, sinful man. We also see the whole people of Israel in it, which is in Egypt in the furnace of fire. We also see that God is in the fire. That is why the thorn bush is not consumed. God uses the fire of trial to purify His people, and us. What is not in agreement with Him is removed by the fire. As a result, we are answering more and more to His purpose with us which is that we are becoming like the Lord Jesus. He is with us in the trial ( ; ). God sees that Moses is approaching the bush to see that wondrous phenomenon. He makes Himself known to Moses as the God of the covenant with the patriarchs, with Abraham ( ), Isaac ( ) and Jacob ( ). That is the ground on which He is going to act. He appreciates that Moses shows interest in His revelation, but at the same time He maintains His holiness. Moses is deeply impressed by God’s appearance and His words. He begins to shake with fear and does not dare to investigate further. He knows himself in the presence of the holy God. Where God is, there is holiness. God makes it clear to him that he stands on holy ground. That is why he has to take off his shoes (cf. ). The awareness of standing on holy ground was completely missing from the Council that Stephen stood before, while they claimed to live in the holy land. After Moses has taken the right place before God, God tells him what He has seen and what He has purposed. God tells him that He has seen what is being done to His people and that He has heard their groans. He is familiar with their sorrows. That brings Him to act. He has descended to rescue them and bring them to a land that He has chosen for them. And Moses is the man He wants to use to carry out that purpose. The Lord Jesus has descended to earth to redeem people who sigh under the yoke of sin. As with Israel, He did not speak from heaven, but came from heaven to earth. It is wonderful to read that God calls this wretched slave people in Egypt “My people”! It is like the father falling around the neck of his prodigal son while this son is still wearing his dirty clothes ( ). When Stephen has impressively presented the appearance of God to Moses and His command to him to go to Egypt to deliver His people, he repeats the rejection of Moses as a ruler and a judge ( ; ). By speaking in plural, “they”, he thereby turns the sin of one man into a collective sin, that is, the sin of the whole people. To further underline its seriousness, Stephen speaks of disowning Moses. And that while God had appeared to Moses and Moses had been sent by Him to them to be both a ruler and a deliverer. This is an impressive illustration of the rejection of Christ, the Prince of life, by the Jewish people (cf. ).

‏ Acts 7:30

God Appears to Moses

Moses was forty when he fled. In the wilderness forty years “had passed”. Forty is the number of trial. In the power of his life God formed him in the wilderness. Who would choose such an education, in the loneliness of the wilderness, when all the challenges of life lie before you? But God taught him lessons there that he could not have learned in any other way.

Moses is called by the Lord when he is eighty years old. That is at the end of his natural life, as he himself says in Psalm 90 (Psa 90:10). Before the Lord can use someone, a person has to learn to renounce his natural capacities. Moses learned that. Yet it is not enough not to rely on one’s own abilities. Now he must learn to trust in God’s power.

Moses is now ready for God to appear to him. He does that as an Angel in a flame of a burning thorn bush. Moses’ attention is drawn to the fact that the thorn bush burns but does not burn up (Exo 3:3). The thorn bush represents man by nature, sinful man. We also see the whole people of Israel in it, which is in Egypt in the furnace of fire. We also see that God is in the fire. That is why the thorn bush is not consumed.

God uses the fire of trial to purify His people, and us. What is not in agreement with Him is removed by the fire. As a result, we are answering more and more to His purpose with us which is that we are becoming like the Lord Jesus. He is with us in the trial (Dan 3:23-25; Isa 63:9).

God sees that Moses is approaching the bush to see that wondrous phenomenon. He makes Himself known to Moses as the God of the covenant with the patriarchs, with Abraham (Gen 15:13-14), Isaac (Gen 26:3) and Jacob (Gen 46:1-3). That is the ground on which He is going to act. He appreciates that Moses shows interest in His revelation, but at the same time He maintains His holiness.

Moses is deeply impressed by God’s appearance and His words. He begins to shake with fear and does not dare to investigate further. He knows himself in the presence of the holy God. Where God is, there is holiness. God makes it clear to him that he stands on holy ground. That is why he has to take off his shoes (cf. Jos 5:15). The awareness of standing on holy ground was completely missing from the Council that Stephen stood before, while they claimed to live in the holy land.

After Moses has taken the right place before God, God tells him what He has seen and what He has purposed. God tells him that He has seen what is being done to His people and that He has heard their groans. He is familiar with their sorrows. That brings Him to act. He has descended to rescue them and bring them to a land that He has chosen for them. And Moses is the man He wants to use to carry out that purpose.

The Lord Jesus has descended to earth to redeem people who sigh under the yoke of sin. As with Israel, He did not speak from heaven, but came from heaven to earth. It is wonderful to read that God calls this wretched slave people in Egypt “My people”! It is like the father falling around the neck of his prodigal son while this son is still wearing his dirty clothes (Lk 15:20).

When Stephen has impressively presented the appearance of God to Moses and His command to him to go to Egypt to deliver His people, he repeats the rejection of Moses as a ruler and a judge (Acts 7:35; Acts 7:27). By speaking in plural, “they”, he thereby turns the sin of one man into a collective sin, that is, the sin of the whole people.

To further underline its seriousness, Stephen speaks of disowning Moses. And that while God had appeared to Moses and Moses had been sent by Him to them to be both a ruler and a deliverer. This is an impressive illustration of the rejection of Christ, the Prince of life, by the Jewish people (cf. Acts 3:14-15 ; Acts 4:10-12).