A Burning Voice
Acts 7:30–36 (NKJV)
30 “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. 31 When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he drew near to observe, the voice of the Lord came to him, 32 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. 33 ‘Then the Lord said to him, “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. 34 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.” ’
35 “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. 36 He brought them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
In our last study we looked at how to be our brother’s keeper. We saw some good ways to be our brother’s keeper and some bad ways. One way was to look out for our brother’s safety and to “keep” them from destruction. We are to hold each other accountable for sin in the brotherhood of Christ. We are to be a keeper of the lost sheep for whom Christ has died by gospeling the Gospel. We saw of how ways not to be a brother’s keeper, like being busybodies in matters that do not warrant our attention (1Jn.5:16). Another was having a hypocritical spirit in the way we go about being our brother’s keeper, like laboring to be a keeper when we are living in open and rebellious sin, as Moses was when he confronted the Hebrew slave. We met with the importance of getting away to understand the times and issues of the culture before we labor to fix or restore the brokenness of sinners. This leads us to our current study. We are going to look at Moses’ encounter with the epiphany (Christophany of God) in the burning bush, which interacted with Moses, and revealed a new identity of God and revelation of Himself.
30 “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.
In my last study, I briefly went over the time that Moses spent hiding in Midian from the Egyptians. He remained there until a Christophany appeared to him in a bush that blazed with the glory of God. Recall that Moses had two sons within his forty years in Midian as a shepherd of sheep. I am not going to get into a detailed study of Moses because this is Stephen’s rebuttal to the Sanhedrin, and I desire only to draw out of this context that which pertains to Stephen’s intention of quoting from the life of Moses, as I did for the life of Joseph. Stephen is using Moses’ experience to preach and expound Jesus Christ to the high court of Israel. Let’s try to remember that Stephen is on trial for teaching in the Name of Jesus Christ in the Temple and city of Jerusalem. Remember that Stephen was illegally arrested and dragged away to be questioned without a warrant or intent of arrest as an open charge of blasphemy.
At this point in Stephen’s defense of himself, he is most likely getting a little irritated with the Sanhedrin. When he opened up his discourse, Stephen’s face was shining as bright as the sun, and he was honored to have the opportunity to be before the highest court in Israel to defend the Name of Jesus Christ. And as he meditates on the ignorance of the Sanhedrin, who are the leaders of the nation and of the church of Israel, he begins to increase in faith and boldness toward their unbelief. Stephen is about to describe the experience of Moses with the “burning” bush as the pre-incarnate Son of God whom they murdered in the flesh. Imagine the excitement in Stephen’s heart to know and understand the Word pertaining to, who now is, the resurrected Christ (Lk.24:32).
Theophany (Gk. theopháneia “appearance of God”). The visual manifestation of a deity to human beings, often accompanied by an auditory revelation. [Myers, A. C. (1987). In The Eerdmans Bible dictionary (p. 997). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.]
All orthodox scholars believe that the burning bush was a “Theophany” that pertains to Jesus Christ. I would prefer to call it a “Christophany” because it directly relates to Jesus Christ. If we go back, and look at the context that God revealed Himself to Moses, we see Him answer Moses with a new Name (Ex.3:14). When questioned for degrading and declaring the children of Abraham, as children of the devil (Jn.8:44), Jesus identified Himself as the “I AM” to the uncircumcised in heart:
John 8:48–59 (NKJV)
48 Then the Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?”
49 Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. 50 And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges. 51 Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.”
52 Then the Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.’ 53 Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Who do You make Yourself out to be?”
54 Jesus answered, “If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God. 55 Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, ‘I do not know Him,’ I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”
57 Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?”
58 Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
59 Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
This is one of the many statements that Christ made that caused the Jews to desire to kill Him. Stephen is beating them over the head with this Mosaic Christophany like it was a baseball bat.
31 When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he drew near to observe, the voice of the Lord came to him, . . .
Moses could see that this was God; why can’t the Sanhedrin? The Sanhedrin were not willing to get close enough to Christ to hear the voice of God because of the burning or convicting sensation in their bowels. If you choose to draw near to God, you will have to be holy. Moses was enabled to hear the Lord call out to him (Jn.6:65). The burning bush is like an epiphany of the holiness of God in Jesus Christ. The burning bush is what caused Moses to draw near. Christ is in this epiphany to draw Moses to Himself. Reader do you have that convicting sensation way down deep inside your bones and organs that burn and remind you of the Holiness of an omnipotent God? This power will either draw you (Jn.6:44) or push you away (Jn.6:66). Don’t be like the foolish Sanhedrin who ignore the Words of Christ through Stephen or through this study. Open up your ears and hearts to the Words that have power over life and death. Hear the Father speak through the Son, and see the Spirit reveal the Son, and obey that burning desire to come to life and draw near to the Son. Marvel, as Moses did, at the sight and glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ! Hear the Son pray to His Father to forgive your ignorance (Lk.23:24). Just as God appeared in the epiphany to Moses, He has appeared to us in the person and work of the God-Man Jesus Christ. Draw near and observe!
32. . . 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.
As the Christophany calls out to Moses, He reveals Himself as the God of his fathers. Are you like Moses and tremble at the mighty and awesome wonder of God? Do you fear and hold back all that you are, knowing all that He is? This is the same God who promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations, the same God of Isaac who provided a ram to be his substitution, the same God of Jacob who wrestled his hip out of joint. And now this all-consuming fire of God has appeared to Moses in a bush, that is ALIVE and speaks! What wonder and awe! Does this cause you to fear and look away when compared to your sinful nature? This is the God of the Living, not the god of dead (Mk.12:27).
33 ‘Then the Lord said to him, “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.
Do you see yourself as too dirty to come to Christ? I hope so, because you ARE! But Christ has called you, and Christ has made a way for you; so come, and be holy, for God is holy (1Pet.1:16). Remove what is filthy in your life. Cut it off from you, and stand in the grace that God has called you into, and believe. Do not harden your heart to disobey the voice of your God. Listen to what the Son has provided for you. Repent and turn from those things that kill and muffle the voice of your God. God has seen the oppression of the deceiver and is calling out to the Sanhedrin that He has sent the deliverer; first in the person of Jesus Christ, and second in the Holy Spirit working through Stephen, as he continues to preach Christ in this Theophany given to Moses.
On the Emmaus road (Lk. 24:10–13) the risen Christ has to interpret the heart of the biblical revelation to the two unnamed disciples by asserting that a revelation, a theophany, of God could not be complete without reference to the cross (vv 25–27). The cross epitomizes the sufferings of the Christ that were “necessary” before He could enter into His glory, i.e., before He could fully reveal that at the heart of the universe there burns unquenchable fire, a fire of indescribable love (Dt. 4:12, 24; Hos. 11:1–4, 8f.; Isa. 33:14; 43:1–3; Lk. 3:16). The biblical idea of theophany requires a revelation of the very heart of God, both by the hearing of the Word and by an action that can reveal that heart only by signs and wonders. These conceal, just as much as they reveal, what we try in human terms to express as the unsearchable riches of God. [Knight, G. A. F. (1979–1988). Theophany. In G. W. Bromiley (Ed.), The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised (Vol. 4, p. 831). Wm. B. Eerdmans.]
34 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.” ’
Stephen is basically saying, "As God sent Moses to deliver Israel from the oppression of Egypt, I have been sent to deliver you of your ignorance of Christ. And that Christ was sent to put an end to all sin that enslaves mankind to the destruction of the flesh, to free us from the sins that lead to death, and to impart a resurrection of repentance to life, for all who have cried out in the anguish of their souls for the deliverance from the “image” of sin having been born a son of Adam."
Jesus was hailed by His disciples as “Son of God”, not as a prophet foretelling the future. Paradoxically, however, He was so because He recognized Himself to be “Son of man.” . . . . As such, He was “sinless man.” The word “image” in Gen. 1:26 is important, for Jesus was . . . directly claiming to be God, He was the image . . . of God. Because He was such, His words would not pass away (Mk. 13:31). He could say as much, knowing that from the beginning God had chosen to reveal Himself in theophany after theophany through the utterance of His Word. But now, as He knew, the Word had become flesh in Himself. By clinging to the title Son of man He was emphasizing that “of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” v 32). [Knight, G. A. F. (1979–1988). Theophany. In G. W. Bromiley (Ed.), The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised (Vol. 4, p. 830). Wm. B. Eerdmans.]
35 “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.
Stephen is applying this passage in a way that slaps the Sanhedrin in the face. In the same way the Hebrew slave questioned Moses’ authority over him, the Sanhedrin questioned by what authority the apostles spoke. Knowing that it was the Name of Jesus Christ, that Stephen and the other apostles claimed as their authority, whom the Sanhedrin murdered, continued to labor to suppress the apostles' claim upon the truth of this Man who was crucified as “King of the Jews.” It was by this Man’s hand (or Theophany) in the signs and wonders of Egypt that delivered Moses and the Hebrew nation, and it was by this crucified Son of God that has delivered you from sin and death, just as the angel of death passed over Israel for the destruction of the first-born of Egypt. In other words, just as Egypt rejected Moses, the Sanhedrin rejected Christ; and God has made Him to be both King and Judge over the Jews and of all. Repent or death will be knocking at your door!
36 He brought them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
Just as God confirmed the signs and wonders to Egypt, and in their destruction in the Red Sea, and even to the rebellious Hebrews in the wilderness for their refusal to obey, God will confirm another sign and wonder in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., forty years after the resurrection of Christ. Don’t be like the stiff necked and unbelieving Jews trapped by their own pride and blindness. See, hear, and believe in the voice of the Theophany in your heart, now as it burns and hungers for more of the truth in Jesus Christ, hear the Spirit’s convicting voice and go to Him for salvation.
