Isn't God Enough?

Acts 7:37–40 (NKJV) Israel Rebels Against God

37 “This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear.’ 38 “This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us, 39 whom our fathers would not obey, but rejected. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’

If you were with me in my last study, we dug into the study of a “Theophany”. I labored to cause you to hear the voice of your God through the proclamation of His revealed Word. It was the Word that appeared to Moses in the bush. It was the Word that revealed God to Moses. It was the Word that healed on the Sabbath day before the Pharisees. It was the Word that the Sanhedrin voted “to thrust aside” (ESV) and crucify upon a Roman cross. God has not changed and continues in the Word that serves to reveal Himself to us today. The Holy Spirit takes the Word, which is the voice of Christ, and makes God known to us. A Christophany is simply a means that God uses to reveal Himself to us. When the Word became flesh there was no need for a Theophany. All that had been revealed through the angels and the prophets was embodied in the person of Jesus Christ (Jn.1:14). This is what Stephen is going to continue to convey to the Sanhedrin. God still speaks through an audible voice, whether it be through natural revelation in the created order (Ps.19:1), through the written Word (Heb.1:2), or through the Word opened up and proclaimed (Rom.10:14). The Word still speaks and is living and active with the same power as the plagues of Egypt (Heb.4:12). Only a fool would ignore their conscience (Rom.1:21-23). A Christophany can occur every time the Word speaks, if the Holy Spirit so chooses, to work in the conscience of man. You can experience a Christophany in your conscience when the Holy Spirit burns the desire in you to have more of Christ. This should describe every believer. We should have a conscience that burns for truth (Lk.24:32).

“This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear.’

In verse 35 of our previous study it says, “This Moses whom they rejected . . . 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.” It is often understood that Moses was the mediator between God and Israel, but that is not what Moses or Stephen would have us to believe. “The hand of the Angel” is the one who was mediating on behalf Israel to God. It was the Angel of the Lord who said He has heard their cry of oppression, Moses ran from it. Moses could not approach God except through the Theophany known as the Angel of the Lord in the bush (v.35). Moses was sent as a prophet on behalf of this Christophany who was the hand of the Lord. Stephen is saying, “This is not the Moses you have made into an idol in your vain imaginations. No, ‘this is that Moses’ who has spoken of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Moses of the Word.” When Israel rejected Moses, they were also rejecting the Word that Moses brought to them, the Word that would act as the Mediator of the covenant (1Tim.2:5). Moses prophesied that the Lord would raise up a true Mediator and Prophet like himself from within the brethren of Israel. Stephen is working to draw the attention of the high council to the fact that Moses pointed to a time in which God would raise up a Mediator of a better covenant, a man who would fulfill the covenant given through Moses, and who would institute a new covenant (Heb.9:15).

Deuteronomy 18:15–22 (NKJV) A New Prophet Like Moses

15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, 16 according to all you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’

17 “And the Lord said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good. 18 I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. 19 And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. 20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’—22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

Notice that this prophecy was given as a mediation on behalf “of the desire” of the assembly in Horeb. They requested not to hear the voice of the Theophany in the fire, fearing death. The power and strength of the voice of God was too strong to bear in their mortal bodies. They needed someone to carry the weight and strength of the voice. This was not for Moses to carry or there would have been no need for another prophet. The voice that came through the first covenant carried a death sentence to the people of Israel (Isa.28:14-17). Therefore, this prophet will not be like Moses in regards to sin; for only a sinless man can carry the weight of this covenant. That is why it pleased the Lord in what they spoke concerning the voice of God (v.17). This disqualifies Moses as the mediator of the covenant. But you will say, “The prophesy states the Prophet will be like Moses.” To which I say, “Very good.” This prophet will not be a Theophany in the form of an Angel, but will take on the flesh and bone of a man like Moses. He will not be merely a burning voice in a bush, but the voice of God in the flesh of a man. This man will be raised up among the Jews under the covenant that was instituted through Moses (Jn.4:22). A covenant that only had the power to reveal the holiness of God, a covenant that only had the power to reveal the sinfulness of man, and a covenant that only God can fulfill (Matt.5:17).

Stephen is making the argument to the Sanhedrin that they, like their fathers, have rejected the voice of the Lord in murdering God’s Son, and that they have not keep the covenant instituted through Moses, and they too have ignored their conscience as their fathers did at Horeb. The Pharisees did not use the Law of Moses as God intended. They used the Law of God to justify themselves and place heavy burdens on the people (Matt.23:4). They had set up a system of self-righteous religion in the name of God (Rom.10:2-4). Stephen is quoting Moses’ prophesy to open the ears of the council to “Hear Him”, the voice of their God, in the person of Jesus Christ. Moses relayed what the Lord said regarding the covenant: “And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.” Did you catch that? God told Moses that if they reject the covenant at this Prophet's coming, the condemnation of the covenant through Moses will be required of them (Jn.8:24).

Hebrews 10:28–29 (NKJV)

Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?

Stephen is charging the council with a greater condemnation than that of their fathers for rejecting the voice of God. Looking ahead, you can hear the tone in Stephen’s speech increasing as he meditates on the ignorance of the leading officials of Israel. Stephen will later conclude that they are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart, always resisting the Spirit of God (v.51). But not all of Israel was blind to the truth. After the miracle of Christ feeding the five thousand, some perceived it as the sign of the Prophet, who was to come into the world (Jn.16:14); as John MacArthur rightly points out in his commentary of Acts. The Father also confirmed to the disciples in a Theophany or “Transfiguration” of Christ that Jesus was the chosen Prophet and Son of God sent into the world to be His Mediator (Matt.17:5). And as I noted in my last study, that Christ prophesied the destruction of the Jewish Temple, because of their rejection of Him as the Son of God. This confirms to us that Jesus was the Prophet Moses spoke of in the fulfillment of Deut. 18:21-22.

“This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us, . . .

Again, Stephen is laboring to define the power that was working in Moses, having been sent by the Angel of the Lord. It was the Angel who was spoke to them in the fire. It was the living Word of God that testified in the midst of the congregation. Stephen is basically saying to the council: “You should know this stuff. This is basic Theology. Don’t continue to reject the obvious. This same power that you saw working in Jesus of Nazareth was the same power that led Moses and all of Israel out of slavery. You hypocrites claim to accept the miracles that testified of Moses’ leadership, but you will not accept the miracles that testify of Jesus as the Son of God.”

. . . whom our fathers would not obey, but rejected. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, . . .

Upon hearing the voice of God in the wilderness, the majority rejected Moses to lead them into the Promised Land. In rejecting the voice of God, they were saying to God that they preferred sin to be their master. The voice of God’s Law "birthed" into them the desire to return to the ease and comforts of sin that nurtured them in Egypt. They were choosing to ignore the conviction of their sin that the covenant was to reveal to them. The purpose of the covenant was to act like a mirror so they could see their nature and likeness after the image of Adam (Gen.5:3), as opposed to the image and likeness of God (Gal.3:24). The Pharisees in the days of Christ and the Apostles believed that they were justified through observing the Law and did not comprehend the covenant that pointed forward to a better one. It was for this reason that they rejected Christ, who is the very image of God (2Cor.4:4).

All of the English translations omit the Greek word γενέσθαι from the original, which means to “arouse”. In other words, the law that was intended to bring submission actually aroused disobedience. The Greek transliteration is genesthai which basically means birth. It is the root where they derived the term genesis that has also titled the first book of the Bible. Paul describing the sinful nature of man uses the same root form of the word in Rom. 7:13 in his defense of the holy commandments and the law's purpose to the Romans.

Romans 7:7–25 (NKJV)

Sin’s Advantage in the Law & Law Cannot Save from Sin

7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. 9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. 12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. 13 Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

In understanding the purpose of the commandments, Paul recognizes the need to defend the nature of the Law, to show the nature of sin in man. It is not the Law that is unholy; but what the Law generates in man, that is unholy. Paul said when he was confronted with the commandment not to covet, that it created in him the desire to covet all the more (v.8). In other words, the law served as a tool to send him back under the power of sin’s control. That is what Israel desired “in their hearts” when they turned back to Egypt that ruled over them as harsh task-masters. But Stephen is quoting Moses, to show the high council, that they do not have to go back under the Old Covenant Law that only has the power of death. As Paul said, what was intended to give life only brought death to him (v.10).

Stephen is crying out to the council not to go back to death, but to flee to Christ for life. He is weeping for them not to justify themselves by a covenant of death, but to be justified by faith in the Son of God; who was obedient to the covenant of death in their place (v.59). Christ died that they might live. Christ died that they would not serve the law of sin; but that they would have life to delight in the mercy and justice found in the glory of Christ. It pleased God that sin would abound; so that, Christ would receive all the glory (v.13). The Law of God then serves to reveal the image of sin in man, and the Holy Spirit serves to reveal the image of God in His Son, and Jesus Christ of Nazareth serves as the Mediator between God and man; as a bridge of the communion that was lost in Adam’s sin. In Christ we are restored to full fellowship with God and have no need for a wall of separation to divide God and man.

. . . saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’

The Israelites were impatient and requested the idolatry of formal religion to quench their desire to worship. Instead of obeying what they already knew about the will of God, they rejected the patience of Moses to wait for God to reveal to him the mode of worship that He requires. They go about to establish their own religion without direction from God. They understood that Moses by the hand of the Angel of the Lord brought them out of the land of slavery; but they grew ungrateful and unthankful in their hearts, not knowing what has become of Moses who went to seek God on behalf of all of Israel. While waiting on Moses they could have been exercising a thankful heart for being delivered from slavery. They could have been singing songs of praise about how they were set free and witnessed the power of God over their masters in Egypt. There was no need to wait for Moses to offer up thanksgiving to God. They did not need a priest or prophet to worship God for His great and awesome works. There was much that God had already revealed to them about Himself if they had been listening and watching. No, instead, they “thrust Moses aside”(ESV) and ask Aaron to formulate gods to intercede for them like the Egyptians in their formal religion. The Israelites want gods that they can see and touch, gods that they can imagine in their thoughts, and gods that fulfill their appetite. No wonder they made an image of a calf. It was the god of their belly that they chose to serve. The Law of God to rule in their conscience was not enough to govern them. They wanted gods to rule over them as the Egyptians did.

Stephen is using this to show the high council that it was their appetite for greed that “thrusted Jesus Christ aside” to keep the formality of the sacrifices, the Temple, and their positions as high priests (gods) of the land. They did not desire to submit to Christ’s form of government and have the Word written upon their heart. They rejected the Word to be their ruler and judge. They wanted to be the “gods” that act as rulers and judges of the covenant of death for the people. They too wondered what has become of this crucified fool who makes Himself out to be the Son of God. Oh, but Stephen’s eyes haven seen the risen Christ “standing” at the right hand of God, interceding, rejoicing, and welcoming Stephen in his rebuttal (v.56).