I HAVE COME DOWN TO RESCUE THEM

Stephen: ‘God will raise up a Prophet like Moses’

As he stares intently into the souls of those leaders of Jerusalem who have brought him to trial for preaching about Jesus Christ, Stephen continues to compare Jesus to Israel’s ancient fathers. He also compares these judges he faces to defiant Hebrews who rejected Moses for forty years. But what point does Stephen make about Christ when he quotes from Scripture concerning Moses saying, ‘God will raise up a Prophet from your countrymen?‘

“This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel,

‘GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR COUNTRYMEN.’

ACTS of the Apostles 7:37 NASB20 – Defense of Stephen to the Sanhedrin

ACTS 7: of the disciple of the Apostles, Stephen

38 Moses was with our ancestors, the assembly of God’s people in the wilderness, when the angel spoke to him at Mount Sinai. And there Moses received life-giving words to pass on to us.

To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us:

Acts 7:39-40a KJV – Stephen compares Israel’s leaders to those who turned from Moses to Aaron, asking Aaron to lead them back to Egypt and their gods

“For these nations, which you are going to dispossess, listen to soothsayers and diviners, but as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do so.

Deuteronomy 18:14 [& 13 above]

---

A Word from the Source:

Deuteronomy 18:

אֲדֹנָי

ăḏōnāy (H136)– an  emphatic form of אָדוֹן (H113)

The following Scripture verses precede Stephen’s defense he quotes from Deuteronomy to leaders of the Jewish High Council of the Sanhedrin:

Powerful Pleas of the Prophet Moses

• ‘Lord H136 GOD, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as Yours? – Deuteronomy 3:24
  • – Mōšê, at the time when the Lord God would allow him to see the Jordan, but would not allow Moses to cross over because of his disobedience.
• “And I prayed to the LORD and said, ‘Lord H136 GOD, do not destroy Your people, Your inheritance, whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand! – Deuteronomy 9:26
• “For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord H136 of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who does not show partiality, nor take a bribe. – Deuteronomy 10:17 *[quotes from NASB20]

Open your eyes to the full context of the scripture above from which Stephen preaches.

Powerful pleas from Deuteronomy by Stephen

• Why does Stephen use this Book of Moses for his defense?

“Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it.

Deuteronomy 10:14

---

Since that time no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,

for all the signs and wonders which the LORD sent him to perform in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all his servants, and all his land— and for all the mighty power and all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.

Deuteronomy 34:10-12

• And the Lord God, who belongs to heaven and the highest heavens is the only One who can send down another Prophet like Moses to earth, a son of man,

• The Apostles and many more disciples of Jesus had witnessed the Lord Christ Jesus taken up into heaven just a few weeks prior to that first Pentecost when Peter had preached in Solomon’s Colonnade.
  • God the Father ‘will raise up another Prophet like Moses: One Redeemer Son of God greater than Moses, as One Perfect Sacrifice for sin for those who believe — Stephen stands accused before these same men who sent the Lord Jesus – the Righteous One — to hang on a Roman Cross.
  • Moses had assured that the Father of all creation and created would ‘raise up’ such a prophet and teacher — and these disciples of the Apostles of the Messiah Jesus are His witnesses.

Tabernacles and Temples

Acts 7: Stephen continues..

42 Then God turned away from them and abandoned them to serve the stars of heaven as their gods!

Remember: Stephen is preaching this to Jewish leaders who idolize Herod's Temple, Israelites who have been dealing with this 'Jesus challenge' for five years now, even as the church grows dramatically even as Rome becomes increasingly impatient with their State of Judah.

Stephen now quotes Judah’s Prophet, Amos of Tekoa, a small village just 10 miles from Jerusalem eight centuries earlier.

“Did you offer Me sacrifices and offerings
In the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
You also carried Sikkuth [*] your king [*]
And Chiun, [*] your idols,
The star of your gods,
Which you made for yourselves.
Therefore I will send you into captivity beyond Damascus,”
Says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts.

Amos 5:25-27 NKJV - [* pagan idols including Moloch]

5:24  וְיִגַּל כַּמַּיִם מִשְׁפָּט וּצְדָקָה כְּנַחַל אֵיתָֽן׃

“But let justice roll down like waters
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Amos 5:24

---

The trial and defense of Stephen before Jerusalem’s leaders of the Sanhedrin —–

To be continued…