“when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of israel. and seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the egyptian. he supposed that his brothers would understand that god was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. and on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘men, you are brothers. why do you wrong each other?’ but the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘who made you a ruler and a judge over us? do you want to kill me as you killed the egyptian yesterday?’ at this retort moses fled and became an exile in the land of midian, where he became the father of two sons.
“now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of mount sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. when moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: ‘i am the God of your fathers, the God of abraham and of isaac and of jacob.’ and moses trembled and did not dare to look. then the lord said to him, ‘take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. i have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in egypt, and have heard their groaning, and i have come down to deliver them. and now come, i will send you to egypt.’ [acts 7:23-34]
today: practice patience as you wait on the presence of the Lord. there are 40 years between verses 29 and 30 in this passage, stephen abbreviates the events at the end of of exodus 2:
during those many days the king of egypt died, and the people of israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. and God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with abraham, with isaac, and with jacob. God saw the people of israel—and God knew. [exodus 2:23-25]
like the people of israel, we groan because this world is so broken–
and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. [romans 8:23]
but like stephen, we also know that there is hope when we hope in the God of our fathers in the faith: he sees our affliction and he will deliver us by the power of the new covenant, through the blood of Jesus.
for in this hope we were saved. now hope that is seen is not hope. for who hopes for what he sees? but if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. [romans 8:24]
have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in egypt, and have heard their groaning, and i have come down to deliver them. and now come, i will send you to egypt.’ [acts 7:34]
stephen knew and was telling the council that Jesus is the new and better moses, and Jesus does not come to deliver us from our nation, but he comes to deliver us from our world, ourselves, from our sin, from satan and from death. he goes with us–a pillar of fire and of smoke living and abiding in our hearts, delivering us from temptation and guiding us by his word, and will ultimately lead us to our eternal home with him.
Lord Jesus, deliver us, let us wait patiently on you!
~ ce