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Book: Acts
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Acts 7:37 A Prophet Like Moses
I. A prophet like Moses.
A. This comes from the prophecy of Moses in Deut. 18 and has been
considered a prophecy of the Messiah.
1. Even the Jews to the present day consider this to be a
prophecy of the Messiah.
2. Interestingly enough they quote it to try to eliminate
Jesus as the promised Messiah.
a. They say if He is to be a prophet like Moses,
Moses was man, and made no claim to be the Son
of God. The fact that Jesus claimed to be the
Son of God thus disqualifies Him as the
Messiah.
b. They declare that the Messiah will be a man,
just as Moses was a man.
c. The natural question would then be, "How will
you recognize the Messiah?"
d. Their answer is, "He will lead us in the
rebuilding of the temple."
e. The Jews are looking today for a man that will
lead them in rebuilding the temple, and are
ready to acclaim him as their messiah.
3. The interesting thing is that the Bible predicts just
such a man shall come. In Daniel 9 he speaks of the
prince of the people that shall come who will make a
covenant with the nation, but after 3 1/2 years will
break that covenant and set up the abomination that
will cause the desolation or great tribulation when the
wrath of God will be poured out upon this earth.
a. Jesus speaking of this man declared, "I came in
My Father's name and you did not receive Me,
another shall come in his own name and him you
will receive."
b. Paul tells us that this man will ultimately
stand in the Holy of Holies in the rebuilt
temple and show himself to be God and will
demand to be worshipped as God.
c. The book of Revelation tells us that this will
be a time of great satanic worship.
REV 13:4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast:
and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who [is] like unto the
beast? who is able to make war with him?
4. In should be stated that their are many prophecies in
the Old Testament that indicate that the Messiah will
be the Son of God.
ISA 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and
the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be
called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting
Father, The Prince of Peace.
PSA 2:6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
PSA 2:7 I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou
[art] my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
1CH 17:11 And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired that thou
must go [to be] with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed
after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his
kingdom.
1CH 17:12 He shall build me an house, and I will stablish his throne for
ever.
1CH 17:13 I will be his father, and he shall be my son: and I will not
take my mercy away from him, as I took [it] from [him] that was
before thee:
1CH 17:14 But I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever:
and his throne shall be established for evermore.
HEB 1:8 But unto the Son [he saith], Thy throne, O God, [is] for
ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness [is] the sceptre of
thy kingdom.
II. Like unto Moses.
A. Stephen is showing a very interesting likeness to Moses.
1. He related the story of Moses to them from the
miraculous preservation of his life when he was adopted
by the Pharaoh's daughter as a three month old infant
when the commandment was to kill all the boy babies. It
is interesting that at the birth of Jesus, Herod
ordered the killing of all the babies in Bethlehem from
two years old and under.
2. He spoke of his excellent education that continued till
he was 40 years old.
3. How that at that time he went out and saw an Egyptian
abusing an Israeli slave, and how Moses killed the
Egyptian and buried his body. The next day as two
Israeli's were fighting he went to break up the fight
protesting that they were brothers. They then said to
him, "Who made you a judge over us, will you kill us as
you did the Egyptian yesterday?"
4. Stephen told them that Moses supposed his brothers
would have understood how that God would deliver them
by his hand, but they did not understand.
5. The first time Moses came to deliver them they did not
receive him as their deliverer.
6. Forty years later God sent Moses to deliver them from
their slavery, this time they did receive him.
7. They rejected Jesus the first time He came, when He
comes again, they will recognize Him as the Messiah.
8. Their prophet said,
ZEC 12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of
supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have
pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for [his]
only [son], and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is
in bitterness for [his] firstborn.
MAT 24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and
then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see
the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and
great glory.
REV 1:7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and
they [also] which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth
shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
B. He is thus a prophet like unto Moses for He was, as Moses,
rejected by them as their deliver the first time He came, but
will be recognized as the deliver when He comes again.
C. Like unto Moses for Moses gave to the people the word of God.
1. When God spoke to Moses in the mount it was with an
awesome demonstration of power. There were thunders and
lightnings and a thick cloud. The mountain was on fire
and the smoke ascended as out of a blast furnace. The
whole mountain was shaking. Their was a sound like a
trumpet blast that got louder and louder.
2. Then God spoke to Moses and he in turn came to the
people to give them the words of God.
3. The people said to Moses, you go up and talk to Him and
them come down and tell us what He said, but we do not
want Him talking to us for we fear that we will die.
DEU 18:15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the
midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall
hearken;
DEU 18:16 According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in
Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again
the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire
any more, that I die not.
DEU 18:17 And the LORD said unto me, They have well [spoken that] which
they have spoken.
DEU 18:18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like
unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall
speak unto them all that I shall command him.
4. This is the testimony of John the Baptist concerning
Jesus:
JOH 3:34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God
giveth not the Spirit by measure [unto him].
JOH 3:35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his
hand.
JOH 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that
believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God
abideth on him.
5. This is the testimony of Jesus concerning Himself.
JOH 7:16 Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his
that sent me.
JOH 12:49 For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me,
he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should
speak.
JOH 14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in
me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but
the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
III. The law came by Moses, but grace and truth by Jesus Christ.
A. When Moses came down from the mount, he gave to the people the
ten commandments which were God's rules for the good life.
1. Through the years there came to be tremendous additions
to the ten commandments till they were hardly
recognizable. Much like our Constitution.
2. Through interpretation the laws had become intolerable
and onerous, people had developed a wrong concept of
God.
3. God intended the law to show them their sins and cause
them to come to Him to receive His grace and mercy. But
they had made the law the standard for righteousness,
and through their interpretation they were able to keep
it and thus became very self righteous, and completely
intolerant towards those who did not keep the law as
they did.
B. Jesus came to give to them the proper interpretation of the
law. What the law was basically commanding was for them to love
God supremely, and their neighbor as themselves. If you do this
you have kept all the law and the commandments.
1. When you fall short, their is not immediate judgment,
but a place for repentance and forgiveness.
a. The woman taken in adultery which the
Pharisee's wanted to stone.
b. The prostitute that washed His feet with her
tears.
2. The people loved this new understanding of God, however
the religious leaders saw it as a threat to the power
that they had held over the people, thus they rejected
Him as the Messiah, and crucified Him.
3. Their problems are going to become so severe, that the
day is coming when they will say, "Blessed is He that
comes in the Name of the Lord." And as Moses, He will
come the second time to lead them into the kingdom of
God.
C. The words of Stephen caught their mark, for we read that when
they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and
gnashed on him with their teeth, and drug him out and stoned
him till he died.
D. It is interesting how the truth will effect different people,
some receive it gladly, others rebel so severely that they seek
to destroy the messenger.
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