Engulfed in the Light

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

ENGULFED BY THE LIGHT

Acts 7:35-36

35 "This is the same Moses whom they had rejected with the words, 'Who made you ruler and judge?' He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 He led them out of Egypt and did wonders and miraculous signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the desert.

NIV

Stephen reminds them, which they surely have not forgotten, but perhaps are ignoring their history because of their wicked hearts. Although Moses was rejected when he first was among his own people, now after forty years God sent him to be their ruler and deliverer. Stephen is getting to the point where he tells them they have done the same thing to the one who God sent to be their ruler and deliverer. Moses was a foreshadowing of Christ in many ways, although he made one act of disobedience where Jesus was obedient even onto to death. It is interesting that out of all the wonders and miraculous signs Moses did in Egypt, Stephen makes sure to mention the Red sea and the forty years in the desert. We wonder if the members of the Sanhedrin understood the significance, or even remembered the miraculous sign at the Red Sea. Once again, the very sign and wonder at the Red Sea were parallel to what just happened in their lifetime. Moses was leading the people out of bondage to a promised land. The parting of the Red Sea formed the pathway which enabled the people to escape the evil that was pursuing them. Although Moses had to lift his arms, it was the righteous right hand of God who separated the waters and caused the dry land to appear, and it was also God who destroyed the evil that came after them. Stephen, in his wisdom, was going to show them that Jesus also came to lead them to a promised land, and who also destroyed the evil that races after them. It was also Jesus who had to lift his arms up, however, they were nailed to the cross, however, it was the mighty right hand of God who ordained their salvation through Christ. Jesus made a dry path for us to walk across which leads to the same promised land. Jesus promised us that he would go and prepare a place for us and that he would return to take us there, himself. It is always God who will lead us to safety and destroy the evil that so eagerly wants to engulf us. It is also interesting that all those Israelites, once they reached the Jordan and simply needed to cross over and they would have possessed the promised land, refused because they feared the evil that awaited them. They did not trust God but looked the physical, so they wandered for forty years until they all perished, and it was their children that took hold of the promise of God. It is still the same in the day of Christ, as Stephen will show the Sanhedrin. Jesus showed them the way, as he still does today, and they, like so many others today, refused to trust God and looked only at the physical they could smell, touch and taste and feast their eyes upon. Their hearts are darkened by the evil which resides within them, and they cannot see the path God has made for them to escape and so they too will perish wandering in the wilderness of this world. But we have put our trust in God, and we have walked across on dry land, and we already have been given citizenship in the promised land through our faith in Jesus, our Lord, ruler, and Savior, deliverer. We have crossed the Red Sea and the wilderness and now we live in the promised land, for we see with spiritual eyes and our hearts have been enlightened, being engulfed by the light.