“You are preaching too much from the Old Testament,” complained a friend. I asked, “Which testament did Peter, Paul, and Stephen use to preach?” Philip Yancey called the Old Testament, “the Bible Jesus read.” Marva Dawn preferred the expression, the “First Testament.”
Why did Stephen have so much to say about Moses? Remember after the walk to Emmaus, the early believers saw the Old Testament pointing to Jesus. “The Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed. The New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed.”
In Stephen’s sermon, Moses points us to Jesus. How so? Moses was rejected as ruler and judge by his own people. Nevertheless, God sent him as their ruler and deliverer. He led them out of Egypt. When Jesus taught the two disciples on the road to Emmaus that the Messiah had to suffer, their hearts burned within them.
Earlier, Peter told the same group of believers, “Jesus is the stone you builders rejected which has become the cornerstone. There is salvation in no one else” (Acts 4:11-12). John wrote, “He came to his own but his own knew him not” (John 1:11). Like Moses, Jesus was rejected by his own. But God gives new birth to all who believe in Jesus. Jesus is the fulfillment of Moses, leading us out of captivity. Like Moses, Jesus performed signs and wonders. Our salvation is the greatest miracle of all. Look for Jesus as you read the whole Bible. Be prepared for your heart to burn within you as the Spirit speaks to you.
