“This Moses whom they disowned, saying, ‘WHO MADE YOU A RULER AND A JUDGE?’ is the one whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush. This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. 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 7:35-37 (NASB 2020)
Stephen’s speech before the Sanhedrin consisted largely of a retelling of Israel’s history. And much of it focused on Moses. Stephen recounted Moses’ birth, his upbringing in Pharaoh’s household, his attempted defense of his people, and his flight from Egypt. Then, after 40 years in exile, God appeared to Moses and commissioned him to return to Egypt and deliver Israel from their oppression.
Stephen does not explicitly compare Moses with Jesus. But the implicit comparison becomes obvious as he goes on to describe Moses as Israel’s deliverer. Jesus, like Moses, was sent to deliver His people. Jesus, like Moses, performed wonders and signs for Israel, demonstrating they were acting with God’s authority. And Jesus, like Moses, passed on living words to Israel (Acts 7:38). And Jesus, like Moses, was rejected by those to whom He was sent (Acts 7:39).
In Moses’ final teaching before his death and Israel’s entry into Canaan, he told Israel that God would raise up for them a prophet like himself. That prophet was Jesus. And Israel rejected Him just like they did Moses.
What Moses was to God’s covenant people in the Old Testament was a look ahead to Jesus and the covenant He established on the cross. Hebrews tells us that the law and its mandated sacrifices were given through Moses. But they were just a shadow of the reality that was to come (Heb. 10:1). Even so, Moses himself served as a shadow, or forerunner, of the one who redeemed us, not from Egyptian slavery, but from our slavery to sin.
