if you're turning your bibles
to acts chapter 7 the passage we read i want to draw your attention
in particular in this passage to verse 38 this account here
obviously is that account of stephen's message stephen's proclamation
of the gospel to the jews who when they heard his speech cried
out in anger against him, they gnashed their teeth against him
and they stoned him to death. Yet Stephen has shown them from
the Old Testament that the whole message of the Old Testament
testified of the coming of Christ of whom he testifies. He speaks
of Abraham being called out from his land to head for the land
of Canaan and there's been a figure of Abraham being led through
the wilderness to the promised land. Of course Abraham never
actually inherited that land but it was a figure of that which
he would inherit by promise through the coming of Christ in the future. Abraham had a son Isaac, who
had a son Jacob, who bore the 12 patriarchs, who were led down
in a time of famine into the land of Egypt, where Joseph had
been sent by their treachery, the brothers, in seeking to be
rid of Joseph, whom they despised, whom they were jealous of. And
Joseph had gone down into Egypt and had been raised up into a
mighty position in Egypt. from which he was able to help
his brothers and his family who came down to join him. Joseph
of course being a picture of Christ under whom his brethren
are gathered. He who saves them and provides
for them. The 12 patriarchs multiply in
Egypt and become a great nation of the Hebrews. But the rule of Egypt changes
and that people are brought into bondage, into slavery. The Pharaoh
that rules over them did not know Joseph of old and was not
kind to Joseph or his children. And the people cry out in bondage
and the Lord raises up Moses to bring his people out from
this land. But initially, The people despise Moses. And they
say unto him, who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? And they
cast him out. And Moses leaves Egypt and spends
40 years in the wilderness before the Lord appears unto him again
and sends him back to his people. Back to that people who had once
rejected him. And yet he goes back and he delivers
that people. by the mighty hand of God. And
he leads them out of Egypt, out of bondage, out of slavery. And
he leads them towards the land of Canaan, the promised land,
the land flowing with milk and honey. But he leads them through
a wilderness. And they go through a wilderness
many years before they're ever brought into that land. And all
these things are figures and pictures of the gospel. Moses
himself, again like Joseph, is a picture, a type of Christ.
He who would save his people, he who would bring them out of
bondage, and yet he whom that people had previously rejected. And like us, they had said unto
Christ, who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? That's the
cry of all men's hearts. That's the cry of us all against
God's anointed, the Savior. Who made thee a ruler and a judge
over us? We don't want you. Crucify him. Away with this man. Yet despite
the rejection then, and despite the rejection throughout all
time to God's Son, God still sent Moses, that picture of Christ,
to deliver his people. And God still sent his Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, into this world. to deliver his people. The children of Israel being
delivered from Egypt, journeyed through the wilderness, eventually
were led into the promised land by Joshua, again a figure of Christ, into that promised haven. Stephen testifies of all these
things and testifies that this Jesus Christ whom the Jews had
put to death is that one of whom Moses had spoken, that prophet
whom the Lord God would raise up, that true Savior Stephen
says this in verses 37 and 38. This is that Moses which said
unto the children of Israel a prophet shall the Lord your God raise
up unto you of your brethren like unto me him shall ye hear. This is he that was in the church
in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount
sinai and with our fathers who received the lively oracles to
give unto us. This Moses was with the church
in the wilderness, he was with the angel which spake unto him
in the Mount Sinai, with our fathers and he brought the lively
oracles of God, the word of God, he brought the testimony of the
Lord to the people. And this Moses spake of one like
unto him, a prophet to come whom the people would hear, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Moses was the figure Christ is
the reality. But we read here in verse 38
of where that people were when Moses led them. Where they were
when they had been led out of Egypt. They are described here as the
church in the wilderness. The church in the wilderness.
When Moses delivered the people out of Egypt, out of bondage,
out of slavery, they were not taken straight to Canaan. Their
deliverance was not instantaneous. There was a pilgrimage between. They were delivered surely and
certainly. The Passover lamb had been slain,
sacrifice had been made, blood had been daubed on the doors
of their houses. And the angel of the Lord that
came in judgment on the night of Passover passed by those houses
which had blood on the door. And where he passed over, the
people were spared. And the judgment of God which
brought death to the Egyptians did not fall upon the Israelites,
upon the Hebrews, but they were spared. And yet being spared, they had
this journey through the wilderness before they should come to Canaan,
the promised land. Now as I've said, all of this
is a picture of the gospel. And this congregation delivered
from Egypt that was led through the wilderness is a picture of
the church. In the translation here it's
described as the church in the wilderness. The church. Strictly speaking though, it
is not the church but a picture of the church. It is that assembly,
that congregation in the wilderness, that called out assembly, that
people called out of Egypt, separated out of Egypt, led forth by Moses
through the wilderness. An Ecclesia, a called out people. And that is what the church is
in the New Testament. A people called out of the wilderness
of this world, out of the bondage and corruption of sin. out of
the evil in the world, called out and separated from others
to head for a promised land, to head towards the kingdom of
God, to head towards eternal glory. But a people who are led through
a wilderness, a separated people, but a separated people who find
themselves in a wilderness. wilderness. This wilderness through which
the Israelites, the Hebrews passed, is truly a barren land, a desert,
dry, hot, where merely staying alive is hard. It's not just that there wasn't
much there, But the people moaned and complained for they were
starving. And they feared that Moses had
brought them out of Egypt, that they would die in that wilderness. And that they'd never make it
to the promised land. Yet God provided their need.
God fed them and sustained them. And eventually his people were
brought to the promised land. they were in a wilderness. And God's people today, the Church,
the Ecclesia of Christ, those who've been redeemed by blood,
those for whom Christ came, those for whom Christ died, those who
have been washed from their sins by the blood of the Son of God,
those who know what it is to have been in bondage, know what
it is to have been under sin, know what it is to have felt
the wrath of God burning from heaven against their sins, and
know what it is to have heard the precious news of the gospel.
and the wondrous news of Christ their Passover. Their Passover
lamb slain for them. Those who've heard of the blood
slain for them. Those who've believed on the
Saviour slain, on that Lamb of God slain for them. Those who've
had that blood applied and sprinkled upon their hearts by the Spirit
of God. Those who've been brought to
faith in Christ. called out from where they once
were, delivered from the corruption and the bondage in which they
once were as sinners. These are called to take a pilgrimage
through a wilderness. A wilderness. Do you know the wilderness? Do
you know the heat and the burden of the day? Do you know what it is like to
walk as a child of God in a dark and a barren land? Do you sometimes
feel like the promised land of Cain and an eternal glory to
come feels a long way away? Do you sometimes wonder whether
you'll ever make it there? Do you sometimes wonder if you'll
perish in the wilderness? like the Israelites of old. Well if you do, your lot is a
common lot. For all Christ's people, all
his church are brought on a pilgrimage through a wilderness. They walk
through a dark and an evil and a barren land. They are like
a pool of light in the midst of a dark black world. and their
journey in this world is not an easy one. They are a church
in the wilderness. A church in the wilderness. Are you amongst them? Are you
even in the wilderness? Or are you yet in Egypt? Still
in bondage, still in captivity? but perhaps not aware of it.
Has the Lord taught you your need of deliverance? Has he taught
you that you are a sinner bound fast in a place that is spiritually
called Egypt and Babylon? Has he taught you that your sins
need to be washed clean? and that for them to be washed
clean and for you to stand before a holy God, righteous, for you
to enter heaven, enter eternal glory, for you when you die,
when your life comes to a close, if you are to enter Canaan, heaven,
to be with God forevermore, that you must be righteous as God
is righteous. Has he taught you that you're
not? that far from it you are corrupt from head to toe, your
eyes are a leper, you are black, evil, corrupt in bondage, a slave,
a slave to sin, a slave to the desires of your fallen heart.
Do you know that every day everything you seek and think about is corrupt
before God? And you need that God to take
you and to cleanse you, to wash you, to take that sin away, to
blot it out, to make you clean. If you know something ought to
be brought in this state, something of knowing the alarm sounded,
the alarm of judgment to come, of the wrath of God to come.
The alarm that there is an angel of death that will come upon
you one day, as he came upon the Egyptians in that night of
Passover. The alarm that unless you have
blood, blood to cover you, blood to wash you, that the angel of
death will come and will destroy you forevermore. Has he sounded this alarm in
your heart? Has he taught you your need of
blood? Blood because you need one to
die the death that you deserve to die. Blood because you need
one to be slain and to suffer for the sins that you deserve
to suffer for. Blood because you need one to
take those sins away and to put righteousness in their place.
And that can only be done if one die. And if it's not you
who will die, then one must die in your place. And if one dies
in your place, then blood will be shed. Has God shown you your
need of blood? Of a lamb to be slain, a Passover
lamb that the angel of death might pass over you. And you,
like the Hebrews of old, might be spared and delivered. Has
he shown you your need? your need of a deliverer, your
need of salvation, your need of Christ. Do you know the Lord
Jesus Christ and his salvation? Do you know him personally? Do you know that He came into
this world, the Son of God made man, to die for sinners, for
men, women, boys and girls like you and me who are corrupt in
sin, that He came to die and to die in the place of sinners,
that He might wash them clean. Do you know that? And do you
know Him? And do you know that He came
he died for you? Did he die for you? Did he come
as your savior? Did he come and take your sins
away on the cross? Did he come and shed his blood
that he might wash you clean? Has he washed you clean? Have you cried out to God that
he might have died for you? that that blood might wash you
clean, that you might be spared. Have you cried? Has God delivered
you? Has he called you out from this
world, from Egypt, from death, from the condemnation of your
sin? Well God delivered the Hebrews of old by a figure Their deliverance
was a temporary deliverance in this world. From a land to be
taken to another land. But it represented the gospel
in the figure because it points us to that deliverance that we
all need in Christ. And that Passover blood that
we all need to be washed from our sins. And that great hope
of Cain and the land flowing with milk and honey that we must
all enter if we are to be spared eternal judgment to come. Are
you looking for that inheritance to come? Are you looking to enter
heaven's glory? Are you looking to be spared
the judgment and the wrath of God in hell? Have you been washed
by the blood of the Son of God? Have you been saved? Is this God? this Moses, this
Deliverer, this Savior, this Christ is this Deliverer leading
you to that promised land through this wilderness. Well that people were delivered,
they were, and God was the one who delivered them. They didn't,
they couldn't, they were helpless in Egypt, slaves bound. Not one
of them could do anything to deliver themselves. One had to
come from outside. God sent Moses and delivered
them by the hand of Moses. God sent a savior, a deliverer. They were helpless and yet God
looked upon them in love. He looked upon them as a people
whom he chose, as a nation to whom he would show favour, as
an elect people. He looked upon that company and
out of all the nations in all the earth he said, this people
are my people and I will deliver them and I will bring them into
my promised land. though they hated him, though
they had rejected Moses whom he had once sent and said, who
made thee a ruler and a judge over us? Though they despised
the one that God sent to deliver them, yet he loved them, yet
he had mercy upon them, yet he would deliver them. So too were
the church, so too were Christ's people. not just the figure but
the reality all those who have truly been brought to faith to
look on Christ all those who at one time have looked upon
Christ and said to him who made thee a ruler and a judge over
me I'm going my way I'll do my things I'll go and seek my glory
and yet having been taught the bondage of Egypt and their desperate
need of salvation, there comes that time when they cry out to
him again, deliver me, deliver us, save us, oh Lord. and he though the people despised
him came, he came for his chosen, he came for his elect, he came
for that people whom the father gave him, he came into this world
of darkness and he the Passover lamb laid down his life, he was
slain and he delivered them. The judgment passed and he brought
them out He brought them out like a pool of light in the darkness
of this world. His church, His bride, His people,
He brought them out. He washed every one of their
sins. He cleansed them upon the cross
with His own blood. He delivered them from death
and condemnation and He led them forth and He leads them forth
to that promised land of Canaan to come. His church, His church
in the wilderness, in the wilderness. Yes, just like the Israelites
of old, just like the figure, just like the church in the wilderness
then, which was really just a figure of the church to come, a figure
of the true people of faith. The church is led forth through
the wilderness unto eternal glory. Now of course the church in the
wilderness described in Acts here, that congregation of the
Hebrews, was a mixed people. As a figure they represented
God's chosen. But only a few out of their company
really believed the gospel as it was delivered to them. Moses
spake of that prophet to come whom they would hear. He said
I'm but a figure of him but God one day will send a prophet of
whom I'm a figure and he will deliver you. He will deliver
you truly and bring you into a true inheritance of which these
things are but a figure. And some of the Jews of old,
some of the Israelites were given faith to hear and to believe.
They lived before the coming of Christ yet they looked for
the coming of Christ. Moses, Abraham, David, these
saints of old they believed the testimony of the coming Messiah
of the coming Savior of that prophet of whom Moses spake. They knew that he would be the
deliverer not just of them from an earthly nation to another
nation but of them from this world of bondage into another
world a heavenly kingdom of freedom and light and glory. They believe
by faith upon Christ who would come. And they collectively are
part of that true church of which this church in the wilderness
was a figure. But when Christ came in time
in reality, and when that prophet of whom Moses spake came to actually
deliver his people, and to actually lay down his life as that Passover
lamb, whose blood was shed upon the cross when he actually came
that night of the Passover actually came to pass and that deliverance
was actually wrought and that people of faith whether they
lived before or after were actually delivered out of Egypt and they
actually began their pilgrimage through the wilderness and to
that eternal glory of heaven of Canaan to come. The church
is often described as being on a pilgrimage and being in the
wilderness. The Israelites of old of course
spent 40 years in the wilderness. But we read in other figures
of the church in the wilderness elsewhere in the scriptures At
the very end of the Bible, in the book of Revelation, in chapter
12, we read of the woman that brings forth a child. The woman
is a picture of the church, and the child is a picture of Christ
who was born, who came to deliver his people, the church. When
she, the woman, had brought forth her man-child, who was to rule
all nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up unto
God and to his throne, that child being Christ, who died and rose
again and went up into glory, caught up unto God, the woman
then fled into the wilderness, where she have a place prepared
of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred
and three scored days. She was taken up into the wilderness,
she fled into the wilderness. Now this is a picture of the
church. Christ having been born, Christ having died and ascended
and risen up and gone back to God to reign in glory, left the
woman, his bride, the church in this wilderness for a period
of time until eventually she should be brought to be with
him. The church is a woman, the bride of Christ. passing through
a wilderness, a wilderness. Yes, we're in a wilderness. And
how can we survive this wilderness, the barrenness, the darkness,
the opposition from all around? Well, the great and the wonderful
truth of the church in the wilderness is that in its midst is the Lord
of glory. The Lord God is in the midst
of his people. The Lord God was in the midst
of that congregation of old, passing through the wilderness.
They were not alone. They were not set off on a journey
through which they must pass by their own strength. But the
Lord was in the midst of them. He led them. He led them in a
pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire. He met with them, He
met with them at Sinai's Mount when He spoke to them through
Moses. He provided for them. Every day
when they were starving and hungry they were answered. The Lord
God sent them manna to gather on the ground which would be
fresh every morning. Manna to eat, manna to feed upon,
fresh each day. were given water from the rock. He led them, he provided for
them. That's what set them apart from
all other nations, that's what distinguished them, the fact
that God was in their midst. They were led through this wilderness
on their way to the promised land when they entered the promised
land by the hand of Joshua. They had many battles to fight. But it was God who fought their
battles. And it was God who brought them
the victory. They were not left to themselves.
When they turned to their own strength, they failed. When they
turned to their own wisdom, they failed. For when they walked with their
eyes upon their God, He never failed them. He wrought every
victory, brought to pass every promise, always fed them, always
nourished them, always protected them. He gave them these continual
pictures in that congregation of the gospel and of the promise
to come as it would be fulfilled in Christ. He gave them the tabernacle,
the sacrifices, the law. He gave them the sacrifices to
continually point their gaze towards the need of sacrifice
for their sins, towards the need of a savior, towards Christ. All the time Christ is set before
them. All their pilgrimage through
this wilderness is one where their gaze is set upon Christ
all the time. It's Christ who is central, it's
Christ who is first, it's Christ who is last. Few saw this, yet he was the
message continually put before the children of Israel in the
wilderness. The Church, the Ecclesia today,
as it journeys through a wilderness, is not alone. Sometimes it feels
like it is. Sometimes it feels like God is
afar off. Sometimes it may feel like we've
been abandoned. Sometimes it feels like the enemies
rage up against us, they outnumber us thousands and thousands of
times. Sometimes it feels like the enemies
of God prevail against his people and prevail against the truth.
Sometimes it feels like we will perish in the wilderness. Yet Christ's Ecclesia, Christ's
Church will never perish. Not one of his sheep who are
in his hands will be plucked out of his hands. Not one will
perish. He never abandons his people. is with them in the midst of
the church in the wilderness. He leads them, he's in the midst,
he is as a pillar of cloud to them, a pillar of fire to them.
He provides their food, that bread from heaven, the manna
fresh for every day. He is their water to drink upon,
the water from the rock which was a picture of Christ. He is
before them in the sacrifice, the one sacrifice. He's continually
presented to them as it were in the tabernacle as the Lamb
of God slain for them. Before them constantly they have
this knowledge in the Gospel that their salvation has been
accomplished, that their deliverance is certain and that their hope
of eternal inheritance has been wrought. It is certain. The payment
has been made, they will enter glory. Christ is in their midst. The church exists because Christ,
their Deliverer, came to deliver them from Egypt of this world.
The church exists because he brought them out of darkness
into the light. Because he leads them as that
pool of light through the darkness of this world into unto that
eternal glory. The church exists because Christ
is in the midst of her, even in the wilderness, because he
is the one who brought her to be in, because he brought his
people out from Egypt, because he dwells with his people, because
he died for his people, because he lives for his people, because
his blood was shed for his people, because he's washed his people
in his own blood. The Church exists because He
leads them and protects them, because He fights their battles,
because He watches over them, because He keeps the enemies
at bay, because He will not allow one person to lay one hand upon
them except that they will be eternally judged for so doing.
The Church exists because He loved them from all eternity
and He will always love them to all eternity. They are his
church, they are his bride. The church is his bride whom
he loves and he is in the midst of his people and will never
depart from her. I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee he says unto them. though they're in a wilderness,
though the sun beats down hard on them, though the enemies are
all around raging in the darkness, though the sounds of the enemies
of Christ are constant in their ears and though they know trials
beyond measure, nevertheless he is in the midst of his people
feeding, nourishing, maintaining, watching over and keeping They
will not perish. They will not perish in the wilderness. They will not be left alone. They will not be abandoned. They
will not starve. They will not go thirsty. provides
manna in his gospel, he provides the water of life in his gospel,
he is their sacrifice, their blood, their cleanse in their
righteousness, he is their victory, he is their life, their eternal
life, he is their Lord, their King, their Savior, he is why
they are there, He's why they are no longer in Egypt. He's
the reason they are in the wilderness. And he's the reason why they
will be brought out with a certainty out of that wilderness. They
may be in a wilderness for the moment. It may seem confusing. It may seem trying. But that's
only when they look out upon the darkness with the natural
eye. But when they keep their gaze upon the sacrifice, when
they keep their gaze upon the tabernacle in the midst, when
they keep their gaze upon the priest gone forth into the Holy
of Holies for them, when they keep their gaze upon the pillar
of fire, the pillar of cloud, when they eat the manna and not
yesterday's manna, when they drink of the water from the rock,
when they look unto Christ and Him crucified, when they look
by faith, then they know that their God is in the midst, then
they know that they are his church, his called out people, his ecclesia,
his separated people, separated unto God from the darkness of
this world, separated from sin unto righteousness, separated
from death unto eternal life, his people, then they know they
are his and he is with them. and he will never, ever let them
go. Is that where you are? Is that
your gaze in the midst of this wilderness as you journey through
this pilgrimage? Looking unto Jesus in the midst.
When the Israelites came to the end of their journey and came
to Jordan and looked across to the promised land, it was not
Moses that led them but Joshua. Moses also being a figure of
that old covenant, the law that condemned them, that slew them,
that taught them that they were sinners. But when Moses' work
was done and Joshua came, that figure of Christ to come, of
Jesus, Joshua in the New Testament, the one who brings grace, the
one who has taken away the condemnation, the one who's answered the law's
demands, the one who's answered the law's condemnation against
that people. When he comes, he leads them
forth through the river into the promised land. That one who
in figure was in the midst of the people throughout all the
journey in the wilderness, that one of whom Joshua was a figure
of whom Moses prophesied as that prophet would come. That one
who brings his people, not just into a wilderness, but into the
promised land. If you're in the wilderness,
delivered from Egypt, it's because Joshua, the Lord Jesus, the Son
of God has brought you there. And if he's brought you there,
he's going to lead you through that river. and there's not one
drop of its water that's gonna touch you or wash you away. Death
will not touch you. Oh death, where is thy victory? Where is the victory of death?
Where is the victory of the grave? Christ has swallowed it all up.
He's taken it away. He saved His people with an everlasting
salvation, a certain salvation. And He will lead that people,
all that people, all that church, that one church, that gathered
church, His church, that blood-bought church, the whole congregation,
not one to be left behind. All the congregation will enter
into Canaan's glory forevermore. Are you looking for it? Are you
waiting for it? Are you expectant? You may be
in a wilderness now, but you look every day for the coming
of Canaan, for Christ to come and to lead us into it, for him
to gather up his people forevermore, that we might enter into that
land wherein floweth milk and honey, where there's no more
tears, no more anguish, no more suffering, no more poverty, no
more sin, no more condemnation. but where we shall dwell around
the throne of the Lamb of God forevermore, where we shall live
and reign as kings with Him, as princes with Him, where we
shall live and reign as those who have the righteousness of
God in Christ, where we shall live and reign as those who have
been delivered from all our enemies, as those who worshipped the King,
the Lord of Glory, who lived and reigned until all his enemies
were made his footstool, where we shall reign and rejoice that
all his enemies have been destroyed, and that they shall never come
upon us again. Do you look for this glorious
hope of inheritance to come? Do you look past the darkness
of this wilderness and look through the light of the gospel's glory
to that glory of the promised land to come, knowing that Christ
will take you there with a certainty if you are his? Has he given
you that faith to know that you are his and that he is yours,
to know that his blood was shed for you, to know that salvation
has been wrought and accomplished even for you? Is he your saviour? Is he your Lord? Are you one? Are you one of his church that
he leads through the wilderness to the promised land where you
will dwell forevermore? Is he your great deliverer?