Acts 7:37 “This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear.’”

Stephen is being tried by the Sanhedrin on the charges of blasphemy, not against God but against the Temple. His defense is not really a defense but is instead a history lesson hi-lighting three things:

1. Israel’s history of rejecting God’s anointed leaders.
2. God’s faithfulness despite Israel’s faithlessness.
3. Israel’s need for grace.

Wrapping up his history lesson, Stephen reminds them that Moses himself said that God would raise up after him a Prophet and Israel would need to take care to listen to Him. Moses was speaking of the Messiah to come and he was saying to Israel that God would send His Messiah and they needed to hear Him. That prophet that Moses spoke of was Jesus, but they were rejecting Jesus. Twice in Deuteronomy 18 Moses speaks of the Messiah to come. Stephen’s quote is from Moses’ first proclamation of the Prophet and it would have caused the council who were well versed in the Torah to remember Moses’ second mention, which we find later in Deuteronomy 18.

Deuteronomy 18:18-19 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.

I have no doubt in my mind that they understood the implication which was that God would hold them accountable for their rejection of Jesus. But that warning is not only for the council; the warning is for everyone today who is rejecting Jesus. There will come a time when the Gospel presentation that you hear will be the last one you ever hear. We don’t know what lies in store for us tomorrow. Wiser people than you or me have made life ending mistakes. Are you rejecting Jesus? Are you rejecting the Savior? Don’t continue to reject Him because while He is the Savior, you are not saved until you make Him your Savior.

You can do that right now:

Romans 10:9-10, 13 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”