Welcome to BibleTalk

Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to (Moses) in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Stephen, who wrote the anointed words of today’s verses, was a man chosen by the congregation of the believers in Jerusalem to serve tables. {Acts 6:4-5} That was done so that the apostles would find time to study and preach. And yet now, it is very obvious that Stephen preached what is probably the single most concise and complete history of God’s people in the whole bible!

Full of grace and power, he was doing great wonders and signs among the people {Acts.6:8} as he was serving the ‘bread of God which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.’ {Jn.6:33} Stephen was fulfilling the ministry that the Father had called him to—His authority came from the Lord, not the congregation, true authority flows from the top down, not from the bottom up!

When the Council—the Sanhedrin—heard Stephen’s words (all Scriptural) he was bold enough to say to them that they were resisting the Holy Spirit and doing just as their fathers had, being religious without being righteous!

As they were gnashing their teeth at him, he was full of the Holy Spirit and he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. {Acts7:55} It was at that point that they, along with Saul of Tarsus (who would become Paul the apostle) holding their robes so they could throw the rocks better, stoned Stephen to death. More accurately, to life as he proclaimed, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” Jesus was waiting to receive him!

To return to our verse for today, we see God drawing Moses to Him by making one of the most amazing occurrences in the bible; A bush that was burning on Mount Horeb, and yet was not consumed—and to make it all the more amazing, the Lord was in the midst of it! How do you think you might have reacted to such a sight?

I can tell you how I did react to an occurrence much like that! I was a traditional Christian, a non-believer sitting at my kitchen table having a cup of coffee on my birthday in 1976 when I picked up my wife Alice’s bible (I never had or read one until that morning) and I said, “Jesus, if You are real, please show me.” I flipped open randomly to a page and looked down and I encountered a holy fire! Unlike the event on Mount Horeb, this was a consuming fire—it consumed me, and still does to this day, Hallelujah! For as the Word says, “for our God is a consuming fire.” {Heb.12:29}

And like Moses, in spite of all of my failures, imperfections and shortcomings, He loves me with a total love and has chosen to use me for His purpose—just as He does with everyone who has met Him in that fire. For just as it is written:

“And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. And there are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (1 Corinthians 12:5-7)

OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE