As the time drew near for God to fulfill His promise to Abraham, the number of our people in

Egypt greatly increased. Then another King, who knew nothing about Joseph, became ruler of Egypt.
He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our forefathers by forcing them to throw out
their newborn babies so that they would die. At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary
child.
Acts 7:17-20a
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones commented on a number of occasions that it was vital for believers to
understand the times in which they are living so that they could give a powerful witness to the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Understanding our times, and our history is therefore vital to our witness.
Understanding our personal circumstances and history is also vital to our witness. John Calvin, at the
beginning of his Institutes made wrote these powerful sentences about our knowledge of ourselves.
Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid wisdom, consists almost
entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But as these are connected together by
many ties, it is not easy to determine which of the two precedes, and gives birth to the other. For, in
the first place, no man can survey himself without forthwith turning his thoughts towards the God in
whom he lives and moves; because it is perfectly obvious, that the endowments which we possess
cannot possibly be from ourselves; nay, that our very being else than subsistence in God alone. In the
second place, those blessings which unceasingly distil to us from heaven, are like streams conducting
us to the fountain. Here, again, the infinitude of good which resides in God becomes more apparent
from our poverty. (Calvin, John, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Eerdmans Publishing Company,
Grand Rapids, Mich., 1989, p. 37)
Calvin is telling us that we cannot truly know ourselves until we know God and we cannot truly
come to God until we know ourselves in all of our brokenness. It seems that Stephen, as he defends
himself before the Sanhedrin, is making this point as he takes his accusers on a tour of their history. His
intention here is to show them the way in which the Lord has revealed Himself to them as the one who
is sovereign over all of history. In all of the circumstances which Abraham, Joseph, and Moses faced God
was working out His plan to redeem His people from their sin. This is made clear in verse 17 when Luke
records these words from Stephen, As the time drew near for God to fulfill His promise to Abraham.
Stephen brings us into a close and careful study of the Scriptures where we see that God made a
covenant promise to Abraham that certain things would happen to his descendants which would result
in them being brought back into the Promised Land as Gods people. They were called to be the People
of God. Abraham would have a son in his old age who would be the child of the promise. His
descendants would be enslaved in Egypt for 430 years. They would be delivered and brought back to
the Promised Land which they would then inherit. Stephen points out that as that time for fulfillment
drew near God was at work blessing His people. It required the eye of faith to see it but the blessing
was coming. The Book of Exodus tells us that the promise was fulfilled to the exact day (Exodus 12:40-
42). It may not have looked like it to those who were mired in the events of the history they were living
but God was at work.
Stephen tells us that Gods promise to Moses was that He would raise up a prophet like Moses
for the people. In Gods timing that promise was fulfilled in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ who
came to redeem us from sin through His cross and resurrection. God is at work in Him right now
redeeming you and me. The events we are seeing unfold in front of us in our world today are all part of
His great plan of redemption for this world. We are called to live it by faith as we stand and see the
salvation of our God. Stephen calls us to live as those who believe that God is at work in our times. Will
we?