John Calvin Commentary Acts 7:30

"And when forty years were fulfilled, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush." — Acts 7:30 (ASV)

And when forty years were expired. Since Moses was not a dull man, each of us can easily gather how many things might have come into his mind that could have caused him to doubt his calling. The tricks and deceptions of Satan are deceptive. We are naturally more than inclined to distrustfulness; whatever doubts arise in our minds concerning the word of God, we easily accept them.

It was a hard exchange to be thrust from earthly delights and a sumptuous life to the painful and lowly task of feeding sheep. Especially since Moses saw so much time pass, and having been sent into the wilderness in the meantime, what else could he imagine but that what the Lord had promised was futile and a plain mockery?

Since, being now eighty years of age, he was occupied with feeding his father-in-law’s sheep, when could he have hoped that he would be of any use in delivering the people?

It is good for us often to recall these struggles of the godly until they are thoroughly imprinted in our memory, so that our minds do not faint and our hearts do not fail us if the Lord makes us wait longer than we would wish.

Again, Moses gives a notable example of modesty. In all that time he attempts nothing: he raises no tumults, nor does he intrude himself in any way to take leadership, as troublesome men usually do. Instead, he employs himself in his shepherd’s duties as diligently as if he were never to be called to any greater responsibility.

But while he waits so patiently for the Lord's timing, He [the Lord] appears to him at last.

The angel of the Lord appeared unto him. The first question is, who was this angel? And secondly, why did he appear in such a form?

For after Luke had called him an angel, he immediately presents him speaking thus: I am the God of Abraham, etc.

Some answer that just as God sometimes attributes and imparts to His ministers those things that are most unique to Himself, so it is not absurd or inappropriate if they are given His name. However, since this angel clearly affirms that he is the eternal God—who alone is, and in whom all things have their being—we must necessarily restrict this title to the essence of God, for it can by no means apply to angels.

It might be more fittingly said that because the angel speaks in the name of the Lord, he takes on His person, as if he were declaring His commandments word for word, as from the mouth of God—a manner of speaking that is usual for the prophets. But when Luke later says that this was the same angel through whose assistance and guidance Moses delivered the people, and Paul, in 1 Corinthians 10:4, affirms that Christ was that guide, there is no reason for us to wonder now that the angel takes to himself what is proper to God alone.

Therefore, let us, first of all, establish this for a certainty: there has never, since the beginning, been any communication between God and humanity, except only through Christ. For we have no dealings with God unless the Mediator is present to secure His favor for us. Therefore, this passage amply proves the divinity of Christ and teaches that He is of the same essence as the Father.

Furthermore, He is called an angel, not only because He always had the angels to accompany Him and to be, so to speak, His attendants, but also because that deliverance of the people foreshadowed the redemption of us all, for whose sake Christ was to be sent by His Father, so that He might take upon Himself the form of a servant along with our flesh.

It is certain, indeed, that God has never appeared to humanity as He is, but always under some form suited to their capacity. Nevertheless, there is another reason why Christ is called by this name: because He, being appointed by the eternal counsel of God to be the minister of salvation to humanity, appears to Moses for this purpose.

Nor is what is written in Hebrews 2:16 contrary to this doctrine—namely, that Christ never took on angels, but the seed of Abraham. For although He took upon Himself the form of an angel for a time, yet He never took the nature of angels, as we know that He was made truly man.

It remains for us to say something about the burning bush. It is common that God applies the signs to the things they represent by a certain likeness, and this is almost the common order and method of the sacraments. Furthermore, this was the most fitting thing that could have been shown to Moses to confirm his faith in the present matter.

He knew in what state he had left his nation. Although there was a greater number of people, yet they were not unlike a bush.

For the thicker the bush is, and the more shrubs it has, the more subject it is to catch fire, so that it may burn on every side. In the same way, the people of Israel were but a weak company and were exposed to all injuries.

This unwarlike multitude, pressed down even by its own weight, had provoked Pharaoh's cruelty merely by their prosperous increase in numbers.

Therefore, the people, being oppressed with cruel tyranny, are, so to speak, a pile of wood set on fire at every corner. Nor is there anything that keeps it from being consumed to ashes, except this: that the Lord sits in its midst. And although an undeniable fire of persecution was then burning, yet because the Church of God is never free from afflictions in the world, its continual state is, in a way, depicted here.

For what else are we but fuel for fire? And innumerable firebrands of Satan fly about continually, which set on fire both our bodies and our minds. But the Lord delivers and defends us from being consumed by His wonderful and unique goodness. Therefore, the fire must necessarily burn, so that it may burn us in this life. But because the Lord dwells in our midst, He will so preserve us that afflictions will do us no harm, as it is also said in Psalm 46:5.