Acts 7:44-50 (NIV)
“Our forefathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the desert. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. Having received the tabernacle, our fathers under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built the house for him.
“However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says: “‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things?’
With broad, sweeping strokes, Stephen attacked the Sanhedrin’s theology that God actually lived within the confines of the physical tabernacle and temple. This flawed theology lay behind the flawed idea that it was a horrible sin to speak against the temple, or to prophecy its destruction as Jesus had (Matthew 24:2, Mark 13:2), and as Stephen was now accused of doing.
The tabernacle, and later the temple, were the places where God chose to manifest His presence to the people of Israel over hundreds of years. They contained symbols in their structure and decoration that represented spiritual realities about God and His dwelling in heaven.
The tabernacle moved with the Israelites in the wilderness and was later taken into the Promised Land under Joshua, where it served as a focal point for the people until the temple was completed by Solomon. And then, after the temple was torn down to the ground by the Babylonians, a new temple was constructed and was remodeled and beautified by Herod the Great and his son.
But even though God had manifested His presence in the tabernacle, and then in the temples, even though these places served as a focal point for worship, He didn’t live in those structures. He fills the whole universe from one end to the other and does not live in a temple like the carved gods of the pagans.
But God’s people and their leaders had forgotten that truth and had begun to think of their God as a god who was small and only consisted of what He had revealed of Himself up to that point in the Scriptures. Their theology had grown rigid, and was unable to accept His final, fuller revelation that was Jesus. Thus, they rejected Jesus, and in so doing had rejected a deeper knowledge of who God is and what He was capable of being. Like their ancestors, they had fallen into idolatry, worshiping an image of who God is rather than the truth.
Father, we can still fall into this trap today, choosing to pick characteristics of You that we like, rejecting those that make us uncomfortable, and building for ourselves a god that fits our preferences and sensibilities. We can also make You small in our minds and convince ourselves that You live in our church buildings, and that you wait there for us to come and worship You. But even though the reality doesn’t really fit into our minds, You have revealed Yourself as the Almighty God who fills all creation and does not live in buildings made by people. Help us, Lord, to always worship You not just in spirit, but in truth, as You have revealed Yourself to be through the Scriptures and through Jesus. Amen.
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