Scripture Daily

Context No. 4099 of 4322 · Acts

Context · Reflection

Acts 7:44-50: in context

44“Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen; 45which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered into the possession of the nations whom God drove out before the face of our fathers to the days of David, 46who found favor in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob. 47But Solomon built him a house. 48However, the Most High doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says, 49‘heaven is my throne, and the earth a footstool for my feet. What kind of house will you build me?’ says the Lord. ‘Or what is the place of my rest? 50Didn’t my hand make all these things?’

In his speech before the council, Stephen makes a point about the temple that would have startled his hearers: however precious the temple was, God does not dwell in houses made by human hands. He quotes the prophet: heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what house will you build for me? Did not my hand make all these things?

Solomon built God a magnificent house, but no building, however grand, can contain the God who made heaven and earth. There is a needed truth here that reaches beyond Stephen's audience. It is possible to reduce God, in our thinking, to a building, a place, an institution, something we can contain, control, and keep in its box. But the God who fills heaven and earth cannot be confined to any structure we build. To imagine that we can box God into a place, or possess him through a building or an institution, is to shrink him to something far less than he is. And this frees us to meet him anywhere, for the God who cannot be confined to a temple is present everywhere, and near to all who seek him.

Do I hold a right sense of the greatness of God, who cannot be contained in any building or institution I might try to box him into, worshiping a God too great to be confined, yet present everywhere to those who seek him?

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