Acts 7:44-60 (CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE VERSES)
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is Acts 7:44-60. As usual, I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help, then read the GAME sharing below. Let’s go!
Acts 7:44-50 (NIV)
44 “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.
45 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,
46 who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.
47 But it was Solomon who built the house for him.
48 “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says:
49 “‘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?
50 Has not my hand made all these things?’
On verses 44-50: After talking about how the Israelites rejected Moses’ leadership and worshiped idols instead (v30-43), Stephen turns his attention to the way the temple in Jerusalem was built. Stephen recounts how God originally gave Moses specific designs for a tabernacle, which was a portable tent where His people could worship Him as they journeyed from place to place (v44). The Israelites would use this portable tabernacle to worship Him throughout the days of Joshua until the reign of King David (v45-46). After that, it was King David who initiated and his son King Solomon who completed the construction of what was meant to be a permanent temple (v46-47). But Stephen reminds his audience that God never asked for or required His people to build Him a permanent standing temple (v48). He quotes Isaiah the prophet (in Isaiah 66:1-2) to show how silly it is for people to think that they could keep God inside the man-made buildings that they build.
Stephen is not saying that it is wrong to have a building to worship God in. Rather, when you consider the context and direction of Stephen’s speech, Stephen is ultimately critiquing his accusers’ use of the temple in Jerusalem and their attitude toward the temple. Instead of treating the temple as a house of prayer, Stephen believed his accusers had turned the temple into an object that they worship. Instead of treating the temple as a place to discover and be empowered for God’s purposes, Stephen believed his accusers were using the temple as a tool for their own political purposes. (For example, according to some scholars political rallies against the Roman empire often started at the temple.) Instead of treating the temple as a launchpad from which God’s kingdom could expand, Stephen believed his accusers were using the temple to limit God and box in His Holy Spirit. A few decades after Stephen makes this speech, the Roman authorities would in fact destroy the temple in 70 A.D., in accordance with Jesus’ prophecy in Mark 13:2. Perhaps God was using Stephen’s speech to warn his accusers that if they did not use the temple properly, they would eventually lose it. And lose it they eventually did.
What can we learn from all this? Don’t put God in a box. Don’t try to limit Him by thinking that His work and His presence are only confined to one time or one place, for God won’t be limited that way.
Acts 7:51-53 (NIV)
51 “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!
52 Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him–
53 you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it.”
On verses 51-53: Stephen accuses his accusers of continuing their ancestors’ pattern of stubbornly resisting the Holy Spirit. He accuses them of taking all these good things that God has given to them – circumcision (v51), the prophets (v52), the law (v53), even Jesus “the Righteous One” himself (v52) (in addition to the temple mentioned earlier) – and missing the point of all of them. That’s what sin does in our lives. Sin takes what is good in our lives and twists it, such that we miss the point of the blessings God gave to us and use them for our own selfish purposes.
Acts 7:54-60 (NIV)
54 When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.
55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him,
58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.
On verses 54-60: At the end of his speech, while his accusers are raging with anger, Stephen looks up to heaven and sees a vision of the glory of God with Jesus standing at God’s right hand. He points that out to his accusers, and his accusers lose it. They drag him out of the city and stone him, leaving their cloaks at the feet of Saul so as not to get them wrinkled or bloodied. Like Jesus who on the cross prayed for the forgiveness of those who were killing him and committed his spirit to the Father, Stephen prays for the Lord Jesus to receive his spirit and for the forgiveness of his killers as he dies.
What can we learn from this? Especially when you are under attack or facing incredible pressure, keep your eyes on heaven and on Jesus. Jesus will give you everything you need to finish your race well. As Hebrews 12:2-3 says:
2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Lord Jesus, may You be the one I fix my eyes on today, for nothing I go through can compare with You. Thank You that when I fix my eyes on You, I become more and more the person You made me to be. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
Copyright © 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.
