July 10
Bible Reading: Acts 7:44-53
Acts 7:48, “Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands.”
Herod’s temple was a glorious thing. It had taken a year and a half to build the temple proper and eight years to finish the courts. The temple transversed an area of some 750 feet and was easily visible from any part of the city. Jewish life revolved around the temple, the priesthood, and the sacrifices. The temple was a beautiful edifice and of the highest importance to the Jews—the centerpiece of their Jewish identity.
Stephen’s adversaries accused him of speaking against their glorious temple. Stephen’s response was to set the record straight. Abraham received the promises of God long before there was even a temple. God used Moses before there was a temple. The God who created the heavens and the earth is not limited to any house made by men (Acts 17:24).
The religious leaders were engaged in a kind of templeolatry (Jeremiah 7:4). Their faith was in the temple of God vs. the God of the temple. Jesus had said, “One greater than the temple is here” (Matthew 12:6). One greater than the temple came to die on a cross, rise from the dead, and ascend to the right hand of God. It is He that alone can save, and it is He alone that is worthy of worship!
I’ve been inside a lot of church buildings, some quite impressive, others not so much, but God’s presence transcends them all. God is indeed even now building a temple, but not with earthen stones, for He dwells in the hearts of His saints: “In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22). This “holy temple in the Lord” (Ephesians 2:21) derives its beauty from the One who had coupled its living stones together.
Church buildings are nice places to meet, but none can confine God or guarantee one’s salvation. Herod’s temple is long vanquished. Over the centuries, countless church buildings have come and gone. But Jesus is “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:5). In the “assembly of the firstborn” (the church) we are part of a “kingdom that cannot be shaken” (Hebrews 12:23, 28). Therefore, “let us offer to God (and not to mere buildings) acceptable worship, with reverence and awe” (Hebrews 12:28).
“Something greater than the temple is here.”—Matthew 12:6
MAY JESUS CHRIST BE PRAISED
When morning gilds the sky,
our hearts awaking cry:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
in all our work and prayer
we ask his loving care:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
To God, the Word on high,
the hosts of angels cry:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Let mortals too upraise
their voice in hymns of praise:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Let earth’s wide circle round
in joyful notes resound:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Let air and sea and sky
from depth to height reply:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Be this, when day is past,
of all our thoughts the last:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
The night becomes as day
when from the heart we say:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Then let us join to sing
to Christ, our loving King:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Be this the eternal song
through all the ages long:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
LookingtoJesus 