When Steven was taken into custody and false witnesses arrayed against him, he began his defense of the accusations against himself.
Toward the end of his discourse, Steven had this to say about the temple:
“Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen.
“And having received it in their turn, our fathers brought it in with Joshua upon dispossessing the nations whom God drove out before our fathers, until the time of David.
“David found favor in God’s sight, and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.
“But it was Solomon who built a house for Him.
“However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says:
"‘Heaven is my throne, and earth is the footstool of my feet; what kind of house will you build for me?' says the Lord, or what place is there for my repose? Was it not my hand which made all these things?'"
This statement by Steven was what eventually led to his death at the hands of the Jews, as he was basically tearing down the entire temple system of that day.
It was there that he followed up with his analysis of the condition of the Jews listening to him saying: “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.”
The final sealing of Steven's fate was when he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God, saying, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” That's when they took him and murdered him by stoning.
Steven throughout his entire talk to the Jewish leaders was concerning God doing a work in the earth, and the Jews always resisting that work.
It culminated in the final subject where he got to what the charges against him were about: God doesn't dwell in temples made with hands (or houses). He of course meant special buildings built to be considered the place God lived; as if God like to fill up empty, physical structures.
The false witnesses against Steven accused him in this way earlier in the narrative: “This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law; for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us.”
It's interesting in what they accused Steven of, because in essence that's probably what he did say ... referencing the time Jesus said he'd destroy the Jewish temple and be raised up as the real temple: Himself.
That's why they hated it so much when Steven said he saw Jesus standing on the right hand of God. The true, living temple had risen, and the former types and shadows were now meaningless.
So with that being the case, why do we continue to resist in our day the reality which Steven died for back then, that God doesn't dwell in temples made with hands?
I go back to my question then: If God doesn't dwell in temples made with hands, what are you doing there?
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