Why God not Dwelling in Temples made with Hands is so Important

Many times when talking about the practices of Christianity - especially what are wrongly called "churches" - referring to buildings, it can seem to be a irrelevant point, as it was just the way things were done back at the beginning of the church.

That would be wrong thinking, as the revelation that God doesn't dwell in special buildings wasn't something related to the culture of that day, or lack of money to build some type of special building, it is something that has always been part of the very heart of God.

Steven died defending this fact, with Saul - whose name would be changed to Paul - listening and looking on. He would have never done that if it wasn't crucial to the people of God.

Calling a building a church is a horrid idea and thought, and needs to be wiped out of our way of life and thinking. It contradicts "everything" the New Testament says about what the church is.

God always had the eternal thought in Him that He would dwell within a people; to be in intimate union with them, fellowshipping on an ongoing, daily basis. What does that have to do with a building? Absolutely nothing.

So what these buildings do is take away from what it is God really wants to experience together with us, which is sharing and living His life within a people, i.e. dwelling.

When people think going to a building has anything to do with what the church is, they think they've discharged the will and purpose of God during a couple hours a week, and then go on living in a false sense of personal satisfaction and gratification, thinking God is pleased with them.

God is after much more than going to an edifice, He created us so that He could live in an intimate relationship with us: individually and corporately. That's why there was never a special building with the idea of it being a church. That idea never entered into the thought of Christians before Constantine turned them to it.

While early Christians got off track in other areas before Constantine, this wasn't one of them. He built what was the first special buildings eventually called a "church." It was an historical, monumental disaster.

The point in continuing to talk about this? We must open ourselves to what it is that God intended before creation and time. These buildings and what is practiced in them is one of the greatest hindrances to that happening.

If God doesn't Dwell in Temples made with Hands, then what are you doing there?

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?