Scripture Reading

We can turn with me in your Bibles to Acts chapter 6. Acts chapter 6, our focus tonight is actually Acts chapter 7, verses 44 to 50, but I want to set it in its larger context. So we'll read the latter half of chapter 6 and then that section in chapter 7. So Acts 6, beginning in verse 8.

And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. Then there arose from what is called the synagogue of the freedmen, Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia, disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke. Then they secretly induced men to say, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.

And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him, seized him, and brought him to the council. They also set up false witnesses who said, this man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us. And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel.

So turn over to chapter 7, picking up at verse 44. Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen, which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles. whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David, who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the house of the God of Jacob. But Solomon built him a house. However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says." Excuse me just a moment.

The Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says. Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. What house will you build for me, says the Lord? Or what is the place of my rest?

Has my hand not made all these things? Well, before we pray, I just want to show you that this is, in fact, a unit. Beginning in chapter 6, verse 8, following to chapter 8, verse 1. Essentially, what you have is the arrest of Stephen at the end of chapter 6.

Then you have the defense of Stephen in chapter 7, verses 1 to 53. And then you have the martyrdom of Stephen in chapter 7, verse 54 to chapter 8 and verse 1. The reason we're looking at this tonight, I thought it would help us in terms of the temple. This morning we looked at John's gospel when Jesus said, destroy this temple and in three days, or destroy this house, and in three days I will raise it up.

The apostle John tells us he was speaking about the temple of his body. He was talking about the death and the resurrection that he himself would undergo. We saw that the temple was typical. It signified, it pointed forward to, it foreshadowed the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Just as Passover does, so does the temple. It finds its realization, its fulfillment in what Jesus Christ had done. So I wanna show you tonight that not only did Stephen understand this, But as well, Stephen tells us that the Old Testament understood it also. So let us pray, and then we'll investigate the passage.

Opening Prayer

Our Father, we thank you for your holy word. We thank you for the temple, the reality that you dwell in the midst of your people. We see it in the tabernacle. We see it in the temple of the old covenant.

But we see how those things were typical of our Lord Jesus Christ, that one in whom we have the presence of God Almighty. how we give praise to you for that blessed truth that you want to be with your people, that we will one day be in your presence, that you will be our God and that we will be your people. Now we know this is the case presently, but it's not yet been fully realized what it shall be. So God, encourage our hearts and strengthen us in the inner man and cause us to march onward by faith in these blessed promises and in the wonderful truths of redemption that you have bestowed upon us. Again, forgive us for all of our sin and unrighteousness now.

Guide us by the presence and the power of your Holy Spirit. And we pray through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Introduction

We'll go back for just a moment to chapter 6, just so we can see what is happening. Stephen essentially bested his opponents theologically and biblically. Notice in verse 8, Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. There then arose from what is called the synagogue of the freedmen, these particular fellows, and they were disputing with Stephen.

Now notice in verse 10, they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke. We don't do ourselves any favors if we don't know the Bible. We don't know theology. If we're going to give a defense, if we're going to engage the opponents of Jesus Christ, it is best to do so from a vantage point of knowledge and wisdom.

That is what Stephen does. Now notice, because they could not best him in the arena of argumentation, they now turn their opposition toward him in the arena of false witness, false testimony, and drummed up charges so that he will stand and face the Sanhedrin. Notice in verse 11, then they secretly induced men to say, we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God. It's a terrible thing to do, to go out and to try to get men that will slander another human being and allege a capital offense. at this particular time to speak ill of or to suggest not only the destruction of a temple, but the desecration of a temple was in fact a capital offense.

It carried the death penalty at that time under the Roman Empire. So they engage in this. Now notice they then escalate. Verse 12, they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him, seized him, and brought him to the council.

So they have these men falsely charge him, and now they stir up everybody to turn popular opinion against Stephen. And now the formal charges come in verses 13 and 14. They also set up false witnesses who said, this man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place, the temple, and change the customs which Moses delivered to us." Again, very serious allegations, very serious charges, and as a result, he now stands before the highest religious and political council in Israel, at that time.

Notice in verse 15, and all who sat in the council, that's the Sanhedrin, it was made up of 71 members, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel. Now, Stephen is not alone. The Lord Jesus Christ was accused of having a thought to desecrate or destroy the temple. They take his words from John 2, they add a few false witnesses, and then they conclude at his trial before the Sanhedrin that he wanted to destroy the temple himself.

As well, the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah simply prophesied concerning the destruction of the temple via the Babylonian captivity. And that was under the hand of God. He was simply announcing truth, but as a result, he was brought up on charges for having sort of plotted or engaged in a plan to destroy the temple.

So Stephen here finds himself in good company. And essentially how Stephen responds to these two charges is that he shows in the first place with his appeal to various persons in the Old Testament, vis-à-vis Abraham and Joseph, for instance, They didn't need a temple to meet with God. In other words, the temple didn't contain God. God was able to show himself to Abraham.

He was able to show himself to Joseph. He was able to show himself to Moses. It's not the case that you actually have to have a building in order for God to be present. So he answers the charge by showing that a temple is not absolutely crucial in order for the people of God to enjoy the God of the people.

He brings that to a fitting conclusion in the passage that we're going to investigate in just a moment. But in terms of Moses, he hadn't spoken ill of Moses. He simply rehearses Israel's history and shows that his audience, the Sanhedrin, the people that are supposed to be the leaders, had affinity, not with Moses, but the people in their history that had opposed Moses. So Stephen, preaching Christ, Stephen being a champion of the gospel, Stephen was the one who went where Moses pointed.

It was them that had refused Moses. It was them not getting the end of what God had written through Moses in terms of the person and work of the Lord Jesus. So Stephen's defense here is masterful. But as I said, let's look at verses 44 to 46, rather, to 50.

The Temple of the God of Jacob

Now I want to look first at the temple of the God of Jacob in verses 45B to 47. Secondly, the testimony of the prophet Isaiah in verses 48 to 50. So Stephen tells them what the Old Testament said to corroborate what he has claimed in terms of the temple itself. But before we look at the temple of the God of Jacob, just back up to verse 44.

Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness as he appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had received, in which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles. We've seen that in our scripture reading on Sunday evening, they built the temple or the tabernacle rather. In chapter 25, there's detailed instructions given and that carries all the way to the end of the book. So after God delivers his people, after he makes demands of his people, he then promises to dwell in the midst of his people.

And I quoted Davis this morning, or at least alluded to him when he said, the God of three, five in Exodus, that's the burning bush. And the God of 1921, that's Sinai, is also the God of 25-8. 25-8 in Exodus says, and let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. So the God of 3-5 in 1921 is also the God of 25-8. That is the God of the bush, who will rescue his people from slavery, and the God of the hill, who declares to his people his law, is also the God of the tent who dwells in the midst of his people, with his tent among their tents.

Indeed, the climax of the book of Exodus is not at the sea, chapter 14, nor on the mountain, chapter 19, but in the tent, chapters 25 and following. The pinnacle is Exodus 25.8. Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. So they make this tabernacle, they go on the conquest under General Joshua, they dispossess the land of the Canaanites, and they shut up their tabernacle.

That becomes their central sanctuary, that's where they offer their sacrifices, and that's where a sinful man has access to the presence of the thrice-holy God. Again, because of the efficacy of the Lamb of God who had come. Now notice secondly, or in terms of our overview here, notice the temple of the God of Jacob in verses 45B to 47.

David's Desire for a Dwelling

He speaks first of David's desire. Notice 45. He speaks of whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David, who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. So David found favor from the God of Israel.

And then David reflexively wants to build a house for the God of Israel. In 1 Samuel chapter 13, we first find out that Saul is going to be cut off. Saul wants to take worship matters into his own hand. He disobeys Samuel, and as a result, he is cut off.

And then God makes this announcement to Samuel. The Lord has sought for himself a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over his people. David was that man. And it's intriguing because in the first part of David's life and at the end of David's life, David is able to report on the favor of God. 2 Samuel 4.9, he says, as the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from all adversity.

And then at the end of his life in 1 Kings 1.29, as the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from every distress. So Stephen is doing biblical theology. He's up now, not from the tabernacle, but at the temple. It was David who had favor in the sight of God, and it was David who wanted to build this house for God.

The Davidic Covenant

Turn back to 2 Samuel chapter 7. This is fundamental in biblical revelation in redemptive history. If you do not know 2 Samuel 7, you should learn 2 Samuel 7. We refer to it as the Davidic covenant.

It is the promise of God to David that from David's line, one would rise up and his kingdom would have no end. You see this alluded to in the gospel of Luke in chapter one, verses 30 to 33. At the announcement of the birth of Christ, this son of David would be enthroned at the right hand of God most high and his kingdom would have no end. So 2 Samuel 7 is foundational in terms of biblical redemptive history.

Now we see Psalm 89 and Psalm 132 also allude to this particular section. But notice David's desire in verses 1 to 3. Now it came to pass, when the king was dwelling in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies all around, that the king said to Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells inside the tent curtains. Then Nathan said to the king, Go do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.

You see David's desire. David has been victorious in terms of his conquest of his enemies. You see that happen in the movement of the narrative. In 2 Samuel chapter 5, he consolidates power over both kingdoms. 2 Samuel 6, they bring the temple, or rather the tabernacle, to the city of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem becomes the seat of political and religious power. And here in 2 Samuel 7, he's musing upon his victories, he's musing upon the fact that he lives in this beautiful house, and he says, it is in my heart to build a house for God. We wanna take him out of this temporary tent, and we wanna make this blessed and splendid house wherein our God may dwell. Nathan says that's a good desire.

But now God reports that no, it's not gonna be David who does this. Notice his plan revealed in verses four to 17. He gives the revelation of his covenant in verses four and five, and then again in verse 17. It's God who speaks this to come to pass.

He gives the background of the covenant in verses five, B to nine. Look at what he says, verse five, thus says the Lord, would you build a house for me to dwell in? For I have not dwelt in a house since the time that I brought the children of Israel up from Egypt, even to this day, but have moved about in a tent and in a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about with all the children of Israel, have I ever spoken a word to anyone from the tribes of Israel whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel saying, why have you not built me a house of cedar?

Now therefore, thus shall you say to my servant David, thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the sheepfold, from following the sheep to be ruler over my people, over Israel. And I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you and have made you a great name, like the name of the great men who are on the earth. See what God says? It had been his purpose at this particular time to continue to dwell amongst his nomadic people.

God's promise to David is simple. Once they get rooted and established in the land, then they can build this permanent structure for me. What a father, what a merciful God. He's willing to be nomadic along with the children of Israel until they find stability and tenure in the land.

And once that comes to pass, then the God of heaven and earth will have David's son build him a house that is permanent in nature. Notice the promise is given through covenant. Verse 10. Moreover, I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more.

Nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them anymore as previously, since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel and have caused you to rest from all your enemies. Also, the Lord tells you that he will make you a house. Now that word house is doing double duty in the passage. David is sitting in his house and David wants to build a house for Yahweh.

Now Yahweh says, no, I'm going to build a house for you, David. Now you say, wait a minute, David's already sitting in his house. He's talking about a dynasty. He's talking about a dynasty of kings and succession.

God says to David, from your seed, my servant, will be raised up. Notice what he goes on to say in verse 12. When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seat after you, who will come from your body and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name.

Back to that original meaning, a dwelling place for God. He shall build a house for my name. Keep this in mind when you read Matthew chapter 16, and Jesus says, and I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. That comes on the heels of a confession by Matthew that Jesus is the son of the living God.

And on the heels of that confession, Jesus promises as a son of God to build a house for God. What do you think Jesus has in mind? 2 Samuel chapter 7. Notice, he shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son.

If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But my mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever." So essentially, what we have in verses 12 to 16, it is a promise made to David that applies to Solomon.

It then applies to the sons of Solomon. Again, it's a Davidic dynasty, but it finds its termination in our Lord Jesus Christ. That's why in verse 14, when it says, I will be his father and he shall be my son, if he commits iniquity, that's not relative to Christ, but from Solomon and all of the kings that descend from him up until the time of our Lord Jesus. Now brethren, bring this into its new covenant setting.

In Acts chapter 2, the Lord Jesus, or rather Peter, highlights that at the resurrection of our Lord Jesus, it is then that Jesus sat down on the throne of David. So this promise given by God to David concerning this dynasty revolves around the promised Messiah who would come to save his people from their sins. So David desires to build a house for the Lord, but David will not be the one ultimately to build the house for the Lord. Now later in the redemptive or in redemptive history subsequent to this, specifically in 1 Kings 5, 1 Chronicles 22 and 1 Chronicles 28, we learn why David wasn't to be the one to build the house of God.

It is simple. He was a man of bloodshed. That is not God's condemning of David. That is not a condemnatory bit of language.

God's not saying, well, I'm embarrassed to David. He's got blood all over his hands. I'm not going to let him be the one to build the temple. That's not it at all.

David was the king of kings at that time. David was the warring general that led the armies of Israel into the various places where their enemies opposed them. David was a man of war to create a kingdom of peace. And when his son Solomon, which means peace, takes the throne, it will be Solomon that builds the throne.

So going back to Acts chapter seven, this is what Stephen says. Verse 46, who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. Going back to Stephen's defense, you have to see what he's doing. He's been charged with being anti-Temple and being anti-Moses.

He is saying you're anti-Moses because you have affinity with the people that resisted and opposed him. And you're anti-temple because you have not seen that the temple leads to the Lord Jesus Christ. You have failed to appreciate redemptive history and the contours of it. You haven't understood typology.

You haven't understood that Christ is the telos. He's the answer. He's the purpose for which the temple stood. And then he says very simply, very plainly and very clearly, but Solomon built him a house.

That is what Stephen says. So the temple was built by Solomon. You see that in 1 Kings. You have preparation for the building of the temple in 1 Kings 5.

You have the construction of the temple in 1 Kings 6 and 7. And then you have the dedication of the temple in 1 Kings 8. And in verse 20 of 1 Kings 8, he says, So the Lord has fulfilled His word which He spoke. And I have filled the position of my father David, and sit on the throne of Israel as the Lord promised.

And I have built a temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. Now, in that same dedication, Solomon himself was conscious of the fact of the limitation of the earthly temple. Remember, the Philistines thought that Dagon actually lived in his temple. They thought that that's where his abode was.

He lived in that particular box. It was never intended to be understood that way with reference to Yahweh of Israel. In fact, in the dedication of the temple, Solomon admits as much. He says in verse 27 of 1 Kings 8, But will God indeed dwell on the earth?

Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you, how much less this temple which I have built." See, Solomon, at the actual dedication of the temple that was built in accordance with the promise that was made to his father David, understood that that temple didn't contain God. Now, for those of you who may have been brought up Roman Catholic, you will know that they put the bread in what they call the tabernacle. Typically, in every Roman Catholic church, there's a back wall there. They don't have a big baptistry like that.

They don't need quite as much water. And so they have this gold box under lock and key, and they call that the tabernacle. And there they put the host, the bread that they use with reference to communion. So they put him in there, and then they bring him out, and then the priest says his words of consecration, and changes that bread into the actual body of our Lord.

Brethren, that is not biblical in terms of that structure, and I'm not suggesting that all Catholics believe that God lives in the little box behind Roman Catholic altars. I'm not suggesting that. But that was pagan thought. Israel was never supposed to think that way. at the very announcement of the dedication of the temple, Solomon says as much.

The Geneva Bible says Solomon built a temple according to God's commandment, but not with any such condition that the majesty of God should be enclosed therein. In other words, it was a place that was symbolic of God's presence among his people. It couldn't contain him, it didn't exhaust him, and it didn't make him such other than he is in terms of infinite and immense.

Isaiah's Testimony on Temple's Limits

Now let's look back at Acts chapter 7. He moves from the temple of the God of Jacob in verses 45 to 47, and then he ends on the testimony of the prophet Isaiah in verses 48 to 50.

The Most High Dwells Not in Temples

Notice in verse 48, Stephen says, however, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says. So again, jump into his defense. He's standing before the Sanhedrin. He is telling them, I'm not anti-temple.

I don't have a problem with the temple. Brethren, by implication, do you know what he's saying? He's saying, you guys have a problem with the temple. You guys misunderstand the significance of the temple.

Why do you think they respond by actually committing murder against him? They are outraged and incensed by the implications of his defense in terms of the charges made against him. So in terms of verse 48, it's a bridge between Solomon's building the temple and the divine commentary on the limitation of temples. In other words, even Isaiah the prophet understood the limitation of the earthly temple.

What is Stephen saying to them? You're at odds now with Isaiah the prophet. Notice this distinction made in terms of the New Testament texts. Christ makes this distinction this morning, not this morning, but in John chapter two, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.

He was talking about the temple of his body. He was talking about the fulfillment, the realization. The anti-type to why the temple made with hands was originally constructed. The Apostle Paul at the Areopagus, you can turn to Acts 17, a pagan context, but the same truth was supposed to be imbibed by the nation of Israel. 1724.

God who made the world and everything in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands." Again, he's speaking to pagans who put up altars to the unknown God, but Paul is speaking consistently with what Old Testament revelation had given him. There is a distinction made by Paul as well in the book of Hebrews. You can turn there. Hebrews chapter 9, specifically verse 11 and then verse 14.

I'm sorry, verse 24. Notice in Hebrews 9, 11. But Christ came, just back up for a moment. Notice in verse nine, he's talking about the temple.

He's talking about the earthly tabernacle. He's talking about the structure of that facility that facilitated access to God by the worshipers in Israel. Again, it wasn't a sham, it wasn't false, it wasn't fake, it wasn't futile, but the power lay in what Christ would accomplish. And they walked by faith in those promises as they engaged in this earthly observance.

So in verse 9, he says, it was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered, which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience, concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation. But Christ came as high priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. And then notice in verse 24, for Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Again, the author in that section, he's not saying the tabernacle and the temple was bad, the sacrificial system was wrong, everything about it was a fake.

No, it functioned typically. It functioned in the particular reason or purpose that God intended to teach the people of Israel concerning His holiness, concerning their sinfulness, and concerning their need for the mediator, the Messiah that would come in order to bring them into the presence of God Most High through his precious blood. The reference here back in Acts 7 at verse 48, when he says, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, suggests that these persons are the same sort of persons that you found in verse 41. Notice, and they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

Stephen is saying the temple isn't bad. God's purpose in the temple isn't bad. The badness comes in the people that have treated it superstitiously, in the people that have come and treated it as if God is contained there, or who've treated it almost like a lucky charm. In 1 Samuel 4, there's an intriguing passage concerning the Ark of the Covenant.

And when Israel fails against the Philistines, do you know what their response is? Let's get the Ark of the Covenant and let's bring it out onto the battlefield. For certainly then we'll have victory. You know what happens?

They lose even bigger. Why? Because they trotted out the Ark of the Covenant like it was a holy horseshoe, like it was a four-leaf clover. They thought superstitiously that if the Ark of the Covenant of God is with us, then we will win in battle.

Well, God rather would have them lose in battle to dissuade them from a superstitious treatment of who he is. It's intriguing because the Philistines think in the same way as the Israelites. The Philistines see the Ark of the Covenant of God and they fear as well. Oh no, their gods are now with them.

We better really mount up against them in battle. And so they do. And they win. Again, because God says, I don't want you to treat the Ark of the Covenant or the Tabernacle in some superstitious manner.

It was not wrong that Solomon built the temple, but these people are wrong who think that God lives in the temple or think that it's a lucky charm that they can invoke at their leisure in order to best their enemies. Again, Solomon made this admission, but will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you, how much less this temple which I have built. And then in 1 Kings 8.30, and may you hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place.

Here in heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive. So Solomon builds the temple, verse 47. But then Stephen says, but the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says.

Heaven Is God's Throne

Now he invokes the testimony of Isaiah to bring this sermon to a conclusion, to bring his defense home. Again, Stephen doesn't have a problem with the temple. Stephen understands the typological function of the temple and that now that Christ has come, we don't go backward in redemptive history. We don't jealously desire the presence of an earthly dwelling place when Christ the Lord, the word became flesh and tabernacled or dwelt among us.

And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth. Notice what he says, quoting from Isaiah 66, one and two. In the first place, he highlights that heaven is God's throne. not the earthly dwelling place, not the temple, not the tabernacle before it. Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool.

That's how we're to understand an infinite and immense God. He's not located in a box. He's not like Dagon who lives in a temple, but rather he transcends that. And the throne room of God is in heaven, and earth is his footstool.

Gil explains, these things are not to be literally understood, but are images and figures representing the majesty, sovereignty, and immensity of God. Now notice he goes on, what house will you build for me, says the Lord. the reality that an earthly structure cannot contain him. So you see, Stephen says, in the words of Moses, in the words of the former prophets, in the words of the prophets themselves, they all understood that we're not to use the temple as if it's a holy horseshoe. We're not to use the temple in a superstitious way.

We're not to think that the temple actually contains the infinite and immense God. Isaiah spoke this many hundreds of years ago, according to Stephen. Notice the creator-creature distinction. What house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?

Has my hand not made all these things? In other words, God is the creator. There is nothing that the creature can make that will contain him or that will exhaust him. So Stephen ends with the prophet Isaiah having cited as well God's purpose in terms of Solomon and the building of the temple to make sure that we understand that even Solomon himself knew that God doesn't actually dwell in a physical locale.

It's not Stephen that has a problem, but rather it is the Sanhedrin that has a problem. It pointed to Christ and was therefore never intended to be a permanent institution. Not just Hebrews 9, 9 and 10, and not just Hebrews 9, 11 shows that contrast, but read all the way down to verse 15 to see how the temple functioned typically to point to the Lord Jesus Christ. And now that the Lord Jesus Christ has come, it is not the case that the children of Israel in this scenario are supposed to be attached to this physical dwelling.

It's not Stephen that's anti-temple. It's not Stephen that's anti-Moses. It is rather the Sanhedrin, along with the religious leadership in the first century that have abandoned Moses and the prophets in their rejection of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's Stephen's point.

And then he brings it home in great power and with vivid earnestness in verse 51. You stiff-necked, and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?

And they killed those who foretold the coming of the just one, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it. See, he didn't shrink back, he didn't say, well, you know, those are trumped up charges. He uses the opportunity, he uses the occasion, yes, to defend himself, but more importantly, to push and press them to an understanding of who Jesus is relative to the Old Testament Scriptures.

Application

Well, in conclusion, in terms of his defense, the charge that he is anti-Moses is answered in verses 17 to 43. The council's rejection of Christ demonstrates the council's rejection of Moses. You search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life. But these are they which testify of me.

So Jesus said that to his contemporaries in his ministry, and he said to them very earnestly that Moses wrote about me. So Stephen does the same thing as his Lord. And then the charge that he is anti-temple is specifically answered in verses 44 to 50. But it is as well previously to show them that an infinite and an immense God can appear to Abraham in Mesopotamia.

He can appear to Joseph in Egypt. He does not need the temple to manifest his presence, and that's one of the reasons why Stephen traces redemptive history.

Typology Fulfilled in Christ

Secondly, the covenant with David. There is a promise that a son of God would build a house for God. It is realized typically in the building of Solomon's temple, a son of David, who is a son of God, builds a house for God. But that is realized anti-typically in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Again, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Revelation 21, 22, there was no temple. Why? Because God and the Lamb are the temple.

G.K. Beal says, the reference to Isaiah indicates that Stephen did not believe that Solomon's building of the temple was a sufficient fulfillment of the divine promise that a son of David would build God a temple. In other words, what we have in redemptive history is flow. It's organic.

It jives together, such that when Jesus comes, he's announced as the Lamb of God, the antitype of the sacrificial system. He is told by us to be our Passover, who sacrificed himself for us. the antitype for why the Passover served as a type. And in our passage this morning, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. And when John says he was speaking of the temple of his body, that tells and indicates for us that the reason for the temple is fulfilled in our Lord Jesus.

If temple means God dwelling with His people, where does that happen? In the New Covenant. It happens in and through Christ. It happens in the church, because we have solidarity with our head as His body.

And it's in this light that we understand Matthew 16. I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And then finally, in terms of some observations relative to the temple, the earthly temple was the visible representation of the presence of God among his people. Again, it wasn't a sham, it wasn't fake, it wasn't empty ritual.

It served the purpose for which God intended it. Secondly, the earthly temple and its limitations were experienced and understood by the people of God. Abraham didn't need a tabernacle or a temple to meet with his God. Joseph didn't need a temple.

They didn't even need the land. For Israel, the land is central in their redemptive history. But God met with them outside the confines of the actual geography of Israel. The earthly temple and its limitations were observed by Solomon, 1 Kings 8, 27, and by the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah 66, 1 and 2.

Fourth, the earthly temple was typical of Jesus Christ. It was not an end in and of itself. Now there's one other passage in the dedication of the temple that I think is most instructive for us in this new covenant era. We live in light of the Lord's commission to his people, to his church.

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Brethren, that does not begin the mission to the Gentiles. That's the formal inauguration of it, but this promise of Gentile inclusion in the promises of God go back to Noah initially in Genesis chapter 9. They are reconfirmed, re-explained to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. in you all the nations of the earth shall be blessed." Well, Solomon in the dedication of the temple understood universal scope, not necessarily of the earthly dwelling place, but typically in terms of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He says in verses 43 and 44, for here in heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, that all peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this temple which I have built is called by your name. that all the peoples of the earth may know. It's too small a thing, the father says to the son in the prophet Isaiah in chapters 42 and 49, for him simply to come and fetch redemptively the tribes of Jacob. But I will give you as a light unto the Gentiles. Gentile inclusion and the covenant promises of God have always been the case.

It's not an afterthought. The idea that the church has come now is not a replacement of old covenant Israel, but it is the organic outflow. It is the fruit of God's redemptive plan. It is most excellent and most wondrous and most glorious.

Fifthly, the earthly temple was not bad or wrong. The attitudes of many in Israel were bad and wrong relative to the temple. Again, read Jeremiah 7, read Jeremiah 9, read Jeremiah 26. In Jeremiah 26, Jeremiah announces the destruction of the temple again.

Brethren, he's the prophet prophesying concerning the Babylonian exile that is to come. This wasn't, you know, thousands of years in their future. It was contemporary. The Babylonians were coming.

Jeremiah announces that. And as a result, Israel says he must die. You know who saved Jeremiah's bacon? It was the prophet Micah.

Because about a hundred years prior, Micah prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple as well. But Hezekiah didn't have Micah executed. Hezekiah didn't demand that he be put to death. So that invoking of Micah was the means by which, at least temporarily, Jeremiah was spared.

Jeremiah can't be held, you know, as an anti-temple guy when he's simply rehearsing the prophecy of God, just like Micah the prophet. And then the final thing that we need to observe, and you probably know that I'm going here,

Against a Future Rebuilt Temple

the popular dispensational idea that there is a future rebuilt temple in the redemptive plan of God is wrong. It is wrong. It is to have the type, receive the anti-type, and then go back to the type. It is a backward movement in redemptive history to somehow suppose that in the future for God's people, there's going to be a physical dwelling in Jerusalem ruled and reigned over by a physical Jesus in Jerusalem and the reinstitution of animal sacrifices.

That is backwards in redemptive history. Christ has fulfilled all that the sacrificial system put forth Christ has fulfilled all that the temple stood for. And by God's grace, the next big event in the plan of God Almighty is the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. When he comes in the glory of his father with all of his holy angels, taking vengeance on them who know not God and on those who do not obey the gospel.

Our preparation is to believe on him. Our preparation is not to send money to dispensational churches so they can take up an offering and build a physical structure in Jerusalem. No, we preach Christ and Him crucified. We understand the contours of redemptive history.

We understand that Christ is the yea and amen of all the promises of God Most High. And we look forward to His coming in glory to judge the living and the dead. The way of preparation for each of us is by grace to believe the gospel, to look to Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior, to look to Him as the altogether lovely and chief among 10,000, to receive from God the blessed benefits of justification, sanctification, and glorification. And then when he comes again to usher us on into that eternal state, we'll understand those realities that we looked at last week in Revelation chapter 21 and 22.

There will be no more curse. There will be no more sorrow. There will be no more pain. There will be no more hunger.

There will be no more thirst. God himself will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there will be no more death. 1 Corinthians 15, 20 to 28, the clearest expression of biblical eschatology in all of the Bible. And for whatever reason, we don't spend any time there in our discussions of eschatology. Tells us that the last enemy is death.

Christ must reign until all of his enemies are made his footstool. So in that eternal state to come, no more death, no more sorrow, no more tears. Praise God for the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us. Let us pray.

Closing Prayer

Father, thank you for your Word and thank you for the clarity of Stephen's speech before the Sanhedrin with reference to these false charges that he was anti-Temple and anti-Moses. God, the persons that were investigating, the persons examining were the ones that were anti-Temple and anti-Moses. in their rejection of our Lord Jesus Christ, that yea and amen concerning the promises of God. They had rejected all that had come before in Old Testament revelation. Thank you for giving us eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to receive the wonderful truth that Jesus Christ is the end of the law for those who believe, that Jesus Christ is the purpose.

Jesus Christ is the reason, the rationale for all that comes in the Old Testament. I pray that these things would encourage our hearts, that you would strengthen us in the inner man and cause us to walk by faith in the son of God who loved us and who gave himself for us. And we ask in Jesus' name, amen. We'll close with a brief time of meditation.

Scripture References

• Genesis 9; 12:3
• Exodus 3:5; 14; 19; 19:21; 25; 25:8
• 1 Samuel 4; 13
• 2 Samuel 4:9; 5; 6; 7; 7:1-3; 7:4-5; 7:5-9; 7:10; 7:12-16; 7:17
• 1 Kings 1:29; 5; 6-7; 8; 8:20; 8:27; 8:30; 8:43-44
• 1 Chronicles 22; 28
• Psalms 89; 132
• Isaiah 42:6; 49:6; 66:1-2
• Jeremiah 7; 9; 26
• Matthew 16:18; 28:19-20
• Luke 1:30-33
• John 2:19; 5:39; 5:46
• Acts 2; 6; 6:8; 6:10; 6:11; 6:12; 6:13-14; 6:15; 7:1-53; 7:17-43; 7:41; 7:44-50; 7:51; 7:54-8:1; 17; 17:24
• 1 Corinthians 15:20-28
• Hebrews 9:9-10; 9:11; 9:15; 9:24
• Revelation 21-22; 21:22