Unable to Contain

Day 161: Acts 7:30-50

“Did not my hand make all these things? Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?” - Acts 7:49-50 ESV

The Jewish Temple was the epicenter of Jerusalem and their worship of Yahweh. Within its courts, they sang songs of praise, read the Tanakh (the law, prophets, and writings of the Old Testament), and offered sacrifices on the altar. It was actually the cultural norm of the time to consider the gods in the same way.

It was a theology of containment. This dirt, this city, this place, it is sacred. God's presence was considered to be there, which was equated with His divine favor. Everyone else was on the outside looking in.

Stephen quotes Isaiah 66:1-2, which is very similar to what Solomon prayed when they dedicated the Temple upon its completion, "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!" - 1 Kings 8:27

So, where is the best place to worship God? It is wherever you find yourself during the week. At work, at home, at church, on a walk, while swimming, or even at the salon. God is not contained. Everywhere we go, He is there for us to offer a prayer, meditate on His Word, or soak in His presence.

Everything Stephen said up to this point has been agreeable to these Israelite leaders. Tomorrow, things will turn violent.

"The point of all three of these verses is not that God’s presence can’t be found in the temple (clearly Acts 2–4 shows it can), but that God’s presence can’t be confined there, nor can God be controlled or manipulated by the building of a temple and by the rituals of the temple cultus or the power moves of the temple hierarchy. What is being opposed is a God-in-the-box theology that has magical overtones, suggesting that if God can be located and confined, God can be magically manipulated and used to human ends." - Witherington, B., III. (1998). The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (p. 273)