7:44-47
Stephen then returns to more positive things, talking about the tabernacle, referring to the ark of the covenant. It went with them, even ahead of them, as they entered the Promised Land under Joshua. David was their greatest king, he enjoyed God’s favour, and he wanted to build a temple for God. Yet God refused to let him build a temple, it was Solomon who did build a temple for God. If the physical temple (and Solomon’s temple had long been destroyed) was the centre of God’s plans, then surely He would have let David build it, rather than Solomon.
7:48-50
Stephen then makes it explicit that God is not focused on any human temple. He “does not live in houses made by human hands”, and surely the religious leaders would acknowledge this as true. Stephen quotes from Is 66:1,2 to drive home his point. The Old Testament makes it abundantly clear that the things the religious leaders were focusing on were not the things that God was focused on. God did not need the religious leaders, but they needed Him.
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