Acts 7:39

Acts 7:39 says, To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, The people of Israel soon began to murmur and complain that they were going to starve in the wilderness and were better off in Egypt.  We today, having been delivered into the newness of life through Christ often want to return to our own Egypt.  We begin to think that something we left behind is more important than what God is providing.  Verse forty adds, Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. The people of Israel decided they needed a god they could see.  We need to learn to rely on the God Who dwells within us and never look to man-made idols.  Verse forty-one continues, And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.  The people with Aaron and the priests help made a golden calf and rejoiced in the work of their hands.  How often do we rejoice in man-made things instead of rejoicing in the Lord?  Verse forty-two states, Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?  Stephen said God gave them up to the worship of the hosts of the heavens for forty years, until those who had rebelled died without entering the Promised Land.  He also said they offered sacrifices in vain, since they did not believe in God Himself.  We may offer great sacrifices to the church, but unless we have sacrificed ourselves to God through faith in Jesus Christ, they are worthless. Verse forty-three adds, Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon. Stephen reminded them that their fathers had been unfaithful to God by refusing to follow Moses and by worshipping other gods instead, and so are were unfaithful by refusing to follow Jesus Christ.  This will never change.  Verse forty-four continues, Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen. Stephen said that their fathers even had the physical presence of the tabernacle made by God’s design.  It was never permanent and did not come into existence until the wilderness.  We today do have the church building as a physical representation of the church, but really it is the unseen presence of the Holy Spirit that is our daily reminder.  Verse forty-five says, Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;  Stephen reminded them that even the Promised Land had once been in possession of the Gentiles until God drove them out.  There was nothing sacred about the land because of the land itself, but it was only sacred because God chose it.  Verse forty-six adds, Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.  Stephen said the Gentiles were driven out until the time of David, and that David had wanted to build God a house, but had been prevented from doing so, even though he was considered one of the greatest kings of Israel.  We cannot just choose to build God a house and Him have to allow us to.  We must be led by Him to do it.  Verse forty-seven continues, But Solomon built him an house.  Stephen said that Solomon was allowed to build God a house.   Just because one person is denied permission to build a church, a house for God, doesn’t mean that it can never be built.   Verse forty-eight declares, Howbeit, the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,   Stephen said that God does not live in temples made by hand, as had been said by the prophet.  God lives in the hearts of people, and He can never be confined to a building.  Verse forty-nine adds, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?  God said the heavens were His throne and the earth His footstool, so what could men build for Him.  The answer is nothing, so if we start to worship buildings, we are not being faithful to God, Verse fifty continues, Hath not my hand made all these things?  The universe is already His, and all we can offer Him is ourselves in obedience to Jesus Christ.  They rejected the idea that Jesus could be the One Who met their need, just as the people of Israel questioned Moses.