Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

Daily Encouragement for the Family of God by Kenton Cheek

25 June 2025

Reading From Acts 7:44-60

“But it was Solomon who built a house for him.

“However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says:

“‘Heaven is my throne,
    and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me?
says the Lord.
    Or where will my resting place be?
Has not my hand made all these things?’”

—Acts 7:47-50

     God gave Moses the pattern for how to build the Tabernacle, which was a portable house of worship that could be carried and set up wherever the Israelites moved to.  It was to be at the very center of their encampment because God wanted to dwell in the midst of His people and be with them.  The temples in Jerusalem were different in that it was originally the dream of David and became the gift of Solomon to God, but it was not an idea that necessarily originated with God, though it was built with honoring Him in mind.

     At the end of his defense, Stephen said something that sent the Sanhedrin into an explosive and fatal rage.  He challenged the idea that God lived in the physical building that was their temple.  Jesus came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets and bring about the New Covenant which realized God’s ultimate dream: to not only dwell with His people, but to be able to dwell within them. 

     He accomplished this through His atonement, that by grace through faith and repentance, any human being could be cleansed from sin and inhabited by His Holy Spirit.  Unfortunately, sharing the truth about their temple and his chastisement of their lack of obedience to the fulfillment of messianic prophecies would seal Stephen’s fate and they threw him out of the city and murdered him by stoning.  May we place our faith in Jesus and become temples of God ourselves. What was the tent of the Tabernacle is now the tent of my body.

“Lord Jesus, thank You for the way You made for us to be saved, sanctified and united with You in glory.  I am so grateful to be Your temple and I pray that You would enable me by the power of Your Holy Spirit to live a life worthy of the calling I have received.  Empower me to honor and glorify You in all that I think, say and do in the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.”

“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

—John 4:19-24