Stephen effectively refuted the general charges that he blasphemed God and Moses (6:11; cf vv. 2-16) and spoke against the Law (6:13; cf. vv. 17-43). He next addressed the charge that he spoke against the temple (6:13). The charges that he had said Jesus would destroy the temple and alter Jewish customs (6:14) were really specific accusations growing out of Stephen's view of the temple.
The Jewish leaders of Stephen's day attached inordinate importance to the temple, as they did to the Mosaic Law and the Promised Land. They had distorted God's view of the temple as they had distorted His meaning in the Law. Instruction concerning both the Law, which specified Israel's walk before people, and the tabernacle, which specified her worship of God, came to Moses when he was out of the Promised Land, at Mt. Sinai.
7:44 Stephen pointed out that it was the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness that God had ordered built, not the temple. God even gave Moses blueprints to follow in constructing it because it's design had instructive value. The tabernacle of testimony was important primarily because it contained God's revealed will and it was the place that God's presence dwelt in a localized sense. The "testimony"was the tablets of the Mosaic Law that rested in the ark of the covenant.
7:45 The tabernacle was so important that the Israelites brought it into the Promised Land when they conquered it under Joshua's leadership. The Greek form of "Joshua"is "Jesus."God drove out the Canaanites in faithfulness to His promise to give the land to His people. The tabernacle continued to be God's ordained center of worship through David's reign.
7:46 God blessed David's reign, and the tabernacle, not the temple, existed then. The initiative to build the temple was David's, not God's. It had been David's desire to build God a more glorious place in which to dwell. However, God did not "jump"at this suggestion because He did not need another place in which to dwell.
"The temple, Stephen implies, was a royal whim, tolerated of God."331
7:47 God did not even permit David to build the temple. He was not that eager to have a temple. However, He allowed Solomon, a king who did not find as much favor in God's sight as David did, to build it.
7:48-50 Stephen hastened to clarify that the Most High God, for whom a suitable house was certainly a reasonable desire, does not restrict Himself to a habitation constructed by humans. Solomon himself had acknowledged this when he dedicated the temple (cf. 1 Kings 8:27).
"Judaism never taught that God actually lived in the temple or was confined to its environs but spoke of his Name' and presence as being there. In practice, however, this concept was often denied. This would especially appear so to Stephen, when further divine activity was refused out-of-hand by the people in their preference for God's past revelation and redemption as symbolized in the existence of the temple."332
Stephen quoted Isaiah 66:1-2 for support. He referred to Isaiah as "the prophet."As a prophet Isaiah was worthy of as much respect as Moses. Significantly the last part of Isaiah 66:2 says that God esteems those who are humble and contrite in spirit and who tremble at His word. Stephen left this timely and powerful challenge unstated for his hearers.
"It would seem that these verses form the real thrust of Stephen's speech. In quoting with approval Isaiah's words, Stephen would appear to imply that, as Christ is the new Moses, he is also the new Temple. In him and through him alone can men approach God."333
Stephen reminded the Sanhedrin that the temple, which they venerated excessively, was not the primary venue of God's person and work. He was arguing that Jesus was God's designated replacement for the temple, as the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews also taught.334
"Throughout his speech he has, of course, been undermining the superstition which exalted a place of worship. The first great revelations of God had, in fact, taken place in foreign lands, Ur, Sinai, Midian, long before the temple existed (2-4, 29-34, 44-50)."335
