“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 7:48-49).

The Jewish people in the days of the Early Church had a preoccupation with the earthly Temple in Jerusalem. There was nothing wrong with that because the Temple had been established by God as a place of worship and embodied God’s very presence. By the time Stephen uttered these words just prior to his martyrdom two problems had arisen.

First, focus on the Temple had led to a feeling that God was limited to its four walls. When King Solomon dedicated the Temple he had understood that God couldn’t be contained in a building. The other problem was that when God Himself had come in the person of Jesus Christ, the religious leaders had rejected Him and even charged Him with desecrating the Temple.

Stephen pointed out something that we understand. God Himself, who made the Temple holy, was and is more to be honored than the building. Our natural tendency to reduce God to a place made by hands dishonors Him. We know that churches meet in buildings, but the actual Church consists of the believers in whom God dwells.

Paul explained that clearly in his letter to the Corinthian believers. “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” (1 Corinthians 3:16).