A Testimony

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

A TESTIMONY

Acts 7:44-50

44 "Our forefathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the desert. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. 45 Having received the tabernacle, our fathers under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, 46 who enjoyed God's favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.   47 But it was Solomon who built the house for him. 48 "However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says:

49 "'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? 50 Has not my hand made all these things?'  

NIV

It was by the direction of God that Moses built the tabernacle of the Testimony. We are told the reason it is called a Testimony is that it served as a witness or a testimony of the presence of God. Did the Israelites need proof that God was with them? Did they not see all the mighty wonders He did through Moses in Egypt? Did they not see the Red Sea become a wall of water so they could pass through on dry land and then watch as the mighty hand of God caused the waters to crash in upon Pharoah’s chariots? Yet their hearts were turned to Egypt, looking back instead of forward. God knew they were going to need a physical place to signify He was with them, to prove He was their guide and protector. Even after their children took the land and they still wanted to be like others, wanting a king, an earthy ruler, God gave them Saul, then David, and Solomon who was the one who built the finest temple where God was to dwell among them. Places were built with the hands of man. Stephen is making that very point. What can man build that will be enough for God, who spoke all that is and will ever be, into existence? Throughout the ages, man has continued to build places to signify the place for God. Some of them have been edifices of great grandeur that still stand today. It is said these places are the house of the Lord by some, or that it is a place to meet with the living God, which is both true in some sense, yet untrue in the sense that God cannot be contained in anything we build. It is not that he will not meet with us in those places, for he is always willing to meet with us. In fact, He desires to dwell with and within us. He does not need the temples we build. It appears that we build them for ourselves. They do not prove that God exists. They do not serve as a witness to God, but more of a witness to us or our faith. Then, for the most part, they serve only for us who own them, for if we are not there, we lock them up tight, or in the greater cathedrals, we have guides and guards to safely keep that which we have amassed within, as a testimony to our faith in God. However, the fact is that we are the only witness, the only true testimony of God, for we are His creation, and we are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory if we are willing to allow Him the freedom within us. This was Stephen’s story, a man full of faith and the power of God and full of wisdom and the influence of God within him. Because Stephen gave God all the freedom to work in his life, he did great wonders and miraculous signs, and it is noted that his face was like that of an angel. God was being reflected in ever-increasing glory in the life of Stephen and as God does not change, it would make sense that he is still willing to work in our lives in the same way. Although, we still have the edifices that we have built, and we gather together to worship God in them, let us remember He is not held within them, he lives within us and we are a testimony, a witness of His mighty power and grace. Let us be the testimony.