{"id":1571,"date":"2012-06-05T17:23:05","date_gmt":"2012-06-05T22:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/giveusthisdaydevotional.com\/?p=1571"},"modified":"2012-06-05T17:23:05","modified_gmt":"2012-06-05T22:23:05","slug":"wednesday-of-trinity-sunday-acts-735-53","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/giveusthisday\/wednesday-of-trinity-sunday-acts-735-53\/","title":{"rendered":"Wednesday of Trinity Sunday – Acts 7:35-53"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>Acts 7:35-53<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

In Acts 7:35-53, St. Stephen hones in on his closing arguments.\u00a0 While he begins by acting as a defense attorney, by the end of his sermon he is acting as a prosecutor.\u00a0 It is this shocking reversal that must have caught his audience by surprise and provoked a response.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure Stephen was hoping for a response of repentance, but what he got was exactly what he had just finished warning them about: a rejection of God and His Word and Presence in their lives.<\/p>\n

The turning point is verse 51.\u00a0 Immediately before that verse, Stephen had been speaking about Moses and the Law, after which he speaks about the Israelites offering sacrifices to idols.\u00a0 Then there appears to be a respite, in which Stephen turns to the<\/p>\n

Temple.\u00a0 His defense ends harmlessly enough with a quotation from Isaiah 66 about how God does not dwell in a temple made with hands.<\/p>\n

This in itself might have been offensive to the Jews.\u00a0 But then he turns swiftly to them and makes his true point: \u201cYou stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears!\u00a0 You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you!\u201d<\/p>\n

But we are not (I hope!) those Jews who rejected God\u2019s messengers and Word and in so doing reject God Himself.\u00a0 So I don\u2019t want us to beat ourselves up, as we attempt to place ourselves in this passage and receive God\u2019s blessing from it.<\/p>\n

Instead, I want to meditate on what it would look like from a positive angle: what would it look like in our lives if we received the living oracles of God that were housed in a Temple not made with human hands, instead of rejecting them?\u00a0 This, in fact, is exactly what God has given us.\u00a0 Jesus Christ who is the Word of God is also the Temple made without human hands.\u00a0 But since we are His Body, we, too, have the living oracles of God (the Word of God) housed in the Temple, His Body.<\/p>\n

What are we to make of the architecture of the tabernacle and temple?\u00a0 Are they merely aspects of the \u201cceremonial\u201d law that can be safely dismissed today?\u00a0 We may think so, but Stephen reminds us that Moses was instructed by God Himself to make the tabernacle according to the pattern He had seen (verse 44, and Exodus 25:40 and 26:30).\u00a0 David received precise plans for the Temple given to him by God, plans that were given to him by the Holy Spirit (1 Chronicles 28:12).\u00a0 When David handed these plans to Solomon, he said, \u201cAll this the Lord made me understand in writing, by His hand upon me, all the works of these plans\u201d (1 Chronicles 28: 19).\u00a0 These plans for the Temple, the writer of Hebrew teaches us, served as copies and shadows of the heavenly things (Hebrews 8:5).<\/p>\n

So what should the Temple look like in our day, to us who have received the true Temple and the New Covenant which is Jesus Christ?\u00a0 It should look like a Temple made of living stones: it should look like the perfect Body of Jesus Christ, His Church.<\/p>\n

Each of the elements of the tabernacle or Temple should teach us something about what the Body of Christ, and each individual member, should look like.\u00a0 Remembering the negative example of the Jews who rejected God through rejecting His Word and messengers (which always go together), and the positive commandment to be<\/em> His Temple, what should we look like?<\/p>\n

One of the first things that would strike someone entering the Temple, or even the tabernacle, would be the gold.\u00a0 So much gold.\u00a0 Why bother, for a people who would be wandering for 40 years in the wilderness?\u00a0 Because gold represents the kingship of God, His glory, His beauty, and His worth.<\/p>\n

The architecture of the Temple itself suggests that although the whole earth is the Lord\u2019s and He is present in it, it is possible to come closer to Him in deeper ways.\u00a0 Sometimes, we stop to gaze outside the Temple courts, and we are sated with that.\u00a0 Other times we enter into the courts and partake of Him a little more.\u00a0 But shouldn\u2019t there be times, on Sunday mornings and on a daily basis in my house, where I enter the Holy of Holies to spend time with Him Who Is the High Priest, the Sacrifice, and the Temple?<\/p>\n

What else do we see in this Temple, this house of God, to which God Himself has called us with His trumpet voice?\u00a0 In the courtyard, I see an altar of burnt offering.\u00a0 What has that to do with me?\u00a0 I am to offer myself today as a living sacrifice to God, joining with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, whose sacrifice makes mine acceptable.<\/p>\n

Going a little further, I notice the bronze laver.\u00a0 What has that to do with me?\u00a0 It reminds me that I must enter into His covenant on the terms that He has decreed.\u00a0 I must be baptized for the remission of sins (Peter\u2019s Pentecostal<\/a> sermon, Acts 2:38).\u00a0 I must have my sins washed away by the blood of the Lamb offered on the altar of burnt offering that was Calvary and Golgotha.\u00a0 I must seek repentance and the washing away of my sins on a daily basis as well.<\/p>\n

And now God invites me in closer to Him, and what do I see?\u00a0 I see the Holy Place.\u00a0 It is lit by the golden lampstand, for God is Light.\u00a0 In His light, I see light, and I am to be light, not only in His presence but so that I may take that light out of the Holy Place and into the world.\u00a0 This light must be burning at all times, for I am a priest and that is my duty.<\/p>\n

Across from the lampstand is the Table of Showbread.\u00a0 Here, too, is Christ, who is not only the Temple, sacrifice, High Priest, and light but also the Bread of Life.\u00a0 He is my daily bread, and I must eat Him.\u00a0 After being washed, I must partake of the Lord\u2019s Supper and so partake of Him.<\/p>\n

In the front of these, as I move towards the Holy of Holies, is the altar of incense.\u00a0 Here I offer up my prayers, which are incense, a sweet-smelling aroma to the Lord.\u00a0 It is my priestly duty to offer up this incense every day and throughout the day.\u00a0 But it is no mere duty: it should also delight me, as I spend time in His presence.<\/p>\n

Into the Holy of Holies the Lord leads me.\u00a0 Immediately, I see the Ark of the Covenant.\u00a0 I begin to cry, as on the top of it I spy the mercy seat.\u00a0 I see the cherubim, those dreaded creatures who once kept me from Paradise but who now greet me and usher me into His presence, which is Paradise itself.\u00a0 I hear and see and remember God\u2019s mercy to me, because of Son, who is the Temple and sacrifice and High Priest and everything that I see around me!<\/p>\n

Here is God Himself, remembering His holy covenant with His people.\u00a0 Here is God, both holy and just, remembering His terrible covenant and oath that man should die in his disobedience.\u00a0 Here is God, both merciful and loving, remembering His covenant of love that man should live if he would partake of the Sacrifice and eat of the heavenly food that is Christ.<\/p>\n

Lifting the lid of the Ark of the Covenant, what do I see?\u00a0 I see a jar of manna, again my daily bread by which God sustains me.\u00a0 I see every part of my day, repetitive and tasteless as it may seem, and yet in reality the bread from heaven by which He sustains me.\u00a0 I see Aaron\u2019s rod, the sacrament of God\u2019s presence among His people.\u00a0 It is, of course, a dead tree, the Tree of Life that died to me once I died to God.<\/p>\n

But what\u2019s this?!\u00a0 It\u2019s budding.\u00a0 The Cross, which is a dead Tree, comes back to life as He is resurrected, and with His life comes back my life as well.<\/p>\n

And there are the Ten Commandments.\u00a0 There is the Word of God, right there in the middle of the Ark, in the middle of the Holy of Holies, inside the Temple, the house of the Lord.\u00a0 His Word may look like it\u2019s locked up inside the Temple, and it is, for the Bible cannot exist outside of the Church.\u00a0 Only in the age of print that has tempted us to worship our technology and ourselves, could we ever imagine the Word of God without the people of God.<\/p>\n

But His Word cannot be contained.\u00a0 It is by His Word that we see all of the objects in the Temple; it is by His Word that they were decreed.\u00a0 His Word cannot be contained within the Temple even.\u00a0 It flashes forth from the Holy of Holies, illuminates every object in the Temple and communicates with them, and still it is not done.\u00a0 It illuminates the priests, it is eaten by them, it becomes a part of them so that they take it with them wherever they go.\u00a0 And so its lightning flashes and its thunder rolls past the Temple and spills out into the world, calling all to the One Who Is the Word and is the Temple!<\/p>\n

Here is the Temple made without human hands.\u00a0 Come into it today!<\/p>\n

Prayer:\u00a0 You, O Christ, are the kingdom of Heaven; You the land promised to the gentle; You the grazing-lands of paradise; You the hall of the celestial banquet; You the ineffable marriage-chamber; You the table set for all; You the bread of life; You the unheard-of drink; You both the urn for the water and the life-giving water; You moreover the inextinguishable lamp for each of the saints; You the garment and the crown and the One who distributes the crowns; You the joy and the rest; You the delight and the glory; You the gaiety and the mirth; and Your grace, grace of the Spirit of all sanctity, will shine like the sun in all the saints; and You, inaccessible sun, will shine in their midst and all will shine brightly to the degree of their faith, their asceticism, their hope and their love, their purification and their illumination by Your Spirit.\u00a0 (St. Symeon the New Theologian)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Point for Meditation:\u00a0 Memorize the architecture and furniture of the Temple and use it as a means of meditating on Christ and praying.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Resolution:\u00a0 I resolve to spend \u201cextra\u201d time today in the presence of the Lord, especially in His Word and in His Temple.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2012 Fr. Charles Erlandson<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

St. Stephen in Glory \u2013 Giacomo Cavedone \u2013 Wikipedia<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Acts 7:35-53 In Acts 7:35-53, St. Stephen hones in on his closing arguments.\u00a0 While he begins by acting as a defense attorney, by the end of his sermon he is acting as a prosecutor.\u00a0 It is this shocking reversal that must have caught his audience by surprise and provoked a response.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure Stephen was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2856,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[103,192,297,1109,2156,2411],"class_list":["post-1571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-give-us-this-day","tag-acts-7","tag-ark-of-the-covenant","tag-body-of-christ","tag-high-priest","tag-st-stephens-sermon","tag-the-temple"],"yoast_head":"\nWednesday of Trinity Sunday - Acts 7:35-53<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"stiff-necked, uncircumcised in heart, the Temple, High Priest, Ark of the Covenant, Holy of Holies, manna, Aaron\u2019s rod, Table of Showbread, golden lampstand\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/giveusthisday\/wednesday-of-trinity-sunday-acts-735-53\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wednesday of Trinity Sunday - Acts 7:35-53\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"stiff-necked, uncircumcised in heart, the Temple, High Priest, Ark of the Covenant, Holy of Holies, manna, Aaron\u2019s rod, Table of Showbread, golden lampstand\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/giveusthisday\/wednesday-of-trinity-sunday-acts-735-53\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Give Us This Day\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-05T22:23:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/giveusthisday\/files\/2012\/06\/St.-Stephen-in-Glory-Giacomo-Cavedone-Wikipedia-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fr. 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