Chapter Seven — Part Seven: The Book of Acts
By: Pastors Rodney & Adonica Howard-BrownePublish date: 08/22/2021
Foundation Scriptures:Acts 7:44-50
1. The Temple.
a. Acts 7:44 AMPC — Our forefathers had the tent (tabernacle) of witness in the wilderness, even as He Who directed Moses to make it had ordered, according to the pattern and model he had seen.
b. Exodus 25:9-40
c. Tabernacle (Greek: skēnē) — tent, tabernacle, (made of green boughs, skins, cloths, or other materials); the portable version of the temple of God—the precursor to the permanent one, eventually built in Jerusalem.
d. Acts 7:45 KJV — Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles…
e. Acts 7:45 AMPC — Our forefathers in turn brought it [this tent of witness] in [with them into the land] with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations which God drove out before the face of our forefathers. [So it remained here] until the time of David.
f. Deuteronomy 32:49; Joshua 3:14-17
g. Joshua is called Jesus here (in the original text) and in Hebrews 4:8.
h. Hebrews 4:8 KJV — For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
i. Both names mean “Savior.”
j. Joshua was another type and shadow of the Messiah, through Whom salvation would come.
k. Acts 7:46 KJV — Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
l. Acts 7:46 AMPC — Who found grace (favor and spiritual blessing) in the sight of God and prayed that he might be allowed to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.
m. 2 Samuel 7:8-16; Psalm 132:1-5
n. The word, tabernacle, in this verse is a different word than that used in verse 44.
o. Tabernacle (Greek: skēnōma) — a tabernacle; a tent; an encampment, i.e. (figuratively) the Temple (as God’s residence or habitation); of the tabernacle of the covenant; a dwelling place; metaph. of the human body as the dwelling of the soul.
p. 2 Peter 1:13 AMPC — I think it right, as long as I am in this tabernacle (tent, body), to stir you up by way of remembrance.
q. Acts 7:47 AMPC — But it was Solomon who built a house for Him.
r. 1 Kings 6
2. A Habitation.
a. Acts 7:48 AMPC — However, the Most High does not dwell in houses and temples made with hands; as the prophet says.
b. Isaiah 66:1-2
c. Acts 7:49-50 AMPC — Heaven [is] My throne, and earth the footstool for My feet. What [kind of] house can you build for Me, says the Lord, or what is the place in which I can rest? 50 Was it not My hand that made all these things?
d. The tabernacle, built by the hands of man, was only temporary.
e. There is no tabernacle, built of earthly things, that is worthy to be His habitation.
f. But it is He Who has built the tabernacle, where He is content to dwell—and that is you and me!
g. Mark 14:58 KJV — We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.
h. How wonderful it is, that He created us to be His perfect dwelling place!
i. How privileged we are, that the God of Heaven and earth would come to live, and make His home, inside of us!
3. Rest.
a. Verse 49, “…what is the place in which I can rest?”
b. Rest (Greek: katapausis) — rest; a putting down; a putting to rest; reposing down, i.e. abode; calming of the winds; a resting place; metaph. the heavenly blessedness in which God dwells, and of which he has promised to make persevering believers in Christ partakers after the toils and trials of life on earth are ended.
c. It also means — to depose one from power; to completely and utterly conquer one’s enemies, rendering them incapable of ever rising up again; to completely finish a task; to rest securely.
d. Matthew 22:44 AMPC — The Lord said to My Lord, Sit at My right hand until I put Your enemies under Your feet?
e. Psalm 110:1
f. This rest is promised to us in this life, in Heaven, and in the world to come.
g. Hebrews 3:11 AMPC — Accordingly, I swore in My wrath and indignation, They shall not enter into My rest.
h. Psalm 95:7-11
i. Hebrews 3:18 AMPC — And to whom did He swear that they should not enter His rest, but to those who disobeyed [who had not listened to His word and who refused to be compliant or be persuaded]?
j. Hebrews 4:1 NKJV — Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.
k. Hebrews 4:3a NKJV — For we who have believed do enter that rest…
l. Hebrews 4:10-11 NKJV — For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. 11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.
m. One can only enter into this blessed rest, through obedience and faith.
n. We are saved through grace, not through works.
o. We cease from our own efforts and works, but we continue on in faith, and in obedience to the Word of God.
p. And we look forward to the time when every last enemy has been placed under the feet of Jesus Christ—in the millennium, and ultimately in the new heaven and the new earth—and we enter into the fullness of the peace and the rest that He has provided for us.
q. 1 Corinthians 15:24-28; Ephesians 1:10; Revelation 21:3-7; 22:3
r. Revelation 21:3 KJV — And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.