12/15 The Lord’s Resting Place
/Date: December 15, 2024
Title: The Lord’s Resting Place
Scripture:
[Acts 7:44-49]
44 Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen.
45 After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors 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 a house for him.
48 However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. 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?”
The passage we just read captures Stephen’s final cry. What enraged the religious leaders to the point of losing control and rushing to silence him was his claim that “God does not dwell in the Jerusalem temple.”
This was the same accusation that provoked them to seize Jesus—setting up false witnesses to claim that He threatened to destroy the temple.
Last week, we examined how easily Israel fell into idolatry, worshiping the golden calf as if it were the Lord God Himself. They sang to it, calling their idolatry worship.
In today’s cry, Stephen is essentially shouting, “Don’t you see that you’ve begun to call this temple building the Lord God? This too is idolatry!”
Do you hear Stephen’s cry?
Or perhaps you think: “Isn’t it too harsh to call the temple of God an idol? Could that really be true?”
Yet, consider this: When Jesus was on the cross, passersby mocked Him, repeating this very accusation.
[Mark 15:29-30]
29 Those who passed by hurled insults at Him, shaking their heads and saying,
“So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days,
30 come down from the cross and save yourself!”
For these people, the temple itself had become their god.
They did not set up idols like Molech or openly worship false gods.
To them, even the word “idol” was a term of utter disgust.
But what was the reality?
The temple building, along with the laws and commandments given by God, had become idols to them.
Stephen’s cry was this: “How can this building contain all of God? Can the Scriptures you study and memorize fully contain Him? Is God so small?”
No, to Him, the whole earth is merely His footstool.
When I undergo a medical examination, the doctor may learn a lot of medical data about me, but that doesn’t mean they know me as my wife or family does.
[1 John 4:7-8]
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
This is not about knowledge of the Bible.
That’s why Jesus rebuked the teachers of the law, calling them “blind” for reading the Scriptures every day but failing to see God.
It’s like receiving a letter from a loved one and being impressed by its content, studying and memorizing it, but not actually thinking about the person behind the letter—becoming fixated on the letter itself while failing to love its author. How could something so absurd happen?
Isn’t that frustrating and baffling?
This doesn’t happen by chance. It is the result of Satan’s persistent deception.
Satan blinds our eyes in this way. He tempts us by baiting our desires and, at the same time, makes us idolize even the good things God has given us, like the temple or the law, leading us to the path of destruction.
The problem is, this path appears to be a good one. It looks like a smooth road that promises stability and success, but its end is destruction.
That’s why Jesus emphasized:
[Matthew 7:13-14]
13 Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
When we encounter an easy and wide-open path, we should not feel relieved.
Instead, we must seek the Lord more earnestly and stay alert, because, as Jesus warned, they come in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
[Amos 5:25-27]
25 Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings for forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?
26 You have lifted up the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the star of your god—which you made for yourselves.
27 Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is God Almighty.
This passage is very similar to last week’s text. Some scholars even argue that Stephen quoted from Amos, but upon closer examination, this is not the case.
Verse 25 is nearly identical: “For forty years in the wilderness, you never truly worshiped me.” However, in Amos, additional idols such as your king—Melek, Sikkuth, and Kiyyun—are mentioned, and the place of exile for their idolatry is Damascus, located in present-day Syria.
Amos’s warning was fulfilled in 722 BC when the Northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed by Assyria.
Meanwhile, in Acts, Stephen referred to exile in Babylon, which occurred approximately 120 years later when the Kingdom of Judah was taken to Babylon (modern-day Iraq), where they spent 70 years.
Though the events are similar, they refer to two distinct incidents.
The objects of worship and the resulting tragedies may differ slightly, but ultimately, the same patterns are repeated over and over.
How different is our era today? Why does the tragic history of humanity repeat itself?
When we look at what is most emphasized in the Ten Commandments, we see that God did not want to be represented by any visible form. Nevertheless, seeing the limitations of the Israelites, God provided something visible for them.
Interestingly, the things God instructed them to make all share a characteristic:
simplicity.
Where had the Israelites come from at that time?
They had just left Egypt, hadn’t they?
For example, Egypt’s most famous structure, the Great Pyramid of Khufu, stands at a height of 150 meters—about the same height as New York’s Flatiron Building—but its base covers an area equivalent to about eight New York city blocks.
And that was just a tomb for one pharaoh.
Additionally, there were massive statues, such as the Great Sphinx, which stands 20 meters tall and stretches 80 meters long.
Even today, these structures are considered awe-inspiring and mysterious in their grandeur.
Yet, what did God provide to represent His presence?
The stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. According to the Talmud, these tablets were thin and small, approximately 30 cm by 30 cm in size.
The Ark of the Covenant, which housed the tablets, was a small box less than one square meter in size.
And the tabernacle, where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, was a modest structure measuring only 63 square meters (about 19 pyeong in the traditional Korean system).
To compare the scales, it looks something like this:
To the Israelites who had lived surrounded by the grandeur of the Great Sphinx and the pyramids, the tabernacle—barely different from the tents they lived in—must have seemed exceedingly modest.
While idols compete to display their greatness, why is the true God so humble?
The first reason is that, unlike idols, God did not want to burden His people with heavy obligations.
Jesus also said to His disciples:
[Matthew 11:28-30]
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
More importantly, God did not want to compete in the same realm as visible, finite, and temporary things.
Have you ever had a favorite book you read as a child?
If that book was ever made into a movie, you were probably disappointed.
Even the best-made film can never fully recreate the scenes you imagined while reading.
Technology continues to advance, from 4K to 8K, and with AI creating ultra-realistic virtual worlds. Yet, these cannot compare to the boundless experience of diving into the world of a book as a child.
When imagining, time flows differently, space is transcended, and the laws of physics are ignored in a limitless world where we get a taste of eternity. We were created to have these extraordinary experiences within ourselves, without the need for VR headsets or similar devices.
While advancements like TV and virtual reality make it seem like imagination is becoming reality, most of the “realities” we enjoy today were imagined decades ago in someone’s writings.
Those authors experienced these realities long before the technology to create them existed.
Even in today’s highly developed world, our reality is merely catching up to the imagination of the past—it has not surpassed it.
However, as we rely on conveniences like driving everywhere, we might begin to find even a 10-meter walk burdensome.
This is an example of technology diminishing human abilities.
New technologies may cause us to lose opportunities to train and develop our imagination. We must be cautious about this.
Reading books and engaging in deep conversations with others can stimulate and train our imagination.
For me, the happiest moments with my children are when we talk about heaven.
In those moments, the experience of such a world becomes vivid, and the more we discuss it, the clearer it becomes. It is a training of the imagination.
The Second Commandment is directly related to this concept.
God not only forbade the making of images of false gods but also prohibited creating any representation of Himself.
Many artists have tried, but not even one of God’s essential attributes—such as His love—can be perfectly represented in any form.
God cannot be depicted by anything on earth.
Is Michelangelo’s depiction of a white-bearded man supposed to be God?
It may represent one small, partial image of God that the artist envisioned through prayer, but it can never fully express who God is.
As someone who draws, I’ve tried countless times to depict God, but neither on canvas nor even within my heart could I ever capture His image.
Yet, this does not mean I’ve experienced God’s absence.
In those moments, as I earnestly sought God with all my heart, I couldn’t capture Him in an image, but I could feel His presence. God was undeniably with me during that process.
The reason God has not given us a visual image of Himself is that He desires this kind of imagination and focus from us.
It is not merely intellectual concentration but a total dedication of all our being.
“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
—Hebrews 11:1
This does not mean imagining something that doesn’t exist.
It means using our imagination to perceive the One who is real and present with us.
This is spiritual focus. This is loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength.
This is the faith to see the unseen God.
This is also why we, unlike followers of other religions, do not create or display images in our homes.
Some Protestants, citing the Second Commandment, criticize Catholics harshly for creating and displaying various images or statues.
If someone can often think of Jesus in their daily life without such items, and if they can remain spiritually focused, that is undoubtedly the best case.
But if they rarely think about the Lord throughout their day and place a small cross on their bookshelf to remind themselves of Him, even for a brief moment when their eyes pass over it—would the Lord really say they have violated the Second Commandment?
Moreover, if they are not keeping the other commandments perfectly themselves, they have no right to criticize others for this.
Jesus summarized the Ten Commandments as follows:
[Matthew 22:37-40]
37 Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Jesus explained that all the laws, including the Ten Commandments, are condensed into two principles: love for God and love for one’s neighbor.
The Ten Commandments, which consist of ten laws, are generally divided into two parts:
• Commandments 1 to 4 deal with our relationship with God.
• Commandments 5 to 10 concern our relationship with other people.
However, Jews traditionally hold certain numbers as significant—3, 7, 10, and 12.
For this reason, I believe the commandments concerning God are not four but the complete number, three:
• Commandments 1 to 3 focus on God,
• Commandments 5 to 10 (six in total) focus on humanity,
• and the 4th Commandment—the Sabbath—stands in between, as a meeting point of God and humanity.
Thus, the Ten Commandments are structured as:
• Three for God,
• Six for humanity,
• One uniting the two in the Sabbath.
This completes the Ten Commandments.
If we count the commandments, however, the ones concerning humanity are twice as numerous as those concerning God. Why is this the case?
Jesus gives us a clue:
[John 15:12]
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”
Jesus redefined the Ten Commandments, condensing the two principles into one: “Love one another.”
The Apostle John explains why this love is so central:
[1 John 4:20-21]
20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.
21 And He has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
One critical point here is that the word “love” has been distorted in meaning, so we must first clarify its true definition.
[John 15:13]
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
The love described in the Bible refers to this kind of self-sacrificial love.
Most of us experience this love primarily through the love of a mother. Ordinary mothers are willing to sacrifice everything for their children. For this reason, we often encounter God’s true love through our mothers.
However, there is a difference: can you extend such love—not for your children—but for your friends?
This is transcendent love, not of this world, but love that comes from heaven and is enabled by divine life.
The Hebrew word “hesed” embodies this meaning. Often translated as “kindness,” it refers to a love that manifests through kindness—
not kindness to make oneself look good or from surplus resources, but kindness that comes at a cost, kindness that involves sacrifice and loss.
This is the love God demonstrated to us through Jesus Christ.
Perhaps few of us will ever face a situation where we must literally lay down our lives for a friend.
However, all of us have someone we can show such sacrificial kindness to for the Lord’s sake.
Primarily, we are meant to be such people for one another.
In today’s passage, Stephen refers to the tabernacle where the Ten Commandments and the Ark of the Covenant would be placed as the “tent of testimony.”
In Hebrew, the word “edut” has three meanings: “testimony,” “law,” and “covenant.” This is why the Ark of the Covenant is sometimes referred to as the Ark of the Testimony.
However, since today’s text comes from the New Testament, it was written in Greek rather than Hebrew. Among several interpretative options, Stephen deliberately chose the expression “tent of testimony.”
He emphasized the meaning of the tabernacle as a testimony.
What kind of testimony?
The very existence of the tabernacle served as evidence of God’s presence with His people.
If the tabernacle is the “tent of testimony,” then the stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments also become the “tablets of testimony.”
[Exodus 25:16]
“Place inside the ark the tablets of the covenant law that I will give you.”
The Ark of the Covenant, made during the time of Moses, remained with Israel as a symbol of God’s presence for nearly a thousand years until the time of David.
Under Solomon, David’s son, the ark was finally placed in the temple—Israel’s first immovable structure built to house it.
As we saw earlier, the tabernacle was a small structure of about 63 square meters (19 pyeong), and even Solomon’s temple, compared to the temples of other idols, was modest. This is why Herod expanded it to nearly ten times its original size in volume.
Did Herod do this out of love for God? No, it was to display his own grandeur and authority.
However, as the Second Commandment clearly states, seeing God through visible forms was only a temporarily permitted way; God never intended to limit Himself to such representations.
When the tabernacle is called the “tent of testimony” and the tablets of the Ten Commandments are referred to as the “tablets of testimony,” it signifies that the Israelites were to live as witnesses of the living and loving God.
Two thousand years ago, in a season as cold as today, God’s presence came to this earth in an entirely different way—humble and unassuming.
A child was born with the name Immanuel, meaning “God with us.”
Looking at the life of Jesus, He was not only the fulfillment of God’s promises—the Ark of the Covenant—but also the Ark of Testimony.
He revealed the living God and lived as His testimony.
Likewise, we are called to do the same.
When Jesus came, Judaism had become a heap of hypocrisy, even though the temple was the most extravagant it had ever been in history.
Was it a coincidence that the largest and most elaborate cathedrals were built just before the Catholic Church faced the Reformation?
Building something grand and magnificent, like Herod’s temple, is not what pleases the Lord.
Our Lord, who said, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head,” did not value such things.
As the “tent of testimony” of God’s presence among us, we are to live in such a way that demonstrates it through our lives and words as witnesses of Christ.
In this cold season, we remember the Lord who was born in a stable because there was no room in the inn, who rested in a manger used to feed animals.
Though the place was humble and uncomfortable, His heart was surely filled with joy.
And now, the Lord comes to dwell in us through the Holy Spirit,
choosing to reside in hearts that may be even humbler and more uncomfortable than the manger.
No matter how shabby we may be, the One who dwells in us is the King of kings.
He declares, “You are my temple.”
Moses, whom God loved so much, never entered the Promised Land.
David, whom God called “beloved,” was not permitted to build the temple.
Yet, who are we that He would make us His temple?
He has made us His “tent of testimony.”
He desires us to live as witnesses, bearing the testimony of Jesus.
Just as Jesus revealed the unseen God, we are called to become “little Christs,” showing Him to the world.
Even though He is unseen, we must cultivate spiritual focus on the Lord within us,
becoming increasingly aware of Him, communicating with Him in every moment until we grow into the full measure of Christ.
If a cross helps you focus, look at it.
If a quiet hymn helps, seek the Lord in the hymn.
If the Scriptures draw you near, meet the Lord through the Word.
But do not remain there.
Train yourself to focus on the Lord even when you cannot see the cross, hear the hymn, or open the Bible—
in your workplace, at home, or even while driving.
Do not remain still.
Strive to reach the full measure of Christ, opening the narrow gate and walking the narrow path.
If we are reborn in Christ, we must now grow into maturity.
Love cannot be fully learned by simply receiving it. It must be practiced through sacrifice and kindness.
This is why the church was established and why the Lord commanded us to love one another.
Only then will we become the resting place where the Lord finds joy and peace. Amen.
Let us pray.
