Acts 17:24-34\u00a0<\/b>–\u00a0\u201cThe God who made the world and everything in it\u00a0is the Lord of heaven and earth\u00a0and does not live in temples built by human hands.\u00a025\u00a0And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.\u00a026\u00a0From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.\u00a027\u00a0God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.\u00a028\u00a0\u2018For in him we live and move and have our being.\u2019\u00a0As some of your own poets have said, \u2018We are his offspring.\u2019\u00a0 29\u00a0\u201cTherefore since we are God\u2019s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone\u2014an image made by human design and skill.\u00a030\u00a0In the past God overlooked\u00a0such ignorance,\u00a0but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.\u00a031\u00a0For he has set a day when he will judge\u00a0the world with justice\u00a0by the man he has appointed.\u00a0He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.\u201d\u00a0 32\u00a0When they heard about the resurrection of the dead,\u00a0some of them sneered, but others said, \u201cWe want to hear you again on this subject.\u201d\u00a033\u00a0At that, Paul left the Council.\u00a034\u00a0Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus,\u00a0also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cThe God who made the world and everything in it\u00a0is the Lord of heaven and earth\u00a0and does not live in temples built by human hands.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0As Paul reveals God to the Athenians he lets them know that although they make idols to worship unresponsive gods of stone, wood and precious metals, the God whom he is revealing to them is not one that needs to be imagined by human mind or fashioned by human hands.\u00a0\u00a0God is the creator of all (John 1:1-3, Colossians 1:15-16<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0He always existed and He is eternal and always will.\u00a0\u00a0Since He is the creator of all, since he is more immense than all the universe, since His power is unlimited, He does not live in temples built by human hands.\u00a0\u00a0Nothing could contain Him.\u00a0\u00a0Well, we might then ask, what about when the High Priest would go into His presence in the Holy of Holies in the Jewish Temple?\u00a0\u00a0It is believed that it was not \u201cGod in the flesh\u201d (so to speak) that the High Priest would see in the Holy of Holies, but it was His Shekinah glory.\u00a0\u00a0The Shekinah glory is a biblical expression the rabbis used so peak of a cloudy expression, or manisfestation of God\u2019s glory.\u00a0\u00a0God gave Aaron direction through Moses about when he was to enter the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle and what he would see inside it.\u00a0\u00a0God said that he would \u201cappear in the cloud over the mercy seat.<\/i>\u201d (Leviticus 16:2<\/b>) That is that He would be represented in the cloud, not that His fullness would be clearly seen.\u00a0\u00a0He would be within the cloud, but the cloud was not Him, and the entirely of Him was represented, but the cloud did not fully contain Him.\u00a0\u00a0The High Priest was allowed to see the cloud, not Him, just a representation of His presence.\u00a0\u00a0Earlier, before the Holy of Holies, a pillar of cloud went before the Jews as they escaped Egypt.\u00a0\u00a0That cloud led the Jews by day.\u00a0\u00a0It was a form of God\u2019s glory for them to follow.\u00a0\u00a0Also, God spoke to Moses from the cloud.\u00a0\u00a0(Exodus 13:20-22, Exodus 33:11<\/b>) That cloud is referred to as an instance of God\u2019s Shekinah Glory.\u00a0\u00a0So, it was not that God, the fullness of God, resided in the temple, but rather, once a year at Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) He would reveal Himself to the High Priest in revealing His Shekinah Glory.\u00a0\u00a0Therefore, what Paul said to the Athenians was in alignment with the rest of scripture, God does not live in temples built by human hands.\u00a0\u00a0To use the catchphrase from Colonel John \u201cHannibal\u201d Smith (A-Team) \u201cI love it when a plan comes together.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Especially God\u2019s plans.\u00a0\u00a0And they always do.\u00a0\u00a0The Holy Scriptures never contradict themselves, and they always align with the entirety of itself, and all of its prophecies come true.\u00a0\u00a0Praise our omniscient God!\u00a0\u00a0Praise God!\u00a0\u00a0Truly our confidence in Him is justified.\u00a0\u00a0God is so much more than we are!\u00a0\u00a0That is why we don\u2019t depend on our thinking or the thinking of any man, but we depend on the Holy Scriptures in the Bible.\u00a0\u00a0We depend on God!\u00a0\u00a0(Isaiah 55:9, Proverbs 3:5-6, 1 John 3:20<\/b>)\u00a0\u00a0Praise God at all times!\u00a0\u00a0Praise God!<\/p>\n
Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Numbers 6:24-26<\/b>\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Lord\u00a0bless you and keep you; 25\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0turn His face\u00a0toward you and give you peace.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Acts 17:24-34\u00a0–\u00a0\u201cThe God who made the world and everything in it\u00a0is the Lord of heaven and earth\u00a0and does not live in temples built by human hands.\u00a025\u00a0And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.\u00a026\u00a0From one man he made all the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,1863,2257,103,100,2454,94,1874,88,17],"class_list":["post-1894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-colossians","tag-exodus","tag-isaiah","tag-john","tag-leviticus","tag-micah","tag-numbers","tag-proverbs","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1894"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1895,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1894\/revisions\/1895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}