Acts 7:44-50 :

“Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen; which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered into the possession of the nations, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, to the days of David, who found favor in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob. But Solomon built him a house. However, the Most High doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says,

‘heaven is my throne,
and the earth a footstool for my feet.
What kind of house will you build me?’ says the Lord;
‘or what is the place of my rest?
Didn’t my hand make all these things?’

The Jews were and still are very proud of the temple. It is possible to be too proud about it because in His word, God tells us that He lives in heaven, not in a temple made by human hands.

This is an important part of this case because Stephen was accused of speaking against “this place.” They were probably in the temple area when the accusation was made. It is clear from Stephen’s words that the coming destruction of the temple, that Jesus predicted, was not a destruction of God’s house, but of His “footstool.” God is quite capable of destroying a broken footstool and making a new one. The main issue is the problem of “human hands.”

This is an important fact about the relationship between mankind and God. We cannot do anything with our own hands that will be acceptable to God. When we become Christians we are capable of doing things that God accepts as long as we are empowered by the Holy Spirit. Nothing else will be acceptable and nothing else lasts. Even the temple was destroyed. We should not worship the work of our own hands, but seek the power of God and give Him glory.