46
David asked God for a permanent place for worship.
48
"Yet that doesn't mean that Most High God lives in a building made by carpenters and masons. The prophet Isaiah put it well when he wrote,
49
"Heaven is my throne room; I rest my feet on earth. So what kind of house will you build me?" says God. "Where I can get away and relax?
50
It's already built, and I built it."
51
"And you continue, so bullheaded! Calluses on your hearts, flaps on your ears! Deliberately ignoring the Holy Spirit, you're just like your ancestors.
52
Was there ever a prophet who didn't get the same treatment? Your ancestors killed anyone who dared talk about the coming of the Just One. And you've kept up the family tradition - traitors and murderers, all of you.
53
You had God's Law handed to you by angels - gift-wrapped! - and you squandered it!"
54
At that point they went wild, a rioting mob of catcalls and whistles and invective.
55
But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, hardly noticed - he only had eyes for God, whom he saw in all his glory with Jesus standing at his side.
56
He said, "Oh! I see heaven wide open and the Son of Man standing at God's side!"