Stephen continued defending himself against the charge of blasphemy against Moses and God.  He came to the point of his defense concerning the Tabernacle of Testimony which the children of Israel built from a pattern given to Moses by God.

  The Tabernacle was the center of the wilderness camp.  It would be the first thing to be set up and taken down in an orderly manner. 

  That Tabernacle of Testimony was a “picture” or pattern of Messiah.  That tent testified of the living God and His Anointed One, Messiah.  The whole pattern, both inside and out, pointed toward the Lord Jesus Christ.  In fact, books have been written about the significance, the grand significance, of that Tabernacle in the wilderness.

 (NASB) Acts 7:44 “Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen.”

  God’s presence was in that tabernacle; at the Mercy Seat in the Most Holy Place inside the tabernacle… “according to the pattern which” Moses “had seen” from the living God.

  Jesus was foreshadowed by that tabernacle and everything that it contained. 

  The Mercy Seat is the place anyone may meet the living God, seeking His forgiveness.  It is at the mercy seat anyone finds forgiveness for their sins. God provided the mercy seat, which is so important for anyone to be forgiven.  Only through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ may anyone be admitted into God’s presence at the mercy seat.

  Followers of Christ – our lives are to be a testimony of our Savior and God.  We are to be witnesses to the reality of God in our lives.  Immanuel – God with us.

  Not only on Sunday, but throughout the week, we can know that our God is with us, follower of Christ.  The big events and the everyday happenings…our God is still God and He is still with us.  No matter that we are continuing to live in the middle of COVID-19.  God is still God and He is still with us, follower of Christ.

Let us go forward into this day, into these hours with confidence because God is with us!

Let us go to the mercy seat where Christ is seated and seek His forgiveness for our sins.

~ Take it to heart ~

Just as the tabernacle was positioned in the center of the Hebrews camp as they journeyed to the Promised Land.

Let us make Jesus the center of our lives.

Categories: The Acts of the Holy Spirit