Acts 17:24 The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;
God made the world and everything in it. He’s lord of it all. He’s everywhere. He’s not restrained or constrained. He’s infinitely resourceful.
Acts 17:25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;
God doesn’t need any help, particularly our help. He needs no servant, although he wants us to serve him for our benefit. Have we stopped to think who’s responsible for our next breath?
Acts 17:26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,
God makes much out of nothing. He populates. He organizes. He differentiates. God’s in charge of timing. He has a purpose for delays and postponements. Our limitations have been established by him.
Acts 17:27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;
Because of delays or disappointments or limitations we think God is far away. We think he’s keeping us in the dark. No. He wants us to seek him out. He’s not far off. In fact, he’s been there all the time.
Acts 17:28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’
We think we’re confined or constricted. We become frustrated because we can’t get our way. But within God-ordained limits (his will) we are free to move about. We are his children playing in his backyard.
Acts 17:29 Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.
We are drawn to some thing or person or position–whatever–to find happiness and fulfillment. As children we ought not think this way! John said, “Little children, guard yourselves from idols.” I John 5:21 The Lord said in Luke 12:15 that we need to beware of greed in all of its forms, that our lives do not consist of our possessions. Be drawn to the giver of good gifts! Luke 11:15
Acts 17:30–31 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
God has “disregarded” all that has transpired out of ignorance, and established a means by which one may cohabitate with him, in a sense to serve him, by the sacrifice and raising of his son Jesus. At this point, Paul had revealed the identity of the unknown God. There now would be no excuse. It would be a “take it or leave it” proposition that most of his erudite audience would “sneer” at. Repentance was the only option. Rejection would leave them to continue to grope in the darkness. “Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them” chose the former.
This choice awaits everyone in life at some point, and it will not necessarily be posed by someone of Paul’s stature and logic. As he wrote in Romans…
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. Romans 1:18-20
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