Manasseh carved an idol and put it in the Temple of God. God had said to David and his son Solomon about the Temple, “I will be worshiped forever in this Temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel.
Also, all the leaders of the priests and the people of Judah became more wicked, following the evil example of the other nations. The Lord had made the Temple in Jerusalem holy, but the leaders made it unholy.
Kill and destroy old men, young men and women, little children, and older women, but don’t touch any who have the mark on them. Start at my Temple.” So they started with the elders who were in front of the Temple.
Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord was speaking about when he said, ‘I must be respected as holy by those who come near me; before all the people I must be given honor.’ ” So Aaron did not say anything about the death of his sons.
“ ‘So you must warn the people of Israel to stay separated from things that make them unclean. If you don’t warn the people, they might make my Holy Tent unclean, and then they would have to die!’ ”
The Lord said to him, “Tell your brother Aaron that there are times when he cannot go behind the curtain into the Most Holy Place where the Ark is. If he goes in when I appear in a cloud over the lid on the Ark, he will die.
Jesus said to all the people there, “It is written in the Scriptures, ‘My Temple will be called a house for prayer.’ But you are changing it into a ‘hideout for robbers.’ ”
The temple of God cannot have any agreement with idols, and we are the temple of the living God. As God said: “I will live with them and walk with them. And I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
It is time for judgment to begin with God’s family. And if that judging begins with us, what will happen to those people who do not obey the Good News of God?