Manasseh also made a statue of an idol and put it in God’s temple—the very same temple that God had talked about to David and his son Solomon. God had said, “I will put my name in this house and in Jerusalem—the city that I chose from \{all the cities in\} all the family groups—\{and my name will be there\} forever!
Also, all the leaders of the priests and the leaders of the people of Judah sinned worse and became more unfaithful to the Lord. They followed the evil example of the other nations. Those leaders ruined the Lord’s temple. {\cf2\super [453]} The Lord had made the temple holy in Jerusalem.
Be very careful when you go to worship God. It is better to listen \{to God\} than to give sacrifices {\cf2\super [23]} like foolish people. Foolish people often do bad things, and they don’t even know it.
Then Moses said to Aaron, “The Lord says, ‘The priests that come near me must respect me! I must be holy to them and to all the people.’” So Aaron did not say anything {about his sons dying}.
“So you must warn the people of Israel about being unclean. [256] {If you don’t warn the people, then} they might make my Holy Tent [257] unclean. And then they would have to die!”
The Lord said, “Talk to your brother Aaron. Tell him that he cannot go behind the curtain into the Most Holy Place [263] anytime he wants to. The Holy Box [264] is in the room behind that curtain. The special cover [265] is on top of that Holy Box. And I appear in a cloud over that special cover. If Aaron goes into that room, he might die!
Jesus said to all the people there, “It is written \{in the Scriptures {\cf2\super [286]} \}, ‘My house will be called a house for prayer.’ {\cf2\super [287]} But you are changing God’s house into a ‘hiding place for thieves.’ {\cf2\super [288]} ”
From this time on we don’t think of any person like the world thinks of people. It is true that in the past we thought of Christ like the world thinks. But we don’t think that way now.
It is time for judging to begin. That judging will begin with God’s family. If that judgment begins with us, then what will happen to those people who don’t accept the Good News {\cf2\super [29]} of God?