Jesus and Abraham

John 8 ⁴⁸The people told Jesus, "We were right to say that you are a Samaritan and that you have a demon in you!"
⁴⁹Jesus answered, "I don't have a demon in me. I honor my Father, and you refuse to honor me. ⁵⁰I don't want honor for myself. But there is one who wants me to be honored, and he is also the one who judges. ⁵¹I tell you for certain that if you obey my words, you will never die."
⁵²Then the people said, "Now we are sure that you have a demon. Abraham is dead, and so are the prophets. How can you say that no one who obeys your words will ever die? ⁵³Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?"
⁵⁴Jesus replied, "If I honored myself, it would mean nothing. My Father is the one who honors me. You claim that he is your God, ⁵⁵even though you don't really know him. If I said I didn't know him, I would be a liar, just like all of you. But I know him, and I do what he says. ⁵⁶Your father Abraham was really glad to see me."
⁵⁷"You are not even fifty years old!" they said. "How could you have seen Abraham?"
⁵⁸Jesus answered, "I tell you for certain that even before Abraham was, I was, and I am." ⁵⁹The people picked up stones to kill Jesus, but he hid and left the temple.

Solomon Brings the Sacred Chest to the Temple
(1 Kings 8.1-13)

2 Chronicles 5 ^2-3The sacred chest had been kept on Mount Zion, also known as the city of David. But Solomon decided to have the chest moved to the temple while everyone was in Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Shelters during the seventh month.
Solomon called together all the important leaders of Israel. ^4-5Then the priests and the Levites picked up the sacred chest, the sacred tent, and the objects used for worship, and they carried them to the temple. ⁶Solomon and a crowd of people walked in front of the chest, and along the way they sacrificed more sheep and cattle than could be counted.
⁷The priests carried the chest into the most holy place and put it under the winged creatures, ⁸whose wings covered the chest and the poles used for carrying it. ⁹The poles were so long that they could be seen from just outside the most holy place, but not from anywhere else. And they stayed there from then on.
¹⁰The only things kept in the chest were the two flat stones Moses had put there when the LORD made his agreement with the people of Israel at Mount Sinai, after bringing them out of Egypt.
^11-13The priests of every group had gone through the ceremony to make themselves clean and acceptable to the LORD. The Levite musicians, including Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and relatives, were wearing robes of fine linen. They were standing on the east side of the altar, playing cymbals, small harps, and other stringed instruments. One hundred twenty priests were with these musicians, and they were blowing trumpets.
They were praising the LORD by playing music and singing:
"The LORD is good,
and his love never ends."
Suddenly a cloud filled the temple as the priests were leaving the holy place. ¹⁴The LORD's glory was in that cloud, and the light from it was so bright that the priests could not stay inside to do their work.

A Broken Agreement

Malachi 2 ¹⁰Don't you know that we all have God as our Father? Didn't the one God create each of us? Then why do you cheat each other by breaking the agreement God made with your ancestors? ¹¹You people in Judah and Jerusalem have been unfaithful to the LORD. You have disgraced the temple that he loves, and you have committed the disgusting sin of worshiping other gods. ¹²I pray that the LORD will no longer let those who are guilty belong to his people, even if they eagerly decide to offer the LORD a gift.
¹³And what else are you doing? You cry noisily and flood the LORD's altar with your tears, because he isn't pleased with your offerings and refuses to accept them. ¹⁴And why isn't God pleased? It's because he knows that each of you men has been unfaithful to the wife you married when you were young. You promised that she would be your partner, but now you have broken that promise. ¹⁵Didn't God create you to become like one person with your wife? And why did he do this? It was so you would have children, and then lead them to become God's people. Don't ever be unfaithful to your wife. ¹⁶The LORD God All-Powerful of Israel hates anyone who is cruel enough to divorce his wife. So take care never to be unfaithful!
¹⁷You have worn out the LORD with your words. And yet, you ask, "How did we do that?"
You did it by saying, "The LORD is pleased with evil and doesn't care about justice."