PLAYING WITH FIRE, GETTING BURNED

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command. So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.

Moses then said to Aaron, "This is what the Lord spoke of when he said: "'Among those who approach me I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.'"

Aaron remained silent.

Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Aaron's uncle Uzziel, and said to them, "Come here; carry your cousins outside the camp, away from the front of the sanctuary."

So they came and carried them, still in their tunics, outside the camp, as Moses ordered.

Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, "Do not let your hair become unkempt, and do not tear your clothes, or you will die and the Lord will be angry with the whole community. But your relatives, all the house of Israel, may mourn for those the Lord has destroyed by fire. Do not leave the entrance to the Tent of Meeting or you will die, because the Lord's anointing oil is on you."

So they did as Moses said.

Leviticus 10:1-7

This is the account of the family of Aaron and Moses at the time the Lord talked with Moses on Mount Sinai. The names of the sons of Aaron were Nadab, the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. Those were the names of Aaron's sons, the anointed priests, who were ordained to serve as priests.

Nadab and Abihu, however, fell dead before the Lord when they made an offering with unauthorized fire before Him in the Desert of Sinai. They had no sons; so only Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests during the lifetime of their father Aaron."

Numbers 3:1-4

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

There is a tried and true axiom that says success only sustains itself as long as one performs at a level that breeds success. We can use this to form a parallel spiritual truth that goes like this:

Living in a way that God’s favors only lasts if someone prolongs living in a way to garner that favor. As we see in today’s passage from the opening verses of Leviticus, chapter 10, this certain was the case for Aaron’s two sons who end up in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Look again at this passage here:

Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command. So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.

Moses then said to Aaron, "This is what the Lord spoke of when he said: "'Among those who approach me I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.'"

Aaron remained silent.

Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Aaron's uncle Uzziel, and said to them, "Come here; carry your cousins outside the camp, away from the front of the sanctuary."

So they came and carried them, still in their tunics, outside the camp, as Moses ordered.

Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, "Do not let your hair become unkempt, and do not tear your clothes, or you will die and the Lord will be angry with the whole community. But your relatives, all the house of Israel, may mourn for those the Lord has destroyed by fire. Do not leave the entrance to the Tent of Meeting or you will die, because the Lord's anointing oil is on you."

So they did as Moses said.  Leviticus 10:1-7

In the build up to this event, we know there had been plenty of preliminary instruction given by the Lord as to how sacrifices, offerings, and the burning of incense were to be conducted properly within the tabernacle. God covered all the bases while delivering His expectations to Moses who then passed them onto Aaron and his sons so they would know what they were supposed to do and how they were supposed to do it.

In other words, there would be no excuse for not doing things as the Lord commanded and God’s direction found in the nineteenth chapter of put the priests on notice as He wouldn’t show them any preferential treatment for their sinful actions just because they were priests. Rather, any violation of God’s commands would cause the Lord to "break out against them” (v.24).

Well, as we look at these first seven verses of Leviticus, chapter 10, we see that God makes good on His promise after Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, "took their censers, put fire in them and added incense” before offering “unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command." The scriptures tell us that “fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed (Nadab and Abihu)”, leading to them dying “before the Lord" immediately.

Aaron’s sons well knew they weren’t to be in the tabernacle unattended and performing acts that the Lord had not prescribed. And yet, they chose to make “an offering with unauthorized fire" and paid for the sinful disobedience with their lives.

Now, of interest, this isn’t the only instance in the scriptures where we find God sending judgment in the form of a consuming fire.

In chapter 16 of the Book of Numbers, we see where two hundred and fifty men who were all “well-known community leaders” who were Israelites appointed to be “members of the council” were also consumed by fire as they offered incense after they had joined with three men – Korah, Dathan, and Abiram – to rebel against their leader Moses.

In Second Kings, Chapter 1, we see where two separate occasions occur where two delegations, each comprised of a captain and his fifty men, are consumed by fire after attempting to force the prophet Elijah to come down off a hill to meet with King Ahaziah who Elijah had prophesied would die in his bed.

And finally, we know that there is a day still yet to come where all those whose names are not found in the Book of Life, those who refused to place their belief in Jesus as Savior, will find themselves cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15).

So what are we to make of this scripture for today in regard to how we should live today as believers?

I think there are three main points to consider.

First, God despises disobedience and dishonesty.

Aaron’s sons knew that what they were doing was wrong. In defiance of God’s commands, they decided to do their own thing, burning the incense in unauthorized fashion. And so in response, God sent His own fire to take care of the problem once and for all.

In the aftermath of this, if the Israelites didn’t understand how much God loathed disobedience, they would know now. The bottom line was that He fully expected (and still expects) complete compliance with all He has commanded, especially from those that He has appointed and ordained as spiritual leaders.

Second, God will always have others waiting in the wings to replace any leader who chooses to disobediently sin against Him.

In our scripture passage, we see that although Nadab and Abihu were dead, the tabernacle would still be manned by Aaron and his other sons, Eleazar and Ithamar. The proper carrying out of offerings and sacrifices would continue and indeed, it did.

Finally, through Jesus, God withdrew condemnation by fire for those who choose to believe in Him (John 3:17, Romans 8:1). 

This is because Jesus has already paid the price for our sins, purchasing our pardon and subsequent salvation through the shedding of His blood on Calvary’s cross. And now, as He sits in authority over everything in Heaven and on earth, He continues to intercede for all sinners so that they might not be utterly destroyed by their sinfulness. Through Him, all believers find something called justification as affirmed by these words from Paul:

"Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through Him, everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses." Acts 13:38-39

Here we find Paul calling Christian believers justified, forgiven of their sins.

So what does it mean to be “justified”?

I found this as a simple way of remembering and it comes by using the word itself. For any Christian can see being justified as finding themselves just as if I had never sinned. Indeed, as John proclaimed, Jesus was the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

Friends, are you safe from condemnation because of faith in Jesus or are you playing with fire by rejecting Him and moving toward Hell?

In the end translation, this is grounded in a simple choice.

You either believe in Jesus as Savior or you don’t. There’s no third option.

And so your eternal destiny is up to you. My recommendation is that you run into the arms of Jesus right now if you haven’t already. And if you do know Him, never cease to give Him your thanks for His willingness to die in your place and reconcile you to God, your Maker and Master, the One you will get to spend all eternity with after this life id over.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.