In Exodus 9 there is this great story after Aaron and his sons were ordained as priests. All these sacrifices were offered and blood applied to their ears and thumbs and big toes. So then in verse 24 it says, "And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar; and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces."
Cool, huh?
So then in just the next verse we see the same thing happen, only not in a good way. Nadab and Abihu, Moses' sons, "each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord."
Not so cool.
Now I don't want to get into all the intricate details about what was going on here, but suffice it to say that these boys were trying to worship God in a way God had not commanded, going against what they should have known.
I think it is an interesting contrast. In both cases fire came out from the Lord. In one it consumed the sacrifice, on the other it consumed the worshiper.
Here's the thing that struck me. This is in a way a picture of what is going to happen on a universal scale. A cleansing will take place, a cleansing by fire. God will break out and His wrath will consume anything that is not pure.
In the first case He consumes the sacrifice, just as His wrath consumed the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus, who bore that wrath so that we don't have to. God accepted that offering as payment for all our evil.
But if we try to come before God in a way that He did not command (and doing the work of God is believing in His Son - John 6:28) then it is us that will be judged. We cannot just make up our own deal and call it "worship" and think it can be accepted. This isn't a play or a game. This is serious business. Evil is evil and needs to be judged. I just don't want to be judged along with it so I take Jesus' sacrifice as payment and cleansing from my evil and now I wouldn't think of coming before God outside of Jesus.
These boys apparently took approaching God lightly. They don't now. And neither should we.
Pastor Tom
Pastor Tom Fuller is the Senior Pastor of Calvary Chapel Newberg in Oregon. As I journey through the Bible (5 or so chapters at a time), I try to share insight into our relationship with God and the world in which we live.
About Me
- Tom Fuller
- I am a writer, pastor, and communications professional. I spent much of my career in the TV news business and am active in web application development.
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2 comments:
There is, I think, often a lack of reverence for God among Christians because there is a lack of understanding the holiness of God. We've heard so many studies about Jesus opening the way of direct access to the Father through the Spirit in the name of Jesus, that we sometimes take for granted our attitude in approaching the Father.
While our access is free and unrestricted, our attitude should be that of unworthiness - bowing before our Creator in reverence and awe, examining ourselves lest we come into His presence with sin hidden in our hearts or in a way not pleasing in His sight. Leviticus 11:45: "You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy."
Well said!
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