This is the very situation found in the book of Leviticus. (Oddly enough Leviticus is one of my favorite
books of the Bible.) If I were to
summarize Leviticus in one word that word would be “holiness.” The main theme the book is addressing is how
do people (pre-Christ) approach The Living God, while being in a fallen state? The regulations from skin diseases to the Day
of Atonement all deal with the issue of Holiness. How do you become holy, how do you stay holy,
and how do you approach a holy God.
Read: Leviticus10:1-5
The first few times I read this chapter I had a rather
typical response, “that seems awfully harsh to kill the two sons of Aaron over
some incense!” The question I asked was,
“why would God do something so terrible over something so small?” As I studied this passage I realized that
Nadab and Abihu did something rather serious and destructive for themselves,
and worse Israel, in the presence of the living God.
Nadab and Abihu were not oblivious to the movements of
God. Anyone living today would pay all
they had to be witnesses to even a fraction of what Nadab and Abihu witnessed. Let me chronicle it for you.
Beginning with the exodus.
They were present to see the plagues that decimated Egypt . There is no doubt in my mind they watched as
their father Aaron and uncle Moses leave to confront Pharaoh. I believe they
saw Aaron and Moses return as the sky grew dark over their shoulders. They participate in the very first Passover,
as the Angle of Death took the first-born in Egypt, and they were spared. They stood with their father at the edge of
the Red Sea, and witnessed God’s second greatest act of deliverance in
history. They stood on Mount
Sinai and saw the God of Israel and were allowed to live! They saw God!! (Exodus 24:9)
They witnessed all of these.
With their 5 senses, they saw the one of the greatest fulfillments of
God’s faithfulness to his people in history. After this revelation of God they descended
Sinai and built a calf to worship (Ex 32).
What lack of faith they had!
Maybe Nadab and Abihu did not want to follow a God they could not
control. They wanted gods like the ones they had in Egypt.
Either way, they were the spiritual leaders of Israel, and
they led Israel back into idolatry.
Actively lead them back into idolatry.
By the hands of Aaron and his sons, a false god was paraded around to
worship, in place of the true God, whom they just saw!
With this understanding in mind my sympathies for Nadab and
Abihu are greatly diminished. These
spiritual leaders of Israel, who had first hand knowledge of the one true
living God, lead Israel into worship of an evil false god. So when they were given the regulations (in
Ex 30) on how to approach the living God with offerings they clearly had no
interest in following God’s requirements.
Nadab and Abihu entered into the tent of the meeting they
still had the blood on their right ear and oil on their forehead from when
Moses consecrated them as priests. In
Exodus 30.1-10; 30.34-38 the regulations for the appropriate offering of incense
were given. The incense was specific,
only in the tent of the meeting was this incense to be used. Only the incense commanded by God was to be
used in the tent of the meeting.
These two children of Aaron knew the regulation, they had
the revelation, and they felt it necessary developed their own way to do things. With their own incense they came
before God. Only two reasons I can see for
their decision.
First, their friends in Israel were constantly complaining
that they left Egypt. Many wanted to
return because they did not like following the direction of the Lord. They may have sought the approval of their
fellow Israelites and brought Egyptian incense before God. There is no doubt in my mind that this
incense was incense used in worship of idols.
Second and more
dangerously, they thought they could control God!! We never do this do we? They had the specific requirements of the
incense. They knew what the power of the
Lord meant and they wanted to demonstrate that they could control that power
for themselves.
response from God in
In the Chronicles of Narnia
Aslan is a character that represents God the Son. Aslan is a lion who is
personally involved with Narnia. Throughout
the volumes of this story the characters say something about Aslan. The refrain from those in Narnia is, “Aslan
is not a tame lion.” “God is not a tame
Lion” Nadab and Abihu, in a
very painful, way discovered that God is not tame, and will not be subject to
the arrogant, who want to own His power.
Nadab and Abihu
were the sacrifices that God accepted.
In their attitudes before God they became DEAD Sacrifices. A dead sacrifice becomes useless to God. Nadab
and Abihu were useless to God. Their
burned up carcasses dragged outside of camp and left to rot.
I am captivated by this passage. The incredible untamed power of God’s glory
is released against those who thought they could tame God.
Let us look at a jar of water. I can hold a jar of water. It is under
control. It is with in my power to take the
water inside the jar where ever I desire.
I can drink the water, and have it become a part of me. Do I really think that I have tamed water? Now, if I take my jar of water and head over
to the falls in Niagara, NY (or more preferably in Canada) and think for a
second that I can tame that water, you would call me a fool.
If you stand by the edge of Niagara Falls for even a short
time you will feel the sheer magnitude, and power, of millions of gallons of
water rushing over the edge. Now, if you
take your jar hop the rail, keeping you from the edge, and jump in to the falls
you will be consumed by the majesty and power of one of the 7 wonders of the
world.
Aaron’s sons did just this. With what is the equivalent of a jar of water,
they approached the God, who formed enumerable galaxies, stars and planets; who
holds the balance of atoms and molecules together with mere thought; and
intimately formed humanity with the breath of life. They approached thinking they could take their
jar of incense and jump in. Read verse
three again.
Leviticus 10:3 “By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.”
Keep that in mind and read from the Apostle Paul’s letter to
the Romans
Read: Romans 11:33-36
After telling us all about the beautiful plan of salvation
from our sin, and God’s wrath you can hear shades of Leviticus 10 in Paul’s
words. I almost hear Paul asking “Can you tame God?” God cannot be tamed but
he loves us.
Just like the Hebrews, delivered from bondage of Egypt, we
were delivered from the bondage of sin. Nadab and Abihu did not treat God as
Holy and Powerful they mocked him and were consumed. But we, as it says in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20,
are the temples of the Holy Spirit. We
have access to God in a way that is beyond or ability to conceive or
grasp.
We are bought with a price!
Do you not know that Jesus was that price, the Holy and final
sacrifice? Does that change how you
live?
Read: Romans 12:1-3
What is a living sacrifice? Remember your life was
bought with a price you no longer are your own but belong to God. Paul uses this image of a living sacrifice to
demonstrate three things:
First, becoming sacrifice is an all
or nothing proposition. On the Day of
Atonement the bull did not say well this was fun I am going to go back to my
grazing.
Second, humility is essential.
You have to place yourself in a great position of humility to consider
your life a sacrifice. The humility of a
sacrifice serves others. A sacrifice is
done for the good of a community, and by being a living sacrifice your life now
has purpose for God and His Community.
Third, above all a sacrifice requires holiness. The offering of a sacrifice required a
spotless animal. I not saying that we
are going to achieve a sinless state in this lifetime but our goal and pursuit
should be holiness. If we are called to
be a living sacrifice, like Paul suggests here, then we should pursue
holiness. We should not pursue holiness
because it will gain us anything in this earthly realm; we should pursue
holiness because GOD IS HOLY.
Nadab and Abihu were dead sacrifices they brought their idolatry
before God and sought to control the Lord with their own sacrificial
worship. They became useless waist
dragged outside of Camp.
Knowing that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, do
you bring your incense before God? In
this syncretistic world we often do not take seriously the idea of
idolatry. Everyone is entitled to their
own belief. Specifically in America we do
not directly bow down to gods of wood, clay, or stone. We worship a more seductive god whose face
looks at us from inside the mirror.
Several years ago I saw a commercial were people in a crowed
held up a sign that said “I am.” I
realized they were not making a statement about autonomy but a statement about
theology. The self centered society that
claims there is no god of consequence will soon begin to worship itself. And that is what we are doing. I challenge you to be conscious of how often
the ascription “I am” is used in reference to people in our culture.
We are taking the name of God and claiming it for
ourselves. By doing so we are bringing
incense of idolatry into the temple of the Holy Spirit, and we are bringing the
reckoning of Nadab and Abihu upon ourselves!
As living sacrifices we are called to humble, holy
living. Please, I too often hear excuses
for our sin, “It is not that bad.” “At least I didn’t do that” (ok Meatloaf). “I can do what I want God will forgive me.” Why
should we want to wallow in the death of our Idolatry?
Examine yourself
what incense do you allow into the temple of the Holy Spirit? Is it late night internet
surfing? Is it conversations with a
woman that is not your wife? Is it your
secret thought life? Is it the profanity you use when no one is around? Is it craving the approval of sinful
men? What incense do you bring before
God?
Imagine yourself walking through the most luxurious gates
ever cast. Imagine the smell of new
flowers lightly perfuming the air as you walk through the gates. Imagine the sound of a new song in your ears
that started with the beginning of the world.
Imagine yourself now standing face to face with Jesus Christ our
heavenly Savior and Lord. Will you fall
to your knees and give Him the worship He is due, or will you bring to him the
incense of your idolatry and expect him to smell the putrescent odor of
sin?
You should live a
holy life not because you will gain anything (but you will); you should live a
holy life because the living God of this universe is holy, that should be enough.
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