Click here to read last year's post on this passage.
God makes a lot of statements by fire.
He spoke to Moses through a burning bush. He led the Israelites with a pillar of fire. Later in the OT, He rains fire from heaven when Elijah prays. In the NT He sends the believers the Holy Spirit that appeared as flames above their heads.
And in today's passage He uses fire twice for the same reason (His holiness), but for two opposite behaviours.
After giving so many particular instructions about how exactly all the different types of offerings were to be administered, finally the time comes for the priests to exercise these instructions for the first time. And they do so, carefully and thoroughly, making sure to follow every instruction down to the last letter.
And after they do so, fire comes out from the presence of the Lord and consumes the offering, a glorious act demonstrating the absolute holiness of God. Their respect and obedience brought down holy fire from heaven as an act of glory, giving approval to their purposeful obedience.
But then Nadab and Abihu got sloppy - whether it was purposeful disrespect, outright disobedience or carelessness we do not know. Whatever their motive, their disobedience brought down holy fire from heaven demonstrating once again, the absolute holiness of God. They were consumed in an act of glory and judgment.
From my Life Application Bible....
It is easy for us to grow careless about obeying God, to live our way instead of God's. But if one way were just as good as another, God would not have commanded us to live his way. He always has good reasons for his commands, and we always place ourselves in danger when we consciously or carelessly disobey them. (emphasis mine)
Our God is a holy God, and we play with fire when we consciously or carelessly disobey Him.
Tomorrow's passage: Leviticus 11-12, Mark 7:1-13
5 comments:
This has SO been bugging me again lately ~ and, of course, I'm reading N. DeMoss's study book called "Holiness." THAT doesn't help!!!
I am convinced that very few Christians today are terribly concerned about what it means to live consecrated lives. Not only should it be visible to the outside world, but it should affect our thoughts, our eating habits, our hobbies, how we spend our recreation/relaxing time, what we fill our minds with, the hobbies and pastimes we encourage our children to participate in... EVERYTHING!
More and more, these OT regulations are making me realize exactly how apathetic I've been about it all.
(And, of course, by "Christians today," I'm including myself as well!)
Good reminder, Tammy! I haven't quite thought of it as "playing with fire" before, but it is a very appropriate phrase!
Great post.
"Our God is a holy God, and we play with fire when we consciously or carelessly disobey Him."
I wondered too if Nadab and Abihu purposely disobeyed but the result is the same. It makes me think of the issue going on in my classroom right now. Whether my little Grade 1 friend is purposely trying to hurt or intimidate his peers is essentially irrelevant because his peers are getting hurt and feel intimidated and so the result is the same regardless of the motive.
Great post Tammy!
Post a Comment