And Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD spoke, saying: ‘By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; and before all people I must be glorified.’ ”
So Aaron held his peace. Leviticus 10:3 NKJV
If you have read Exodus and Leviticus, you know that God gave very specific instructions on the constructing of the temple, the making of the priestly garments, the instruments to be used in the tabernacle, the way the sacrifices were to be done and the roles of the priests.
If you read about the ark in Genesis, you know that God gave Noah very specific instructions on how to build the ark.
In our Scripture passage, Aaron’s sons were killed by fire sent by God because they offered strange fire or profane fire before they Lord. They went against all of God’s very specific instructions and were immediately killed for doing so. Aaron held his peace because he knew they had done wrong, and the law prohibited him from outwardly mourning their deaths.
I’ve heard many people say things like, “How could a loving God send people to hell?” Well, our Scripture passage may have you asking how God could have killed these two young priests immediately. Couldn’t He have given them a warning?
It is implied in Chapter 10, verses 8-10 that these two young men had become intoxicated during their ordination ceremony and set out to worship God in their own way. There was so much wrong in what they had done. And keep in mind they were raised in this family of priests. They knew better. Perhaps alcohol had impaired their judgment, but at any rate God made an example of them. He let the people know He would not tolerate such willful disobedience. These were priests doing this at their own ordination ceremony.
Our world has taken the attitude that we can all just worship God in any way we want, but this is not the case. The Bible has not changed in all these years. It still gives us very specific instructions about how we are to worship Him.
We are to totally surrender to Him. Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. He said the second was to love others as you love yourself (Matthew 22:37-39). We are to put the needs of others before our own.
We are to seek first the righteousness of God and all we need will be supplied for us (Matthew 6:33). We are to trust in the Lord with all our heart and not lean on our own understanding, but in all our ways acknowledge Him and we can trust Him to lead us on the right paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).
We are to be imitators of Christ (Ephesians 5:1).
We are to attend church (Hebrews 10:24-25). We are to obey His commandments and follow His instructions. When we fail, we are to repent.
God gives very specific instructions in His word for how we are to worship Him. When we strike out to do it our own way, we are literally playing with fire.
The entire Bible is an instruction manual. It is God’s love letter to us. He wants us to get it right. We are told in Romans 1:18-24 that if we reject Him long enough, He will give us over to our evil desires.
Jesus said in Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My father in heaven.”
We have to do God’s will God’s way. This is the only way we can be assured of spending eternity in heaven with God the Father. We are saved through Christ alone. He said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through Me.”
Follow the instructions, please. It’s a matter of life and death.
Have a great day!