January 9, 2023 – Leviticus 10 – Living with a Holy God

Leviticus 10, Matthew 10, 2 Thessalonians 3

The Old Testament reveals a God that seems dangerous, strict, and harsh. It also reveals a God that is long suffering and full of loving kindness and forgiveness. God was teaching the Israelites that He is Holy through the dangerousness, strictness, and harshness.

In Leviticus 10, Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu came into the presence of the Lord with incense that wasn’t the kind the Lord had prescribed for use in the tabernacle. As a result, fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them. That seems harsh.

God told Moses exactly how to make the tabernacle, what the priests were to wear when conducting worship, what kind of incense to use, how to sacrifice the animals…  If you read through Leviticus, you are overwhelmed with details. God left nothing out. So what Nadab and Abihu did wasn’t out of ignorance. Maybe it was carelessness or maybe it was willful disobedience.

Moses went to Aaron about it. Moses then said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke of when he said: ‘Among those who approach me I will be proved holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored…’” Leviticus10:3NIV

God is Holy. We come to God on God’s terms. The creatures do not get to tell the Creator how the game is played. We have examples of the Holiness of God and what happens when that is willfully encroached in the New Testament. There was the man cast out of the wedding banquet for not having a wedding garment in Matthew 22:1-14. There is the example of Ananias and Sapphira, husband and wife who sold property and tried to lie to the church about how much they sold it for, in Acts 5:3-11.

The point of all of this is we come to God on God’s terms. He has removed every barrier through the precious blood of his beloved Son, Jesus. Jesus is the way God has made for us. We cannot come any other way. If we try to, the consequences will be just as disastrous as the examples we have seen here today.

That doesn’t mean we have to worry that God is going to strike us down for this or that mistake. What it means for us today is that there is no other way to be right with God outside of the way he has prescribed for us… receiving the grace he has offered us in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Prayer:

Holy God, thank you for the grace you offered in Christ that makes me acceptable and reconciled to you. Help me to honor and worship you as the Holy God that you are. In Jesus’ name, Amen.