WE come now to a very sad and solemn occasion — the death of the two sons of Aaron. In the preceding chapters we have had the excellencies and perfections of Christ set forth in the offerings, so that on the eighth day, when all those offerings were presented and the consecration of the priesthood complete, the glory of the Lord appeared as the token of His approval and acceptance of all.
But how soon after all this do we witness the failure of that committed to man, and the utter ruin of the priesthood before God. Alas, it is the humbling tale of man failing everywhere, and from the first. Every time he has been put in a place of responsibility he has always failed. There are no exceptions, for there is absolutely no good in fallen nature. “The flesh profiteth nothing” (John 6:6363It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. (John 6:63)), and again, “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing.” Rom. 7:1818For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. (Romans 7:18). This chapter brings out a most needful lesson for us in our day, when man is exalting himself as never before.
Nadab and Abihu, the two eldest sons of Aaron, had just been consecrated to the priesthood. They had witnessed the glory of the Lord as it appeared to the people. They had seen the fire come forth from before the Lord and consume upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat, when all the people saw it and fell upon their faces. Who should have appreciated this token of the Lord’s grace more than the priests? But these two were the very men who at such a time betrayed the unbelief and ungratefulness of their hearts.
“And Nadab and Abihu,... took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense therein, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.”
The fire from the Lord had just before come forth and devoured the burnt offering and the fat. That fire was never to go out. We learn from Leviticus 16:11And the Lord spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the Lord, and died; (Leviticus 16:1)2 That the fire that the priests were to use in their censers was to come from the brazen altar, and from no other source. To use “strange fire” was really contempt of that supply which God Himself had given. In doing as they did these sons of Aaron showed heartless indifference to the Lord’s glory and to the favor He had put upon them.
Perhaps they did not know why the fire must come from that source and no other, but it should have been enough that God had commanded it, for it expressly says. “which the Lord commanded them not.” Therefore it was sin, God was dishonored, and their death was immediate.
Like Cain, these men took their own way in approach to God; it was the way of nature. Like many since, they would say, as it were, the ordinary fire of nature is good enough to burn incense with before God. How many today choose their own way of approach to God. May we learn to come in God’s way and not with any “strange fire” of our choosing. “They that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:2424God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24).
The only incense that God will accept is that which speaks of Christ, and the fire must come from that place where He glorified God in the question of sin. That is the cross. And we ourselves must have been there and know the value of that atoning work in our own souls before we can bring, as it were, the fire from off the altar in our censers of praise and prayer to God.
ML-11/21/1971