God is King- The Strange Fire of Nadab and Abihu

God is King:
The Strange Fire of Nadab and Abihu
(Leviticus 10:1-3)

INTRODUCTION:

In March of 2003, Rachel and I were living in Romania. One day, out of the blue, I received an email from a Christian brother named J. C. Choate from Winona, MS. Brother Choate edited a magazine, about the size of the Reader’s Digest, known as The Voice of Truth International. It is a small religious magazine designed primarily for Christians outside of the U. S. Brother Choate told me that he was contacted by a Romanian who wants to study the Bible further.

The young man’s name was Daniel. Daniel had recently graduated from college and he was on the train traveling from his home village of Sighetul Marma.iei to the capital of Romania, Bucharest. On the train, someone had left a copy of The Voice of Truth International, which Daniel found and had read. He decided he wanted to know more about the church of Christ.

So, I sent Daniel an email, introducing myself and offering to help him in his studies in any way I could. Daniel called me one time and we had a long talk. Daniel was in a man-made religion and I knew that the Spiritual Sword had printed an edition of their magazine dedicated to the history and teachings of that specific group, so I sent the magazine to Daniel and told him to read and study it with an open Bible and let me know if he had any questions.

A few weeks later, one Wednesday night after Rachel and I returned home from our Bible study with the church, Daniel called me. He wanted to talk about baptism and specifically, the thief on the cross; whether he was baptized or not and if he even needed to be baptized. So, I talked with him about that subject.

One week later, Daniel called again, on a Wednesday night and told me that he wanted to be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. I had already looked up Sighetul Marma.iei on the Romanian map and I knew it was a long way away from where we lived in Ia.i. So, I told him just to find someone to immerse him because what was important was his understanding of the Bible, not who baptized him. But, he insisted he wanted me to do the baptizing.

I took one of my American co-workers with me, named Eric, and we set out early one morning to get to Sighetul Marma.iei. It took 9 hours to get from Ia.i to Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Then we had to take a personal train, which took another 4 hours from Cluj to Sighteul Marma.iei. We arrived close to 9 PM; Daniel met us at the train station. Eric and I knew we wanted to talk more with Daniel before we baptized him and we needed a place, of course, to immerse him.

Daniel told us we could do it in the river that separates Romania from Ukraine, but we might be shot by the border guards. After some discussion, we decided that was not a healthy option. We could not do this at Daniel’s home, so a hotel with a bath-tub was the only option. Eric and I started down the sidewalk, pulling our suitcases behind us, engaging in small talk with Daniel.

We get to a hotel and we go in and ask the receptionist if they have a vacant room. She says “yes.” We ask if the room has a bath tub. She says, “no.” So, we keep walking. We come to the second hotel and we ask the same things. “Yes,” they have a vacant room; “no,” it does not have a bath tub. “Thank you,” and we keep walking. We come to the third hotel. Same questions. “Yes,” they have a vacant room; “yes,” it has a bath tub. “Thank you, we’ll take it.”

The three of us go upstairs and we sit down and start talking. Eric and I are convinced that Daniel knows what he is doing, so we decide to immerse him into Christ for the forgiveness of sins, in the hotel bath tub. We go into the bathroom and fill up the bath tub. We immerse Daniel but as I immerse him, Eric notices that his shoulder was not immersed with the rest of his body. So, we talk about it and decide to immerse Daniel again. This time, I make sure his body is under water but then Eric notices that Daniel’s knee had popped up out of the water. He was not completely immersed.

Daniel gets out of the bathtub and we talk about it. We decide that we don’t want to presume on the grace of God and we should make sure Daniel is completely immersed. But, the bath tub is not quite large enough. We decide that Eric will hold his hand over the drain as I fill the bath tub all the way to the very top. Then, Daniel gets in and we are finally able to completely immerse him into Christ for the forgiveness of sins. Except, by the “law of displacement,” of course, as Daniel got into the completely full bath tub, that same amount of water came flowing out of the bath tub all over the floor and actually started leaking through the floor to the lobby below.

The receptionist called upstairs and wanted to know what was happening upstairs with these three men who needed a bath tub! Thankfully, Daniel had gone to school with the young lady, knew her, and explained things to her and everything was okay.

I’ve told you this story to introduce the concept of submitting to God’s authority. Yes, I believe Daniel was safe and saved the first time we immersed him because Daniel had every intention of being immersed in water for the forgiveness of sins. He did not know nor could he help it if the man baptizing him did not hold him under long enough to make sure his whole body was immersed. Daniel’s salvation was entirely dependent on Daniel trying to obey the commands of Jesus Christ; it was not dependent on the person baptizing Daniel trying to make sure every square inch of Daniel was under water at one time.

But, simultaneously, Eric, Daniel, and I did not want to presume upon the grace of God and act like, “well, we don’t have to do what God said do. His grace will cover us.” Let’s just make sure we are obeying God as closely as humanly possible. The story of Nadab and Abihu illustrate this point very well but from the other direction. That is, they said to themselves that they did not have to take the commands of God very seriously. We’ll see what happened to Nadab and Abihu.

THE BACKGROUND - Leviticus 8-9:

The background for the story of Nadab and Abihu is found first in chapters 8-9. Leviticus 8-10 are a trilogy, if you will, relating to the ordination of the priests of God under the old law and the sacrifices that were offered at that specific time.

In 8:1-9, Moses shared with Israel the commandments of the Lord relative to the priests and the offerings given as a part of this ceremony. I especially want to point out verses 4 and 5 and 9…

In 8:10-13, the tabernacle (tent for worship) and Aaron as the high priest are anointed.
Here, I want to point out verse 13.

In 8:14-17, the Israelites offer the sin offering. Please observe verse 17.

8:18-21 refer to the burnt offering. Let’s read verse 21.

8:22-30 refer to the ram of ordination sacrifice. Here, I want us to read verse 29.

After all of this ceremony, Aaron and his sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, were all properly prepared in the eyes of God to serve as priests between Israel and God.

At this point, they celebrated a 7-day long ritual, told in 8:31-36. This ceremony was repeated every day for seven days. Why? Because these priests needed atonement. Every human has sin in their life and these men, as godly as they might have been, needed to have their sins cleansed so they could represent God’s sinful people before the holy God. In this paragraph, I want us to pay attention to verses 34-36.

Chapter 9 focuses on the priests themselves and their service. 9:1-4 give the instructions for the sacrifices the priests are to make. Notice verse 5. Aaron offering this calf would likely remind Aaron of the calf he had made earlier (Exo. 32) and allowed Israel to worship it. Cows are not to be worshipped, they are to be sacrificed. Sin offerings were for forgiveness of sins; burnt offerings were to suggest total surrender of the worshiper to God; grain offerings showed the dedication of one’s work to God and trust that God would bring the harvest; fellowship offerings illustrated the communion that Israel had with the Lord. This passage is the whole beginning of the sacrificial system in the history of Israel.

The priests were to offer sacrifices (9:5-14). Notice verses 7 & 10.

The sacrifices for the people are found in 9:15-21. Notice verse 21.

Once Israel and her priests had done all that the Lord had commanded Moses and the priests, it was time for them to receive the blessings from God. We find that in 9:22-24…

Fire is more than just a symbol of God’s wrath. Here and in other places, it symbolizes God’s presence and, specifically in this passage, it is a symbol or expression of joy. The people shouted and fell on their faces, impressed with the reaction of the God of heaven. God accepted their worship. That is visible in God consuming the burnt offering from the altar.

We have set up all of this to prepare the context for the story of Nadab and Abihu. Up to this point, it has been repeatedly emphasized that Israel did what God had commanded, what God had authorized. When they had completed what God had authorized, God sent fire from heaven to accept, to show His acceptance, of their sacrifice, their worship.

But things take a drastic turn for the worse in chapter 10 when Nadab and Abihu decided they don’t have to do things God’s way…

THE ROLE OF PRIESTS IN ISRAELITE RELIGION - Leviticus 10:

Let’s read verses 1-3 first…

Back in Exodus 30:9, God had said, as a part of the Law of Moses, “You shall not offer any strange incense on this altar, or burnt offering or meal offering; and you shall not pour out a drink offering on it.” At the end of that very chapter, God had given Israel a specific recipe for the incense and He also specifically told them not to use that same recipe in their home.

We do not know the specifics of what Nadab and Abihu did; the text is not clear. Except, it is said that they offered “strange fire” before the Lord and that “strange fire” is defined as “which He had not commanded them.” The simple point of the story is that Nadab and Abihu did not give to God what God had authorized.

This statement that Nadab and Abihu offered what God had not commanded them is set in stark contrast to the thirteen times in chapters 8 & 9 that it is said that Moses and Israel did just what the Lord had commanded them.

So, the same fire that came out of heaven to consume in approval the sacrifices offered in chapter 9 now comes out of heaven in disapproval to consume the worshippers. Throughout the OT, fire has come down from heaven a dozen times; half are to show approval and half are to show God’s disapproval.

God is pure holiness. Worship to God is also pure holiness. Understanding how holy worship is, then we understand how serious this punishment was. Here at the very beginning of Israel’s religion, God has emphasized to them: “You do things My way.” If God had allowed Aaron’s sons, as priests, to transgress the law of God and not be punished, the nation of Israel would have been even worse at neglecting the commandments of God! They were bad enough as it was; they would have been worse.

Jehovah God can not be honored or glorified by presumption or disobedience.

Let’s note a few things in the rest of the text before we make some modern-day application.

In verses 4-7, Aaron and his other two sons could not touch and bury the dead bodies. They were involved in service to God as priests and touching a dead body would have made them unclean and unfit for that service.

In verses 8-11, Jehovah God speaks directly to Aaron (the only such conversation on record) and he warns that priests should not drink wine or strong drink. Some have wondered if this text implies that Nadab and Abihu were drunk when they offered the sacrifices. If so, it was no excuse and God did not overlook their disobedience for that reason.

The point to be made here is that when God specifies what He wants, we are obligated to give Him what He commands. When God sanctifies something, which He has done in worship, then we cannot make that unclean. Also, in verse 11, God tells the priests they need to learn from this example and teach the law of Moses to the people of Israel.

Beginning in 10:12ff, there are further commands dealing with the eating of offerings and we see God is sympathetic to Aaron and his loss.

NEW TESTAMENT APPLICATION:

It is not hard to see the application of this point. You and I, and all humanity, are obligated to obey the commands of God. If God says it, we are responsible for obeying it. That applies to our lives in the church and it applies to our private, personal lives. If God commands something, we are obligated to obey it.

The reason why the churches of Christ immerse in water for the forgiveness of sins is because that’s what God has commanded.

The reason why the churches of Christ do not worship with mechanical instruments of music in worship but only with our voices is because that’s what God has commanded.

The reason why the churches of Christ use only Christian males in worship and leadership in the church is because that’s what God has commanded.

Take home message: Let us study the New Testament to learn the commands of Christ; let us obey the commands of Christ; let us leave the commanding to Christ.