Title: Obedience and Disobedience
Contents
obedience and disobedience
Leviticus 10:1 - 7
The sacrificial ordinances recorded in Leviticus may, in fact, seem boring to readers. However, if you try to discover what God wants to say through those regulations, you will find it interesting and receive great grace from the Word. One of them is the word about ‘obedience’.
Chapter 8 describes the obedience Moses showed at the ordination ceremony of the priesthood. Verse 4 says, “Moses did just as the LORD commanded him.” Also, looking at verses 10 to 29, as the four sacrifices were made, at the end of each sacrifice, the words “as the Lord commanded Moses” were repeated. When Moses offered sacrifices to God, he did not consider his thoughts or his ways at all. They were not bound by circumstances or conditions. He only focused on what God commanded and obeyed.
How about Aaron? They obeyed Moses' command, "Do whatever the Lord commands." Look at 9:10 and 21, which records his first sacrifice. “It was as commanded Moses,” he said.
Aaron just concentrated on what God commanded and obeyed, just like Moses did. They knew better than anyone that what God wants is obedience.
What is the result of this obedience? When Moses built the tabernacle, he focused his attention on whether it was built according to God's word from beginning to end. Then, after the construction of the tabernacle, the glory of God appeared. When Aaron also concentrated on the sacrifice and obeyed, the glory of God also appeared. Obedience accomplished great blessings.
However, the flow of grace and blessing through obedience was suddenly disturbed. Because the fire of the Lord that consumed the burnt offering on the altar killed Nadab and Abihu this time. They are the two sons of Aaron who have just become priests. But he took the censer and went into the sanctuary to burn incense, and he died while wearing the priest's garments.
Why did they die? How did the flow of grace change into the flow of curse? Let's take a look at what God wants through the deaths of Nadab and Abihu.
■ First, Nadab and Abihu committed the sin of disobedience.
As we saw earlier, Leviticus emphasizes the obedience of Moses and Aaron in the sacrifice. They never performed sacrifices according to their personal thoughts or feelings. He was completely obedient to the word of God. But Aaron's sons were not like Moses or Aaron. Verse 1 says, “Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu each brought their censers, and filled incense before the Lord with other fires that the Lord had not commanded.”
The incense burner was a vessel that carried fire to burn incense on the altar of incense installed in the sanctuary. However, the incense on the altar of incense was used only for sacrifices, and the embers to light the incense had to be the fire of the altar of burnt offering. So, in the censer in the hands of the priests, there must be a fire burning from the altar of burnt offering. But the censer in their hands contained a different fire. Of course, the embers that lit incense on the altar of incense was also something other than the embers of the burnt offering, and the literal translation of the text was 'a strange fire'. In other words, Nadab and Abihu did not follow the ordinances that God had commanded them. I don't know if it was because they thought it was a trivial thing, but they acted arbitrarily.
What is disobedience? It is simply not following. That is, they act according to their own thoughts, not according to the rules that God has commanded. Although Nadab and Abihu were much later than them, they did not know that Samuel said, “Obedience is better than sacrifice, and to hear is better than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22).
It is not important to kill an animal, sprinkle its blood, burn its meat on the altar, and enter the sanctuary to burn incense. What God wants is to confess and express devotion and obedience through the sacrifice. Therefore, sacrifices without devotion and obedience are meaningless. That is why Psalm 69:30, 31 says that it will be more pleasing to the Lord to sing praises to God's name and to exalt God with thanksgiving than to offer an oxen. May you always live a life of obedience.
■ Second, God did not forgive the actions of Nadab and Abihu.
God despised the Word of God and did not forgive these two people who acted according to their own will. This is because God has given these two men the responsibility of being more holy than the other people. As prophesied through Moses, God wanted God to be sanctified through those who drew near to Him, that is, through the priests. In other words, just as God is holy, those who serve God must also be holy. But they broke their own holiness. In the end, both were killed in the fire of judgment.
Aaron and the rest of the brothers obeyed God's command and did not touch the bodies of the two men and did not go out to the door of the tent of meeting. Because they could not become unclean by touching a corpse as people who were close to God. It was impossible to follow in the footsteps of Nadab and Abihu.
God has the same heart toward you. Therefore, we must always live a life that reveals the holiness of God. I cannot live with my thoughts, feelings, and desires. Even if it is a small thing, please be faithful according to the Word. You should not act arbitrarily according to your own thoughts, thinking it is a trivial matter. I earnestly pray that you and I will live more fully and obediently before God. - Amen -