"Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command. So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. "(NIV) Leviticus 10:1-2

The tendencies for inventions in every human civilization have yielded both good and evil outcomes. The influx of similar tendencies in religious circles has also been known for ages. From the days of Adam till our contemporary times, we see man falling prey to his own inventions as against God’s will.

In their time, the Lord had given the priesthood of Israel to Aaron and his descendants. Details of their roles were clearly given to them to follow unfalteringly. As part of their routine duties, two sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu made a fatal blunder. They tried to experiment with the command of God regarding the kind of firewood to use for an acceptable sacrifice. The Lord’s anger consumed them immediately!

In the New Testament, God continues to command that we listen to His only begotten Son, Jesus (Matthew 17:5), through whom He speaks (Hebrews 1:1-2). But like Nadab and Abihu, many people prefer to rather experiment with God’s command by practicing selective obedience. His commands are watered down by many with little or no attention paid to them.

The irony is fascinating to note: there are many “Christians” who have not obeyed such commands as the “…one Lord, one faith, one baptism…” (Ephesians 4:4-6). Instead, other replacements are made. Many prefer the “Sinners Prayer” to the power of the Gospel message (Romans 1:16). By such posture of men, the Hebrew writer announces how dangerous to fall into the hands of God due to the neglect of the command of Christ (Hebrews 10:29, 31).

We must strive to avoid treating holy things (the word of God, His name, His imperatives, our way of worship, etc.) with complacency and contempt, for:

“Among those who approach me, I will be proved holy; in the sight of all the people, I will be honored.” (Leviticus 10:3)

Let us honor the Lord always and in due time He will also honor us.

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