It is indisputable that God has always demanded to be glorified by and in His chosen people. In every dispensation (Patriarchal, Mosaic, and Christian) God’s chosen people are quickly recognized to belong to Him by the displayed holiness of their lives. A life that easily distinguishes itself from the rest of the world and serves as evidence of Jehovah God’s eternal omnipresence in our realm. In His prayer before His arrest, the Master repeatedly confirms that the purpose of God being glorified in His people is so “that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me” (John 17:6-26). Through our Redeemer’s prayer, we understand that in God being glorified, He is being acknowledge by mankind. Humanity is unable to deny His presence when it is brilliantly exhibited by the complete obedience of His chosen people. The result of this inability of denying Him is that mankind is stripped of the opportunity to proclaim ignorance as the excuse for not obeying God. Having these holy, obedient children is how the Father with His omniscience eradicates any futile argument that man may seek to justify their sinful ways. Let us recall that the apostle Peter exhorts us that “as obedient children…be holy in all your conduct because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy’” (1st Peter 1:14-16). It is important to note that the apostle is quoting from the book that has as it’s main focus “holiness before God.” In the book of Leviticus, the word “holy” can be found more than eighty times. It is a book where Jehovah gives precise instructions to Moses concerning the duties of His chosen Levite priests. Aaron’s descendants were directly selected by God to oversee all of the duties relating to the religious ceremonies and sacrifices that were to be presented before God. Therefore, if anything was not fully obeyed in accordance to His command, they would be held accountable because of their negligence with the Lord’s affairs. As the religious leaders, it was their responsibility to teach the twelve tribes of Israel how to be holy before God with their diligent obedience. God was to be glorified by their example of sincere, spiritual devotion to Him. The devotion of the priests would not only exhibit to the people of Israel the path to follow in their relationship with God, but would also serve as a judgment to those who were rebellious to His commandments. However, we must not ignore the dire consequences if these religious leaders did not heed God’s command. It is wise to understand that God gave Moses and Aaron precise instructions concerning how He is to be worshiped, and therefore expected it to be done exactly as He had commanded them. What this means is that Jehovah never allowed man an opportunity to add nor remove from what He had already established as His worship. Although He directly gave Aaron (the very first Levite High Priest) His desired form of worship, He did not give Aaron or his descendants the right to change anything from how He had already determined it to be. This was a lesson that, regrettably, was ignored by Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10:1-7). Once more, the central theme of this book is “holiness before God.” Needless to say, that Nadab and Abihu did not present themselves holy before God since they erred, believing that He would overlook the type of fire they chose to use for His worship. In recounting this tragedy, Moses states “Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them” (Leviticus 10:1). The question that we must first ask is what made the fire profane? The first answer is provided by Moses himself: God did not command these men to use that type of fire. In other words, He did not approve of the change that Nadab and Abihu introduced to His worship. This “slight” change that these sons of Aaron introduced into God’s worship, defiled the entire process. It is very evident that their poor judgment was hinged on the idea of “fire is fire.” However, this negligent thought proved to be false and the result was that “fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord” (Leviticus 10:2). It is unwise (and unrighteous) to believe that these two men lost their lives due to a “small” change. Hence the necessity of understanding what made that fire profane before the Lord. In teaching King Saul this same lesson, the prophet Samuel reveals what made Nadab and Abihu’s decision irreverent toward God: Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams” (1st Samuel 15:22). Their fire was deemed by God as profane because He did not order it. In other words, man introduced his will into God’s commandments and therefore corrupted His worship. In the minds of Nadab and Abihu, they were convinced that God would accept the fire they offered since the change was “slight.” Yet, being devoured by the Lord’s fire proves that God does not accept a single change (no matter how small we may believe it to be) from what He has commanded. These priests did not understand that if Jehovah allowed this direct disregard of His commandments, the Israelites would have been deceived to believe that God was willing to accept any form of worship. It was important that the people of Israel did not forget the purpose of His worship. It is important to understand that God is glorified by those who present Him an obedient and contrite heart (Psalm 51:17). This was how these two priests defiled God’s worship; they were arrogant enough to believe that God is to accept whatever form of worship they chose to give Him. They followed the same thought process that Cain had when he offered God his offering, and it too, was rejected. Unfortunately, this is still happening today even within what is supposed to be His one, true church. “Slight” and “small” changes that man believes will go unnoticed is more of a product of ignoring that “by those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; And before all the people I must be glorified” (Leviticus 10:3). This was the reason Jehovah gave for consuming those priests in His fire. In it, He illuminates how making these “slight” changes is received by Him as a blatant disregard of His holiness and how man mocks Him, rather than glorify Him (Romans 2:24).
