“And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.” Leviticus 10:1 (KJV)
1 Peter 2:9 is to my knowledge one of the most often quoted verses in the bible for a good reason. It is proof that you no longer have to belong to the exclusive Aaronic lineage before you can effectively minister to God and His people as a priest.
In the Old Testament, the office of priest comes with grave responsibilities – it can literally land you in an early grave as it did Nadab and Abihu. Whenever the High priest performed the statutory once a year ministration on the Day of Atonement for Israel’s sin in God’s presence, the holy of holies, he did so with chains fettered to his ankles. This was an inelegant precaution borne of necessity – the fear and very bitter experience of God’s holy judgement of striking His priest down for having sinned. So whenever the High priest is ministering in the holy of holies, his colleagues listened out for the noise of his movement. This is proof for them that the priest is still alive. Once that noise has ceased for a significant time, they will conclude that God had struck the priest in judgement and consequently pull his corpse out of the holy place with the attached chain. Standing in the exalted office of a priest to minister in God’s presence was an undoubtedly hazardous job to the sinful, presumptuous and lazy.
When God instituted the practice of the offering of sacrifices as means of worship for the Israelite nation, He also provided the sole means by which the offerings were consummated and decreed that this holy fire must never be allowed to die out. To ensure this, priests were assigned the task of ensuring that the lamps burning with this fire were continually trimmed and provisioned with oil. The sin for which Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’s older sons, were judged was for their contempt of God. The fire they used to consummate the offering was not the prescribed one, but came from another source, which contravened God’s law; hence God’s judgement.
To us the New Testament equivalent of the Priesthood, the holy fire is none other than the Spirit of God, who consummates our yielded lives on the altar of service to God. The only precondition that we need to satisfy if we desire to maximally burn for God is that our lives be totally yielded to Him. The problems arise when people desire to be used of God, but are unwilling to go through the right channels and pay the price of surrendering their lives. When our lives are not fully yielded to the letter and spirit of God’s word, we are courting the troubles that strange fires undoubtedly attracts into our lives, since Satan can then take advantage of our disobedience to insert His own vile works to destroy us. So, which fire is burning in your life? If you are doing the work of ministry and are at the same time living in sin, you are not being led by the Holy Spirit. First, repent of your sin and second quench that strange fire. Finally, ask God to fill you with His holy fire and you will burn radiantly till kingdom come.
Prayer:
Lord, your word assures me that to obey is better than to sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of ram. I realise that sincerity never makes a wrong act right and so ask that you forgive me of my sins and quench the strange fire burning in my life. Cause your Holy Spirit to fill me anew as I commit to obeying you fully in my life. Amen.