Leviticus 10:1-11, A sacred priest

Leviticus 10:1-11,  A sacred priest

  1Aaron'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.  2So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.  3Moses then said to Aaron, "This is what the LORD spoke of when he said: "`Among those who approach me I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.'" Aaron remained silent.  4Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Aaron's uncle Uzziel, and said to them, "Come here; carry your cousins outside the camp, away from the front of the sanctuary."
5So they came and carried them, still in their tunics, outside the camp, as Moses ordered.  6Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, "Do not let your hair become unkempt, and do not tear your clothes, or you will die and the LORD will be angry with the whole community. But your relatives, all the house of Israel, may mourn for those the LORD has destroyed by fire.  7Do not leave the entrance to the Tent of Meeting or you will die, because the LORD's anointing oil is on you." So they did as Moses said.  8Then the LORD said to Aaron, 9"You and your sons are not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the Tent of Meeting, or you will die. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. 10You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean, 11and you must teach the Israelites all the decrees the LORD has given them through Moses."

  We are the honorable priests of the Lord. A priest who is worthy of Jesus! How should we live?

1. Follow God's Words and Sovereignty (1-3)

   Aaron, the High Priest who was installed, was in charge of worship, and the fire and glory of heaven came upon him and Israelites(9:23). But his sons, Nadab and Abihu the priests, having broken the word and offered strange fire for adding incense, died in the fire of the LORD (10:1-2). It was a manifestation of God's holiness, and the glory of God before all the people. Aaron had to obey God's sovereignty as justice. He was shocked at two sons' death, but father Aaron the priest could not express his feelings of sorrow and should have kept quiet. He could not complain or grumble.
 * Do you keep silent on God's sovereignty and words even for things you do not understand in your shock?

2. Follow His mission, which is the priority of priest's life  (6-7).

  Anointed priests should be sanctified by God and should follow the priest's mission as a top priority. Though their brothers died they were so sad that they could not express the extreme sadness of unraveling their hair or tearing their clothes, nor could they go out of the tent of meeting along the corpse. Only the mission of the priest who connected God and the people had to be maintained.
  * Have you ever sustained the priest's mission in your great sorrow?

3. Be filled wih God (the Holy Spirit) and do not fall into anything else (9-11).

 * Ephesians 5:18, “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”
   Nadab and Abihu seem to have made such a mistake drunk. The priest should not lose his sense of being drunk. If you take on something other than God (the Holy Spirit), honor, money, greed, sex, comparative consciousness, popularity, you lose your sense of discretion. Therefore, we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit only, and to discern and minister well and holy.
 * Mother Teresa, "God did not call me successful but faithful. I will be faithful to the work God has entrusted to me and will go before God."
 * Matt. 25:21, "You have been loyal to little things, and I will entrust you with many things."
 * Are you working holy and good in the filling of the Holy Spirit?

Prayer/
    Holy God, we are your distinguished priest. May us Your sovereignty and word of God be followed in difficult situations that are not understood. May the priority of life be placed on Your mission, not the world or man. Let us fill the Holy Spirit and make it holy and decent work. Amen.