C’mon Baby, Light My Fire
By Bruce Bates
Most of us have learned that to “be on fire for the Lord” is a good thing,
although exactly what being on fire for the Lord entails is usually subject
to a wide and liberal translation. For some it is being zealous to go to
a mission field, having a vision of a certain aspect of ministry or to be
active on some ministry, and for others it is reflected in the way they worship.
Most of us view this to be an extremely good, even a holy thing, being on
fire for the Lord. We sometimes view those who are on fire for the lord or
active in the Church as somehow being superior to those of us who are merely
smoldering or just taking up space with the rest of the chord wood. Some
of us are anxious, wishing that we were on fire for the Lord and feeling
guilty that we are, seemingly, inactive and just part of the sanctified stack.
Sometimes we see what other flaming saints are doing and jump into that activity
to be part of the “Holy Fire” that we observe. Sometimes we are recruited
by others who lay before us what they see as the desperate needs of the Church
or their vision of ministry. But when we do spur ourselves to whatever action,
we find it somehow strangely empty, even dead.
It usually takes a long time before we finally admit to ourselves that
this is so. We usually tend to stay in denial of this fact because we can’t
stand to be embarrassed, even to ourselves that we have made a blunder in
our worship or that somehow it is not being “blessed”.
Why do you suppose that is? Is it because God is displeased with our zeal,
our willingness to become involved?
Well, there is an answer to this phenomena. We may find it in the book of
Leviticus, chapter 9: 20-24 thru 10:1-7.
They first laid the fat on the breasts, and the fat was turned into smoke
on the altar; and the breasts and the right thigh Aaron raised as an
elevation offering before the LORD, as Moses had commanded. Aaron lifted
his hands toward the people and blessed them; and he came down after sacrificing
the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the offering of well-being.
Moses and Aaron entered the tent of meeting, and then came out and blessed
the people; and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people. Fire
came out from the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the
altar; and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.
Now Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, each took his censer, put fire in
it, and laid incense on it; and they offered unholy fire before the LORD,
such as he had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence
of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.
Then Moses said to Aaron, "This is what the LORD meant when he said,
'Through those who are near me I will show myself holy, and before all the
people I will be glorified.'" And Aaron was silent.
Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron,
and said to them, "Come forward, and carry your kinsmen away from the front
of the sanctuary to a place outside the camp." They came forward and
carried them by their tunics out of the camp, as Moses had ordered.
And Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, "Do not
dishevel your hair, and do not tear your vestments, or you will die and wrath
will strike all the congregation; but your kindred, the whole house of Israel,
may mourn the burning that the LORD has sent. You shall not go outside the
entrance of the tent of meeting, or you will die; for the anointing oil of
the LORD is on you." And they did as Moses had ordered. (Lev 9:20
- 10:7 NRSV)
Upon one’s first reading of this passage, one is likely to exclaim “Whoah!”
We are struck with God’s seeming coldness and ruthlessness. At first glance,
it appears that Nadab and Abihu were merely caught up in the excitement of
the moment and spontaneously joined in the celebration, only to be fried
by God, cut down with fire. Poof! How rude.
But, let’s examine this episode a little more closely. Verses 20 – 24 set
the stage for this lesson.
They first laid the fat on the breasts, and the fat was turned into smoke
on the altar; and the breasts and the right thigh Aaron raised as an
elevation offering before the LORD, as Moses had commanded. Aaron lifted
his hands toward the people and blessed them; and he came down after sacrificing
the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the offering of well-being.
Moses and Aaron entered the tent of meeting, and then came out and blessed
the people; and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people. Fire
came out from the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the
altar; and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.
(Lev 9:20 - 24 NRSV)
To understand the context, this is the first time that Israel, God’s people
who Moses has lead out of Egypt, into the wilderness, are formally worshiping
in the new Tabernacle, that they have constructed, according to the specifications
that Moses has given them. In fact, let’s take note of one phrase in this
passage that sets an important premise. It’s the phrase, “as Moses had commanded”.
We will see this phrase and similar ones in other places in our text.
So who is Moses and why is it important? At this point in time and place
in history, Moses is God’s direct representative and mouthpiece to the Israelites.
Moses has led them out of Egypt and into the wilderness on their way to the
promised land. While God shows his presence to the people in the form of
a pillar of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night, visual assurances
that He, Yahweh, is with them, it’s Moses who is the direct interface (to
use a modern, technical term) between this God and the people.
Moses is the only one who is allowed to go to talk with God directly and
the one through whom God relays his messages to the people. So, if Moses
commands something, we have to understand that it is coming from a “Higher
Authority”. Moses is the direct representation of God on earth, at
this time, in essence a symbol of the Word of God.
The tabernacle and all of it’s altars, implements and trappings have been
made according to Moses direction and the order of worship is being performed
according to Moses direction and the results are quite impressive, as we
see in verse 24.
Moses and Aaron entered the tent of meeting, and then came out and
blessed the people; and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people.
Fire came out from the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on
the altar; and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their
faces.
Holy Smoke!! When’s the last time that happened in your worship service?
The obvious, unmistakable and undeniable manifestation of God’s Glory and
power in plain sight of everyone. Wow!
It obviously was quite a spectacular thing to witness, as it immediately
put all the people down on their face in terror and worship. It’s interesting
to note, throughout Scripture that this is the same reaction that nearly
everyone has when confronted with God, himself, or even an angel. The raw
glory of God has that effect upon we unsuspecting mortals. We’re always “blown
away” when God’s glory is revealed in our lives.
But, as our modern day commercials might say, “Beware of cheap imitations!!”
Now Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, each took his censer, put fire in it,
and laid incense on it; and they offered unholy fire before the LORD, such
as he had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of
the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. (Leviticus
10:1 NRSV)
Whoops! What happened here? These men were apparently caught up in the moment
and wanted to participate with their Dad, only to be turned into smoldering
heaps of their former selves, by God with the same Holy Fire that has just
so magnificently been displayed, consuming the burnt offering. Why? What
did they do wrong?? Why did God do this?
Well, our first clue is in the very next verse of chapter 10, verse 2, “Then
Moses said to Aaron, "This is what the LORD meant when he said, 'Through
those who are near me I will show myself holy, and before all the people
I will be glorified.'" And Aaron was silent.”
Moses immediately consoles and encourages Aaron, concerning the loss of his
sons, that the event wasn’t for nothing and that God was doing something.
We can find further support for this in the New Testament book of 1 Corinthians,
where Paul tells us, “Now these things happened to them as a warning,
but they were written down for our instruction, upon whom the end of the
ages has come." (1Co 10:11)
OK, but what? Well, God like to hide things in scripture that we are meant
to ferret out and discover. As my favorite Bible expositor, Ray Stedman
said, “One of the Proverbs says, "It is the glory of God to conceal a
thing, but the glory of kings is to search it out," ( Prov 25:2). God
delights in hiding truth, not because he is trying to keep us from it, but
because he wants to stimulate us to seek it out.”
God also puts clues in the meaning of names. So let’s have a look at the
meaning of the names of the sons of Aaron.
First of all, let’s look at the meaning of Aaron – Easton’s says “Some explain
the name as meaning mountaineer, others mountain of strength, illuminator.”
Next, Nadab - liberal, generous
Finally, Abihu - father of Him; i.e., "worshipper of God"
At this point, another definition that would be helpful would be the definition
of “liberal”. Since liberal does not appear in Bible dictionaries, by checking
in with Merriam-Webster we find:
3 obsolete : lacking moral restraint : LICENTIOUS
4 : not literal or strict : LOOSE <a liberal translation>
5 : BROAD-MINDED; especially : not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy,
or traditional forms
OK, so it appears to matter exactly who puts the Zippo to our tourch. It
appears, that when a broad minded, loose, or licentious (liberal) approach
is taken to the worship of God, and instant death occurs. Fortunately, God
doesn’t actually zap us as we so often get let off course in our own lives
in this manner. If he did, our churches would be full of nothing but ashes.
Consider especially Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to
those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but
according to the Spirit.”
But a spiritually instant death does occur when we initiate action according
to what seems right in our own eyes, how ever well intentioned to serve or
worship God. What, then are we to do when we are finally willing to admit
that our worship or service is dead, stagnant, or burning us out? Let’s look
at the rest of this passage.
Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Uzziel the uncle of
Aaron, and said to them, "Come forward, and carry your kinsmen away from
the front of the sanctuary to a place outside the camp." They came
forward and carried them by their tunics out of the camp, as Moses had ordered.
(Lev 10: 4-5 NRSV)
Moses calls out some of Aaron’s kinsmen to take care of business. So let’s
look at their names and their meanings.
Uzziel - “God is strength”
Mishael - “who is what God is?”
Elzaphan - “God has hidden or treasured up.”
It’s also valuable to note, here that the Hebrew word translated “summoned”,
here is qara - to call out to (i.e. properly, address by
name)
So, what are we to derive from this passage? I suggest that when we find
spiritual death in our lives, from service or worship that we entered into
because we thought it was a good idea and not necessarily from the direction
of our lord, that we stop, be still, and acknowledge the obvious remains
of our actions. Then, wait for Jesus, from His strength, to call out, into
our lives, what God is (that there is none other like Him) and that which
God has treasured up for us, namely our hope (ref: Col 1:5).
There is one last thing that Moses commanded in this passage.
And Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, "Do not dishevel
your hair, and do not tear your vestments, or you will die and wrath will
strike all the congregation; but your kindred, the whole house of Israel,
may mourn the burning that the LORD has sent. You shall not go outside the
entrance of the tent of meeting, or you will die; for the anointing oil of
the LORD is on you." And they did as Moses had ordered. (Lev 10:6-7
NRSV)
Eleazar - God has helped
Ithamar - palm isle
In light of what we have seen so far, how shall we interpret this? Let me
suggest that once we have discovered our mistake in rashly, or unadvisedly,
somehow “screwed up” in our service or worship of God and finally recognized
the death that it produced. That we become those whom God has helped and
like a beautiful palm isle – peaceful and restful. We are not to take on
a whipped and hangdog look somehow to show our penance by disheveling our
hair or tearing your clothes. In other words, don’t get discouraged and down
and say that you are now, no good, because of this spiritual faux pas.
To do this causes bad things to happen to the rest of the church, namely
I believe that it discourages them to face their own spiritual deaths and
deal with it and encourages a “holier than you” attitude in others.
Lastly, we are not to leave the church. Most people do leave the congregations
that they were in when out of sheer humiliation and mortification after their
spiritual death is discovered. But we are not to do this. Indeed we are to
allow all of the church to mourn with us that it happened instead of running
us out of church on a rail. As, unfortunately, most congregations do. I believe
that when ones spiritual death is brought to light, the churches responsibility
is to say, in essence, “Whoops, that didn’t work, did it? I’m sorry. But
let me tell you how I screwed up and how the Lord showed me what He really
is in my life and what he has stored up for me. I’ll bet that He has similar
things in store for you."
Bruce K. Bates
October 17, 2003