But Nadab and Abihu died in the LORD’s presence in the wilderness of Sinai when they burned before the Lord the wrong kind of fire, different than he had commanded. [Numbers 3.4a]
Today, this verse stood out to me in light of something I wrote about a few days ago.
Recently, I wrote about the fact that no disease or physical imperfection could be in God's presence (2/23/2019 What's It Like In Heaven? (God's Will On Earth)). As I read the verse above today, I realized that not only may physical imperfection not come into God's presence, but neither may spiritual imperfection come into God's presence. As a matter of pure fact, NO imperfection may come into God's presence.
This makes me thankful for Jesus all over again. But it also makes me wonder about our devotion to God. Are we content "doing our devotion" to God even though some of the things we do are having to be covered by the blood of Jesus?
Let me say this another way, do we want everything we do before God to have to be seen only through the blood of Jesus in order to please God? Should we not at least desire to bring something pure and holy before God when we come to Him? Or, should we resign to the fact that we cannot please God and therefore make no real effort on our own part to do so?
I suppose now is the time to rehearse the Bible-fact that nothing but faith pleases God.
So, if we come to God in any condition besides faith, we are bringing "before the LORD the wrong kind of fire."
A constant state of repentance now seems quite appropriate, doesn't it? There is no irony in the fact that Jesus began His earthly ministry with the word, "Repent..."
We should never confuse "repentance" with "condemnation." Condemnation is the result of something other that true repentance. True repentance contains genuine sorrow, but also contains genuine faith and thankfulness (even joy) that Christ paid for every indiscretion.
With that now addressed, back to the right "kind of fire..."
Our heart attitude when coming to God should be one of absolute commitment to Him. When we come into His presence we should always come with understanding of His absolute holiness. I am thinking just now of Ananias and Sapphira in the New Testament... They were living in the Age of Grace (hello, New Testament church!) but they willfully allowed themselves an indiscretion and things didn't go so well for them.
I wonder how we get by sometimes with all the junk we bring before God and call it worship or devotion. Is there any correlation with our sloppy attitude about 'coming into God's presence' and the absence of God's power in so much of the Church today? I think so.
Father, help us to be more serious in our approach to You. Help us to understand that, because faith brings the blood of Jesus over us like a sheet, anything less than faith leaves us dangerously (if not fatally) exposed to Your holiness.Help us to think about this too... and have right understanding.
This makes me thankful for Jesus all over again. But it also makes me wonder about our devotion to God. Are we content "doing our devotion" to God even though some of the things we do are having to be covered by the blood of Jesus?
Let me say this another way, do we want everything we do before God to have to be seen only through the blood of Jesus in order to please God? Should we not at least desire to bring something pure and holy before God when we come to Him? Or, should we resign to the fact that we cannot please God and therefore make no real effort on our own part to do so?
I suppose now is the time to rehearse the Bible-fact that nothing but faith pleases God.
So, if we come to God in any condition besides faith, we are bringing "before the LORD the wrong kind of fire."
A constant state of repentance now seems quite appropriate, doesn't it? There is no irony in the fact that Jesus began His earthly ministry with the word, "Repent..."
We should never confuse "repentance" with "condemnation." Condemnation is the result of something other that true repentance. True repentance contains genuine sorrow, but also contains genuine faith and thankfulness (even joy) that Christ paid for every indiscretion.
With that now addressed, back to the right "kind of fire..."
Our heart attitude when coming to God should be one of absolute commitment to Him. When we come into His presence we should always come with understanding of His absolute holiness. I am thinking just now of Ananias and Sapphira in the New Testament... They were living in the Age of Grace (hello, New Testament church!) but they willfully allowed themselves an indiscretion and things didn't go so well for them.
I wonder how we get by sometimes with all the junk we bring before God and call it worship or devotion. Is there any correlation with our sloppy attitude about 'coming into God's presence' and the absence of God's power in so much of the Church today? I think so.
Father, help us to be more serious in our approach to You. Help us to understand that, because faith brings the blood of Jesus over us like a sheet, anything less than faith leaves us dangerously (if not fatally) exposed to Your holiness.Help us to think about this too... and have right understanding.
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