As the people of God, Israel was to be different from the people groups around them. They were to stand out as not following the usual patterns of religion and culture and morals. They were to be distinguished, easily recognized as unusual! In other words, they were to be holy!
They were to be holy as the only proper means to represent their God, who is holy. Almighty God is different from any other god or being, particularly since he is the only true, living God, and everything else is part of creation! God is holy. God is separate. And his standards are entirely different from those of the world because this world is in a fallen, sinful state. Therefore, God’s people should pattern their lives around him and not around the world. Their worship, their relations, their rules of conduct, everything should stand out because they belong to God.
So Israel was to consecrate themselves, that is, set themselves apart. The means the Lord provided for them to do so was through the numerous and detailed types of sacrifices, ceremonies, feasts, and laws. However, as the story of Nadab and Abihu shows, sinful people will never be able to keep perfect institutions. You simply can’t be holy through the Law!
As it turns out, God’s answer for his people to reflect him was never the Law. The Law only pointed to the true source of being consecrated to God, namely, Christ! Christ is the fulfillment of the Law, and in him, we are holy! We are different! We are set apart! We are not perfect, but we are different! If we are in Christ, one day we will be perfect. This is all to the praise and glory of God. In Christ, we are holy, for God is holy. One day we shall be completely holy, for God is completely holy!
Perfect and completely holy! I will be glad for that, and I believe it, but I sure can't picture it! Will I still be recognisable as Candy?
ReplyDeleteI had forgotten that fire came from God and consumed the day 8 offerings (Lev. 9). Funny. Like Elijah on Carmel-I Ki. 18- or Solomon before the new temple-II Chron. 7--it's just too dramatic an event to be forgotten! But I wonder if I'm not the only one whose memory was vague? Perhaps for the Israelites also that event was eclipsed by the terrifying deaths of Nadab and Abihu which happened immediately after it? Was it N.+A.'s intention to worship God? Why were
N.+A. so bold to offer "creative worship" instead of following God's very detailed and clear directions for the priests? Was alcohol consumption part of the sin? Like Cain offering produce he himself had grown (Gen. 4), or like Uzzah reaching out his hand to keep the ark from falling (II Sam. 6), what seems rational and reasonable enough to us may fall far short of God's holiness. Why? Why? Why? So many questions come to my mind! But in the end my questions all have to subside in the recognition of God's HOLINESS and complete JUSTICE in whatever He does. And like N.+A.'s own father, Aaron, I have to "hold my peace."