FBC Morning Light – February 25, 2023

The Priestly Holiness of Aaron and the Judgment on Nadab and Abihu

Good Saturday morning, people of faith. This morning I'm going to break down the fourth wall, as they say, and tell you a little bit about how this process works. I'm actually here on Sunday night, and usually on Sunday morning, by Sunday morning, I know pretty much what I'm going to share for next Saturday.

And I wanted to tell you that this morning's Bible reading changed that for me. And so it's actually added a whole new piece to what I was going to do, and thought I'd let you know, and it's a good reason to do your Bible reading every day.

So we are in Leviticus chapter 21 this morning, and it starts out with some rules for the conduct of the priests, and how they're supposed to behave, and what they're supposed to do. And it talks about how they're not supposed to cut their hair and make a bald spot, they're not supposed to cut the edges of their beard, and it goes down in verse 10 of chapter 21, it says, He who is the high priest among his brethren, on whose head the anointing oil was poured, and who is consecrated to wear the garments, shall not uncover his head, nor tear his clothes.

And when I was first thinking of this, I thought of a Bible reading from a couple of weeks ago in Matthew, but this morning I read in Leviticus chapter 10, and it has the story of Nadab and Abihu, and they are the ones who took strange fire before the Lord, and the Lord consumed them, and the fire went out from the Lord, it says, and devoured them in verse 2, and it says, This is what the Lord spoke, saying, in verse 3, Moses said to Aaron, This is what the Lord spoke, saying, By those who come near me I must be regarded as holy, and before all the people I must be glorified.

So Aaron held his peace. Then Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uziel, the uncle of Aaron, and said.

To them,.

Come near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp. So they went near and carried them by their tunics out of the camp, as Moses had said. And Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons, Do not uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, lest you die.

I have never seen my sons die. My sons haven't died in front of me, and yet Aaron and his brothers, or his other sons, are commanded not to perform the typical grieving process here. And it says at the end of verse 7, it says,.

And they did according to the word of Moses. The high priest, Aaron, was not allowed to uncover his head. He was not allowed to tear his clothes. The tearing of his clothes would have been a sign of grief and anguish.

The High Priest’s Blasphemy and Tearing His Clothes Before Jesus

And let's compare that to what happened in the book of Matthew. Now, the stage here is the chief priests, the elders, they've gathered together against Jesus. And in verse 62 of Matthew 26, it says,. And the high priest arose and said to him, Do you answer nothing?

He's talking to Jesus here. What is it these men testify against you? But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to him, I put you under oath by the living God. Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.

Jesus said to him, It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, Hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Verse 65,. Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, He has spoken blasphemy.

What further need do we have of witnesses? Look now, you have heard his blasphemy. What do you think? Aaron has just seen his two sons consumed by fire, and he's not allowed to tear his clothes. Jesus answers the high priest rightfully, and to make a show of how egregious he thought Jesus' words were, he broke the very command of God.

What he thought he was doing to show how awful what Jesus was doing was, was in fact showing that he was bringing judgment upon himself. I would submit to you that as we think of this, that there are times when we may, to put on a show, do stuff that's just not right.

Living Honestly Before God and Others

And I know I have. And please, I don't want to make too much light of this, because this is a very serious comparison here. We're talking about the trial of Jesus. We're talking about the strange fire that consumed Nadab and Abihu and the high priest.

But in our own lives, how many times do we act in such a way before others to do what is wrong for a laugh or to make a point where we go places we shouldn't necessarily go. And I just want us to think about that.

And as we see this comparison between Aaron and how to correctly respond and the high priest Caiaphas in the New Testament. And let's be encouraged by these words to do what is right today. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the connections that we see in your word. Help us to live before you, to live rightly, to answer correctly and appropriately in such a way that honors you first.

And then also it takes into consideration those around us, but honoring to you first, Lord. We thank you again for your word. It's in your son's name, Jesus, we pray.

Amen.

Have an excellent day, people of faith.

Amen.