Strange Fire… And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the people.
And there came a fire out from before the LORD, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces. (Leviticus 9:23-24) (This is NOT strange fire.)
THIS WAS THE BEGINNING OF THE JEWISH PRIESTHOOD, ordained by the Lord under Moses. There is a parallel between this priesthood and the priesthood of the church in the New Testament, so it is proper, even necessary, to study this solemn beginning of the Jewish priesthood to see our position in God’s plan for us today. “The New Testament is in the Old, contained, and the Old Testament is in the New explained.” In the New Testament we are a holy and royal priesthood. (1 Peter 2:5,9)
“EVERY BELIEVER IN JESUS CHRIST CAN SAY WITH THE APOSTLE JOHN: And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 1:5-6)
IT WAS GOD'S WILL THAT THE ENTIRE NATION OF ISRAEL WOULD, in a very practical way be a nation of priests. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. (Exodus 19:6) That was not easy to pull off. These people were made with a will of their own that could go with God or please themselves. Much of the time, they chose to please themselves.
THE ENTIRE OLD TESTAMENT IS ABOUT GOD'S STRUGGLE with these people and their offspring to make them a holy nation and a kingdom of priests. God ordained from the beginning that His nation of priests would include a larger group of people in the church after the coming of Christ. First things first, getting the Jewish priesthood off the ground.
THE JEWISH NATIONAL PRIESTHOOD PROJECT FALTERED because they became “a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity.” (Isaiah 1:4) Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. (Isaiah 1:4)
THE BIG PROBLEM WITH BUILDING A NATION OF PRIESTS to represent Himself to the rest of the world, was the corruption and weakness of the smaller, temple priesthood. Jeremiah said: A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof? (Jeremiah 5:30-31) (Jeremiah said this before the Babylonians came.)
GOD FINALLY HAD TO BRING THE BABYLONIAN ARMY TO JUDAH (the two remaining tribes) and the temple priesthood and carry them off to the woodshed for 70 years to let them think it over. That was a drastic discipline because their temple and their city was laid on the ground and a lot of people died in Jerusalem. This is all about God’s determination to build a Jewish priesthood that would obey Him and rightly represent Him to the rest of the world. And, God hasn’t given up yet. He will persist until He succeeds.
IN OUR BEGINNING TEXT AT THE TOP, WE HAVE THE BEGINNING OF THE PRIESTHOOD and the system of animal sacrifices at the tabernacle. (There is no temple yet.) The sacrifices are laid in place, Moses and Aaron come out of the Tabernacle and bless the people and the glory of the Lord appears. Then, fire comes from the presence of the Lord and consumes the sacrifices.
BUT, IN THE NEXT CHAPTER, IN LEVITICUS 10, the two oldest sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, each brought a censer that contained live coals of fire and burned incense before the Lord. Several things were wrong with what they did, but it appears that the biggest problem was that they got the burning coals from another source and not from the fire that had come from the presence of the Lord. That fire was made to burn continually since it had come from the presence of the Lord in Leviticus 9. But they ignored that fire and brought their own: “strange fire.” The fire was supposed to have come from God.
And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. (Leviticus 10:1-3)
THERE IS MORE TO THIS STORY THAT I WILL CONTINUE TOMORROW. To recap: the beginning of God’s priesthood begins with the Jewish nation and He will complete that in His own time. God has a priesthood going on in the modern church that Jesus bought with His own blood. We are a kingdom of priests, a royal priesthood. As such, we are to carry out God’s purpose of that priesthood and part of our duty is obedience and maintaining holiness unto the Lord as God defines it.
WE ARE IN WHAT APPEARS TO BE THE END OF THE END TIME and Satan is going all out to infuse himself into what is called “Christian” to confuse and deceive the world. One big area of Satan’s deception program is inside Christian churches and Christian organizations.
JOHN MacARTHUR AND A PANEL OF FIVE RESPECTED PASTOR/TEACHERS have released a two-part video that every Bible believer should see. I have included a link to Session 1 that is about one hour long. About 852,931 people have viewed it. (I’m one of them.) Please follow this link and view this video. When the video comes up, you will need to slide the red line at the bottom, back to the left as far as it will go. Thank you. And thank you for sharing Morning Minute with family and friends.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhG2CBVQy3w&t=3095s
Read Through the Bible in a Year
MAY 15, 2019 – WEDNESDAY
A.M. 2 Kings 12-14 P.M. John 5:25-47
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)
Good Verses to Memorize:
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1Thessalonians 4:16-17)
Song for Today:
Some Golden Daybreak+ (3:42) (Male Quartet)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wme2XJ1YvbA
Let’s listen to these fellows again…love to hear them sing! Love the song!
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