Consuming Fire!
By Terance Clark April 26, 2025 8 Minute Read
Week 26
This Weeks Passage: Leviticus 9:1 – 11:47
This week we have the privilege of seeing the two contrasting sides of God. Typically we love to hear about His grace, mercy and love, but this week we also get to see the fire side. Hebrews 12:29 says “Our God is a consuming fire!”. Let’s take some time to understand it through the lives and deaths of Nadab and Abihu.
Whenever my wife and I travel to Africa we always take some time to go on a safari in the Serengeti. It’s such an amazing adventure to see the wild animals in their natural habitat and we’ve seen some pretty amazing sights. Giraffes being born, crocs eating zebra in a flash of a second, and cheetah in full speed hunting their prey, and yet we feel safe within the confines of our Range Rover. We were told of a time when a man decided to leave the safety of the jeep to get a closer look at the lions. From the jeep they look as harmless as a litter of kittens, but he found out real quick that once you step outside of the jeep you quickly will become lunch for a hungry carnivore. We all felt bad for the man, but also recognized his stupidity and didn’t blame the lion one bit for doing what was natural.
The Altar of Love
I share the story to compare it to the nature of God. In this weeks lesson Moses took seven days with Aaron and his sons to prepare them for their duties as priests. Now that God had filled the tabernacle there needed to be some clear rules and boundaries for the relationship to work. Number one, God is a consuming fire. For those who experienced literally God’s presence they all acknowledged that He was like fire, smoke and mist all in one. God had consumed the altar with His presence burning the initial sacrifice, but establishing an ongoing flame that the priests were to keep lit continually.
“God is the true fire that must burn within us and it is our responsibility to keep our hearts burning with desire for Him”
The altar represents our hearts and just like the fire had to be kept burning, so our hearts must be kept aflame with the love of God. Fire is an analogy of our love. When the tribes moved, the priests would cover the flame so that it became hot coals and then when they arrived at the new location they would stoke the coals until it became a flame once again. The picture is that sometimes our love burns hot as a flame and at other times it may burn low but steady, but regardless we must never let it go out. God is the true fire that must burn within us and it is our responsibility to keep our hearts burning with desire for Him. Strange fire is any kind of fire that was produced away from the altar and it was forbidden by the Lord. Do you understand why? It represents burning passions for things that are not built from our relationship with God but come from our flesh and are rooted in self.
The Eighth Day
On the eighth day Aaron and his sons were to begin their work as priests and things started well as they began to offer the sacrifices upon the altar. Moses and Aaron walked through the purification (sin) offering, then the grain offering and peace offering. They then blessed the people and the fire came forth from the Lord and everyone worshiped, but then Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire. We don’t know all the details as to why they would do such a thing, but they did and in a twinkling of an eye God burned them up. People have tried to fully understand what happened and why for thousands of years now. All I’m going to say is God gave the boundaries for engaging with Him and if we choose to get out of the Jeep thinking we are going to ad hoc our own boundaries, we will be mistaken. There are people to this day who try to redefine what God said and what God really means, but on that day everyone understood exactly what God said and what He means. In the most painful way, people had to experience the truth that God with all of His love, mercy and grace is also dangerous and He needs to be taken seriously.
After watching his boys die Aaron was told to finish the sacrifice without mourning. Let me explain, they were inside of Gods house. There will be no mourning in God’s house, there is only joy. There is no crying or pain, He will wipe every tear from our eyes. To mourn in Gods house is certain death, do you remember the time Nehemiah had the forwardness to mourn in the presence of the Babylonian King Artaxerxes, he feared for his life. Those of us from the West don’t understand the rules for standing before kings and certainly not the King of all of Kings. We do not dictate the atmosphere nor do we dare when standing before the Lord.
A Consuming Fire
The purification (sin) offering was completed when the priests eats the sacrifice, but Aaron refused to eat it rather he let it all be burned up. Moses approached him asking why he didn’t eat it, because you see when they ate the meat they were to do it rejoicing and Aaron was basically saying how could I eat the meat and rejoice when my sons have just died. He was saying, I will not act so religiously as to behave as though I have no feelings and Moses understood and God also remained silent giving His approval.
As we close this weeks challenging lesson we learn that God has clearly defined how we should interact with Him. He has sent His son for us and now we have access to draw close in new ways, but that does not give us a blank slate do whatever we want. He is God and we are called to obey His word. Yes, He loves us and his grace and mercy extends beyond our understanding but He is still a consuming fire and there are repercussions for not doing what He says. This week is a sobering lesson discovered by two young men who for whatever reason decided to take matters into their own hands and found out that God is a consuming fire.
