What Do Nadab, Abihu and Uzza Have to Do With My Worship of God?

Who Are These Guys? Nadab and Abihu were priests in the Jewish temple. They were killed by God --- by being burned alive --- in fire straight from God, because they did something in worship that God had not given them permission to do. To us it might seem to be just a small thing: --- they took fire from a different place than God had told them to get the fire to light incense with. Not a very significant thing, right? In numbers it is called “profane” fire, which means: irreverent, blasphemous, sacrilegious, worldly, heathen, vulgar, disrespectful, and contemptuous, among many synonyms. Notice what God said about their disobedience,

“By those who come near to Me I must be regarded as holy; And before My people I must be glorified.”

Let's read the entire context:
"Aaron's son Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them, and added incense, and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to His command. So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Moses then said to Aaron, 'This is what the Lord spoke of when He said: 'Among those who approach Me I will show Myself holy, in the sight of My people I will be glorified.' " Leviticus 10:1-3; Numbers 3:4

By their act of disregarding what God had told them to do, they had disrespected God --- they had not regarded Him as holy; they did not glorify God!

Another Old Testament example is Uzza, who was a servant of King David in the Old Testament. He was ordered by King David to go bring back the beloved Ark of the Covenant from where it had been left after being captured by the their enemies and returned [due to all of the plagues that came from God upon them because of it] (see Chronicles. 13:1-14; 15:1-15; 1 Samuel 4:11; 7:1-2) .

King David in his zeal for God and in all honesty and uprightness wanted to bring the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem so they could worship God properly once again. King David had a brand new cart built to carry the Ark of the Covenant on. But the cart was on the verge of overturning going over some rough terrain, and Uzza made the mistake of trying to steady it by pushing on the Ark. Something any one of us might do if was our job to get the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem in one piece, right? Wrong! God killed him on the spot! Why? Because no one was allowed to touch the Ark --- in fact the Levite priests were the only ones allow to carry the arc ON POLES suspended from rings on the sides of the ark. (Numbers 4:15; Exodus 25:14-15). Now Uzza was ignorant of this fact, as was King David at the time. How a chest of religious articles are carried, may be a small thing to us --- but in this case very important to God!

So What Does This Have to Do With Me? The reason that both of these things were written in God's Word, which “are for our example.” (1 Corinthians. 10:11-13), is because God’s Word was not followed TO THE LETTER! Dueteronomy 12:32 says, “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it: you shall not add to it nor take away from it.” This is a reference to Dueteronomy 4:2, “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.”

What happened in both of these cases is God’s Word was not being respected or honored as holy. It was either being “added to” (by taking fire from an place God had not said to). When men try to worship God in ways which He has not given them permission to do in His Word --- are they not doing the same thing as Nadab and Abihu were burned alive for doing? Or “taken away from” by ignorantly carrying the Ark in a way different than the pattern God had prescribed. Are not men today doing the same thing when they ignorantly (through lack of diligent study) omit things that God has set forth to be done in aq certain way in His Word? Again it shows our reverence to Him as God the creator of all to “study to show yourself approved unto God” (2 Timothy 2:15; Acts 17:11) on any matter that involves our worship of God!

There are other examples of disobedience to God’s word being severely punished: Moses not getting to go into the promised land because of disobedience (Numbers 20:7-12); Saul losing the kingdom because of disobedience (1 Samuel 13:1-14);

But you might say, “That was for the Old Testament period, not for now.” Unfortunately for that view point there are many other verses that say basically the same thing (see Revelation ). Why would God allow us to change the way He had set up things for us in His Word, anyway? That would make for mass confusion, and we know that God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33) --- just like we see in the denominational world. How can one (sanely) harmonize all the contradictions that exist between them all? You can’t, and they are there because of adding or taking away from the pattern of what God’s Word the Bible says to do.

“... If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” Revelation 22:19-20.

Our lesson to be learned from this: Before making any “religious” or moral decisions, especially in the manner of how we worship God, we need to get the necessary knowledge from God's Word about how God wants us to behave in that situation! Let's not repeat the lessons of history: if we learn what God's word is saying we won't likely make the same mistakes as shown us in the Bible. The Bible say that we must “study to show ourselves approved, a workman worthy, rightly dividing the Word...” (2 Timothy 2:15).

One of the things one must understand to “rightly divide” the Word of God, is that the Old Testament was to bring us to Christ and is for our learning (Romans 15:4; Galatians 3:24-25; 4:21-5:6; Colossians 2:14; Hebrews Chapter 7; 8:6-7; 9:15-17; 10:1 & 9), but not for use as our law for today. That is the purpose of the New Testament “Law of Liberty” or “Law of Christ” (James 1:25; 2:12 and Galatians 6:2);

“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you:” Matthew 28:18-20.
So How Do I Know Who’s Right?“

Rightly Dividing” the Word of God

There are so many claims of “The Bible teaches this”, or “The Bible teaches that,” --- teachings that are completely contradictory to one another. For someone to say that all these claims are correct would be insane! How can a person know for sure who is correct? The answer is in the Bible: “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman who rightly divides the Word of truth.,” 2 Timothy 2:15. The first step is to STUDY the Scriptures that come from God, “rightly dividing” them to determine what God is really saying! Part of “rightly dividing” the Scriptures is understanding that the Old Testament Law (The Law of Moses and all the regulations in the Old Testament) was done away with upon Christ death on the cross (Colossians 2:14) and that Christians are now under the New Testament Law of Christ. But to understand the New Testament Law, we must first understand the Old Testament -- because without that understanding it is impossible to understand the “harder” doctrine of the New Testament. The Old Testament is not for our law, but “for our learning,” Romans 15:4. .

The Bible says that only those who diligently seek God’s truth will go to heaven:Matthew 7:13-15; “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” NKJV

Matthew 7:21-23; “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ ” NKJV

Matthew 15:13; “But He answered and said, ‘Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.’”

Luke 6:46, “And why call Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”

James 1:22, “But be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”

Hebrews 5:9, “He became the author of eternal salvation unto all that obey Him.”

Hebrews 11:1, 6; “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen ... But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

Romans 10:17; “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

· IGNORANCE OF HIS WORD IS NOT AN ACCEPTABLE EXCUSE With God!(Acts 17:30)

· The Bible Says that THERE IS ONLY ONE INTERPRETATION of His Word --- The Means God Intended the Same Requirements for all of us! (2 Peter 1:20) “knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,”

· GOD IS NO RESPECTOR OF PERSONS--- therefore He expects each of us to meet the same requirements for salvation and for acceptable worship to Him. (Acts 10:34),
“... God is no RESPECTOR of persons; But in every nation he that fears Him, and works righteousness, is accepted by Him.:” Acts 10:34-35,

· GOD IS NOT THE AUTHOR OF CONFUSION (1 Corinthians 14:33)“For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints”

There are three necessary elements specified here in order to meet God’s approval:

(1) It must be directed unto God. “Must worship Him”’ .. right object!
(2) It must be done “in spirit.” i.e. we must have the right motive expressing the true sentiment of our actions.
(3) That act must be “in Truth,” or according to the pattern in God’s Word, which is the truth, for Christ said (John 17:17) “Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth.” i.e. the right WAY.

Thus you have the right OBJECT; right MOTIVE; and right WAY. There is no escape: If you leave out the object (God) no matter how conscientious you may be, it is vain. Then you may offer what God demands to the proper object, yet if your motive is wrong the worship will be also. Your Object on the other hand may be right, and the Motive correct, yet if the Way is incorrect, so is the worship because you’ve left out an essential element.

There can be no act of worship acceptable unto God almighty unless the Lord Jesus Christ has commanded that specific act to be done in His Word!

Therefore what God has written in His Word is there for us to learn so that we can be obedient to His Will. There is but ONE FAITH and one will for all people for this present age, we must consequently take the time to study His entire Word to discern what that will is on any particular subject!

See the link: STRUCTURED BIBLE STUDY METHODS for a complete Bible Study Method using the pattern given in the Bible

WHAT CAN YOU DO? You can accept the authority of Christ by doing what He commanded (Matthew 7:21; John 14:15; 15:10-14; Luke 6:46). Notice the pattern for becoming a Christian as revealed in the Scriptures. The Gospel was heard, resulting in faith (Romans 10:17). Repentance of (turning away from) sin (Acts 17:30) and confession of Jesus as the Son of God followed (Romans 10:10). Believers were baptized INTO Christ for the remission (forgiveness) of sins (See Galatians 3:27; Colossians 2:12; Acts 2:38; 22:16; Mark 16:16; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Peter 3:20-21), and added to His church (Acts 2:47). Christians were taught to be faithful even to the point of death (Revelation 2:10).

WE WELCOME YOU Following the instructions of the Scriptures, members of Christ’s body assemble as congregations for worship, encouragement, and Bible study. The congregation in your community welcomes you to investigate the Bible with us. With a spirit of brotherly love we would seek to reconcile any differences by following the Bible ONLY. We recognize the Bible as God’s inspired word, the ONLY reliable standard of faith and practice. We desire the unity for which Christ prayed and which the Bible emphasizes in the expression, “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” Together we seek to maintain “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

A friendly welcome awaits you. We do not wish to embarrass you in any way. You will not be asked for contributions. We assemble for Bible study and worship each Sunday morning and we welcome you to meet with us. We would be happy to talk to you about your questions and we want to be of encouragement.

Please contact me, Dennis Crawford, at BibleTruthsToU@gmail.com or 253-396-0290 (cell) for comments or further Bible information, or for the location of a congregation belonging to Jesus Christ near you.