Archive article 10

“…and so they died before the Lord ” – Leviticus 10²

 

Although it might seem strange,  there is nothing that can sweeten the reality of death more than the last 3 words of this verse; “before the Lord” .

Death, whenever it strikes, is always brutal and heartbreaking. A point of no return has been reached.

Whether it comes at the end of  many weeks and months of a terminal illness or violently breaks in through a road accident, its always irreversible, definitive, with the cold conclusion that nothing can ever be the same again. Every hope and perspective has been crushed.

There is no future left.

 

But these 3 short words “before the Lord” communicate a sense of something which happened because of a purpose. What took place wasn’t by chance or accident. Although we know that no man knows the day or the hour of his death, we do recognise that God knows it.   And, in the actual case referred to in this verse, God not only knew it, He caused it. Nadab and Abiu were actually killed by the Lord.

  

These 2 men were sons of Aaron who had recently been consecrated as priests. They had been appointed to exacting duties inside the magnificent Tabernacle, the “Tent/Temple” where the Israelites worshipped God as they  journeyed  to the Promised Land. One of their principal responsibilities was that of keeping the sacrificial fire burning day and night –

 “The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.”                                           (Leviticus 6¹³). For this reason it’s a total surprise to read that so soon after their consecration these two men took  

“unauthorised fire. . . . (bringing it to God) contrary to His command”

 

It’s for this reason that God punished them as He had promised:

“ A fire came out from the presence of the Lord and devoured them”.

 

It was as much unexpected as it was violent and tragic! And it was not by chance! It was the consequence of their disobedience that God took their lives.

 

If the passage did not have those 3 words “before the  Lord” the meaning would be the same. Their lives would have been taken by the Lord.  We would know all of the details necessary to discern the reason of, and for,  their death, but it would not have the same direct meaning of God’s presence directly governing the tragedy. He was there.  He stepped into the scene and what took place was in front of Him. There would be no way the phrase so often heard today could be said:

“Where was God when they died?”

No, it all happened before Him.

 

The reason these men died was not secondary. God had asked them to do certain things in His way. They decided their own way was good enough. God had said:

“ do it this way so you wont die (Leviticus 8²⁵) .”

 

They hadn’t believed him. They thought their own ideas were good enough, their own plans as good as God’s, and they went ahead.

Today, perhaps more than ever before we need to realise that God’s Words aren’t frivolous or false. There’s room in human communication for joking and fun, but when we hear truth being spoken, how good it is! We know it’s something we can count on. It’s reliable and wont change. There’s a ring of solidity to it which makes it so precious.

 

God’s severity, in actual fact, was a tender harshness. Instead of overlooking their wilfulness, instead of ‘not-seeing’ their infraction as a local police officer might do, the Lord sees and keeps His word. Everything that takes place, takes place “before the Lord”.

 

Dear reader, there’s nothing in all the Universe more precious than this, than to be able to live and die before the Lord. There’s no greater security for any of us than to choose to live His way because when we do that, no matter what befalls us, it’s always open to His gaze! He’s right there and even death loses its sting.

                                                                                                      Pastor Paul Finch