The Traveling Tabernacle of the Lord
Offering Strange Fire Before The Lord
The Traveling Tabernacle of the Lord
HOLY FIRE
Lev 9:23 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.
Lev 9:24 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.In the inauguration of the traveling tabernacle of the Lord, the sacrifices placed on the alter of burnt offering were accepted by the Lord, and consumed by a fire that came from the glory of the Lord. This was no ordinary fire, it was sacred fire, holy fire from God Himself. This same fire was then used to burn the incense that was taken into the tabernacle, to the altar of incense:
Lev 16:12 And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil:
Lev 16:13 And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not:Note that the smoke of the incense, burning with the sacred fire from the Lord, preserved the life of the priest while he was in the tabernacle. This was no small or trivial matter, as we shall see.
STRANGE FIRE
Lev 10:1 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.
Lev 10:2 And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.Nadab and Abihu disregarded the solemn and exacting instruction they had been given, and filled their censers with a fire that did not originate from the holy fire of the alter of burnt offering. They entered the tabernacle with a profane fire, a common fire, that afforded them no protection, and they instantly perished. This was such a serious violation, that they were not even to be mourned:
Lev 10:3 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.
Lev 10:4 And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said unto them, Come near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp.
Lev 10:5 So they went near, and carried them in their coats out of the camp; as Moses had said.
Lev 10:6 And Moses said unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his sons, Uncover not your heads, neither rend your clothes; lest ye die, and lest wrath come upon all the people: but let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the LORD hath kindled.
Lev 10:7 And ye shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: for the anointing oil of the LORD is upon you. And they did according to the word of Moses.IN A DRUNKEN STUPOR
The reason for Nadab and Abihu's transgression is then revealed:
Lev 10:8 And the LORD spake unto Aaron, saying,
Lev 10:9 Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: (see also Eze 44:21)
Lev 10:10 And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; (see also Eze 44:23)
Lev 10:11 And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.Aaron's sons had been drunk, their reasoning was impaired, and they could see no reason to bother with getting coals from the sacred fire of the altar of burnt offering. They did not discern the difference between the holy and unholy, and between the unclean and clean. Common unholy fire probably looked no different to them, and it surely would burn the incense in their censors too. Who cares? - they probably thought in their drunken stupor, it won't matter to God which fire we use, He can't be that particular. So they offered God what was common, instead of what was holy, as God required. They paid with their lives for their drunken disobedience.
THE APPLICATION TO THE END TIMES
As we now approach the second coming, and the end of this world as we know it, scripture tells us that most of Christianity is spiritually in a drunken stupor, unable to see a difference between the holy and the unholy, the sacred and the common, and as a result they are in transgression, offering strange fire before the Lord, much like Nadab and Abihu.
In Revelation 17, the apostate Christian church is described symbolically as a drunken whore with a golden cup in her hand, full of her corrupted doctrines, which she made the nations of the earth drink (Rev. 14:8). What was the result of the drunken state of Aaron's sons? They saw no difference between the holy things of God, and the common or profane, and as a result they offered God the common, instead of the sacred.
SIX COMMON DAYS, ONE BLESSED AND SANCTIFIED
In the creation account of Genesis, the universe was completed in six days, but the week was extended by God one more day:
Gen 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
Gen 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
Gen 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.This special blessing on the seventh day is also mentioned in the fourth commandment of God:
Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exo 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
Exo 20:10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
Exo 20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.The first six days of the week, we are told, are common, and are to be used for labor, earning a living and normal every day purposes. In this way, the first six days are all the same, one is no different than another. However, the seventh day, Saturday, is unique. It is designated by God as a sacred holy day of rest, a day upon which there must not be labor, as on the other six days. Why? The commandment tells us, because our Creator rested from His labor on the seventh day of the week. As our Creator, God set an example for us, and obedience to that commandment regarding the sabbath day has a sacred significance:
Exo 31:13 Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.
Exo 31:14 Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
Exo 31:15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
Exo 31:16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.
Exo 31:17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.Isa 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
Isa 58:14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.Ezek 20:12 Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.
Ezek 20:20 And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.
The Saturday sabbath is no ordinary day. It is holy and sacred to God, and keeping it as He commands is the special sign (a seal) that we are His people and He is our God.
There is a parallel between the holy fire of the tabernacle, and the holy seventh day of God. Only the holy fire was designated for use before the Lord in the tabernacle. Common fire was not to be used for holy purposes. It is very important to note that the 10 commandments were kept in the ark of the covenant, not in the holy place, where Nadab and Abihu perished, but in the inner apartment, the MOST HOLY place, as the standard for the judgment. God is quite serious about this, the common and profane is not an acceptable substitute for the sacred:
Ezek 22:8 Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast profaned my sabbaths.
Ezek 22:26 Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
OFFERING STRANGE FIRE BEFORE THE LORD
A Holy God says the seventh day sabbath is His holy day, and He commands us to remember it, to keep it holy. The apostate church, along with her harlot daughters, in their drunken spiritual stupor say no, we will keep the first day of the week to honor God, and the seventh day will be a common and profane day for us, when we can do our pleasure, and our own ways. In effect, they think they can enter the Most Holy place of God's Tabernacle and alter His divine law, and replace His seventh day sabbath with a common day! Is God honored by the common and profane, when He asks us for the holy? No. The apostate churches are, without any doubt, committing the same transgression as Nadab and Abihu: they are offering strange fire before the Lord.
Are YOU?
Sunday is NOT the biblical Sabbath day.
