Lesson #11

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Leviticus

September 21, 2015

Introduction

May 13, 2010

Leviticus Lesson #02

May 13, 2010

RETURN TO THE LIST OF LESSONS

LEVITICUS 10
Lesson #11
THE WARNING FOR VIOLATING THE PRIESTHOOD

• Memory Verse: Micah 6:8

 

• After giving His people the principles of holiness for the priesthood, an unfortunate incident occurred that by example is a warning not to abuse position of a priest.
• You should know that the burning of incense represents offering prayers up to God.
• Read Lev 10:1-11

• Aaron’s two sons:
  • What do we know about these two men?
    • Nadab was Aaaron’s firstborn son.
    • Abihu’s name means, = he is my father. He was the second oldest of Aaron’s sons.
    • These two men were trained priests anointed by God.
    • These two men saw God’s miraculous presence on the mountain. (Exo 24:1-11)
  • All the sons of Aaron were supposed to be priests in line to be the High Priest.
  • Aaron was the first High Priest. Then after Aaron died, his firstborn son was to take that position.
    • In this way the priesthood was passed from one generation to the next according to the lineage of Aaron.
    • As we will see, Aaron’s firstborn son, Nadab, disqualified himself.
• Good intentions in a wrong way displease God.
  • These two men did everything wrong.
    • =1= The wrong people:
      • It was the job of the High Priest to offer incense to God. (Exo 30:7-10)
      • The regular priests were never to do this job.
        • Wrong people represent the non-believer that thinks he is worshipping God when he has not first developed a relationship with God through the acceptance of Jesus Christ into his heart.
        • Wrong people are those believers that go through the external motions of worship without first repenting of sin and receiving God’s merciful forgiveness. You cannot approach God without first dealing with sin.
    • =2= The wrong instruments:
      • When the High Priest offered incense to God, he was to use a special incense burner sanctified with holy oil.
      • Nadab and Abihu used their own incense burners.
        • Anything of man’s own possession is never adequate to using what God provides for us.
        • It is pride that makes us think that what we have to offer God is good enough.
          • Wrong instruments represent false religions that tell us they know the way to God.
          • There is only one way to God, and that is through Jesus Christ, God’s Son. (Joh 14:6)
    • =3= The wrong time:
      • The High Priest was to offer incense to God only once a year on the Day of Atonement.
      • God’s timing is perfect and an essential part of His Holy will.
        • There is no wrong time to worship God in this New Testament age of grace.
        • The believer in Jesus Christ can approach God at any moment since Jesus opened the way through His crucifixion on the cross.
        • Read Mat 27:51
    • =4= The wrong manner:
      • When the High Priest offered incense to God, it was to be done with a prescribed ritual. (Lev 16:1)
      • When man approaches the holiness of God, we must come to God His way and not our own.
        • The Old Testament ritual demonstrated the holiness of God and the holiness that God expects.
        • Often in this New Testament age we forget that we serve a Holy God who expects us to be holy by forsaking sin.
    • =5= The wrong place:
      • Only the High Priest was to go into the Holy of Holies, and only once a year.
      • The other priests were forbidden to go into the holiest of places in the tabernacle and in the temple.
        • Because the believer in Jesus Christ is already seated with Christ in heaven, he can approach God boldly.
        • Read Eph 2:6
    • =6= The wrong authority:
      • Nadab and Abihu did not ask their father, Aaron for permission to do this. They, therefore, usurped the authority of Aaron as their high priest and as their father.
      • God’s kingdom functions in order based on established authority.
        • God establishes those in authority over us for a purpose.
        • To disregard that authority is rebellion. God never honors rebellion.
          • The Old Testament authority was the religious priesthood that interceded for man.
          • In this New Testament age of Grace we can come boldly before God without the benefit of an earthly priest.
            • Read Heb 4:15-16
            • Read Heb 10:19-22
            • Jesus Christ in heaven is our High Priest that intercedes for us.
    • =7= The wrong incense:
      • The incense was to be made by the priests in a specially prescribed way using all the correct ingredients. (Exo 30:37-38)
      • Nadab and Abihu used “strange incense” that was not made in the way God said to make it.
        • Remember that incense represents prayer.
        • God hears only one prayer of the non-believer. That prayer is the prayer of repentance for salvation.
    • =8= The wrong fire:
      • The fire used in the incense burner was to come from a burning coal from the altar of burnt offering.
      • In other words, the High Priest must first offer the sacrifice of burnt offering and then take one of the burning coals and mix it with the proper incense in the incense burner. The High Priest would carry it inside the Holy Place in the tabernacle and offer it to God on the altar of incense. (Lev 16:12)
        • Incense using “strange fire” is not based on the forgiveness of sin obtained by the sacrifice of the burnt offering. Remember that Jesus Christ is our burnt offering.
        • When we do not base our prayers on the finished work of Jesus Christ, they do not ascend to God. (Joh 14:13-14)
    • =9= The wrong motive:
      • The Bible does not tell us specifically why Nadab and Abihu did this act of rebellion.
      • However, from the description, we can see a motive of pride to be important.
        • Whenever man lifts himself up to a position that God has not given him, his actions do not succeed.
        • Whenever man rebels against the authority of God and the authority that God established over us, he reaps the consequences of that rebellion.
          • The motive of worship by the believer in Jesus Christ must be in spirit and in truth.(Joh 4:23)
          • It is the Holy Spirit that lives inside the believer that helps him to worship God with the right motive.
          • It is the truth that is in the Word of God that tells us who this God is that we worship.
    • =10= The wrong energy:
      • Nadab and Abihu were drunk when they did their act of rebellion.
      • Read Eph 5:18
      • Everything we do for God must be done through the power of the Holy Spirit for God to receive the glory. If we do it in our own strength, it is man that gets the glory.
        • Only the believer in Jesus Christ has the Holy Spirit living inside of him.
        • It is the role of the Holy Spirit to lift up and glorify Jesus Christ in our lives. (Joh 16:14)
  • Later in time there was another similar incident of three men (Korah, Dathan, and Abiram) offering strange incense to God and reaping the consequences of death as a result.(Num 16) This occurred when the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness.
• God’s judgment and Aaron’s sorrow
  • These two sons of Aaron died instantly by fire from heaven.
  • Read Heb 12:29
  • Why did God judge these two men so severely when years later the priests did worse things than this?
    • WE HAVE A BIBLICAL PRINCIPLE HERE:
    • At the beginning of an age, after making new promises to man, God tests man to see if he will live according to his commitments. In each case, the initial breaking of man’s responsibilities was marked by death as a warning. For example:
      • Adam and Eve were tested with eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Their failure to keep their responsibility to God resulted in the beginning of physical death and an instantaneous spiritual death. (Gen 3)
      • When the Israelites first entered the Promised Land, God tested them in Jericho. They were supposed to burn everything as an offering to God. One man, Achan, failed the test by keeping treasures for himself. The earth opened and swallowed him and all of his family. (Jos 7)
      • When the church age began with the early church. God struck Ananias and Sapphira dead for lying to the Holy Spirit. (Act 5)
    • With the beginning of the priesthood under Aaron, the deaths of Nadab and Abihu are a warning to the rest of the priests.
  • The death of these two sons was a devastating blow to their father, Aaron.
    • Aaron and his two remaining sons were not to mourn the deaths of Nadab and Abihu because the High Priest must not become unclean by touching anything dead. (10:6-7 Lev 21:10-12)
    • Aaron had to stay in the tabernacle to complete the consecration and ordination of the priests.
    • Two of Aaron’s nephews buried the bodies.
• The message of warning:
  • Because these two men were drunk when they rebelled against God, God told Aaron that no priest should be drunk when he enters the tabernacle or he, too, would die.
  • God’s message through the death of these two sons was to be a warning to the other priests not to violate God’s commands.
  • God’s message to us today is that we not only need to learn what is holy and unholy in God’s sight, but what God expects from man.
    • God wants people to know that learning about holiness is not enough.
    • God wants people; to practice holiness.

 

• Read Lev 10:12-13, 16-20
• Aaron and his two remaining sons were commanded to eat the rest of the peace offering. Why?
  • Moses wanted to make sure that no other offenses against God would jeopardize the priesthood established through Aaron.
  • With two sons remaining, the future of the priesthood was at stake.
  • Moses wanted to be sure they had peace with God based on the offering that covered sin.
• Aaron’s problem with the sin offering
  • Moses confronted Aaron because he did not eat the rest of the sin offering.
  • Aaron’s excuse was that because of the sin of his two sons, he could not eat of the sin offering with a good conscience.
    • Read Micah 6:6-8
    • Aaron understood that it was not the prescribed ritual that was important.
      • A person can keep the ritual outwardly by his hypocritical actions.
      • However, God sees the heart. Therefore, it is the motive of the heart that pleases God.
        • If submission to God is bound in the heart of man, his outward actions will demonstrate by obedience what is in his heart.
        • Read Psa 51:17
• God saw Aaron’s heart and was satisfied.
• Summary and application:

• While we do not always see God’s judgment fall so quickly and so severely on those who rebel against God, either in the Old Testament or in the New Testament, God is not mocked.
• Sometimes judgment comes more slowly but equally as sure even in this age of grace.
  • Read 1Cor 11:26-32
  • Read 1Joh 5:16
  • This is an example of a wrong attitude of worship in this age of grace.
  • God may use sickness or physical death to chasten his people.
  • God does not use spiritual death to deny his people eternal salvation.

HOMEWORK
Leviticus 11
This is a self-study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher forcorrection.

• Application of Lev 10
  • In what ways does the Holy Spirit use this chapter to speak to you about holiness in your life?

 

• Preparation for Lev 11
• Read Lev 11:1-47
  • Why is God interested in what his people have for dinner?

 

• What are the spiritual lessons we can learn from this chapter?

Memory Verse: 1The 4:7