In the Torah portion we are reading from Leviticus, and in chapter 10 there is a story that always "sparks" (no pun intended) my interest:Leviticus 10:1-5: "Aaron's sons, 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 all the people I will be honored." Aaron remained silent. Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Aaron's uncle Uzziel, and said to them, 'Come here, carry your cousins outside the camp away from the front of the sanctuary.' So they came forward and carried them, still in their tunics, outside the camp as Moses had ordered."
These two sons of Aaron stepped outside the boundaries and commands Yahweh had given them and offered something other than what the LORD had commanded (spoken of here as "unauthorized fire.") The story carries the same lesson as poor Uzzah in 2nd Samuel 6, when he touched the ark of the covenant, being carried on a CART instead of on poles carried over the shoulders of the Levites!Does it matter to Yahweh whether we do things HIS way or OUR way? I believe it does. I believe that has not changed, because HE has not changed. To those who approach Him, He will still show Himself as holy, and He must still be honored. Note that the Scripture says fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed Nadab and Abihu - and yet, their cousins carried them away from the camp still in their tunics! Would a consuming fire not have completely burned up their bodies, let alone their tunics? What manner of fire was this? I believe it was the glory of God - manifested in the manner of lightning (as best we can describe it in our human terms). The Glory of God is so holy and all-consuming that no sinful flesh can stand in His presence and live! Like lightning He strikes that which is sinful and contrary to His holiness. That very same lightning-bolt power is, "like the working of his mighty strongth, which He exerted in Messiah when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion" (Eph. 1:20).
It is for this reason, beloved, that I no longer want to appear before Yahweh with the "unauthorized fire" of colored easter eggs and other pagan traditions of the "Easter festival." This feast was never commanded by God. It was created by the Roman Church to appease all the pagans who were worshiping Ishtar, or Ashtarte, the Goddess of Fertility, by dying eggs in the blood of their own children they had sacrificed in the fire. How many churches this weekend unknowingly mixed the holiness of God, and of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ with pagan sex traditions? It is time for the Church to grow up, and begin to ask our God, "What are YOUR ways, O LORD? What are YOUR feasts? How do YOU want to be worshiped?" Yahweh commanded us to keep the Passover - for all generations - forever! (Please see Exodus 12:14).
I led a Passover Seder in two churches last week, and we had such great joy and fellowship in the feast! All the children participated and had just as much fun running to look for Elijah as they did hunting for plastic eggs - except this time we were teaching them to do it GOD's way. And the best part is - within the Passover celebration every facet of the Gospel story is beautifully, incredibly brought forth and illustrated. Messiah's death, burial and resurrection are all celebrated in the Passover; our baptism is celebrated in the passage through the waters of the Red Sea, and our salvation is fully understood in the Blood of the Passover Lamb that is now on the doorposts of our hearts, our lives.
If your answer to all this is, "Well, it's okay, God knows our American holiday traditions and He knows my heart" - then I beg you to ponder this: It's not about our holidays or our hearts. It's all about Him - and His feasts, and His heart. Because His feasts and His heart are all about YESHUA, the King of the Jews, who gave His life as a ransom for many.
