The Sensitivity of the Altar: Serving God on His Terms, Not Ours

The Sensitivity of the Altar

Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. And Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke, saying: ‘By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; And before all the people I must be glorified.’” So Aaron held his peace. – Leviticus 10:1-3

We must be very careful about how we conduct ourselves regarding our altar. From the passage above, we can see how seriously God regards the management of an altar designated for His worship. Because He is a God with specific requirements as to how He wants to be served or engaged, it is important that we adhere to His wishes.

Since you are the one who desires to engage Him or have a relationship with Him, then it is important to note that you can only relate with Him on His own terms, not your own. Even if you choose not to, you will still do well to note that He will only relate with you on His own terms. So, it is a catch-22 situation. You either engage God in the way He desires to be engaged, or you simply let Him be.

Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron the High Priest, learned this lesson too late, at the last minutes of their lives, when they were being scorched to death by raging fire. They did not live to tell the tale. Their offence was offering what they thought was a suitable offering to God at the altar. God took did not like that and killed them instantly.

Another person who had a similar negative experience at the altar was Cain, who offered a substandard sacrifice to God; his offering was rejected outright. These examples tell us that, as far as maintaining an altar is concerned, anything does not just go. If you wish to do it, then you must do it right, the way God wants it.

As we established at the beginning of this series, while a Christian does not really need to erect a physical altar to serve God, your very lifestyle and activities are emblematic of an altar because the scripture says everything a believer does must be done to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). That means you cannot just live, think, talk, act, walk, and do things anyhow you want to because “you are the temple of God” (1 Corinthians 3:16).

You Will Succeed in Jesus’ Name!

Also read:

• The Importance of the Altar
• Reasons You Still Have Hope
• The Origin of Jesus – Conception through Supra Radioactive Technology
• How God Creates: Creating by Separation
• Don’t Blame God For Very Bad Days

You can now partner with the Daily Dew Ministry by clicking here