Executive Producer

This episode is brought to you in part by Executive Producer, John Anonymous.

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 10 NIRV, Ch. 11-12 NKJV

Music

David Phelps – Song: Hallelujah! – CD: O Holy Night

Support

Please remember that this is a listener supported show. Your support of any amount is needed and very much appreciated. Find out how by clicking here.

Thoughts

Let’s look at chapter 10, verses 1 and 2:

1Nadab and Abihu were two of Aaron’s sons. They got their shallow cups for burning incense. They put fire in them. They added incense to it. They made an offering to the Lord by using fire that wasn’t allowed. They did it against his command. 2So the Lord sent fire on them. It burned them up. They died in front of the Lord. (NIRV)

Think about what Nadab and Abihu had witnessed. In the closing verse of chapter 9, the Lord Himself sent fire down on the altar and burned up the burnt offering. So they had a very recent evidence of the reality of God.

In addition, they witnessed the miracles that He did in bringing them out of Egypt. They heard the voice of the Lord, saw the fire, smoke and lightening, and felt the earth shake at Mt. Sinai. They were there with Moses, Aaron and the seventy elders when God called a meeting on Mt. Sinai, and according to Exodus 24, they actually saw God!

What were Nadab and Abihu thinking on this fateful day when they decided to go against the very explicit instructions of God? Was it pride? Ambition? Jealousy? We don’t know. Maybe it was familiarity…they might have just become used to the idea of serving God. Maybe they no longer thought of their duties as special. Whatever they were thinking, they were not considering the holiness and truly awesome nature of God.

Beloved, though we live in the age of grace, once again we must be reminded that God does not change. Yes, Jesus is our intercessor at the right hand of God the Father. And it is Jesus who took upon Himself the sin of the world…my sin and yours. But let us not become so familiar with God that we take His grace for granted. That grace came with an enormous price. Let us not cheapen it with a cavalier attitude. Because I can assure you, God does not.

Let us be thankful each and every day for the forgiveness we have received through the shed blood of Jesus. Let us magnify Him, let us lift His name, let us worship Him for what He has done for us. Let us thank Him for allowing us to be alive today, and for sustaining us because of His love. Let us consider how we can serve Him with thanksgiving in our hearts.

As we approach Christmas, let us think of how Jesus, of His own free will, gave up the glories of Heaven to be born a completely helpless human baby, in a very primitive time, into a poor, working class family, with a mission to live a perfect sinless life, to ultimately be deserted by his friends and beaten nearly to death, and hung on a cross, where even God the Father had to turn his face from Him. Yes, Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth, but for me the celebration is always tempered by the darkness of the cross. But lest we fall into despair with that thought, we are reminded also of the triumph of his resurrection. Hallelujah! Oh death, where is thy sting? Jesus is triumphant, and He does sit at the right hand of the Father, even now and forever.

This is the God we serve. This is the God who saved us. And this is why we must never take Him for granted. Hallelujah and amen!