Three Fires (3) - All The LORD is near Daily Devotionals for 2024

There went out fire from before Jehovah, and devoured them, and they died before Jehovah. And Moses said to Aaron, This is what Jehovah spoke, saying, I will be hallowed in them that come near Me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron was silent.
Leviticus 10:2-3

Three Fires (3)
Fire coming from the presence of Jehovah and consuming the burnt offering in was the witness of God's approval and acceptance of it. In today's verse, the fire from before Jehovah was the evidence of His disapproval. Why the difference now? God Himself furnishes the answer.

God's standard of right and wrong, clean and unclean, holy and unholy, is indelibly written at Calvary. God, in infinite love, provided, in the sending of His Son, what He in His holiness required. The fire of God's righteous indignation against sin fell upon the spotless, holy Savior. Sin was put away, and God was glorified in the putting away of it. God has now found in Christ a righteous channel through whom His love can flow out without restraint. Christ is God's answer for me and my sins. Eternal praise and worship is due to Him alone.

What must it be for God to see something in my life, something of the flesh—"strange fire," unconfessed and unjudged—when dealing with it cost Him so dearly? Can He look on with indifference? What if I mingle this with the incense, which speaks of worship, and present this before God? Will that make it more acceptable? The flesh in man cannot be refined or tuned to suit God's presence. Nor can God bend His standards to allow something of my will. No, God says, "I will be hallowed in them that come near Me, and before all the people I will be glorified."

Jacob Redekop