Sun.’s Devo -God’s Holiness

Read: Leviticus 9:7-10:20; Mark 4:26-5:20; Psalm 37:30-40; Proverbs 10:6-7 Today we read of the disobedience of Aaron’s sons Abihu and Nadab and then of Aaron’s and how they were dealt with by God. It was the Day of Atonement when the high priest would offer the sin offering for himself and then for the people. The people brought their offerings and the priests offered them to the Lord. Aaron went through the whole ritual of offering the burnt offering, the sin offering and the peace offering. Moses and Aaron went into the Tabernacle and when they came back out, they blessed the people and the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole community. Fire blazed forth from God’s presence and the consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. The people responded by shouting with joy and praise, then falling on their face on the ground in worship. When Aaron’s two sons Nadab and Abihu saw the response of the people. They put coals of fire in their censors and offered it before the Lord which He had commanded them not to do. Immediately the fire of the Lord consumed them and they died before the Lord. They must have entered into the Holy of Holies to do this which was only designated for the high priest. I assume that they wanted the same response from the people that their father had gotten. Instead of praise and worship, they got judgment. Were they looking for the praises of the people above the praises of God? We aren’t really told but we see their actions. Moses told Aaron that he could not show outward signs of grief over their deaths. He gave Aaron further instructions that he and his sons must never drink wine or any other alcoholic drink before going into the Tabernacle or they would die. They had to distinguish between what was sacred and what was common, what was unclean and what was clean. They were to teach the people all the decrees that the Lord had given them. Then Moses told Aaron to take his remaining sons, Eleazar and Ithamar and they were to eat the portion of the sacrifices given by the people. Instead they burnt them. When Moses found out, he was very angry with them. It seemed like Aaron’s sons couldn’t get anything right. When Moses asked Aaron why his sons didn’t eat the meat, he said that he didn’t believe the Lord would be pleased if they ate it in the midst of their tragedy of losing their brothers and his sons. Moses was satisfied with his answer and apparently God was too because they lived. So what is the difference between the two sins. One was done publicly and would have been an example to the people that you didn’t have to obey God’s exact laws. The other was done privately and was done from a totally different heart. The first was done out of a seemingly desire for praise of man. The second was done from a broken heart of grief. God is merciful and kind and knows the heart of every man. He judges the heart. In Mark, Jesus gave two more parables about the kingdom of God and it had to do with the seed and how it grows in people’s hearts and is manifested on the earth. In the end they will be harvested. We already know that the seed is the Word of God and we will be judged in the end by if we put it in our hearts and let it manifest on the earth or if we let our sinful nature manifest on the earth. Jesus spoke to the crowd in parables but he explained them to his disciples. Jesus and his disciples crossed the lake to get to the region of the Gerasenes. The principality of the area tried to stop them with the storm but Jesus spoke to it and it calmed. This was a precursor to what he was going to do with the principality. He was about to shut it up also. When they got to the other side, the man with legions of demons met them. He recognized who Jesus was right away. Jesus cast out the unclean spirit and told him to go home to his family and tell them everything the Lord had done from him. The man went to all 10 cities in his region telling them what Jesus had done for him. Lord, thank you for your merciful kindness. Search our hearts and see that there is no wicked thing in us. Thank you for the blood of Jesus that makes us righteous.