Holy?

In Leviticus 10 we read the strange story of Nadab and Abihu, two of Aaron's sons. In that story, the brothers "each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before YHWH" (Lev 10:1). "Unauthorized fire." What does that even mean? So the Lord corrected them. "No, guys, that's not how it works." No, actually, "And fire came out from before YHWH and consumed them, and they died before YHWH" (Lev 10:2). "Whoa! Overreact much, God?" Obviously not. But why was this such a big deal? I mean ... "unauthorized fire"? Well, the text doesn't leave us to wonder. "Then Moses said to Aaron, 'It is what YHWH spoke, saying, "By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored."'" And Aaron argued the point? No. "So Aaron, therefore, kept silent" (Lev 10:3). Apparently God highly values being treated as holy.

It wasn't just once. If you're familiar with Scripture, you'll remember that Moses, after leading the children of Israel for 40 years through the desert, didn't get to the Promised Land himself. Scripture says, "Since that time no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom YHWH knew face to face" (Deut 34:10). He was the premier prophet of Israel, but he didn't get into the Promised Land. Why? Well, the story goes that he struck the rock instead of speaking to it (Num 20:2-13). "Wait ... he hit it instead of speaking to it and that kept him out of the Promised Land?" Well ... no. Again, Scripture doesn't leave us to guess. It wasn't the deed. Instead, God told Moses, "Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them" (Num 20:12). So ... it wasn't "He struck the rock." It was his lack of faith ... and primarily He didn't treat God as holy. It's a seriously important thing to God.

Scripture lists a whole variety of attributes for God, but only one is listed in triplicate ... twice. In Isaiah (Isa 6:3) and in Revelation (Rev 4:8), God is described not as "holy," but as "holy, holy, holy." Three times. In the mode of speech of the day, that would be like underlining and italicizing and bold printing "holy." It would be like "holy, holier, holiest." He is the Most High, the Holy One, the ultimate "other." Not like us. That's what the word means. Set apart. We take His name in vain. We treat worship as entertainment and casual. We assume He agrees with our opinions and edit His character as Scripture puts it to agree with our own version. We regard Him as "the big man upstairs" or the like. We minimize sin and are outraged that He might actually have something like "wrath" towards it. We pursue Him for personal gain. We fail to reflect Him or to seek His glory rather than our own. We neglect His word by ignoring or editing or simply not doing it. Ask Nadab and Abihu. Ask Moses. This is not a wise approach for those of us who claim to be believers. And, like Moses, we may be forgiven, but that doesn't mean there aren't earthly consequences for our refusal to treat Him as holy when "holy" is His most important attribute.