This is truly an amazing scene.  Nadab and Abihu, two sons of Aaron, offered to God unauthorized fire, not following to God’s command.  Why did they do that?  Honestly, who knows?  Maybe they didn’t think of it.  Maybe they thought offering more fire than what God had commanded would be better.  How did God respond?  The fire from His presence consumed those fires from Nadab and Abihu, and they died before the Lord. 

I can only imagine… but I’m truly awed by how great He is!  The fires that Nadab and Abihu offered unauthorized were acts of their own doing; but how great He is to show Himself before them by consuming those fires.  And read the verse 3 – “I will show myself holy; … I will be honored”.  Approaching God is a serious business.  God is holy.  Our own doing will never be accepted by God.  He is holy; we are unholy, being covered with sins and faults.  He is to be honored and glorified; He is not to be played with.

How do you approach God?  Do you approach God with your own ideas and your best solution for your life?  Let’s make it clear.  There is one way to approach God, and that’s His way.  Nadab and Abihu did their own way, and they paid the price with their lives.  Aren’t you glad that we don’t just get hit by lightening whenever we fail to approach God in His way?  Back in the Old Testament times, there were strict rules in regards to sacrifices and offerings, and God showed Himself holy.  I’m glad that we are not under the laws of those offerings and sacrifices.  We have a new law and a new sacrifice, and that’s Jesus Christ.  He Himself became a sacrifice for us that we are now no longer under the law but under grace (Paul’s letters stress that point again and again).  And that’s the God’s way that we must abide.  We approach God through Jesus Christ. 

Then, how about our attitudes?  He is holy, and we are not.  For the fact that we can come before God is a gift, not earned but, given freely by God’s initiative.  Let’s me bring out some words to describe our attitudes… adoration, gratefulness, humbleness, reverence, brokenness, worship, praise, … are these words describing your attitude toward God?  Let’s get our heart examined.  God has given us a way to come to God through Jesus Christ, the sacrifice for our sins.  Let us approach God through Jesus, God’s chosen sacrifice for our sins, with our hearts bowing before God and adoring Him.  Remember, with our own doings, it is impossible to please God and it is impossible to come before God.