The same holy fire of God that consumed the holy offering on the altar is the same holy fire of God that consumed Nadab and Abihu for their unholy act.
I've been drinking deeply of a stream that seems to be flowing, emphasizing or restoring us to the knowledge of the holiness of God. I'm not the only one—I'm encountering it at every turn and have been for some time now. The events in Leviticus are part of a constant stream of invitations to examine the holiness of God.
In our humanness, the holiness of God is difficult to wrap our heads or hands around. And, if we've been scarred by someone's over-emphasis or even perversion of holiness into legalism (man-made laws), it makes it that much harder. However, it is absolutely necessary that we face the holiness of God because, above all else, God is holy.
"No creature can be essentially holy, because [it is] mutable; holiness is the substance of God, but a quality and accident in a creature. God is infinitely holy, creatures finitely holy. He is holy from himself, creatures are holy by derivation from him." (Stephen Charnock, Attributes of God)
Holiness is his essence—his nature. All other aspects of his nature are rooted and sustained by his completely perfect holiness, his wholly otherness. His name, which speaks of all his nature at once, is holy (Psalm 103:1). He is "righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works" (Psalm 145:17).
"As sincerity is the lustre of every grace in a Christian, so is purity the splendor of every attribute in the Godhead. His justice is a holy justice; his wisdom a holy wisdom; his arm of power a holy arm (Psalm 98:1); his truth or promise a holy promise (Psalm 105:42): it is the rule of all his acts, the source of all his punishments...Without it, his patience would be an indulgence to sin, his mercy a fondness, his wrath a madness, his power a tyranny, his wisdom an unworthy subtlety." (Stephen Charnock, Attributes of God)
Last week, in our Community Bible Study, we discussed the fire of God that consumed the sacrifice, then moments later consumed Nadab and Abihu and also consumed the 250 Elders who thought they were holy. We can incorrectly read human emotion into the decision to consume those who treated what was holy (or God's) as unholy or ordinary (or theirs).
There's no capriciousness or emotional decision and certainly no actual difference in the fire that consumed the properly offered sacrifice and those who improperly offered sacrifice/incense. This is the same fire that consumes the sacrifice of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob before the Mosaic instructions and the same fire that consumes Elijah's offering on Mt. Carmel, offered outside Mosaic Law. It is the same fire that doesn't consume the bush when Christ appeared to Moses and possibly protects Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the man-made fiery furnace. It's the same fire that stands between Israel and the Egyptian army, leads Israel through the desert, covers them to give shade in the day, and stands guard at night. It's the same fire that scorches Mt. Sinai when his throne descends and fills Solomon's temple with smoke so the priests couldn't minister. It is the same fire that rests over the heads of the disciples during Pentecost. And the new holy earth will be first cleansed by fire.
The holy fire of God is the same whether it breaks out for you or against you. The difference is your heart before the holy God.
When we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, the fire of God comes to consume our flesh and remove the dross from our lives so we can be transformed into a holy people. However, when we place our idolatry of self between us and God, like the 250 leaders who were consumed, of course the holy fire of God will break out against the idolatry and consume it! And no, it will not be pretty. When we place our willful, prideful disobedience between us and God, like Nadab and Abihu, of course he will consume it! And no, it will not be pretty.
God is holy and he will destroy every unholy idol, either now, in our willing hearts, or later, in the lake of fire.
In his holiness God consumed the sacrifice. In the same holiness, he consumed Nadab and Abihu. There is no restraint for his holiness, no tempering it. It is one and the same. He does not change.
The only hope in the face of a holy God is to become holy by allowing the Holy Spirit to transform us in to the image of Christ, imputing Christ's holiness to us. This is holy love in action: redeeming us, transforming us so we can dwell with our holy God who desires to dwell with us. He desires to dwell with us so He can lavishly pour his holy life on us and in us for an eternity. He makes it clear he desires to share his holy authority with us as we co-rule a (new) holy earth as he originally intended in the beginning.
Grace reconciles us to a holy God.