Taking Fire from the Altar
“Nadab and Abihu, sons of Aaron, each took his censer, and put fire in them, on which they put incense, and offered strange fire before Jehovah, which He had never commanded them”(Lev 10:1).
This very sad incident teaches us and emphasizes what Jehovah, in many ways, throughout all the Scriptures has taught us, and that is that there is only one way of doing things, and it is as Jehovah has instructed, or according to the instruction of God. And although we have often heard messages in this same vein, the God of heaven wants to sow this in us as a people, in this time when the Lord is restoring all things. Especially in the aspect of restoration that has to do with returning once again to order. Restoration contains several aspects: God heals, God delivers, God restores, God brings back from afar those who have gone away, God rebuilds as in the time of the restoration of the temple. But there is something very important, and that is returning to order.
The Christian church has suffered the impact of the times, and has wanted to adapt itself to this age, receiving pressure on every side that, just as the world changes, the church must change. This is the reason many churches are ordaining priests in the style of Jeroboam, to maintain their status, but they have lost all fear of God and respect for what Jehovah has established. However, things endure only when they are done God’s way. The church can build an empire, raise up great choirs, have millions in the banks beyond counting, make sizable investments in institutions so as to astonish the world with its prosperity, but if that prosperity is not given by God, it will become like that of the great empires, which ruled for thousands of years and today have been reduced to architectural relics and are only history. The church can build an empire and look prosperous, but if its kingdom is not that of heaven and its king is not Adonai, sooner or later its end will come, and its fall is certain, for only what is of God endures and is infallible.
Submission to God is not shown only in the day of need, but also in the day of security, because our obedience to His will must be constant and unconditional. How the end is achieved matters to God. No one has the right to bring strange fire onto the altar, that is, something that Jehovah did not institute, upon what God has established. There has been much speculation about what the sin of these priests consisted of, the kind of fire they brought in, but there were many instructions about the incense and where or on which altar Jehovah had determined it, which clearly indicates where the error was. In each instruction of God there is a teaching; to fail in one of them is to lose all that God wants to teach us. Therefore, we understand that to change the order of things or vary them is to lose the purpose and the eternal truths that He wants to teach us. There is a way to do new things without changing the instruction, and that is by doing it in the Spirit, entering into the dimension of the manifold grace of God.
God has made all things new in Jesus Christ. Therefore, a new song is not a song that was composed today; it can be the same one as yesterday, but sung in the gratitude and acknowledgment of today. The word “new” that is used in the New Testament to refer to the new covenant, new promise, is not something new in terms of time, but in terms of nature and quality, like something that has never been used even though it is old, but is new because it is used by God in Christ in another way.
“A new commandment I give you…” (John 13:34)
, said Jesus, and I say, new? But it is the same commandment as yesterday; ah, but now He gives it in the Son, in the New Covenant, with better promises, with a better mediator, in a new nature, in the Spirit, so that they may know it well, in a dimension of God in the Spirit. Balaam changed places in order to curse Israel and his curse did not work; he changed the numbers of his sacrifices and accomplished nothing; he even imitated the seven several times, and followed certain spiritual instructions, but they did not work for them, because it is not only following the instructions, but having the spirit with which things are done for God. There are those who give offerings, but they themselves are never offerings. The altar of incense is not for sacrificing burnt offerings, nor for pouring out a drink offering. God made each thing with a purpose; let us not alter the things established by Him and it will go well with us. When God is pleased He pours out His glory, but that only happens when everything is done as, according to, and in conformity with His instruction. There are two kinds of fire: the fire of approval and the fire of disapproval.
The fire of approval was poured out by Jehovah when Moses finished the tabernacle, and that fire could not be allowed to go out, and from it they had to take in order to minister at the altar of incense. In the same way, God’s approval was poured out from heaven through the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, when heaven was filled with His glory on the day of the resurrection. From that sacrifice, from His cross, we must all take when we go to minister, in the name of Jesus. No one should kindle any fire of worship and praise that is not in the name of Jesus Christ. Every other fire is strange before God. How many times do we kindle a fire of emotions, to the rhythm of music that has an effect on us, and we even misuse the fire of legitimate things to create an atmosphere, when Jehovah has not brought fire from Jesus.
No one should kindle fire with the gift; worship must be through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which is why the intercessors present the covenant before God, the blessed, sacred, sprinkled blood that speaks better than that of Abel. No one should wave the incense of worship or of intercession and of all ministration to God without first going to the altar of sacrifice established by God. Christ is the mercy seat, where we find forgiveness for our sins. When your spiritual life is in decline, do not bring in strange fire; run to the altar of the cross and take of the fire of approval and fill the censer of your life, and wave it in Jesus before God. There can be no fire in ministering to God if it is not sought at the altar of Christ’s approval. Everything else is strange fire that Jehovah did not command.
Notes taken from the message “Taking Fire from the Altar” by Pastor Juan Radhamés Fernández. To receive a copy of this ministration, visit our website https://vimeo.com/70189173
