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We live in a culture that believes life centers around us. It is about “my” dreams, “my” ambitions, and “my” goals. Our fulfillment most often comes from our needs being met, our dreams being achieved, and our achievements being recognized. We’re striving for the “trophy,” even though it has taken on different forms and shapes as we’ve gotten older. It’s the lie that our culture feeds – that “it’s all about me.”

In the Book of Exodus, we read that Aaron and his two eldest sons, Nadab and Abihu, together with seventy of the elders of Israel, climbed partway up Mount Sinai with Moses.(1) There they saw the God of Israel and shared a meal together in His presence under His feet. By the way – if you can imagine being a part of that group – it was pretty heady stuff. Imagine being invited to sit at God’s table! Then, having seen God, Aaron and his sons were given an opportunity to serve Him as doorkeepers in His House.

Aaron and all four of his sons were chosen by God to serve Him and intercede for the people as High Priests.(2) God gave them very specific instructions on how offerings were to be presented before Him. He left nothing to their imagination, their intellect, or their discretion. He knew that an unholy people could not conceive or comprehend of how to worship a holy God. He directed Moses to consecrate Aaron and his sons to their priestly service through the ceremonial washing with water, the robing in their priestly vestments, the sprinkling of sacrificial blood, and the anointing with oil.(3)

The washing with water signified the cleansing that must take place in the priests’ lives before they could serve the Lord. They must be holy and pure before they could enter into His presence. The same is true of us. We, too, have been chosen by God to serve Him. We can only enter into that service through our salvation through Jesus Christ – because apart from Him we can do absolutely nothing.

And before we can be used, we too must be cleansed of unconfessed sins and impurities in our lives. Jesus taught this very principle to His disciples in the upper room that night before He was arrested, when He washed His disciples’ feet. But as He explained to Peter, because of their relationship with Him, they did not need to be washed all over; only their feet needed to be washed. By doing so, they would be prepared for service and prepared to enter into fellowship with Him. Moses washed Aaron and his sons in the same manner that Jesus washed the disciples’ feet.

Next, Moses clothed them in their priestly garments. The clothing was made of white linen signifying the righteousness of God. As they served Him and entered into His presence, they could only do so clothed in His righteousness – just as we, as followers of Jesus, can only enter into God’s presence clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

Then Moses applied some of the droplets of blood of the sacrifice to their right ear lobe, right thumb, and right big toe. This represents for us that only through the shed blood of the perfect Sacrifice, Jesus, can we hear the voice of God, be fit as His hands in service, and be prepared to walk with Him. It symbolized that our total personality is cleansed by Christ’s blood and must therefore be presented to Him as an act of worship.(4)

Lastly, Moses anointed the priests with oil. In the case of Aaron, this involved pouring the oil on his head and allowing it to drip down over his beard and his clothing. For us, this represents the anointing of the Holy Spirit and symbolizes that He is free to move and to work in our worship and service.                

But just as God had consecrated them for His purpose, His consecration led them to greater accountability before Him, and greater consequence for disobedience. God’s anointing is His empowerment to the obedient; it is not His shelter to the disobedient. Jehovah God is a jealous God who will not be mocked. And He can only be approached in one way – His Way. Just as all roads don’t lead to a relationship with the Holy God, all roads are not acceptable to Him in worship and in service.

God gave His high priests very specific instructions on how they were to serve Him and worship Him in the tabernacle. Nadab (meaning “spontaneous”) and Abihu (meaning “worshiper of God”) made the decision to spontaneously worship God in an unauthorized way – a way contrary to what God had commanded. They got caught up in their own self-importance and lost sight of the One they were serving – and the consequence was death. Therein is an important reminder: God will not ignore disobedience – even the disobedience of His anointed children.

But God will accomplish His purpose – His purpose will continue. Though Nadab and Abihu had no children to follow them as high priests, they did have two younger brothers, Eleazar and Ithamar. God had chosen them, He had prepared them, He had consecrated them and now He placed them in service. God will always accomplish His work and His purpose – nothing will prevent Him from accomplishing His appointed task, including our disobedience. At the very least, our disobedience will render us ineffective and therefore unable to experience the blessing of being used by God. In other instances, like these young men, our disobedience could render us permanently disqualified from service. But, in either case, the sovereign and almighty God will not be thwarted in His purpose.

Through the shed blood of Jesus and through the wooing of His Holy Spirit, God has consecrated and called us unto Himself. And He has done so for His purpose – to worship Him and serve Him. Let’s not lose sight like Nadab and Abihu did and forget that our very existence centers around God’s purpose and plan for our lives. It is not about us; it is all about Him! Let us listen carefully, heed His instruction, and experience His blessing as we worship and serve the One, who by His grace, has chosen us.

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You can read about the appointment of Aaron and his sons in the third chapter of the Book of Numbers.

This post is taken from chapter 4 of my book, The Wandering Years. For more information about the book, click here.

(1)  Exodus 24:9

(2)  Numbers 3:1-4 (NLT)

This is the family line of Aaron and Moses as it was recorded when the LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai: Aaron's sons were Nadab (the firstborn), Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. They were anointed and set apart to minister as priests. But Nadab and Abihu died in the LORD's presence in the wilderness of Sinai when they burned before the LORD a different kind of fire than he had commanded. Since they had no sons, this left only Eleazar and Ithamar to serve as priests with their father, Aaron.

(3)  Leviticus 8

(4)  Romans 12:1-2

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