Leviticus chapter 10, and this is working with the theme of drawing near, which we have already seen in the Psalms and hymns that we sang. Leviticus 10 reads as follows. Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it. and laid incense on it, and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, this is what the Lord has said, among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel, the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, come near, carry your brothers away from the front of the sanctuary and out of the camp. So they came near and carried them in their coats out of the camp, as Moses had said. And Moses said to Aaron and to Eliezer and Ithamar, his sons, do not let the hair of your heads hang loose and do not tear your clothes lest you die and wrath come upon all the congregation. But let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning that the Lord has kindled. And do not go outside the entrance of the tent of meeting, lest you die, for the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you. And they did according to the word of Moses. We now turn to Numbers chapter 3. Numbers chapter 3. This is also our text, the verses 1 through 4. These are the generations of Aaron and Moses at the time when the Lord spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai. These are the names of the sons of Aaron. Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests whom he ordained to serve as priests. But Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord when they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the lifetime of Aaron, their father. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, this morning we're going to celebrate the Lord's Supper again. Before we do that, we're going to read the form for the celebration of the Lord's Supper. It's a fairly long form. Maybe some of the children among us, or even the youth, find it a little bit dry in places. But it's important that we read this form together anyway. because it reminds us to be very careful in how we celebrate the Lord's Supper. It warns us not to engage in an unworthy celebration because the Lord is holy. That also comes out in our reading and in our text this morning. So this morning I want to spend some time reflecting on that idea together to get us into the right mindset. And we do so by realizing that only those who are truly worthy may approach the Lord. And we see that in the death of Aaron's sons, and we see it in the death of God's son. So our text this morning from Numbers refers to something that was described in our reading in Leviticus 10. We read that Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord when they offered unauthorized fire before him. And those two men were the oldest sons of Aaron, the high priest. They had been ordained to the priesthood together with their brothers. In fact, if you study the whole book, you would know that Leviticus 10 takes place more or less right after their ordination. They were God's priests. This was their inaugural service. And then they bring unauthorized fire into the tabernacle and God consumes them with fire of his own. You wonder what happened. And our reading and our texts are deliberately vague. Doesn't really answer all of our questions, does it? But it does make one thing clear. They did something that the Lord had not authorized them to do. In other words, they acted on their own initiative. Consider that the Lord had given so many very specific regulations on how to approach him. And these regulations were there for the protection of his people. And we're familiar with that from our own life as well. If you've ever worked on a high voltage line, for example. Think of an electrician. An electrician cannot just disregard the electrical regulations and start making up his own way of doing things. Those regulations are there for his or her protection. And in the same way, the ceremonial regulations were there for the protection of God's people. Because God is holy. And in order for a holy God to dwell with sinful people, there need to be a lot of measures put in place. He cannot dwell with sinful people without having very specific regulations in place as to how to approach Him. And the Lord had given these regulations. If you read the book of Leviticus, you will see that there are numerous regulations that were there to protect His people. And Nadab and Abihu simply bypassed all of that. They ignored it and the result was sudden incineration. Now you have to realize this was not an unintentional sin. If you read the passage in Leviticus 10, you might have felt a twinge of sympathy for these people. You know, first, almost their first day on the job, so to speak, and they make a mistake and they die. But there were regulations in place to deal with unintentional sin as well. The Lord had provided a way to deal with that. Check Leviticus 4, for instance. So what is being described here in Leviticus chapter 10 was not an accident. Nehdeb and Ebayhu approach God without an attitude of total and complete submission to His Word. And really, in the end, that's all that matters. Scripture doesn't need to tell us more. But then you get our text, Numbers 3, and it refers to this again, and that lack of detail in our text is what makes it so intriguing. It's almost as if the narrator is is a little bit reticent in discussing it. He would rather not talk about it. He alludes to it, but he doesn't really talk about it or describe it. And we do that too sometimes, don't we? If we're having a discussion, there are things that we don't discuss in polite company, maybe things that you're aware of, or even things in the news. You know, if something gruesome happened, most of us would prefer not to talk about the details or if something terrible happened in church life. We don't, we really don't want to bring it up again. So if we allude to it, it's almost indirectly. And the narrator of this passage does not want to discuss the details of what Nadab and Abihu did either, but he still brings it up. And you wonder why, what is the point? If all scripture is God-breathed, There's a reason why this is here, these few verses. But why? Why bring it up now? This incident happened in the previous year, if you compare Leviticus and Numbers and you work out the chronology. What gets described in our text in Numbers, when it alludes back to Leviticus, that happened in the past year, in the previous year. So it's still fairly recent. It's still in the same location at Mount Sinai. You can hardly imagine anyone would have forgotten what happened to these men. And yet the narrator makes a point out of saying it again anyway. As a matter of fact, anytime that we hear about these people later on, their death before the Lord is mentioned as well. It's almost as if the narrator wants to remind people of their death. What is he doing? Why is this? And a related detail in the wording at the beginning of our text is connected to this. It begins with a line, these are the generations of Aaron and Moses. So this word generations is a technical term in the original language. It's found at more critical turning points in the book of Moses, the books of Moses, and it generally comes at the beginning of a story of God's ongoing work of redemption. So it's intriguing then that if normally the word generations is followed by a story of redemption, you get Nadab and Abihu mentioned now at this point. That's interesting, isn't it? And it forms, that's deliberate, it forms a contrast at this point with what follows. Nadab and Abihu are not going to be a part of God's work of redemption anymore. So when they're mentioned, it's with a certain amount of sadness. In the original language, the text emphasizes those first two names. It makes a point out of setting them apart. Maybe there's an echo here of Aaron's grief, echoing through these genealogies as he remembers his sons that he lost. But the most grievous aspect of this whole situation is that these priests can never intercede for anyone again. They can never pray for anyone again. They can never represent sinners before a holy God again. So this text shows us how dangerous it is to approach a holy God. Even if you are a qualified priest in the Old Testament, appointed by God himself, it's still dangerous. Just like you can be a fully qualified electrician, but it can still be dangerous to work on an electrical line. You need to respect that. And maybe that's why the narrator feels he has to remind us of their deaths. But the question indirectly being asked by this passage is, where do we find a worthy priest? If priests are limited, and they're in such short supply, and if human sin makes them so vulnerable, then where do you find a worthy priest? Where do you find a priest who can represent the people before God? If even the holiest are destroyed in his presence, what about the rest of us? How can we approach a holy God? Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord. Their line ended. But we have a different priest, don't we? His line ended as well. Isaiah 53 verse 8 says, by oppression and judgment he was taken away, and who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, but that was because of our sins, not because of his own. He is the priest who also died while carrying out his service. But he was killed, not by his own lack of holiness, but because of ours. Yet, although he died, his line does not really end. Isaiah 53 says that he will see his offspring and prolong his days. And it also says that he is and remains fully qualified. Hebrews 10 verse 14 says that by the one sacrifice He is made perfect forever, those who are being made holy. That was a sacrifice of Himself. Nadab and Abihu approached with unauthorized fire, but Jesus approached with an offering that was fully acceptable to God. He is fully worthy to approach God and to intercede for sinners like us. He is the priest provided by God who craves fellowship with us. who will never be separated from us, whether by his death or ours, because by his sacrifice, he's able to make us worthy as well. And you need to remember that when you approach the table yourself this morning. You are not made worthy by a repentant heart. The sincerity of your repentance in and of itself is not what saves you. You need to be sincere when you repent, but that sincerity is not what saves you. The depth of your grief is not what saves you. The intensity of your experience is not what saves you. Your sincerity and your conscience is not what saves you. It can only point you back towards Christ. He is the one who saves you. He is the one who intercedes for you. He is the one who makes it possible for you to approach God again. But we need to be very careful now. Because yes, we are permitted to attend, but the form warns us, do not do so unworthily. What attitude do we have when we come to the Lord's table? Just because we are invited to come does not mean that we can come casually. Remember, God does not change. He was a consuming fire back then, and He still is today. We can only ever approach Him through Jesus Christ. We should never take that for granted. So when we gather here shortly around this table, we do so to proclaim our own sinfulness. We do so to proclaim His consuming holiness. But we also do so to proclaim His great forgiveness. We do so to proclaim the worthiness of Christ. He served God perfectly. He never made any mistake. He continues to serve God today as well. He did not add to God's command. He did not take away from any of it. Yes, only the truly worthy may approach Him. So how do you become worthy? You can only be made worthy, not by the strength of your faith, not by the intensity of your repentance, but by Christ, the ultimate High Priest. How great He is, how immense His grace, how comprehensive His salvation. He is the priest that we need. In Him and Him alone can we approach God without being consumed. Therefore, we may be fully assured that no sin or weakness which still remains in us against our will can prevent us from being received by God in grace and from being made worthy partakers of this food and drink. Amen.