God is serious about worship.
Just ask Nadab and Abihu. These men were the next in line to follow Moses’ brother, Aaron, as the high priests. We read in Exodus 24 that they had a unique experience of seeing a vision of God. Perhaps this led to an inflated view of their importance, because in Leviticus 10 we read that they offered “strange fire” before the Lord.
There is some debate about what specifically these guys did. Some have offered the theory that they were too drunk to do it correctly. Others have said they offered sacrifices presumptively and assumed the Lord would accept whatever they brought. It could be a combination of the two. What isn’t debated is that God immediately struck these men dead.
The point of the story, then, is that if you worship in a way not prescribed by God—you will invoke His wrath. If you offer strange fire then God isn’t going to be pleased. Therefore, it’s only fitting that we ask, “what is strange fire?” The story of Nadab and Abihu calls us to assess the ways we worship and what we believe about worship. An application point, then, is to say I don’t want to be Nadab and Abihu, so I’m going to watch my doctrine closely.
Keeping Us From Strange Fire
In his book, Strange Fire, John MacArthur compares charismatic theology to Nadab and Abihu. His criticism is sharp and pointed:
Here’s the point: we can’t make God into any form we would like. We cannot mold Him into our own image, according to our own specifications and imaginations. Yet that is what many Pentecostals and charismatics have done. They have created their own golden-calf version of the Holy Spirit. They have thrown their theology into the fires of human experience and worshipped the false spirit that came out—parading themselves before it with bizarre antics and unrestrained behavior. As a movement, they have persistently ignored the truth about the Holy Spirit and with reckless license set up an idol spirit in the house of God, dishonoring the third member of the Trinity in His own name. (Strange Fire, xiv)
MacArthur goes on to make the argument that this “strange fire” is infiltrating churches much as a trojan horse. Therefore, we ought to “take a stand” and “rise up” and “condemn everything that assaults the glory of God”. (xvii)
I’ll show my cards from the beginning and say there is much within MacArthur’s book that I find unhelpful. I believe he paints with far too broad of a brush to give a substantial critique of charismatic theology. I agree with him on plenty of points throughout, but ultimately I find his work here unhelpful.
God Does Care About Worship and Theology
But a critique of Strange Fire is not why I’m writing this today. In fact, I believe there is a core to what MacArthur is saying here which is true and correct. God does care about how He is worshipped. Doctrine does matter. And we do need to have a proper theology of sacrifice. There are implications to this which are incredibly important for our walk with Christ.
Yet, I wonder if MacArthur has really gotten to the central point of Nadab and Abihu. The way I see it the story is saying “we must take the holiness of God seriously”. To which MacArthur seems to be responding, “therefore, we need to make certain we believe the right things about God”. That’s a fine point, but it’s not the point of the narrative.
Was this about flippant sacrifice and shoddy belief? Or was this more about knowing the right thing and doing the wrong thing, and doing so as a leader of people?
Consider Proverbs 21:3.
“To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.”
Let’s concede MacArthur’s overall point for a moment. God takes sacrifice (right worship) very seriously. To not sacrifice correctly cost Nadab and Abihu their lives. And let’s assume that part of the application of this is to make sure that our doctrine of “sacrifice” (and how to properly worship) is all part of this.
How then should Proverbs 21:3 inform us? If God cares THAT much about matters of sacrifice then how much more does he care about matters of righteousness and justice?
What this tells me is that those who are passionate about doctrine, those who firmly believe it is important to know God and to know Him rightly, ought to be the ones leading the charge in matters of righteousness and justice. Proverbs 21:3 tells us about the heart of God. He takes pleasure in us doing the right thing and ordering our communities fairly. If you care about believing right things about God and leading the charge in presenting God rightly, caring about righteousness and justice should be at the forefront.
Conclusion
Some will hear that last statement and immediately begin arguing doctrine. What “type” of justice? What “type” of righteousness? Are we arguing for an embrace of a secular philosophy like CRT/I?
This type of response tells me that we’re not asking the right questions nor doing the right thing. This response actually betrays that I’m empty handed—except for the rocks I have to throw at those attempting to do justice. What I mean is that what ought to be happening here is that we have two groups of Jesus-loving people saying, “I’m doing justice and righteousness this way” and another saying “I’m doing justice and righteousness this way, and I think mine represent God better”. But what we have are those saying, “I’m doing justice and righteousness this way” and the other group shouting, “strange fire!!”
To our brothers and sisters who love theology, who fight for a right theology of righteousness and justice, who are diligent in making certain nobody is deceived by strange fires, may I plead with you to lead the charge in actually doing righteousness and justice.
Those who are passionate about preserving the church from strange fire should be at the front of the line in preserving us from the strange fire of a Christianity that doesn’t “seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, or plead the widow’s cause”.
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