Numbers 3:1-4 – Worshipping God rightly matters.

Numbers chapters 3-4 are two chapters that talk about the Levites. Here the children of Levi would be counted, specified, and assigned to their specific duties. Once again, we will see the specificity of God. 

While Moses was the leader whom God had appointed to lead the people of Israel, Aaron was the elder of the two. Verse 2 tells us that Aaron had four sons, namely Nadab Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. Nadab was the eldest and firstborn of Aaron. All four of them were ordained as priests to the nation of Israel. Sadly Nadab and Abihu were smitten dead for offering strange fire to God in the wilderness of Sinai.  It was also unfortunate that both did not have any children to succeed them. So the remaining two of Aaron’s sons, Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in Aaron’s lifetime.

What Nadab and Abihu did were briefly described in Leviticus 10:1. We are told that “…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.” Consequently, Leviticus 10:2 said, “And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.” These two sons of Aaron had shown themselves unworthy of serving God. They had profaned the worship of God and acted presumptuously. They left us with a lesson of how important it is to approach God with an appropriate attitude and worship Him in sanctity.

What did Jesus say about how we should worship God? We must honor Him with our whole heart. In John 4:23, Jesus said that worship must be offered in spirit and truth. He said, “…the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.” Sincerity and honesty are what God is looking for in His worshippers. So we must approach God with such attitudes. We must never worship God in false pretence. Don’t just be physically present, be sure our heart and soul are totally present! This is what we must do to honor God. He deserves our total attention!