The Righteous Made Perfect

In the morning, I read about Nadab and Abihu. The brothers offered unauthorized fire, so fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them (Leviticus 10).

Their father, Aaron the priest, stands silent.

Like Aaron, I’m silent too because before I read that, my mind had been fixed on the fact that Judah, Ruben, Simeon, Levi and all those sinful brothers get their names engraved on the priestly clothes, not because they were perfect but because God said so (Exodus 39:6).

I see Aaron stand silent with the names of those brothers hanging from his shoulders and across his chest like memorial stones.

When night falls, I wonder about this still. I wonder, can I really come close? Am I like one of those twelve brothers, an imperfect man miraculously holding the honor of my name engraved in a holy place? Or am I like one of those two brothers, imperfect and unauthorized to the point of sudden death?

I want to come close, so my old hands with big knuckles light a fire in great grandmother’s oil lamp, open the pages of Leviticus 10 and point to the words,

Among those who approach me
I will be proved holy
In the sight of the people
I will be honored.

My mind goes to Hebrews 12:29, “Our God is a consuming fire.” So I go there and read the whole chapter to see I don’t have to be terrified like Moses because my Priest Jesus can take the heat.

Word explicitly states starting in verse 18, “You have not come to a mountain … that is burning with fire … the sight was so terrifying that Moses said, ‘I am trembling with fear.’ But you have come to Mount Zion … to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant.”

And my Good Father circles my mind back to the engraved names of those twelve brothers because my name is also written, written in heaven with the rest of the church, the righteous made perfect. (Hebrews 12:23).

Photo by Erica Nilsson on Unsplash