Leviticus 8-10

What’s Happening?

From the very beginning of Genesis, God has been creating a holy people to live with him in his holy place and spread his life to the world (Genesis 1:28). The Garden of Eden was the first holy dwelling of God with man. Adam and Eve were placed there like priests (Genesis 2:15). They were to keep the garden, enjoy God’s presence, and extend his holy space outward until the whole world was filled with God’s life.

In Leviticus 8–10, God graciously reestablishes his plan by raising up new priestly “Adams.” Aaron and his sons are washed, clothed, and anointed so that they might be like the God they serve: “Be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy” (Leviticus 8:6–13; 11:44). They spend seven days inside the tabernacle before their consecration is complete (Leviticus 8:33–35), echoing the seven days of creation (Genesis 1–2). When they emerge, they are God’s appointed representatives to dwell in his holy space and extend his holy life to Israel.

And at first, everything works. Aaron and his sons obey God’s commands exactly (Leviticus 9:5–21). They offer the sacrifices God prescribed, and the result is glorious: “the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people, and fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering” (Leviticus 9:23–24). The fire from God’s own presence declares the tabernacle, the priesthood, the people, and the sacrifice holy and acceptable.

But immediately afterward, Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu repeat their father’s failure. They bring “unauthorized fire” before the Lord (Leviticus 10:1). Just as Aaron once imported Egyptian idolatry with the golden calf (Exodus 32:4–6), so his sons now import idolatrous practices into God’s holy presence. And just as the fire of God’s presence had consumed the burnt offering to make it holy and acceptable, so now that same fire consumes Aaron’s sons to make the priesthood and the camp holy again (Leviticus 10:2).

God explains what he is doing: “Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified” (Leviticus 10:3). God is set apart from every other god, and his priests must show that by refusing to mix his holiness with the unholiness of pagan ritual.

But that doesn’t mean God’s laws are rigid and cruel. If they were, Aaron himself should have been consumed. Later in chapter 10, Aaron and his surviving sons choose to burn the sin offering instead of eating it, breaking the normal command (Leviticus 10:16–18). But Aaron explains that in his grief he could not rightly eat holy food while mourning his sons’ death. Moses accepts this answer, and so does God (Leviticus 10:19–20). God’s holiness is not indifferent to intention or circumstance. He distinguishes between high-handed rebellion, like Nadab and Abihu’s idolatry, and weakness in grief. That is why he gave Israel purification offerings in the first place—because his holiness provides a way for mistakes to be covered (Leviticus 4:20, 26, 31).

Where is the Gospel?

This story shows our deep need for a priest. Like Adam (Genesis 3:23–24), and like Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10:2), we are unholy people who cannot dwell with a holy God. We need someone who can live in his presence and extend his holiness to us.

Jesus is that priest. Hebrews tells us that unlike Aaron, Jesus did not need sacrifices to consecrate him. He had no sin to cleanse (Hebrews 7:26–27). He did not spend seven days in a tent waiting to be holy enough to serve. He is the Son through whom God made the world in seven days (Hebrews 1:2). He is holiness itself. For the priests, holiness was foreign ground that needed careful preparation. For Jesus, holiness is home. And so he alone can bring us into that holy space (Hebrews 9:24).

And Jesus brings fire as well. At Pentecost, the fire of his Spirit came down—not to consume, but to cleanse (Acts 2:3–4). Like the fire that consumed the burnt offering (Leviticus 9:24), the Spirit’s fire makes us holy and acceptable to God (Romans 12:1). And like the fire that consumed Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10:2), the Spirit’s fire also burns away what is unholy in us (Galatians 5:24). That is why Paul says we now offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God (Romans 12:1).

Jesus is the consecrated priest who is already holy. By his Spirit, he extends God’s holiness to us so that we, too, can dwell with God and spread his holy presence to the world.

See for Yourself

I pray that the Holy Spirit would give you eyes to see the God who guards his holiness and graciously shares it. And that you would see Jesus as the true priest who makes you holy, fills you with his Spirit’s fire, and brings you into God’s presence forever.