Chapter 8—Strange Fire
Being at ease keeps us unaware of our growing apostasy and distance from God. Suppressing even a few components of truth greatly hinders our ability to find the right path so Christ repeatedly asks us to repent, to know, and to live His doctrine, which is the only way and “the only and true doctrine of the Father” (2 Nephi 31:21). Jesus quoted Malachi because they are the Father’s words.
From the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances and have not kept them. Return unto me and I will return unto you. (Malachi 3:7, cf 3 Nephi 24:7)
God’s commandment to return confirms that a chosen people can, and have, strayed. Still they ask, “How can we return when we have never gone away?” (Malachi 3:7, NLT). God does not answer their question directly, but instead rebukes them by asking, “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me” (Malachi 3:8). “How?” they ask. He answers, “In tithes and [sacrificial] offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation” (Malachi 3:8–9).
Sacrifice is an essential part of the path to God. Under Mosaic law, a lamb was to be consumed on the altar. Unblemished male yearlings were sacrificed every morning and evening continually, an offering that was to be so completely consumed by fire that nothing remained except ascending smoke. A ‘whole burnt offering,’ olah (H5930), means ascent. Ascending smoke is appropriate imagery since ordinances bring us nearer to God as we ascend, also symbolized by rungs on Jacob’s ladder. Different sacrifices are required at each phase of ascension. Just as burnt offerings represent total dedication to God, fulfilling covenants requires total obedience and devotion of our heart, might, mind, and soul.
Animal sacrifice was a type of the Lord’s great redemptive offering. Originally the commandment was to offer a firstborn male lamb without spot, but animal sacrifice by the shedding of blood was no longer required once Christ fulfilled the preparatory Mosaic law. The higher law He established required another sacrifice, one that only the offerer could give: “Ye shall offer up unto me no more the shedding of blood . . . offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit” (3 Nephi 9:19).
Giving time, money, or material things without inner conviction is not acceptable sacrifice and “God cannot be deceived” (2 Nephi 9:41). God desires the one thing He cannot get, the only thing that is ours to offer— giving up our natural man with its estranged heart and mind, for it “is an enemy to God” (Mosiah 3:19).
Real, personal sacrifice never was placing an animal on the altar. Instead, it is a willingness to put the animal in us upon the altar and letting it be consumed! Such is the ‘sacrifice unto the Lord . . . of a broken heart and a contrite spirit,’ (D&C 59:8), a prerequisite to taking up the cross, for the denial of self precedes the full acceptance of Him.
Our faith is strengthened as we surrender our will to align with God’s. Jesus knew, “I can of mine own self do nothing . . . I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me” (John 5:30).
Because “your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him” (3 Nephi 13:8), we have a responsibility to pray by the Spirit in accordance to His will. This means that we must live His gospel sufficient to have the Spirit. “He that asketh in the Spirit asketh according to the will of God; wherefore it is done even as he asketh” (D&C 46:30). Christ taught us to pray that the Father’s will be done: “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name . . . Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9–10). We must be willing not just to say, but to do His will, no matter how difficult. Jesus exemplified this as He prayed,
Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly. (Luke 22:42–44)
Jesus “would that I might not drink the bitter cup and shrink—nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men” (D&C 19:18–19). Christ’s most precious gift was paid by the great price of His perfect life and sinless blood.
Giving up our will for His lets us become something far greater than what we can ever become on our own. Offering our soul is all we have to give, but because we are imperfect, we have no salvation without His intercession. We need Him. We can never be profitable enough in and of ourselves to merit the bounteous gifts and grace that He is willing to bestow on the humble and obedient.
When David was offered the threshing floor free of charge from a local he responded, “Nay, but I will surely buy it of thee at a price; neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which dost cost me nothing” (2 Samuel 24:24). What God offers us through His Son is bought without money. “Doth he cry unto any, saying, Depart from me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay. But he saith, Come unto me . . . without money and without price” (2 Nephi 26:25) because He paid the price already. And all He asks is that we offer our broken heart, contrite spirit, and submit our will to His, to receive the oil in our lamp—that all can only “buy for themselves” (Matthew 25:9).
Only Christ, who overcame sin and death, could pay the price of our redemption and He eagerly desires to do so for us. “You were sold for nothing and without money you will be redeemed” (Isaiah 52:3, NIV). Obedience and sacrifice are necessary to receive His atoning gift. If our broken heart, contrite self, and will are not placed and consumed on the altar, we must pay the price for our sins, having rejected His offer.
Without Christ, there is no redemption. To become as He is, we must do as He did—forsake the world and lose our lives doing the Father’s will.
Blessed is he who crucified the world and who has not allowed the world to crucify him. The apostles answered with one voice, saying, ‘O Lord, teach us the way to crucify the world, that it may not crucify us, so that we are destroyed and lose our lives’ . . . He who has crucified it [the world] is he who has found my word and has fulfilled it according to the will of him who has sent me.’ (1 Jeu 1:2–4)
The purifying power of Christ’s atonement transforms us into holy sanctified souls so that we may be an unblemished offering. Saving grace only comes “after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23). What is ‘all we can do’? “It was all we could do to repent sufficiently before God that he could take away our stain” (Alma 24:11). Rebuke comes to priests who do not offer their whole soul. They “have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law” (Malachi 2:9). Cain showed partiality by attempting to sacrifice in a manner that varied from what the Lord revealed. Because the Lord can neither vary nor change, an offering made “in righteous” must be performed in the precise manner He decreed, but priests do not always do this. Changing ordinances leads to offerings that God cannot accept.
I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Ye are gone away from mine ordinances and have not kept them. (Malachi 3:6–7)
The Lord commands them to “offer a sacrifice made by fire” (Numbers 28:19) that He may accept it. The doctrine of Christ prepares us to offer ourselves as the acceptable sacrifice through the baptism of fire. “And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost” (3 Nephi 9:19–20).
Consuming fire can be a sign that the Lord has accepted our sacrifice (Leviticus 9:24), but fire can also destroy that which God does not accept (2 Kings 1:12). Ezekiel warns that prophets and priests alike will receive the wrath of God’s fiery indignation if they offer in vain.
Thou art the land that is not cleansed . . . There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things . . .
Her priests have violated my law and have profaned mine holy things. They have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.
And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken.
And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. (Ezekiel 22:23–28, 30)
Embracing strange things brings God’s wrath, seen in the account of Aaron’s sons who “were anointed” and “consecrated to minister in the priest’s office” (Numbers 3:3). Having a hereditary right to be priests, Nadab and Abihu were called to “come up unto the Lord” (Exodus 24:1–2) on Mount Sinai with Moses. This invitation was truly a privilege, for God commanded that a boundary be established around Sinai to protect the unholy from death should they approach Him without being called. As they ascended, a glorious vision came:
Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. Yet He did not stretch out his hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank. (Exodus 24:9–11, NASB)
The Mosaic law specified how to perform acceptable offerings. An altar of incense was to be placed before the veil. “Thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon . . . Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon” (Exodus 30:1, 9). Obedience with exactness is required. Even the cosmos “obey at once” when commanded (1 Enoch 60:13). Strange worship includes what is not true, just, upright, lawful, or revealed by Him. God cannot accept any strange thing, but Aaron’s sons did not believe Him.
Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. (Leviticus 10:1)
Strange fire does not “come out from before the Lord” (Leviticus 9:24). The NIV translates, “They offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command,” again correlating strange to that which God has not authorized. Can consecrate, anointed priests offer something strange to God? Being authorized is not the same as having power in the priesthood, although both can exist only if accompanied by divine transformation. Ritual alone does not ensure an offering will be accepted, as Aaron’s sons found out when they were destroyed by God’s wrathful fire. “So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them,” but not their offering, “and they died before the Lord” (Leviticus 10:2, NIV). The Aramaic Targum adds more interesting detail:
And there came forth in anger from before the Lord a flame of fire which was divided into four jets. It entered their noses and burned their souls; but their bodies were not burnt and they died before the Lord.
Lack of discernment will bring spiritual death. Nadab and Abihu’s strange fire was hardly an innocent or singular mistake. Scripture alludes to several transgressions that contributed to their spiritual demise.
First, the two priests entered the Holy of Holies, an action specifically forbidden to all except the High Priest, who was also prohibited from entering except on the Day of Atonement. Likely Aaron’s sons attempted to offer incense within the veil, a function reserved only for the High Priest. If so, they defied God’s manner of worship by offering “strange incense” and assuming authority that was not theirs.
Aaron’s sons “had approached the presence of the Lord and died. The Lord said to Moses, ‘Tell your brother Aaron that he shall not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil before the mercy seat which is on the ark lest he die” (Leviticus 16:1–2). Clearly Aaron’s sons in the Holy of Holies violated God’s commandment, for they were not authorized. Presuming the right to enter without being called would justify their death.
Their lack of reverence and disregard for divine law is implied in the Lord’s message to Moses after the event. “I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me and before all the people I will be glorified” (Leviticus 10:3, JST), or alternately, “by those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, and before all the people I will be honored” (NASB). “If they are not careful in making the offerings, I shall burn them in a flame of fire from before me, so that I may be glorified in the sight of all the people.”
Also implied is that Nadab and Abihu were at least symbolically intoxicated (strange brew!) because after their bodies were removed, the Lord commanded Aaron, “Do not drink wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons with you, when you come into the tent of meeting so that you may not die. It is a perpetual statute throughout your generations—so as to make a distinction between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean” (Leviticus 10:9–10, NASB). Drunkenness impairs judgment and dulls our physical and spiritual senses. The Lord rebukes priests for being “drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink” (Isaiah 29:9).
Priests have a great responsibility to reverence God and “be examples to the flock” (1 Peter 5:3, NASB). Violating God’s bounds leads us to offer strange fire. Their fire was not taken from the source specified by the Lord, neither was their offering performed in the manner required. Holy fire came from the Lord’s presence, and Israel’s priests were commanded to keep the sanctuary’s fire always burning so the light would never go out. It was the only fire to be used (Leviticus 16:12–13).
Approaching the Lord cannot be taken lightly without consequence. To glorify God, we must participate in ordinances willingly, worthily, and with understanding. If His commandments and ordinances are properly observed, if He is the center of our faith, and if we worship His way, we have no reason to fear. Otherwise we must pay a heavy price for mocking sacred things, for “God is not to be mocked” (Galatians 6:7, Berean).
Aaron and his other sons were commanded not to grieve the deaths of Nadab and Abihu or they too would die. All others were permitted to “bewail the burning which the Lord hath kindled” (Leviticus 10:6–7), but the anointed must uphold the covenant and demonstrate their understanding that its priests could not trifle with sacred things without severe repercussion. Priesthood and its ordinances must be handled with care at all times.
Having access to God is the duty and privilege of all priests and people who are willing to obey Him and His laws. Altering any aspect can bring God’s wrath if they do not repent. While adhering to covenant terms brings eternal life, the penalty for breaking the covenant is death.
Those who have violated my covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two and then walked between its pieces. (Jeremiah 34:18, NIV)
Punishment of death may seem harsh if we believe their strange fire was an ignorant mistake, but anointed priests willingly covenant to faithfully represent God’s laws and way. As His representatives, any error or variation will corrupt others for generations, hinder true worship, and deny God His rightful glory. His command to “minister unto me” (Exodus 30:30) leaves no room for strange fire, even if offered in God’s name.
When Nadab and Abihu lit the offering in the censers themselves, the fire was unauthorized and God was not in it. They prepared an offering [but] Aaron’s sons neglected the command to wait for holy fire, and offered incense with unauthorized fire.
Anyone who altered the sacrificial system assumed a prerogative belonging to God alone. God determines the judgments that are carried out against those who either add to or take away from the declarations of God.
Executing a penalty against Nadab and Abihu did not come without warning, for many times God said exactness in worship was of utmost importance. The law said “even the priests who approach the Lord must consecrate themselves” (Exodus 19:22, NIV) “or the Lord will violently kill them” (God’s Word). Having certain church positions does not guarantee that our actions are approved or our offerings will be accepted.
Since God cannot change, we cannot modify what He revealed without consequence. There are blessings from with honoring the covenant, and there are curses for breaking it. Choosing to ignore penalties does not mean God is no longer bound to implement them if we fail to live up to His terms—responsibilities and penalties exist whether we acknowledge them or not. Covenant terms cannot change unless both parties are agreed—and God will not agree to it because God cannot change. “I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God” (Mormon 9:19).
Modifications cause us to lose knowledge, which condemns us as we make covenants we do not fully understand. To believe that God tolerates variation is a serious error that demonstrates we do not know Him. If we believe that God permits us to remove components or change ordinances and His covenant, we
have imagined up unto yourselves a god who doth vary, and in whom there is shadow of changing, then have ye imagined up unto yourselves a god who is not a God of miracles. (Mormon 9:10)
Any degree or form of strange worship offends God. Deviant priests cannot be excused or justified. To encourage another way besides what He revealed is “to counsel your God” (D&C 22:4), a grievous sin.
You should not have feared man more than God. Men set at naught the counsels of God and despise his words, . . . [break] the most sacred promises which were made before God, depend upon his own judgment, and boast in his own wisdom. For although a man may have many revelations and have power to do many mighty works, yet if he boasts in his own strength, and sets at naught the counsels of God, and follows after the dictates of his own will and carnal desires, he must fall and incur the vengeance of a just God upon him. (D&C 3:7, 13, 4)
Many truths are hidden in names. Abihu means ‘worshipper of God’ in Hebrew. This may seem contradictory since Abihu was killed for improper worship but ab is a father who is removed. Once a worshipper of God, Abihu’s name suggests God is removed from his heart. Nadab, ‘one who is liberal,’ means having ‘free movement of the will in divine service or sacrifice.’ Liberal is ‘at ease.’ Nadab derives from Abinadab, the latter meaning ‘the Father or God of the noble.’ Perhaps the abi prefix was not attached to Nadab’s name to more accurately describe his strange offering. In context of strange fire, their names imply that, as priests, they acted according to their own desires, changed ordinances, and separated themselves from the Father’s revealed way to worship.
Strange fire separates us from God, but holy fire draws us to Him. Priests were instructed to get pure fire for their censers from the brazen altar “before the Lord” (Leviticus 16:12). Variant worship makes offerings imitative, impure, and unholy, bypassing His fire for strange fire. Like Cain (who deviated from God’s revealed worship), God cannot accept such offerings. The Spirit must depart if strange things are among us.
Strange means to turn aside or away—the opposite of repentance, which is to return. When we turn from God we are estranged. When we turn away our natural man and return to our spiritual senses, we are repenting. When we turn to Christ and return to what God revealed, we are repenting. Nibley explained,
Who is righteous? Anyone who is repenting. No matter how bad he has been, if he is repenting, he is a righteous man. There is hope for him. And no matter how good he has been all his life, if he is not repenting, he is a wicked man. The difference is which way you are facing. The man on the top of the stairs facing down is much worse off than the man on the bottom step who is facing up. The direction we are facing [determines] repentance.
As we repent our faith grows stronger, our hearts get purer, our beliefs get truer, our knowledge more complete, and we lose our desire for sin. Ezekiel testified of these truths, as did Joseph Smith.
If you wish to go where God is, you must be like God, or possess the principles which God possesses, for if we are not drawing towards God in principle, we are going from Him and drawing towards the devil . . . Search your hearts, and see if you are like God. I have searched mine, and feel to repent of all my sins.
Repentance softens our heart and draws us nearer to God. A broken heart, contrite spirit, and divine fire (baptism of fire) bring spiritual purity. Strange and pure are contrasted: “The way of man is froward and strange: but as for the pure his work is right” (Proverbs 21:8). Froward means crooked, perverse, obstinate, turning from, not willing to yield or comply with requirements—all describe of a lack of repentance.
Man’s ways oppose God’s straight path, for He cannot “walk in crooked paths” (D&C 3:2). Giving up our sins is required to know Him. “O God . . . wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day” (Alma 22:17–18). Although priests may perform ordinances, their works are dead and cannot be accepted if done without faith, repentance, and a sincere intent to know God. Christ tells us what is required to be His.
If they will (1) not harden their hearts, that they may (2) repent and (3) come unto me and (4) be baptized in my name and (5) know of the true points of my doctrine, they may be numbered among my people . . . (3 Nephi 21:6, numerals added)
True points of Christ’s doctrine are revealed in scripture, but summarized in 2 Nephi 31–32. Nephi testifies of its absolute importance: “This is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God. And now, behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and the only and true doctrine” (2 Nephi 31:21).
Many think ritual worship is adequate without seriously considering the condition of their hearts. Telling priests who profess the Lord’s name that they need to repent is usually not well received, as Aaron learned when the Amalekites rebuked him for calling them to repentance: “Thou also sayest, except we repent we shall perish. How knowest thou the thought and intent of our hearts? How knowest thou that we have cause to repent? How knowest thou that we are not a righteous people? Behold, we have built sanctuaries and we do assemble ourselves together to worship God. We do believe that God will save all men” (Alma 21:6). But church attendance and building temples is no guarantee.
Revelation warns modern-day gospel recipients about falling for the same temptations. With impure hearts set on things of the world, many assume salvation is theirs because they participate in ordinances, attend meetings, and make covenants. Being ‘of the world’ is the antithesis of holiness, which separates us from the world.
Strange worship is not always obvious—it is a clever imitative counterfeit mingled with scripture. The great and spacious building was built on ideologies propagated by men. By seeking to be one with the world, setting hearts on strange gods, and refusing to turn to the Lord, covenant makers today offer “strange fire” to God. Hard hearts of professed believers saddened Paul, who “could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly” (1 Corinthians 3:1–3, NIV). It saddened God that the land He established to worship Him fails to do so.
They have strayed from mine ordinances and have broken mine everlasting covenant. They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall. (D&C 1:15–16)
In spite of holding priesthood office, devoted church service, paying tithes, and regular temple attendance, those who do not “seek the Lord” for the purpose “to establish his righteousness” ensure that their works will not be accepted. We are urged to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 1:3).
Ezekiel knew that stumbling blocks come from having idols in our heart and not seeking counsel directly from the Lord.
These men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them? Thus saith the Lord God:
Every man . . . that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face and cometh to the prophet; I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols; that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols. (Ezekiel 14:3–5)
Carelessly vowing and not honoring covenant obligations distances us from God and breaks the covenant. If we covenant but do not do what He requires then we are no better off than those whom Jesus rebuked: “Why call ye me Lord, Lord and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). Such hypocrisy cost Aaron’s sons their lives.
Not walking up to our covenants puts us under Satan’s control, but living up to them brings power in the priesthood. Honoring covenants endows us with the light and knowledge required to ultimately part the veil, so we can receive further light and knowledge. Because there are different degrees of light and knowledge, there are different degrees of glory.
How well we live up to our covenants can be assessed by examining the spiritual endowments we have personally received. Alma asked the same questions to “my brethren of the church.” If we have not yet had a mighty change of heart, a baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost, or parted the veil, we must turn our hearts more to Him, submit our minds more fully to His will, more faithfully endure trials, and patiently but actively let Him prepare us for such glorious blessings.
Paul, who received knowledge of the gospel personally from Christ, knew firsthand that apostasy was a real threat. He describes three types of people who attempt to “build” on the foundation God laid. “By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder,” but already “someone else is building on it” (1 Corinthians 3:10, NIV). Each is tested by fire to see if it can endure, exposing not only what is built, but also what substance they used to build it.
Paul was “astonished how quickly you are deserting the One who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.” He warned some are “trying to distort the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6–7, Berean). To his dismay, Christ’s gospel was rapidly modified, as it has been in this dispensation.
For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. (1 Corinthians 3:11–13, NIV)
Paul describes various materials used to build, like combustible materials (worthless offerings) that are easily destroyed and leave no lasting mark. These “suffer loss” because only “if what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward” but “if it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss” (1 Corinthians 3:14, NIV). In contrast, the wise build on “the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ” (Helaman 5:12), having faith that can withstand fire and trials. The wise “overcome all things and shall be lifted up at the last day” (D&C 75:16), for “all things are theirs” in a celestial inheritance. Jesus defines the wise as those who “heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them” (3 Nephi 14:24) so we cannot be complacent.
Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God; for it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. Therefore let no man glory in men. (1 Corinthians 3:18–21, JST)
This dispensation will be measured and judged by the foundation laid at the Restoration. Its doctrines and truths must be preserved as revealed to make an acceptable offering. “All among them who know their hearts are honest and are broken, and their spirits contrite, and are willing to observe their covenants by sacrifice—yea, every sacrifice which I, the Lord, shall command—they are accepted of me” (D&C 97:8).
Korah the Israelite “sought to change the order fixed both above and below” and gathered 250 prominent men to challenge Moses and Aaron. He believed the church and its hierarchy were holy because they made covenants. He assumed God approved of their works. This same line of thought caused Laman and Lemuel to reject God’s true messengers and believe that Jerusalem’s wayward religious establishment was still righteous and could not be destroyed (1 Nephi 2:11–13). Korah and his cohorts
became insolent and rose up against Moses. These rebels were well-known community leaders, appointed council members. They opposed Moses and Aaron, saying to them, ‘You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord’s assembly’? (Numbers 16:1–3, NIV)
Korah’s desire for power and position overruled his ability to be guided by the Spirit. He did not have an inward spiritual conversion congruent with the holiness he claimed. We aren’t told what specific criteria Korah used to measure his people’s righteousness, but if he is like many today, his claim is based on outward or quantifiable works—attending church, giving offerings, performing service. That Korah’s group did not know God is evident because of their erroneous belief that God’s spirit was “among them” (Numbers 16:3). Had Korah encouraged people to be measured by God’s standard of inward conviction, this tragedy could have been avoided. Spiritual transformation is a non-negotiable requirement for eternal life.
What Korah’s followers believed was holy was actually pollution caused by wickedness and sin. Although they participated in worship rites, their offerings could not be consumed because of their unbelief, trusting mistaken leaders like Korah instead of the Lord. They believed God was with them, but God knew their hearts and called them “wicked men” whose hearts were on worldly things so their houses, servants, and goods were destroyed too (Numbers 16:25).
Wayward generations believe that God being with them in spirit (as they suppose) can replace the need to seek His face. “Now this Moses plainly taught to the children of Israel in the wilderness and sought diligently to sanctify his people that they might behold the face of God” (D&C 84:23). Without sanctification, God is not glorified so believing these ordinances are not a crucial part of His plan is dangerous, causing many to grossly overestimate their spiritual standing and “live in error” (2 Peter 2:18). By not “observ[ing] all my words”—including to “seek His face continually”—the world will “prevail against” them.
Moses asked Korah’s priests, “Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has set you apart from the community of Israel, to bring you closer to Him in order to perform the service of the sanctuary of the Lord, and to stand before the community to serve them . . . Indeed, it is against the Lord that you and your entire assembly have gathered in opposition.”
Under God’s direction, Moses told Korah and the sons of Levi that tomorrow the Lord would show “those that are his and [those] who are holy . . . whom he has chosen for himself” (Numbers 16:5, Brenton Septuagint). “All thy company” were to appear “before the Lord” with them at the tabernacle with fire- and incense-filled censers (Numbers 16:16–18).
God warned Moses and Aaron to “separate yourselves from among this congregation that I may consume them in a moment” (Numbers 16:21). Moses warned others: “Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins.” Moses prophesied it would be a sign from God if the earth swallowed the men “with all that appertain unto them . . . then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord.” As he spoke these words, the earth swallowed them (Numbers 16:26, 28–32, 35).
Even after witnessing this miraculous tragedy, wayward Israel did not repent. Korah’s damning beliefs were so widespread that even after this major show of God’s power, the hard-hearted Israelites who were spared murmured, falsely accusing Moses and Aaron of “kill[ing] the people of the Lord” (Numbers 16:41). Tragically, many still followed Korah, believing that his modified doctrine was ‘of the Lord.’
Next a devastating plague took the lives of 14,700 complainers who failed to recognize God’s power and the right way to worship. The plague was only stopped through Aaron’s intercession. Miraculous demonstrations of God’s approval of Moses and Aaron did not cease when Aaron’s rod budded before people as a sign of his divine authority. God commanded that Aaron’s rod be kept to remind them of the evils of strange worship and that divine favor is required to truly hold priesthood power. Still, the Israelites refused to believe and murmured again.
Twice Israel’s priestly deviants are called “the sons of Levi” (Numbers 16:7–8), a phrase also found in Malachi’s writings. In the last days, after much tribulation, the sons of Levi will be purged of their errors and truly “offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness” (Malachi 3:3), a point repeated in modern revelation.
Only when we faithfully embrace the “true points of His doctrine” needed to make offerings “in righteousness” (3 Nephi 21:6) will the Lord consume our offerings and grant glorious blessings.
Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil. He shall dwell on high. His place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks, bread shall be given him, his waters shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty. They shall behold the land that is very far off. (Isaiah 33:14–17)
The question: “Who shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” should be considered alongside “Who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth?” (Malachi 3:2). The answer: the wise who make an offering in righteousness and power, having withstood evil. Aaron’s sons and Korah’s 250 priests could not abide, survive, or “stand when He appeareth” but the wise can. The wise hear His sayings “and doeth them” (3 Nephi 14:24).
Only the sanctified can endure His glorious presence and stand before His throne of fire, witnessing sacred pillars of fire, burning bushes, eyes ‘as a flame of fire,’ or the like without being consumed.
Holiness brings power to endure His presence and fire. “Our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29). He is “like a refiner’s fire and like fuller’s soap” (Malachi 3:2). Only He can make us holy (by refining fire) and pronounce us clean (by purifying soap). The Lord “shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness” (Malachi 3:3) through the power of His Atonement.
Censers—tools used by the priests for sacrifices—only became holy when they were brought in righteousness before the Lord. After Korah’s priests met their unfortunate demise, their censers were made into “broad plates for a covering of the altar” as a sign and remembrance thereafter for the Israelites, “that no stranger . . . [should] come near to offer incense before the Lord” (Numbers 16:39–40).
Like Aaron’s budding rod that reminded Israel that God had chosen Aaron (Hebrews 9:3–4), the censers also served as a “memorial to all who drew near to the sanctuary . . . to remind them continually of the judgment of God and warn the congregation of grasping priestly prerogatives.” It was a perpetual reminder that only those with pure hearts and intentions can approach His altar. Because “the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance,” (D&C 1:31), strange fire must be rejected. We can offer strange fire without realizing it, so having guidance from the Spirit is crucial.
Claiming to have power or believing we already have blessings without completing the necessary preparations has serious repercussions so this cannot be taken lightly. To profess that we are holy when we are not sanctified keeps us separated from the Lord. Ultimately we will incur His wrath if we do not return to Him.
Another meaning of strange is to make profane. God told Aaron not to mourn his two priestly sons’ deaths “that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean. And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them. In this God “will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified” (Leviticus 10:10–11, 3).
[Thus] saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible.
I wish one of you would shut the temple doors, so you would no longer kindle a useless fire on My altar! I am not pleased with you, says the Lord of Hosts, and I will accept no offering from your hands . . . Ye have profaned [My name] in that ye say . . . what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering. Should I accept this of your hand? (Malachi 1:6–7, 10–14, KJV, HCSB)
Qumran’s community knew that acceptable offerings are based on “the spirit of true counsel.” Supplicants must “contemplate the light of life” and be “cleansed from all his sins by the spirit of holiness uniting him to His truth.” Then “his iniquity shall be expiated by the spirit of uprightness and humility.” He became purified, sanctified, and “made clean by the humble submission of his soul to all the precepts of God.” The candidate may then “order his steps [to walk] perfectly in all the ways commanded by God appointed for him, straying neither to the right nor to the left and transgressing none of His words.” When these conditions are met, he “shall be accepted by virtue of a pleasing atonement before God and it shall be to him a Covenant of the everlasting community.”
Any other way cannot uphold the covenant. All who do not preach His word with exactness interfere with salvation—“None but fools will trifle with the souls of men.” Even good intentions lead to hell if we are not aligned with the Lord’s will. Attempting to bring our version of sacrifice, incense, censer, or fire forces God’s spirit to withdraw. Waiting on the Lord for His divine fire of acceptance requires humility, reverence, repentance, patience, and acknowledgment of our need for heaven’s direct involvement to transform us through ordinances.
The people of the Lord shall not be ashamed. For the people of the Lord are they who wait for him. (2 Nephi 6:13)
We cannot bring our own fire to the offering, only our own broken heart, contrite spirit, and our will that aligns with God’s. Through His refining fire the Lord will test us, try us, and make us into something new, purging our sins and our iniquities until we receive His image in our countenance. Only then, through Him, can our offering “be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old” (Malachi 3:4).
Footnotes and sources can be found HERE.