Many people today believe that the manner and method of our worship is simply a matter of preference. But Scripture consistently teaches otherwise.
God repeatedly judged those who failed to worship Him properly. When the people of Israel worshiped the golden calf, God mercifully mitigated His righteous judgement, which would have been the utter destruction of the nation. Instead, he slaughtered only three thousand of them (Exodus 32:7–28). It stands as a graphic illustration of how God views false worship.
When Worship Is Wrong
Leviticus 10 describes the ordination to the priesthood of Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron the high priest. They had waited all through the years of their childhood and youth to become priests, being prepared and trained for the priesthood. Now they were to be ordained.
But in their first real function as priests, they offered “strange fire” (Leviticus 10:1). The exact nature of their infraction is not spelled out. The Hebrew expression speaks of “unauthorized fire.” Perhaps they offered a foreign type of incense (Exodus 30:9). Perhaps they made the offering after drinking wine (cf. Leviticus 10:8–9). In any event, they did not do what was prescribed to be done by priests leading the people in worship. They acted independently of the revelation of God regarding proper worship, and God instantly killed both of them.
It was a sad day. After anticipating all their lives that they would lead the people in worship, they forfeited it all with one false move on the first day. They disobeyed, and they were struck dead on the spot.
King Saul was guilty of a similar sin. In 1 Samuel 13:8–14, we read,
He waited seven days, according to the appointed time set by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattering from him. So Saul said, “Bring to me the burnt offering and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering. As soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him and to greet him. But Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “Because I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the appointed days, and that the Philistines were assembling at Michmash, therefore I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not asked the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering.” Samuel said to Saul, “You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, for now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not endure. The Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
Saul decided to usurp the role of a priest. He departed from God’s prescribed method of worship, and it ultimately cost his descendants the throne.
One of the most telling accounts in the Old Testament is the story of how Uzzah lost his life. Uzzah was apparently a Kohathite. The Kohathites had one task, and that was to transport the Ark of the Covenant. One of the basic principles they learned was never to touch the Ark. It was carried by poles pushed through rings, and the Kohathites transported it on their shoulders in a manner explicitly prescribed in Numbers 4:5–6. Verse 15 says that it was to be covered carefully “so that they will not touch the holy objects and die.”
That was God’s method. Second Samuel 6:3, 6–7 describes Uzzah’s method:
They placed the ark of God on a new cart that they might bring it from the house of Abinadab which was on the hill; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were leading the new car. But when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out toward the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen nearly upset it. And the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down there for his irreverence; and he died there by the ark of God.
Uzzah, in disobedience to the divinely ordained method, was allowing the ark to be transported on a cart, albeit a new cart. As the cart bumped along the road, it almost overturned. Uzzah, trained all his life to protect the Ark of the Covenant, reached out to stop it from falling off the cart. He touched it, and God slew him on the spot.
Uzzah was surely well intentioned. It may seem as if he were only trying to do his job by protecting the ark, but he was malfunctioning. He was endeavoring to carry out a responsibility before God in a way that was not in accord with the revelation God had given. Uzzah may have seen his act as one of worship, as an attempt to preserve the holiness of God, but he defiled the ark by the touch of his hand, and it cost him his life.
All these incidents teach us that God will not accept deviant worship. Some would insist that any kind of sincere worship is acceptable to God, but that is simply not true. The Bible clearly teaches that those who offer self-styled worship are unacceptable to God, regardless of their good intentions. No matter how pure our motivation may seem or how sincere we are in our attempts, if we fail to worship God according to His revelation, He will not bless us.
Israel at Sinai, Nadab, Abihu, Saul, and Uzzah all serve as graphic examples of this truth. Thankfully, God has clearly told us how and how not to worship Him. Next time, we will look at four categories of false worship that are explicitly forbidden in Scripture.
(Adapted from Worship: The Ultimate Priority)
