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In 1544, John Calvin was asked to give a defense of the Protestant Reformation to Emperor Charles V. At the heart of his answer was a single conviction: “If one should ask on what things Christianity chiefly stands, the following holds first place: that people may know how God is rightly worshiped.” According to Calvin, the chief reason for the Reformation was right worship—worshiping God as He desires to be worshiped and refusing to approach Him in ways that He has not commanded.
That truth lies at the heart of the sobering story of Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10:1–3). These sons of Aaron entered God’s presence with “strange fire,” an offering “which He commanded them not” (KJV). Immediately, fire came from the Lord and consumed them. The fire that had consumed the sacrifice on the bronze altar one chapter earlier now consumed the priests. God’s verdict was clear: “Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.”
This episode confronts casual approaches to worship. Worship is not primarily about us. When we worship through Jesus Christ—the new and living Way (Heb. 10:20)—we enter the presence of a holy God. In the Old Testament, it was only by God’s initiative—through sacrifices, priesthood, and covenant—that Israel could draw near. New covenant worship is likewise a meeting with the living God, though with less outward glory (see Westminster Confession of Faith 7.6). “You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God” (Heb. 12:22). Such a privilege demands reverence and awe. It also warns against flippant worship. A holy encounter with a holy God is no casual meeting in which we set the terms. God’s holiness is not to be trifled with, for “our God is a consuming fire” (v. 29).
Notice that Nadab and Abihu’s sin was not that they offered something explicitly forbidden but that they offered what God had not commanded. God need not tell us every way that are not to worship Him—He simply tells us what we are to do. God regulates His worship by His Word; He tells us how He is to be approached and what we are to do in His presence. To invent our own ways—however creative or sincere—is to offer “strange fire.” Liturgical novelties come in all different shapes and sizes, but they all have one thing in common: God has commanded them not. True worshipers, Jesus said, worship the Father “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23–24). A right view of God must shape the way that we worship Him. Reformed theology leads to Reformed worship.
As we study theology and grow in our understanding of God, may we be renewed in our zeal to worship Him rightly, according to how He prescribes. And let us marvel anew that the King of glory desires to meet with us and to dwell with us, as He is our God and we are His people.