From Tragedy to Triumph

Roy Gane in the NIV Application Commentary tells this true story: In 1982 a young man who was drunk and high on drugs missed a corner on Hwy. 580 near San Francisco. His Chevy Nova plowed head on into a VW coming the other way, which was hurled airborne onto the hood of a Datsun B210 coming behind in the next lane. The smashed Datsun shuddered to a halt, and my wife and I tried to get out, but the doors were jammed. A semi-truck bearing down on us ran into an embankment and jackknifed in order to save us. Narrowly missing death a second time, by the grace of God, we walked away with a concussion, a cracked rib and whiplash injuries. The VW driver was not so fortunate. She was killed instantly and her two young daughters suffered massive injuries. All this carnage resulted from one person acting irresponsibly because he chose to intoxicate himself. When we hear a story like that, it’s hard to just move on, isn’t it? It lingers with us. We feel the weight of what was lost, and we can’t help but think about how quickly everything changed because of one decision. It reminds us that our choices don’t happen in isolation. What we do with our bodies, our minds, and our habits inevitably touches the lives of others—sometimes in ways we never intended and never imagined.

There are various ways to compromise our brain’s ability to control reasoning, judgment, and physical reactions. Besides chemicals, such as alcohol, narcotics, or some medicines, there can be factors such as sleep deprivation, poor diet, lack of exercise, stress, and so on. Some of these are initiated or perpetuated by choice, others are not. Insofar as we affect others by our choices, we should seek to maintain our clarity of mind as a matter of social fairness, if nothing more. For all of us, spiritual leaders and a kingdom of priests, of course, the stakes are higher. Our actions, decisions, attitudes, words, and personal spiritual lives, all of which require use of brains and nervous systems, can unintentionally affect the eternal destinies of those within our sphere of influence. But this doesn’t mean we hide our heads in the sand and never take a chance to help someone either come to know Jesus as their Savior, disciple someone in the faith or to be accountable and vulnerable with another Christ-follower. Scripture’s call to holiness is not harsh or detached from real life. God desires His people to live with discernment and self‑discipline because He loves them and because He knows the influence their lives carry. When our minds are clear and our hearts are anchored in Him, we are better able to love well, to serve faithfully, and to reflect His character in a broken world. Holiness, then, is not about withdrawal or perfection—it is about living attentively before God, so that our lives become instruments of grace rather than unintended harm. That brings us to our big idea this morning that God desires His people to live lives of holiness, discernment and self-discipline. And as we learned last week we do these things to honor and glorify God in the sight of all people.

Let’s pray: Dear Heavenly Father, we desire to sit at your feet and hear with joy what you have to say to us today. Prepare and open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that, as the Scriptures are read and your Word proclaimed, will be transformed. Silence every voice in us but your own, so that we may hear your word, and then obey it. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Our first point this morning is, Sobriety, found in Leviticus 10:8-11. Follow along as I read those verses. This is what God’s Word says, “Then the LORD said to Aaron, “You and your sons are not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the tent of meeting, or you will die. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, so that you can distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean, and so you can teach the Israelites all the decrees the LORD has given them through Moses.”

The past couple of weeks we have witnessed the triumph of priestly ordination, fire from the presence of God igniting the burnt altar with “holy” fire and the priests offering their initial sacrifices. Then we witnessed the tragedy of Aaron’s eldest sons, Nadab and Abihu, flagrantly disobeying the Lord’s commands and being destroyed by the same fire from God’s presence. Then Moses reminds Aaron of the holiness of God and Aaron is silent accepting the fate of his two sons for their sin. Moses commands Aaron and his sons not to mourn and not to leave the entrance to the tent of meeting so as not to contradict God’s judgment on his sons before the people. Lastly, we started to see this tragedy turn to triumph as verse seven said, “so they did as Moses said.” Again, this must have been hard for Aaron and his sons, but they understood the gravity of the situation. They didn’t want the holiness and the glory of the Lord sullied in any way. It was also a lesson and a warning for future priests to not trample on the holiness of God, or they would suffer God’s judgment.

As we opened our scripture this morning, we pick up right where we left off last week. And we notice something that has never happened before. The Lord speaks to Aaron alone without Moses. What God is about to say just concerns the priesthood and so the following commands are directed to him alone. Because it comes on the heels of what just happened to Aaron’s sons, it possibly gives us some insight into the reason why Nadab and Abihu did what they did. The command is that Aaron and his sons are not to drink wine or other fermented or “super-strong drink”, when they go into the tent of meeting, or they will die. The word for wine was introduced in Genesis 9:21 when Noah got drunk and was lying in his tent naked. That episode didn’t end well as his son Ham was cursed by Noah in the end. This is the first time the word for “fermented drink” is found in scripture and means a beverage with a very high alcohol content. While drinking alcohol in moderation was common, the Bible frequently warns against intoxication because it leads to foolishness, poverty, social instability, and moral decay.

Sometimes this scripture is used to ban all kinds of alcoholic beverages but this scripture doesn’t do that. That is not to say that we aren’t to be careful when drinking but this was a command and prohibition for a specific group of people at a specific time. That specific group of people were the priests, and the specific time was whenever they would go into the tent of meeting to perform their sacred duties. The priests were prohibited from drinking intoxicating beverages before going to work so they would not be impaired on the job. Coming on the heels of what just happened this instruction is probably a warning to keep the present and future priests from a sad repeat of what happened to Aaron’s sons. This is a warning that the priests needed to live holy, discerning and self-disciplined lives (Big Idea). This prohibition was to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come meaning it was to be obeyed until the coming of Christ and the fulfillment of the law.

Aaron and his sons are given two reasons why they are to abstain from drinking wine and strong drink. One, so they would be able to distinguish or discern between the holy and the unholy and between the clean and the unclean. To discern those things and to counsel the Israelite people appropriately they needed to be thinking clearly. They also had to be alerted to perform their duties in the tent of meeting and at the burnt altar properly. This discerning between the holy and the unholy and the clean and unclean will be one of the priests’ major duties as they serve the Lord and the people in the tabernacle area. This is something that they would not be able to do to God’s standard if they were intoxicated. We don’t know for sure if Nadab and Abihu were drunk when they flagrantly disobeyed the Lord, but their judgment must have been impaired in some way. They were treating something unholy as holy and it cost them their lives.

The second reason the priests were not to come to work in the tent of meeting drunk was so they could teach the children of Israel all the decrees the Lord had given them through Moses. This was another of the priests’ major duties. Again, they would not be able to do this to God’s standard if they were intoxicated or impaired in some way. 2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” This was important because the decrees were given by God himself and as such, they had to be followed for the people to be obedient to the covenant between them and God. Moses is highlighted as the covenant mediator as these decrees were given to the people through or “by the hand” of Moses. Moses by the authority of the Lord carefully recorded, “by hand”, all the Lord had spoken which the priests were to teach the people. Van Meter states, “Just as we have laws against drinking and driving, God instituted this statute against ‘drinking and interceding.’”

There are a couple of verses that highlight that the priests were to teach the Israelites all God’s decrees and what happened when they didn’t. Malachi 2:7 says, “For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth.” Over the next couple thousand years the priests became negligent and failed at this duty commanded by God. Verse 8 says, “But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi,” says the Lord Almighty.” And Ezekiel 22:26 says, “Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.” The priests failed to do their duty in this regard and God was profaned or “not seen as holy” among the people. This caused the people to fall away and to be judged by the Lord. They were exiled to Babylonia and Assyria, ruled by the Romans in Jesus’ time, Jerusalem was destroyed and the Jewish people dispersed and lost the Promised Land. They finally became a nation again in 1948 but even today the fighting continues over that land. All that has happened to God’s chosen people is at least partly because the priests failed in their God-given duty.

This makes me think of the church and Christ-followers today, God’s kingdom of priests. Could that Ezekiel passage be describing the church today? Have we truly been diligent in teaching God’s Word and the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Do we do violence to God’s law? Meaning are we as Christians obedient to the Lord or are we hypocritical? Do we profane the holy things of God by not distinguishing between the holy and the unholy? Do we teach that there is no difference between the two? Do we shut our eyes to the keeping of the Sabbath? Are we blind to the needs, hurts, anger, tensions, and injustices that surround us? I come across this question every once in a while, and it gives me pause: If our church disappeared tomorrow would our community even notice? We need to wrestle with that for a while. Have we failed to be salt and light in this dying world, as Jesus said we should be in Matthew 5? Without priestly salt as a preservative, there's nothing to keep our world from putrefying and corrupting at a fearful rate. Without priestly light, there is nothing to keep our world from sinking into a spiritual and moral darkness that is deeper than night.

We must preach and teach God’s Word truthfully to instruct the world about who God is, what He came to earth to do, and how He wants us to live as His children. We can’t profane the Lord and expect the world to want to know and follow Him. The world can’t reflect the Lord’s character and image well when God’s kingdom of priests, the church, are distorting it. Jesus chooses to work and minister in the world through you and me. This world is dying for a lack of a priest, and you and I are the ones God has called to fill that gap and meet that need. We must live lives of holiness, discernment and self-discipline (Big Idea). We must be at the forefront striving to truly know God, follow God and reflect His image into the world so that He will be worshipped and glorified as holy. That brings us to our first next step which is I will strive to truly know God, follow God, and reflect his image into the world.

That brings us to our second point, Sustenance, found in verses 12-15. This is what God’s Word says, “Moses said to Aaron and his remaining sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, “Take the grain offering left over from the food offerings prepared without yeast and presented to the LORD and eat it beside the altar, for it is most holy. Eat it in the sanctuary area, because it is your share and your sons’ share of the food offerings presented to the LORD; for so I have been commanded. But you and your sons and your daughters may eat the breast that was waved and the thigh that was presented. Eat them in a ceremonially clean place; they have been given to you and your children as your share of the Israelites’ fellowship offerings. The thigh that was presented and the breast that was waved must be brought with the fat portions of the food offerings, to be waved before the LORD as a wave offering. This will be the perpetual share for you and your children, as the LORD has commanded.”

After the Lord gives instruction to Aaron about how their priestly duties are to be done to His standard, Moses gives additional instructions to Aaron and his sons. These instructions need to be reiterated because of what happened to Nadab and Abihu. By specifically naming Eleazar and Ithamar and pointing out that they are the sons who are “left” or the sons that “remain”, Moses reminds them of the tragedy and wants to keep them from making a similar mistake and being killed. But these instructions also would have been music to Aaron’s ears, so to speak. He had to wonder if he and his remaining sons would be rejected by God for what happened. God by reiterating these instructions through Moses, was announcing to Aaron, his sons and the people that he was not abandoning either the tabernacle or the priesthood.

Moses commands them to eat the remainder of the grain sacrifice. Despite the tragedy that befell the older brothers, the grain sacrifice given by the people must still be eaten by the priests as God commanded. What was so important about eating the grain sacrifice? First, by offering the grain sacrifice, the worshipper acknowledged God’s provision of daily food and life and was a symbol of complete devotion, pure and uncorrupted, to the Lord. The priests by eating the sacrifice showed the offering was accepted by God. Second, it was “most holy” meaning it was set apart as belonging to God and only the priests could eat of it in the courtyard area, outside the tent of meeting. Third, it was the priests’ share of the food offerings presented to the Lord. This was God’s way of providing sustenance for the priests. And fourth, because the Lord commanded it.

Next, Moses instructs Aaron and his sons to eat their portions of the fellowship offering. Their portions were the breast of the wave offering and the right thigh of the heaving offering. The right thigh was given to the officiating priest, and the breast went to all the priests. Again, what was so important about the fellowship offering? First, by bringing the fellowship offering the worshipper was thanking God for His many blessings. It was a symbol of being in fellowship and communion with God and the restoration of the peace and joy of being in a covenant relationship with Him. Second, the fellowship offering was not “most holy” but was still “holy” and set apart as belonging to God. Third, it was the priest’s share of the offerings given by the Israelites to God who in turn gave these portions to the priests and their families to sustain them. Because the fellowship offering was “holy” and not “most holy” it could be eaten by the priests and their families in a clean place meaning anywhere in the camp that was ritually clean or undefiled in any way. And fourth, again, because the Lord commanded it. These portions were to be a perpetual share for the priests and their children until Christ came and the law was fulfilled.

In the two-fold mention of waving the breast and heaving the thigh, Moses is reminding them of the importance of eating their portions of the fellowship offering. Again, eating the sacrifice showed the offering was accepted by God. And this eating was not a solitary event. The grain offering was eaten in the courtyard in front of all the people. And the fellowship offering was a communal meal where the meat was shared among the priests and the worshipper and their family and friends. Imagine if the people did not see their offerings being eaten. This would have been symbolic of the Lord not accepting the offerings on their behalf. It would be like the people were not thanking God for His daily provision of food and life. It would be like the people were not completely devoted, pure and uncorrupted, to the Lord. It would have been very distressing for the congregation. Imagine how we would feel to know that God had not been accepting our prayers of thanksgiving and devotion to Him.

That brings us to our third point, Sincerity, found in verses 16-20. This is what God’s Word says, “When Moses inquired about the goat of the sin offering and found that it had been burned up, he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s remaining sons, and asked, “Why didn’t you eat the sin offering in the sanctuary area? It is most holy; it was given to you to take away the guilt of the community by making atonements for them before the LORD. Since its blood was not taken into the Holy Place, you should have eaten the goat in the sanctuary area, as I commanded. Aaron replied to Moses, “Today they sacrificed their sin offering and their burnt offering before the LORD, but such things as this have happened to me. Would the LORD have been pleased if I had eaten the sin offering today?” When Moses heard this, he was satisfied.”

It seems as if Moses did some investigating, making careful inquiry into what happened to the goat of the sin offering. And he finds that the entirety of the goat offering was burned up on the burnt altar instead of being eaten. His investigation pointed to Eleazar and Ithamar being the culprits and Moses was angry with them. Again, we see the phrase “Aaron’s remaining sons” reminding us of the judgment handed down by God not that too long ago. The mention of the goat shows us that the sin offering was for the people and not for the high priest or the congregation as a whole meaning that the priests should have eaten it in the sanctuary area. Of all the offerings, arguably, the most important to be completed was the sin offering. First, because it was most holy. Second, because it was given to the priests by God to bear the guilt and make atonement for the people. The worshipper gave the sin offering to be cleansed of their unintentional sins, to purify the sanctuary from the taint of sin and to be put back into a right relationship with God. By eating of the sacrifice, the priests symbolically took on and removed the sin of the people, transferred their guilt to themselves and finally, by proxy, to God. Eating the sin offering signified that atonement for the sinner was complete and accepted. If the priests did not partake of the goat of the sin offering, the sins of the people would not be atoned for, not cancelled, not expiated. We can understand why Moses was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar. Imagine if we believed that our confession and repentance of sin was not accepted by God. Imagine the great distress and anxiety we would have. Moses wanted to avoid Aaron’s remaining sons, his nephews, from being killed by God for what he perceived as their negligence. So, he continues to make his point that because the goat’s blood had not been taken into the Holy Place but put on the horns of the burnt altar and the rest poured out at its base, they should have eaten it as God commanded through Moses.

After Moses angrily rebukes Eleazar and Ithamar, it is Aaron that replies to Moses. This tells us that probably Eleazar and Ithamar were obeying Aaron’s instructions when they burnt the entire sin offering. He makes a statement to Moses followed by a question. Aaron states that a sin offering and burnt offering had been offered by Aaron and all four of his sons before the tragic event happened. Aaron argues that because the offerings were on behalf of all four sons and two of them died in sin, it was possible that those offerings had been tainted by their sin. Then Aaron asks a question of Moses. In effect what he said was, “would the Lord be pleased if I and my other two sons ate of the people’s sin offering, when our holiness was in question, possibly tainted by sin?” This would also have been an affront to the holiness of the Lord. To partake of an offering while being ritually impure would have also brought God wrath upon them.

So just as Aaron was silent before Moses earlier, now Moses is silent before Aaron. When Moses heard Aaron’s reasoning, he was satisfied or content. The Hebrew makes Moses’ contentment more emphatic. What Aaron said was “well-pleasing” in Moses’ eyes. He was pleased because essentially the law had broken down and Aaron had readjusted, overcome the law’s failing and had done what he could to correct it. Aaron sincerely did not believe that the Lord would accept their eating of the sin offering. In fact, he was doing what God called the priests to do in using their judgment to make spiritual decisions that were not clear cut. Aaron wanted to please the Lord and did not want to further trample on His honor and glory. He wasn’t being casual but was willing to err on the side of caution, understanding that God knew his heart and attitude. Because Moses was well-pleased, God was well-pleased also. In the end, after going from triumph to tragedy, Aaron went from tragedy to triumph. I like these two quotes. Wenham says, “God is more gracious to those who make mistakes because they fear him than to those who carelessly and impudently enter his presence.” And in the words of A. W. Tozer, “God is easy to live with.” “He remembers our frames and He knows that we are but dust. He is therefore gracious and merciful to those whose hearts are sincere towards him.

In conclusion: As tragic as the episode of Nadab and Abihu was, tragedy was not the end of the story—not for Aaron, his sons and not for those throughout history who have placed their trust in Jesus Christ, the one to whom these offerings pointed. The story of humanity is that of falling from the triumph at creation to the tragedy of sin. But triumph is possible again through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The choice is yours, today can be the day of your salvation. Will you, like Aaron, humble yourself, will you take responsibility for your sin, repent and believe in Jesus and his death on the cross, burial and resurrection? If you do, then your life can be the story of triumph, to tragedy, to triumph—forever. That brings us to our last next step which I will humble myself, take responsibility for my sin, repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

As the praise team comes to lead us in a final song and the ushers prepare to collect the tithes and offerings, let’s pray: Heavenly Father, thank You for Your holy and gracious presence among us. You call Your people to live lives of holiness, discernment, and self‑discipline, not for our glory, but for Yours alone. By Your Holy Spirit, help us to strive to truly know You, faithfully follow You, and reflect Your image into the world around us. Help us to humble ourselves before You, taking responsibility for our sin, repent and place our full trust in Jesus Christ—His sacrifice, His resurrection, and His saving grace. Shape our hearts to please You, guide our steps in obedience, and use us as your kingdom of priests. In Jesus, Amen.

Opening: NIV Application Commentary on Leviticus; Gane, Roy; page 199

From Tragedy to Triumph

God desires His people to live lives of holiness, discernment, and self-discpline.

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