Leviticus 10:2-3

What they had done was take coals from a common, regular fire to light this incense rather than the fire that God Himself had lit for that specific purpose.

Aaron shut his mouth, and did not say a word of complaint.

We have to understand that our worship of God has to be up to the same level, as much as lies within us, to the holiness of God Himself. God will not be worshipped in any profane way because He is holy and must be shown to be holy before all the people. People who come to worship before God must have the attitude of holiness. "By those who come near Me, I must be regarded as holy."

Leviticus 10:1-3

But this happened because they disrespected God. They profaned His holy name by failing to carry out their responsibilities in the attitude and the manner He had prescribed. And I want to point out, that it did not matter that they were Aaron's sons, or Moses' nephews. There is no respect of persons with God. There is no partiality in His judgment. That quick, they lost their lives. What mattered was that they did not fear God enough to give Him the honor that He deserves. God's justice thundered out to leave a witness for all time.

Leviticus 10:1-3

Here God started the fire.

What we see here is that God is saying, "I will not allow you to become complacent or neglectful concerning Me. I will not allow you to take Me for granted." There has been much speculation as to exactly what had occurred. Did these men get drunk? Did they fall asleep? Did they just think they had to get extra coals? We do not know, but God did not take it lightly!

Leviticus 10:2-3

If you are profane, you were far from the Temple, and the Temple was the house of God. That meant that you were far from God if you were profane.

They treated what was holy as common. Now holy simply means "something that has been set apart for a sacred use." They had treated something that had been set apart as common. And the result of that was an example was set for all time.