Introduction
Good morning, everyone. Let's turn to Leviticus, chapter 10. This chapter offers us many insights. The preceding two chapters emphasize acting according to the Lord's instructions. When you follow the Lord's commands, you will witness the glory of the Lord filling the temple, God's glory manifesting to the people, and fire descending from God to consume the burnt offering and fat on the altar. In the New Testament, the church has such altars where God's glory and miracles occur, and the prayers of the people are answered because they are done according to the Lord's instructions.
In fact, every dynasty's revival throughout history has seen how God responds to the prayers of His people. Why does God respond? Because a small group of people, like Moses and Aaron, act according to the Lord's commands. They follow the revelations God gives them in their time, and they witness God's miraculous deeds. Therefore, miracles are not optional; they are evidence of God's glory manifesting to the people.
After Jesus came, how did people believe in Him? Because of God's power. How did Paul claim to be an apostle? Because of the power God manifested through him. Let's look at Leviticus chapter 10. If people do not act according to the Lord's commands, they will die. Therefore, where God's presence is revealed, there must be even more diligence in keeping and obeying God's word. In Leviticus chapters 8 and 9, God clearly manifested Himself among the congregation of Israel.
God Will Be Hallowed Among Those Who Are Near Him
Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. (Leviticus 10:1-2)
We must understand that serving God requires special care and caution. If we do not diligently keep and obey, the consequences are severe. In the preceding chapters of Leviticus, there was no mention of taking a censer, putting incense on it, and offering unauthorized fire before the Lord. Today, if those in the church, especially pastors, lead the congregation in things God has not commanded, it is a serious problem that can lead to death.
To this day, people are still confused. They see pastors serving God wholeheartedly, working tirelessly, but suffering from cancer. We watch them go through a great deal of difficulty. Some pastors get cancer, and after surgery, their wounds don't heal, causing them unimaginable suffering. At this time, we become confused and wonder why God would do this.
Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’” And Aaron held his peace. (Leviticus 10:3)
God will be hallowed among those who are near Him. God is not Santa Claus, distributing gifts. If you offer unauthorized fire, which the Lord God has not commanded, it will lead to death. So we must be careful today. Not only pastors, but also we Christians, how should we be before God? If we are close to God, He will be hallowed among us. How is He hallowed? If offering unauthorized fire leads to death, that is being hallowed.
Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. (Leviticus 10:1-2)
Offering unauthorized fire means doing what the Lord has not commanded. There was no such thing before, like taking a censer, putting fire on it, and adding incense. These were methods they invented themselves. Perhaps they learned it from Egypt. This is offering unauthorized fire. As a result, fire came out from the Lord and consumed them. You must be careful. Our God being hallowed means this. Moses was not a people-pleaser, but he was close to God's heart. If you please people, you cannot be close to God's heart; if you are close to God's heart, you are not a people-pleaser.
Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’” And Aaron held his peace. (Leviticus 10:3)
Everyone should read this passage carefully. Our God is hallowed among those who are close to Him. If you want to fulfill the office of a priest, you must have strict habits and cannot be careless or muddleheaded. If you serve God, you must know that our God is the most holy, most high, most great, most glorious, and all-powerful God. Our God created the universe with His own hands, and His energy is immense. All the solar systems in the universe combined do not have as much energy as our God. If we mess around with an atomic reactor or nuclear power plant on Earth, it's like a speck of dust compared to the solar system. If you mess around in a nuclear power plant, it can lead to death.
Our God will be hallowed among those who are near Him. This sentence is very heavy. When serving God, I deeply realized what it means to be rigorous and what it means to diligently keep and obey. In Chinese Mingding Destiny, there are only two things: diligently keeping and obeying and not diligently keeping and obeying. Diligently keeping and obeying God's word brings blessings, and not diligently keeping and obeying brings curses. We must never defend God, saying that He did it carelessly. The spirit of death is also controlled by God, so don't be confused. When we read the Bible, we think Satan is very powerful, but in God's eyes, Satan is just a serving spirit. The philosophy of Chinese Mingding Destiny is to despise everything and only value our God. We will not exaggerate the devil, but of course, in the process of fighting the devil, we are diligent to keep and obey!
Our God is a God of Justice and Mercy
We must know for sure that when Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the result was death. In fact, people don't need to eat a basketful; just one, or even not eating it, just taking a bite, what will happen? This one bite determines life and death! We shouldn't think that taking a bite is nothing. If you step on a landmine, you don't need much; one step can shatter you to pieces.
Today's Christians eat baskets and baskets of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil! I receive a lot of such messages; the messages are simply overwhelming. Some people ask me if someone is doing the right thing or if their response is correct, or what about taking a job. It makes me very upset and I wonder when people will stop eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. If they keep eating like this, can their problems be resolved? If we still have illnesses and are still under a curse, it's not so much related to our ancestors or family as it is to ourselves. Our problem is whether we diligently keep and obey or not.
When we believe in Jesus, it is easy for the blood of Jesus Christ to cover our transgressions, but it is a bit difficult for us not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Some people eat a basketful before believing, and after believing, they eat half a basketful. Some people eat half a basketful and then ask me why they are still like this after believing. I say God wants to ask you why you are still like this! Do you think eating half a basketful is okay? No matter how much you eat, you are on the road to death!
What is the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Everything that does not come from faith is the knowledge of good and evil. Let me give a very straightforward example. When we serve people, some people ask me, when will this disease end? As soon as they say this, they have eaten half a basketful of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. Because people do not believe, not because they are not qualified to believe or have no reason to believe, but because people do not believe in God's word and do not act according to God's word.
We have experienced God and then we eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the sickness comes back. We pray and get better, then we continue to eat, and the problem comes again. We pray and get better, then we continue to eat. In fact, it exhausts me and my co-workers. Some people are surprised: why isn't it like Jesus, who can heal with a snap of His fingers? Is it because my co-workers are not like Jesus enough? We are indeed not like Him enough, not good enough. But even if we are better, we cannot solve the problem of people choosing to eat the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. We cannot make choices for people. This is the most distressing thing for me in serving. We serve someone who is about to die, who cannot breathe, whose tongue is stiff and cannot speak. We try our best to snatch him back from the hands of the devil! But this person eats the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, basket after basket!
What is eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil? After people eat it, they become very picky, see many things as bad, and have fear and shame. I want to tell everyone to diligently keep and obey! We serve God according to His commands, not offering unauthorized fire of our own accord. We must gradually understand what God wants from us. Where did Chinese Mingding Destiny begin? From studying God's word. The Bible is in black and white, we all read it, but how much can we get out of it? Not much. Some people have read it dozens of times and still don't believe. Everyone should think about one thing: at Christmas, the church is constantly building stages, putting the most beautiful and best performances online, but is that what God wants?
Years ago, when I was an ordinary Christian in the local church, I was very confused. Because believing in the Lord had no effect, this way of believing was not like Jesus. They watched people around them suffer from various diseases but could not heal them. Early on, I established a concept that if a person suffers from a disease, if Jesus is among us, he must be healed, and if he touches Jesus, he must be healed. But the situation in the church today is that many people are living in pain.
I once served a pastor who had twenty years of lumbar and cervical spondylosis. This pastor also had his own pastor. To put it bluntly, what was his pastor doing? I was very surprised because these churches especially value Christmas activities and New Year's prayer meetings. I thought that if they took this time to serve people and cast the demons out of them, wouldn't the lumbar problems be solved? In fact, lumbar and cervical problems are very simple. I personally like to pray for lumbar and cervical problems because these diseases are healed quickly with prayer. Some people say: Pastor, because you have this gift, I don't! But Jesus did not say this in the Bible.
Do we have enough compassion in us today? If we have God's justice and mercy in us, we will believe that our God is a God of justice and mercy. If I serve you today and you go back to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, these problems cannot be solved, but you will definitely experience healing here with me. The healing may not be 100%, it may be 50% or 60%. For example, I lead prayer in the evening, and one sister's eyes are getting better. If she continues to improve at this rate, she will definitely be completely healed! We also have many other diseases, such as back pain, leg pain, whole body cold, and paralyzed legs. These diseases are all getting better.
Nothing is impossible with God, because God's glory is manifesting to us, and God's glory is hallowed among those who are near Him. We must be especially careful not to offer unauthorized fire before the Lord, and not be like Nadab and Abihu. God wants to be glorified among His people, and God wants to be hallowed among the priests.
Serving God: Prioritizing God's Business
Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not let your hair go unkempt, and do not tear your clothes, or you will die and he will be angry with the whole community. But your relatives, the whole house of Israel, may mourn for those the Lord has destroyed by fire. And do not go outside the entrance to the tent of meeting, or you will die, because the Lord’s anointing oil is on you.” So they did as Moses said. (Leviticus 10:6-7)
Moses told Aaron and his sons that they are not allowed to weep, lest they die. It sounds very heartless. If God's anointing oil is upon us, we must not leave the entrance to the tent of meeting. Meaning, we cannot leave our posts of serving God. Even if someone dies and the body is carried out, Aaron cannot leave the tent of meeting to attend his sons' funeral. Aaron's sons cannot attend their brothers' funeral. Our God is a most holy God, He does not need human sentimentality, as human sentimentality cannot solve the problem.
If Eleazar and Ithamar leave to attend the funeral, they would also face the same death, because God's anointing oil is on them, and their duty is to stand firm at the priest's post. Let us consider how common the matter of offering unauthorized fire is. It is very common in churches, where things are not done according to God's instructions in serving, evangelizing, setting people free, or holding prayer meetings. There is no sense of prioritisation, just mere showing off. Not to say that everything is just show, but how much of it is just for show? This greatly surprises me!
Why are we able to come this far? Why Chinese Mingding Destiny can come this far is all because we live out God's compassion. I thank God for giving me this ability. Why does God give it to me? Because I thirst for it, I thirst to be like Jesus, I thirst to do what Jesus did! But today, many people do not do what Jesus did, and they think it is normal not to be like Jesus.
I am very filled with emotion. It sounds like I am criticising people, but actually I am not. I only hope that people will start to draw near to God, and all will revere God as holy, and know that God is sanctified among those who draw near to Him. This way, fewer people will die, and fewer people will get cancer. It is written in black and white in the Bible, we must read it diligently, and we must learn to be like God. If we do not do what Jesus did, and do a bunch of what Jesus did not do, that is a very deadly thing!
There was an elderly lady, almost seventy years old, who previously attended class with me, sitting next to me. She had a cold, and no one cared for her. They thought that a cold should be treated with medicine or by seeing a doctor. She often sat next to me in class, asking if I could pray for her. As a result, as soon as I prayed, her cold was healed. After graduation, she went to intern at a church. The leaders of this church were a couple. After they saw someone come to look after the stall, they handed the church over to this elderly sister and immediately bought plane tickets for the whole family to travel. While moving a chair, the elderly sister accidentally fell and broke her arm. As a result, her arm became extremely swollen!
When the couple found out, they quickly bought a plane ticket and sent the elderly sister back to her original place to see a doctor, have surgery, and have the bone reattached. Although the bone was reattached, the evil spirit did not leave, and her arm ached for two years. Coincidentally, I had the opportunity to go to the city where she was. She came to me, and I prayed with her. The aching in her arm was healed, and she has not experienced any pain since. The problem is such a simple matter, where is God's compassion?
We who believe in Jesus, yet do not do what Jesus did, is this not problematic? I believe if Jesus were beside this sister, she would have been healed long ago. The problem is, our church does not do such things. Things like the New Year's Eve prayer meeting, inviting big-name pastors to put on a New Year's show, is that what God wants? Perhaps one day you and I will return to God. How will we give an account to God? I will say to God: This is my service on earth, may You accept my service. May God call me a faithful and good servant, giving food to God's people at the proper time. This is the extravagant desire and expectation in my heart. I think my service on earth will bless many people, not because of anything else, but because there is a longing in my heart, a longing to draw near to God, a longing to be like Him, and to do what God has commanded me to do.
When we read Leviticus chapter 10, we must know that if we do not do according to what the Lord has commanded, people will die! If I were to list them today, there would be many. In the days of Malachi and Haggai, the two nations of Israel and Judah were destroyed. After 70 years, God raised up a king to allow the Israelites to return to their homeland to build the walls. As a result, after the Israelites returned, they were busy living their own lives, and in the end, they were cursed.
Brothers and sisters, you must know that in the days of Malachi and Haggai, the Israelites placed God's affairs below the affairs of their homes. Because they thought that they had to manage their homes well and have family harmony before they could serve God, as a result, they were cursed. Many people think that if they cannot manage their own homes, how can they manage the church? How often do we fear God today? Have we taken the doctrines and traditions of men as the word of God? Therefore, when Jesus came, when the Messiah whom the people were talking about came, they did not know. They read the Bible regularly, yet they did not know, and instead they crucified Jesus on the cross. The Pharisees did not read the Bible any less, but they did not diligently observe and practice it. Instead, they often offered unauthorised fire, and many of the things they did were not what God had commanded.
A sister sent me some testimonies, all talking about building family camps. Jesus did not say to run any family camps. Jesus took Peter everywhere, and Peter did not care for his wife. Jesus said that a man's enemies will be the members of his own household, which is a very harsh saying. If you want to obtain your Mingding Destiny, the first thing that hinders you from obtaining your Mingding Destiny is your family! Because your family can disturb your emotions, causing you to be very upset and uncomfortable inside, but God wants us to let go of these things.
If we do not do according to what the Lord has commanded, people will die! Today, believing in the wrong gospel will bring a curse, and preaching the wrong gospel will bring a curse. It is written very clearly in black and white in the Bible! Someone asked me what the pure gospel is. The answer is simple. The pure gospel is like Jesus, and if it is not like Jesus, then it is not. Jesus is our standard. We believe in Jesus, not Martin Luther, nor John Calvin, nor John Wesley. We believe in Jesus, but we do not believe in what Jesus said. Is that not courting death? Diligently observe and practice God's word, and keep God's commandments, lest we die! This sentence must be deeply imprinted in our minds. We must carefully read the Bible and see what God has said.
It is Useless to Eat the Sin Offering if People Do Not Do According to God's Commands
Then Moses asked about the goat of the sin offering and learned 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 atonement for them before the Lord. Since its blood was not taken into the sanctuary, you should have eaten the goat in the sanctuary area, as I commanded.” (Leviticus 10:16-18)
The meat and blood of this offering were not brought into the sanctuary. Originally, they were supposed to eat the meat, not burn all of it. But Aaron said, Today they offered their burnt offering and sin offering before the Lord, and such a disaster has befallen me, my two sons are dead. If I ate the sin offering today, would the Lord be pleased? Why did he do this? Because he felt that he was really not worthy to eat this sin offering, and he offered everything to God.
If the blood were taken into the sanctuary, the entire offering would have to be burned. If the blood were not taken into the sanctuary, a portion of the offering would be burned, and the remainder would belong to Aaron the priest and his sons, and they would eat it in the sanctuary. But Aaron did one thing this time, he said: This is my due portion. I want to offer everything to God, I want to burn everything in the temple and offer it to God. What he meant was that if I ate this sin offering today and filled my stomach, would the Lord be pleased? When Moses heard this, he thought it was good. If we encountered the matter of Aaron's sons offering unauthorized fire, even if we ate the Holy Communion, would God be pleased?
Conclusion
Today we must act according to what God has commanded. If we do not act according to what God has commanded, the result is that God becomes angry, and people contract various malignant diseases or are burned to death by the fire of the Lord. In such a situation, what good does it do to eat the sacrificial meat, to eat the Holy Communion, or to partake in the Holy Communion? Everyone must be careful not to have a religious flavor. In fact, what God wants from us is to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God. Walking with God means walking the path of Jesus, and we must imitate the heart of Jesus.
Our God is a jealous God. If we have wickedness, we must be careful not to be struck down by God. If we diligently observe and practice, and act according to what God has commanded, God's glory will be revealed to us, and God's glory and power will be revealed to us. In God's sanctuary, God will hear our prayers, and in this place, God will be sanctified, and God will reveal His glory to all the people. Is this not what we seek? What is more important than God's glory?
If not, let all of us today begin to determine to act according to God's word, according to what God has commanded us. It will be difficult not to prosper! Perhaps we will occasionally sin and offend God, but it does not matter, we must repent quickly. But those who serve God must be strict and careful, because our God is most holy!
This sharing is a bit hardcore. It's not according to your will, not according to what you can receive, but according to what God has commanded. In any case, everyone must know my good intentions. I am also not very accepting of it, but I still have to act accordingly. Because acting according to my will is useless, acting according to what I like is useless, but acting according to God's word, according to what God has revealed, and what God has commanded, you and I will surely see God's glory! You and I will become a blessing to this generation! Because of you and me, this generation will see His glory.
May God bless everyone!