We are tempted to charge God with overreacting. These were young men who deserved a second chance; furthermore, they were sons of Aaron, the high priest. We would expect a bit of leeway. But right there at the altar of God, Nadab and Abihu faced immediate annihilation -- no trial, no second chance.

Why did God do this? God Himself explained: "Among those who approach Me I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored" (Lev. 10:3). Moses asked two men to retrieve the men's bodies and carry them to their burial; we read that they were still wearing their tunics. Moses told Aaron that he had better not create a scene over this incident or he might die too. He was not to leave the Tent of Meeting but to stay there until calm returned to the area.

Not everything is sacred, but God is. Your self is important, but it isn't sacred; the earth is important, but it isn't sacred. The mistake of these men was not that they came to the wrong God; they just approached the right God in the wrong way. They thought they could dispense with the instruction book. They learned the hard way that just any way will not do.

If we approach God incorrectly, not much else matters. We might not be smitten down in this life, but in the end we will experience eternal judgment. Think of the surprise of those who expected to be in heaven, but find themselves on the wrong side of the celestial gates!

So how do we approach God? The good news is that the issue is not the greatness of our sin, but rather the value of God's prescribed approach. We are invited to come into the "Most Holy Place," but we cannot come alone. Keep in mind that God did not choose the attributes He has. His holiness, justice and power are a given; He must be true to Himself. We dare not fall into the error of emphasizing the compassion of God to the exclusion of His justice and holiness. Nor dare we emphasize His justice and holiness without balancing these at tributes with His love and mercy. The omnipotence of God without mercy is terrifying; the holiness of God without grace leads to despair.

"Don't worry about me, because I am OK," a man told me on a plane. I had explained that he needed a mediator between him and the Almighty, that apart from the proper sacrifice God would reject him. He thought he was in fine shape because he worshiped his own mental idol, a god who assured him that all was well. He could appear before the god of his own making with confidence; having never been confronted with the holiness of God, he, like other post-moderns, had lost the capacity to despise his sin.

Because God is holy, sin is a personal affront to His beauty, His holiness and His character. If we think we can approach Him directly, it is because we do not understand Him or ourselves. Augustine was right when he said, "He who understands the holiness of God despairs in trying to appease Him." Making a similar point, Donald McCullough writes, "One may appear before other gods with a sense of confidence, with no sense of being threatened. They will stay put; they don't stray from the places assigned to them by human egos desperately trying to maintain control. But the God revealed in Jesus Christ is holy, and a holy God cannot be contained or tamed. This sort of God is 'wholly other.'"6