If you are familiar with the stories of Nadab and Abihu and Ananias and Sapphira the one thing that stands out about them is that because of their sins they were struck dead by the Lord. I believe that in both cases their deaths were to serve as a warning to other priests, in the case of Nadab and Abihu, that God is serious about being reverent to His commands, and in the case of Ananias and Sapphira, that God wanted to show the early church that lying to the Holy Spirit and spiritual hypocrisy were grave sins.
In both of these cases, one in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament, it shows that God is consistent in His hatred of sin and that severe sins can lead to serious consequences; including death. While some contend that the God of the Old Testament is not the same as the God of the New Testament, I think these two examples show us that God is very serious about sin and will judge accordingly.
In (Leviticus 10) we read about the two oldest sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu. (Leviticus 10:1-2) shares the following: “Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command. So, fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.” While we don’t know for certain what the exact infraction was they somehow didn’t offer incense in the prescribed way that God commanded. As a result of their carelessness and irreverence to the Lord and their solemn duty as priests to obey the commands of God, they were struck dead by the Lord. No doubt their sin was to serve as a warning to other priests to practice reverence before the Lord.
In (Acts 5) we read about Ananias and Sapphira and their act of spiritual hypocrisy, and how they faked their Christian witness to impress others. (Acts 5:1-6) shares the following: “Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife’s full knowledge, he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet. Then Peter said, ‘Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.’ When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.”
Clearly Ananias must have promised God that he would give the whole amount. Shortly after this Sapphira lied to Peter in the same way and suffered the same fate – death by the Lord.
There is no doubt that the Lord used this as an example for all who heard about it that sin can have serious consequences – including death. It is important to note that this was the beginning of the church age and I believe God wanted His children to know early on how serious this type of sin was.
My friends, God judges sin in both the Old and New Testaments. And while serious sins don’t normally lead to instant death they can. But in both these cases we should realize that sin ultimately is first against a holy God. And while we may not suffer death as a result now, our sins will ultimately lead to death – eternal death – if not covered by the blood of Jesus. Our responsibility as Christians is to confess and repent when we do sin and to share the only antidote for sin – Jesus – to a world hopelessly lost in their sins.