“But when he was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. So Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him were eighty priests of the Lord – valiant men. And they withstood King Uzziah, and said to him, ‘It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed! You shall have no honor from the Lord God.’ Then Uzziah became furious; and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense. And while he was angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead, before the priests in the house of the Lord, beside the incense altar” (2 Chronicles 26:16-19).
Pride led Uzziah to transgress against the Lord God by entering the temple to burn incense. Burning incense was a good thing. It was good because God had commanded it (Exodus 30:7-8). But it was a duty commanded of the priests only (Numbers 3:10; 18:7). No man, small or great, has a right to change God’s laws and commands, to add to, to take away, or to substitute, even a king. Although King Uzziah did not accomplish what he set out to do – burn incense – he stood condemned before God for his trespassing into the temple.
Uzziah is not alone in his pride and transgression. Many men today transgress in the same way.
God has decreed, “Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence” (2 Timothy 2:11-12). Yet many religions today have women preachers and leaders in their churches. The women have transgressed the commandment of the Lord by performing a role that is assigned to men, and men sin in allowing and promoting it. No mortal has the right to assign to women a role that is assigned to men.
And another example: The New Testament teaches that the church can and should use its collection to relieve needy saints (Acts 4:32-34; 1 Corinthians 16:1), but nowhere does the New Testament teach that the church should use its collection to help the needy of the world. Christians as individuals can and should help the needy, and that includes needy unbelievers. But to use the church’s collection to help needy unbelievers is like Uzziah taking on what was not assigned to him but to the priests – the church is taking on what is not assigned to it but to the individual. No man has a right to add that into the church’s work.
The Bible story tells us of men going beyond what God has authorized and how condemnation resulted. Let us not think God’s attitude toward presumption has changed. “Whosoever goeth onward and abideth not in the teaching of Christ, hath not God: he that abideth in the teaching, the same hath both the Father and the Son” (2 John 9). -Larry Jones