Sunday: Futile Sacrifices?
Daily Lesson for Sunday 4th of May 2025
Sometimes contrasting two ideas can be very instructive. Much can be learned about the nature of sacrifice in the biblical perspective from when God actually rejected the sacrifices of His people.
Compare Isaiah 1:2-15 with Isaiah 56:6-7 and Psalms 51:17. What important lessons about sacrifice are taught here?
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This tragic episode in Israel’s history was not the first time that God rejected a sacrifice; something similar happened near the beginning of salvation history, when Abel’s sacrifice was approved and acknowledged by God, and Cain’s was not. That early episode gives us another opportunity to contrast acceptable and unacceptable sacrifices. (See Genesis 4:3-7 and Hebrews 11:4.)
In Isaiah’s time, Israel was going through the motions, mentally checking off religious boxes in a minimal attempt to appease God, all while living as they pleased. Their sacrifices were anchored in self, just as Cain’s were, and not in an attitude of surrender and submission to God.
It is the same spirit that animates the kingdoms of this world: the spirit of self-sufficiency. Cain would live as he pleased and render mere ritual to God on his own terms. One can only assume that he viewed God as an inconvenience, a roadblock to setting his own course, but he feared God just enough to go through the motions.
Abel, however, offered the sacrifice God had requested, the sacrifice that exhibited the promise God had made of a coming Messiah (Genesis 3:15): a lamb, pointing forward to the saving act of Christ at Calvary.
“Abel grasped the great principles of redemption. He saw himself a sinner, and he saw sin and its penalty, death, standing between his soul and communion with God. He brought the slain victim, the sacrificed life, thus acknowledging the claims of the law that had been transgressed. Through the shed blood he looked to the future sacrifice, Christ dying on the cross of Calvary; and trusting in the atonement that was there to be made, he had the witness that he was righteous, and his offering accepted.”—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 72.
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How crucial that we protect ourselves from simply going through the motions! How can each one of us experience what it means to depend totally upon the death of Jesus as our only hope of salvation? |
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The passage in Isaiah is a reminder that being religious is not the same as living a saved life in Jesus. Listen to this:
Those are tough words. And Isaiah continues to quote:
In a nutshell this passage is saying that the liturgy is worthless if you don't put your love into action.
Paul, instructing Timothy about the last days (and by inference, us) puts it this way:
Practising the liturgy is not the same as practising Christianity.
God is the creator and provider of all objects (animals, grains, oil, and other offerings) for sacrifice. In essence, God does NOT need the sacrifice objects but the substance (attitude, motive, obedience, heart, humility, and sincerity) thereof. Now God wants our lives and not our things. “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” (Romans 12:1). God disapproves of empty and ritualistic religion. God cannot be fooled by our lip-service religion. God is looking for true worshippers (John 4:24, Amos 5:21).
God rebuking the Israelites for their hypocritical religion (Isaiah 1:2-15) is our rebuke, too. God would be telling us, keep the sabbath holy and not mere church attendance. Repair your broken relationships before you bring your tithes and offerings (Matthew 5:23-24). Keep your marriages holy and not expensive ceremonies. Do not engage in corrupt dealings and bring tithes and offerings thereof. Do not simply be baptised for church membership. Do not seek church leadership for power, money, and control, but for service. The devil has infiltrated all sanctified institutions (marriage, sabbath, family, tithes, offerings, baptism, holy communion, scripture) and created counterfeits that lack true substance. Jesus’s admonition is ever clear and to the point on this matter of futile sacrifice.
“So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God” (Matthew 5:23-24, NLT).
Amen, amen.
God’s instructions, including demands for obedience even when making sacrifices, are not meant to make us miserable; they are for our own good. Sometimes they sound like a cliché, but they are not to be dismissed. God knows what is going to happen in the economy, in politics, and on the world stage thus need to trust Him more.
“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king” (1 Sam. 15:22 23, nkjv). Cain rebelled and blocked God’s blessings; Abel obeyed and by extension, received God's blessings.
God doesn’t need our sacrifices, but He calls us to obey because obedience positions us for His provisions and blessings. Like Abel, the widow gave sacrificially, and like Abel, she honored God in faith, even when logic and lack seemed to argue against it. As a result, her obedience opened a door for miraculous sustenance, and this is the essence of the sacrificial system- unconditional obedience to God.
The stories of Cain and Abel, the widow, and Saul’s failed kingship all show that obedience is the true sacrifice that God seeks. It is not the size or impressiveness of what we give—it’s our trust and submission to God’s will. Obedience is an act of faith, and faith pleases God-(1 Kings 17:16)
It's easier to look up when one is at the rock bottom of life's well.
The good news is that Someone is there, at the top, willing and able to reach down, to grab the arms of the one in the well, and lift that person up to the safety of Solid ground.
"Bring no more futile sacrifices." "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart." Sometimes, we care only about a traditional religion, a name, or what it signifies. At the same time, God longs for a humble heart, an expectation of dependency on Him alone, because He is the only One who can save us from ourselves through His Son Jesus.
The last question on Sundays' lesson indicates "Total dependance on Jesus' death for salvation." Yet Jesus Himself said in John 14:19 that "It is because He lives, that we shall also live." So it is not only His Death that saves us, it is also the fact that He has "Life" in Himself and lives for us that will also give us "Salvation." It is because He lives that also grants us power to forsake sin in our lives and develop a "Sanctified Holy Godly Character."
"For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." Romans 5:10
I find myself questioning the use of the word 'sacrifice', particularly the frequent association of bloodshed with the atonement for sin. Terms like 'gift' or 'offering' seem more fitting to describe what truly takes place — an act demonstrating humility, dependence and repentance – a surrender that exalts God as Supreme – Hosea 6:6; Luke 22:42.
If, as Psalm 51:17 says, "the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit - a broken and contrite heart," then why is there such a strong emphasis within Christianity on spilled blood as the means of redemption? Why does God accept one offering and reject another? Is it really because He requires the shedding of 'blood' with which to be honored and loved by?
Scripture reminds us that God looks not at outward appearances, but at the heart - 1 Sam.16:7. Could it be, then, that the true measure of an acceptable offering lies in the spirit with which it is given — a responsive heart - full of love and devotion -, rather than a heart prompted by obligation or ritual compliance?
Other scriptures affirm this perspective: Jer.17:10, 1 Chronicles 28:9, Matt.23:25–26, and Rom.8:27–29 — all pointing to a God who searches the heart and knows the intent behind every act. God accepted Jesus' offering of Himself because the shedding of His blood revealed the depth of His Love - God did not demand blood, He gave it.
Excerpts from Isaiah 1:2-15
v.2 - ”I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me;”
v. 4 – "A people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who are corrupters!”
v. 5 - ”The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints.”
v. 6 - ”They(wounds) have not been closed or bound up, or soothed with ointment.”
v.11 - ”To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me, says the LORD? I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or lambs or goats.”
v.13 - ”Bring no more futile sacrifices: I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.”
v.14 - ”I am weary of bearing them (feasts).”
v.15 - ”When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you: Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.”
Micah 6:8 - ”He has told you, O man, what is good – and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justice and to love kindnesses and to walk humbly with your God.”