2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;
for the Lord has spoken:
“Children[a] have I reared and brought up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knows its owner,
and the donkey its master’s crib,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.”4 Ah, sinful nation,
a people laden with iniquity,
offspring of evildoers,
children who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the Lord,
they have despised the Holy One of Israel,
they are utterly estranged.5 Why will you still be struck down?
Why will you continue to rebel?
The whole head is sick,
and the whole heart faint.
6 From the sole of the foot even to the head,
there is no soundness in it,
but bruises and sores
and raw wounds;
they are not pressed out or bound up
or softened with oil.7 Your country lies desolate;
your cities are burned with fire;
in your very presence
foreigners devour your land;
it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.
8 And the daughter of Zion is left
like a booth in a vineyard,
like a lodge in a cucumber field,
like a besieged city.9 If the Lord of hosts
had not left us a few survivors,
we should have been like Sodom,
and become like Gomorrah.10 Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom!
Give ear to the teaching[b] of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
11 “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.12 “When you come to appear before me,
who has required of you
this trampling of my courts?
13 Bring no more vain offerings;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—
I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you spread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
17 learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow’s cause.18 “Come now, let us reason[c] together, says the Lord:
— Isaiah 1:2-20, English Standard Version
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land;
20 but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be eaten by the sword;
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Pay close attention to the highlighted verses, above. The Book of Isaiah is considered by Christians to be one of the strongest proofs of Jesus’s right to claim the mantle of the Messiah, and that is exactly why.
Too many people – Christians VERY MUCH INCLUDED – think that God demands sacrifices to atone for sin. This is garbage. YHWH has no need of blood sacrifices to expiate sin – that is a religion of works.
The truth is that God has absolutely no NEED whatsoever for humanity. He does not need us – a perfect, complete Being, by definition, needs nothing outside of itself. God created us because He wanted to. He doesn’t need us to worship Him – He wants us to, of our own free will.
Sacrifices of blood and flesh to God are pointless in the wake of Jesus’s sacrifice once for all. God wants us to be close to Him, and the way to do that is to do His will, not ours. When we screw up – which we inevitably will – the proper approach is not to make offerings and sacrifices, not anymore. That might have worked once upon a time, but that has not been the case since centuries BEFORE the time of Jesus.
Today, if you screw up, you ask for forgiveness – and you forgive others for their transgressions against you. End of story.
And here’s some properly Scriptural sermonising to help make sense of it all:
1 Comment
Are you denying the all sufficiency of Christ’s SACRIFICE you heathen pelagian? — every Calvinist on earth, and even the ones in hell with Calvin.