Understanding Sacrifice: What God Truly Wants

They made sacrifices to God, but still worshipped other gods.

When I first became a believer, I was focused on getting to heaven. I took time to see that God cares about different things than people do. People want to go to heaven. God wants to come down to earth.

The gospel of God's kingdom is about Him coming to earth. This is what sets our faith apart from others. Jesus, who created heaven and earth, came down from heaven. He told us to pray for God's kingdom to come and for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus will return to set up God's kingdom on earth.

John writes:

"I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also, there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.'" (Rev 21:1-3).

God told Moses about Israel:

"Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them." (Ex 25:8).

"I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am the Lord their God." (Ex 29:45).

So, a tabernacle was built for the Lord on earth in Israel. God's glory and presence were there.

We lost our house help at the end of last year. I prayed for a new one, and God sent us a lady named Christiana. But the first thing that happened was that Christiana nearly poisoned me.

We usually use pure water for cooking. But when it finished, Christiana used tap water. Our tap water does not come from the waterworks. It comes from a borehole, goes to a tank above ground, and then to a tank on the roof. We rarely clean these tanks. So, the water was dirty.

After eating the food, I felt terrible. My stomach treated it like poison and had to force it out. I kept running to the toilet to get rid of the poison from my body.

Why would God give me a house help who would poison me? What should I do in a situation like this? I turned to the scriptures. I did not trust my own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5). Love believes all things. (1 Corinthians 13:7). In everything, give thanks. (1 Thessalonians 5:18). All things work together for good. (Romans 8:28).

Why did this happen?

The Holy Spirit used this experience to teach me an important lesson about God's holiness. My stomach rejects anything dirty. God rejects anything imperfect.

When Moses made the Old Covenant with God on Mount Sinai:

"The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel." (Exo 24:17).

God's holiness is so pure that it acts like a consuming fire. Anything that gets close to God is either purified or destroyed. The writer of Hebrews warns:

"Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord." (Heb 12:14).

God's fire does two things. It destroys anything corruptible before it can reach Him, or it refines and perfects it, making it pure.

Malachi says:

"(God) is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness." (Mal 3:2-3).

God says in Leviticus:

"I am the Lord, who makes you holy." (Lev 22:32).

Regular water cannot wash away spiritual corruption. True cleansing needs inner change and forgiveness from God, not just outside washing. While water shows purity, a person's heart is stained by sin. This needs spiritual cleansing from God, not just rituals.

When Isaiah saw Jesus' glory, he feared for his life. He cried out:

"Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." Then a seraph flew to me with a live coal from the altar. He touched my mouth and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged." (Isa 6:5-7).

A pastor friend of mine prayed hard to see God. One night, he dreamed he was in a big field. Suddenly, fire started chasing him. He ran until he woke up sweating.

God was that fire. The pastor was still a baby Christian then. Knowing him now, I think he would not run away. The fire would cover him, and he would not be harmed.

God says:

"Thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: 'Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.'" (Isa 43:1-3).

Israel was unfaithful to the Old Covenant laws. They approached God with rituals, sacrificing while continuing in their sins. God says:

"These people draw near with their mouths and honour Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men." (Isa 29:13).

Because of this, their sacrifices were not accepted:

"For what purpose to Me comes frankincense from Sheba, and sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet to Me." (Jer 6:20).

They sacrificed to God, but worshipped other gods.

They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they did not know, to new gods, new arrivals that your fathers did not fear. Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, and have forgotten the God who fathered you. (Deut 32:17-18).

In any case:

It is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. (Heb 10:4).

God is Spirit. So, sacrifices that please God must be spiritual.

Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:4-5).

The blood of bulls and goats only cleanses the body. But God is not flesh. God is Spirit.

Jesus says:

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:6).