Why God Rejects Sacrifice

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By
The Man Who Saw God Face To Face
Raphael Okechukwu Nweze

1. In the bible reference below, God makes it clear that the people of Israel have become like Sodom and Gomorrah. Therefore, God has rejected their sacrifice because of their sins and failure to repent:
   
   Hear the word of the Lord,
   You rulers of Sodom;
   Give ear to the law of our God,
   You people of Gomorrah:
   11 "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?"
   Says the Lord.
   "I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
   And the fat of fed cattle.
   I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
   Or of lambs or goats.
   Isaiah 1:10-12
   


2. In the next bible reference, God shows that He does not accept sacrifice offered by unrighteous people, who trample the courts (holy places) while in their unrighteousness and defilements:
   
   "When you come to appear before Me,
   Who has required this from your hand,
   To trample My courts?
   13 Bring no more futile sacrifices;
   Incense is an abomination to Me.
   The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies —
   I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.
   14 Your New Moons and your appointed feasts
   My soul hates;
   They are a trouble 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 hear.
   Your hands are full of blood.
   Isaiah 1:12-16
   


3. As God explained below, the people should first know their sins and repent. Therefore, God is asking the ministers to tell people their sins and lead them to repentance:
   
   "Cry aloud, spare not;
   Lift up your voice like a trumpet;
   Tell My people their transgression,
   And the house of Jacob their sins.
   2 Yet they seek Me daily,
   And delight to know My ways,
   As a nation that did righteousness,
   And did not forsake the ordinance of their God.
   They ask of Me the ordinances of justice;
   They take delight in approaching God.
   3'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and You have not seen?
   Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?'
   
   "In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure,
   And exploit all your labourers.
   4 Indeed you fast for strife and debate,
   And to strike with the fist of wickedness.
   You will not fast as you do this day,
   To make your voice heard on high.
   5 Is it a fast that I have chosen,
   A day for a man to afflict his soul?
   Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush,
   And to spread out sackcloth and ashes?
   Would you call this a fast,
   And an acceptable day to the Lord?
   Isaiah 58:1-5
   


4. Hereunder, God makes it clear that works of charity are necessary and are compulsory, before God would hear the prayers of His people and accept their sacrifices:
   
   "Is this not the fast that I have chosen:
   To loose the bonds of wickedness,
   To undo the heavy burdens,
   To let the oppressed go free,
   And that you break every yoke?
   7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
   And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out;
   When you see the naked, that you cover him,
   And not hide yourself from your own flesh?
   8 Then your light shall break forth like the morning,
   Your healing shall spring forth speedily,
   And your righteousness shall go before you;
   The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
   9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
   You shall cry, and He will say, 'Here I am.'
   Isaiah 58:6-9
   


5. King David made it clear that God does not accept sacfirice from sinners:
   
   For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
   You do not delight in burnt offering.
   17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
   A broken and a contrite heart —
   These, O God, You will not despise.
   Psalms 51:16-17
   


6. Again, King David says that sacrifice out of righteousness is acceptable to God:
   
   Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion;
   Build the walls of Jerusalem.
   19 Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
   With burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
   Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.
   Psalms 51:18-19
   
   To build the walls of Jerusalem means two things. One, it is to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. Two, means to make people know their sins and repent, by returning to the laws, statutes and precepts of God, which are the commandments, festivals and judgments.
   

1. God said Jesus would come to purify the priests and the Levites, so that they can offer righteous and perfect sacrifice:
   
   "Behold, I send My messenger,
   And he will prepare the way before Me.
   And the Lord, whom you seek,
   Will suddenly come to His temple,
   Even the Messenger of the covenant,
   In whom you delight.
   Behold, He is coming,"
   Says the Lord of hosts.
   
   "But who can endure the day of His coming?
   And who can stand when He appears?
   For He is like a refiner's fire
   And like launderers' soap.
   3 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.
   Malachi 3:1-3
   


2. God said tah He is ever ready to accept sacrifices offered in righteousness.
   
   "Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem
   Will be pleasant to the Lord,
   As in the days of old,
   As in former years.
   Malachi 3:4
   


3. God said the priests and Levites shall forever exist and offer sacrifice to Him:
   
   "For thus says the Lord: 'David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; 18 nor shall the priests, the Levites, lack a man to offer burnt offerings before Me, to kindle grain offerings, and to sacrifice continually.'" Jeremiah 33:17-18
   


4. Archangel Gabriel said the temple and offerings shall be restored, at the appointed time:
   
   "Know therefore and understand,
   That from the going forth of the command
   To restore and build Jerusalem
   Until Messiah the Prince,
   There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;
   The street shall be built again, and the wall,
   Even in troublesome times.
   Daniel 9:25
   


5. In the bible, the scriptures made it clear that stopping the sacrifice offered to God is the work of the antichrist. Therefore, the Christians should restore the offering of sacrifice.
   
   "And after the sixty-two weeks
   Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;
   And the people of the prince who is to come
   Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
   The end of it shall be with a flood,
   And till the end of the war desolations are determined.
   27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
   But in the middle of the week
   He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
   And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
   Even until the consummation, which is determined,
   Is poured out on the desolate."
   Daniel 9:26-27
   


6. Jesus directed the leper to go to the priests and offer sacrifice:
   
   Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4 And Jesus said to him, "See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them." Matthew 8:3-4
   


7. Even today, sacrifice is still being offered to God in heaven:
   
   When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. 3 Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel's hand. 5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. Revelation 8:1-5
   


8. Sacrifice is both spiritual and compulsory:
   
   Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 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 2:5