I started reading through Isaiah today. The first chapter starts with a condemnation of Israel’s rebellion. Israel had rebelled against the Lord, forsaken Him, turned their backs on Him. The Lord then moves to a condemnation of their actions, first in their sins, but then in their continuation of offering sacrifices and proceeding with their religious duties.
“This multitude of sacrifices, what are they to me? (1:11)
When you come to appear before me, who asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? (1:12)
Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. (1:13)
Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. (1:14)
When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you.
Even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening.” (1:15)
The law gave a series of commands- things to both do, and not do. Then there was a second part of the law that prescribed sacrifices for when those commands were broken, and these sacrifices would restore the guilty back to right standing. The Lord is angry with his people because they clearly were making no effort to follow the commands, but they were going through the motion of keeping the rest of the religious duties- festivals and sacrifices, in order to maintain their ‘right standing’.
The problem is, the Lord wanted His people to live according to His word as part of their commitment to honor Him. Disregarding the commands was their way of asserting their own independence; rebelling against him, turning their backs on what He wanted them to do and become. But they offered sacrifices in the sense of willingly paying the fine so they could still consider themselves ok.
This was an attempt to work the system; to maintain doing what they wanted, but still claiming a ‘righteousness’ according to the letter of the law because they offered sacrifices. But whatever their attempts to work the system, it did not fool the Lord. The answer is given in the next verses:
Though your sins are like scarlet… if you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land…
Reading these types of passages, it’s pretty easy to see that the Israelites were doing something foolish. But haven’t I attempted the same thing?
The law was given to teach us that no one could follow the law. How do we know that? Because the law contained a whole bunch of sacrifices for when the law was broken. The sacrifice is pretty much what it sounds like. An innocent animal, that had to be free from blemish, would die in the place of the one who committed the sin. There was no way around this law. If you sin, the wages of that sin is death. The only way you could live, was if something else, something without blemish, would take your place and die for you. Yes, the sacrifices were horrible. They were meant to be. It wasn’t supposed to be pretty and you weren’t supposed to feel ok about causing an innocent creature to die on your behalf.
All this looked forward to Jesus, who would become the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world.
Having paid the price, we are told that if someone declares with his mouth Jesus is Lord, and believes in his heart that God raised Him from the dead, he would be saved. (Romans 10:9-10)
Now here’s the ugly part. The Israelites treated the sacrifices like a get-out-of-jail-free card. They thought they could live however they wanted and then just offer a sacrifice and, poof, sins gone, wiped clean, right-standing restored. Have I done exactly that when I accept sin in my life and then rationalize that Jesus has already covered it with his sacrifice, so…. no big deal?
We are told that God is unchanging and that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever….. so if he hated that attitude in his children back in Isaiah’s day, what would make me think He’s different now?
Now, I know as well as anybody that we all sin. None of us are ever going to be perfect on this side of heaven. So I’m not talking about needing to be perfect before the Lord will listen. But I’m talking to myself: I have accepted sin in my life knowing that I had the sacrifice of Jesus to cover me. Why would I think the Lord would not say this to me: “When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you. Even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening.”?
The prayer needed at such a point is- Lord, I’m willing to be obedient. It’s a sincere prayer of repentance and a change of direction. I believe in the mercy and grace of God, the same grace that we saw later in Isaiah chapter 1.