NEW TESTAMENT HAS MUCH TO SAY ABOUT SACRIFICES The default interpretation of Biblical references to sacrifice is of some kind of physical sacrifice (e.g. animals, people, money, time labor, goods, etc.). That people would think this way is understandable because they are trained to think in physical, fleshly terms and because God always uses physical things to represent spiritual truths as we see in the “first the natural and then the spiritual” principle.
STUDY TIP: See Tithes for more about spiritual tithes.
With respect to sacrifices, here are several scriptures from which we can learn how to interpret the spiritual truth about sacrifices.
Matthew 9:1Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.
COMMENTARY: Mercy is a code word for the New Covenant. It is an act of mercy for a New Covenant disciple to set an Old/First Covenant religionist free from religion. In other words, what God wants is that Old/First Covenant religionists stop bringing physical sacrifices, and become New Covenant disciples who go as warrior/soldiers to set captives free from slavery to the sin of religion.
Matthew 9:9-13 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. 10 And as he sat at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
COMMENTARY: See commentary above about mercy. God repeats himself about rescuing people from religion.
Those who are well are Old/First Covenant religionists who do not know that they are captives to religion. Those who are sick are religious people who are suffering from doubt about religion but have not yet made the transition to be a New Covenant disciple.
Matthew 12:1-12 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath.” 3 He said to them, “Have you not read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have you not read in the law how on the sabbath the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are guiltless? 6 I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of man is lord of the sabbath.” 9 And he went on from there, and entered their synagogue. 10 And behold, there was a man with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath?” so that they might accuse him. 11 He said to them, “What man of you, if he has one sheep and it falls into a pit on the sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? 12 Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the sabbath.
COMMENTARY: The temple represents all kinds of Old/First Covenant religious institutions — including Judaism and Christianity. The something greater than the temple in verse 6 is the New Covenant. God does not value the many kinds of physical sacrifices that Old/First Covenant religionists bring to him. What he does value, however, is the efforts of New Covenant disciples to rescue people who have fallen into the pit of religion.
Mark 12:28-34And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that he is one, and there is no other but he; 33 and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any questions.
Hebrews 10:5-26: For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near.
COMMENTARY: Animal sacrifices were important features of the Law of Moses. Since the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, animal sacrifices have been replaced with money, worship and other kinds of good deeds that are important features of modern Judaism and Christianity. These modern sacrifices are offered continually (e.g. daily, weekly, monthly, annually, etc.) with the hope that doing these religious things will somehow make those who offer them perfect in God’s eyes. Furthermore, they must be offered repeatedly to produce the income that maintains religious institutions.
All of these substitute sacrifices/worship are contemporary examples of Old/First Covenant religion based on the Law of Moses. They are shadows of the good thing (i.e. New Covenant) which is available to individuals who reject religion (i.e. physical sacrifices of one kind or another).
2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins?
COMMENTARY: If religious people really believed that their various sacrifices and offerings were acceptable to God and earned some kind of favor with him, they would not continue doing them over and over again. But, the scripture says that continuing to make the same offerings over and over again is evidence that they are still conscious of their sin. In other words, they do not believe God when he says that he will remember their sins no more.
Only New Covenant disciples who have ceased practicing religion believe that God’s promise that he will remember their sins no more believe the promise. They trust that resting from their religious practices is what God wants from them. Old/First Covenant religionists, on the other hand, obviously do not believe the promise because they continue making sacrifices and offerings.
We can understand how Jews fall into this wrong thinking because their whole religion is based on following the literal law of Moses. Christians have a special problem, however, because they claim to be followers of Jesus who only offered his sacrifice once and then rested.
3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
COMMENTARY: The blood of bulls and goats is symbolic language for religious practices of all kinds. In God’s symbolic language, bulls and goats are Old/First Covenant religionists. The blood that they shed is the spiritual life that they sacrifice by practicing religion. In effect, they are trying to compensate for all of their sins by doing religious works. But, for as long as they continue to practice religion according to traditions and the teachings of men, the forgo the spiritual life that is only available by listening to God’s spoken word.
Continued offerings of religious sacrifices is evidence that both Jews and Christians are always mindful of their sinfulness. Thus they are compelled to keep making offerings with the hope that after they die God will reward them for all their religious works.
5. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings thou hast not desired, but a body hast thou prepared for me; 6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings thou hast taken no pleasure.
COMMENTARY:
7 Then I said, ‘Lo, I have come to do thy will, O God,’ as it is written of me in the roll of the book.” 8 When he said above, “Thou hast neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, “Lo, I have come to do thy will.” He abolishes the first in order to establish the second.
COMMENTARY:
10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 then to wait until his enemies should be made a stool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. 15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, 16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” 17 then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their misdeeds no more.” 18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. 19 Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way which he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful; 24 and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. 26 For if we sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
COMMENTARY:
1-Peter 2:4-5 Come to him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God’s sight chosen and precious; 5 and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
