WHAT GOD DOES AND DOES NOT WANT
If Bible schools and seminaries taught students how to interpret the Bible symbolically, there would be no commercial religion. But, because it is in their financial interest to avoid this issue, commercial religion persists.
If Bible students had learned to listen to God’s voice, however, they would have learned how to interpret scriptures about what God does and does not want from his people.
In an effort to begin to fill that gap, we offer the following scriptures with commentaries. As you read each one, compare them to common practices of Judaism and Christianity. Ask yourself if God is really receptive to financial offerings and other manifestations of business in these modern times? If he was not receptive to the blood and grain sacrifices and offerings which he commanded them to bring to him in Bible times, how can he possibly be receptive to financial offerings and payments that people bring to religious leaders?
Here is a short list of what God does and does not want from his people:
Proverbs 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
COMMENTARY: Physical sacrifices, including money, are abominations to God.
Prayer, which happens in the heart, is what he does want.
Psalm 40:6-8 Sacrifice and offering thou dost not desire; but thou hast given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering thou hast not required. 7 Then I said, “Lo, I come; in the roll of the book it is written of me; 8 I delight to do thy will, O my God; thy law is within my heart.”
COMMENTARY: What God want is that people will listen to his voice and obedience– not money.
Psalm 50:8-23 I do not reprove you for your sacrifices; your burnt offerings are continually before me. 9 I will accept no bull from your house, nor he-goat from your folds. 10 For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. 11 I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field is mine. 12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world and all that is in it is mine. 13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? 14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High; 15 and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” 16 But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes, or take my covenant on your lips? 17 For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you. 18 If you see a thief, you are a friend of his; and you keep company with adulterers. 19 “You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit. 20 You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother’s son. 21 These things you have done and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you. 22 “Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I rend, and there be none to deliver! 23 He who brings thanksgiving as his sacrifice honors me; to him who orders his way aright I will show the salvation of God!”
COMMENTARY: When we stop to think about it, it is a silly notion to imagine that God needs money to do his work. His work is spiritual — not physical. The work of religion, on the other hand, is physical, and that is why religion needs physical money to operate.
Hosea 6:1-10 “Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn, that he may heal us; he has stricken, and he will bind us up. 2 After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. 3 Let us know, let us press on to know the LORD; his going forth is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.” 4 What shall I do with you, O E’phraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away. 5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light. 6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings. 7 But at Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me. 8 Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with blood. 9 As robbers lie in wait for a man, so the priests are banded together; they murder on the way to Shechem, yea, they commit villainy. 10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing; E’phraim’s harlotry is there, Israel is defiled.
COMMENTARY: What God wants is love and obedience that comes from the heart — not from the checkbook.
1 Samuel 15:18-27 And the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, utterly destroy the sinners, the Amal’ekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you swoop on the spoil, and do what was evil in the sight of the LORD?” 20 And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, I have gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me, I have brought Agag the king of Am’alek, and I have utterly destroyed the Amal’ekites. 21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.” 22 And Samuel said, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king.” 24 And Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25 Now therefore, I pray, pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the LORD.” 26 And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you; for you have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel.” 27 As Samuel turned to go away, Saul laid hold upon the skirt of his robe, and it tore.
COMMENTARY: What God wants is people who listen to and obey his voice — not physical sacrifices.
Proverbs 21:3 To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.
COMMENTARY: See Religion is Injustice, Slavery, Oppression and Affliction for more about justice.
Sacrifice here may rightly be interpreted any kind of physical offering — including money.
When the Bible says that righteousness and justice are more acceptable than sacrifice, it is not allowing that there is any room at all for sacrifice for New Covenant disciples.
Jeremiah 6:20 To what purpose does frankincense come to me from Sheba, or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.
COMMENTARY: Physical sacrifices are not acceptable to God because they can be seen and do not originate in faith.
Amos 5:18-27 Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why would you have the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light; 19 as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned with his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. 20 Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it? 21 “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and cereal offerings, I will not accept them, and the peace offerings of your fatted beasts I will not look upon. 23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. 24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. 25 “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 26 You shall take up Sakkuth your king, and Kaiwan your star-god, your images, which you made for yourselves; 27 therefore I will take you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts.
Jeremiah 7:16-26 “As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I do not hear you. 17 Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger. 19 Is it I whom they provoke? says the LORD. Is it not themselves, to their own confusion? 20 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; it will burn and not be quenched.” 21 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. 22 For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23 But this command I gave them, ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’ 24 But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. 25 From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day; 26 yet they did not listen to me, or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.
COMMENTARY: People who interpret the Bible literally believe that God wants physical sacrifices — including money. They do not understand the first the natural and then the spiritual principle.
Applying this principle, we see that God presents physical sacrifices and offerings which people understand to introduce spiritual sacrifices and offerings that they do not understand. Old/First Covenant religionists who interpret the Bible literally do not get beyond physical sacrifices. New Covenant disciples, however, understand the spiritual meanings of Old Testament scriptures regarding sacrifices really represent sacrifices of the heart.
1 Samuel 2:12-17 Now the sons of Eli were worthless men; they had no regard for the LORD. 13 The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand, 14 and he would thrust it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. So they did at Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. 15 Moreover, before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give meat for the priest to roast; for he will not accept boiled meat from you, but raw.” 16 And if the man said to him, “Let them burn the fat first, and then take as much as you wish,” he would say, “No, you must give it now; and if not, I will take it by force.” 17 Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the LORD; for the men treated the offering of the LORD with contempt.
COMMENTARY: Worthless priests take all the physical sacrifices that they can get.
Jeremiah 14:7-17 “Though our iniquities testify against us, act, O LORD, for thy name’s sake; for our backslidings are many, we have sinned against thee. 8 O thou hope of Israel, its savior in time of trouble, why shouldst thou be like a stranger in the land, like a wayfarer who turns aside to tarry for a night? 9 Why shouldst thou be like a man confused, like a mighty man who cannot save? Yet thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not.” 10 Thus says the LORD concerning this people: “They have loved to wander thus, they have not restrained their feet; therefore the LORD does not accept them, now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.” 11 The LORD said to me: “Do not pray for the welfare of this people. 12 Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, and though they offer burnt offering and cereal offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.” 13 Then I said: “Ah, Lord GOD, behold, the prophets say to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.'” 14 And the LORD said to me: “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name; I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds. 15 Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name although I did not send them, and who say, ‘Sword and famine shall not come on this land’: By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed. 16 And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword, with none to bury them–them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their wickedness upon them. 17 “You shall say to them this word: ‘Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people is smitten with a great wound, with a very grievous blow.
Amos 4:1-9 “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are in the mountain of Sama’ria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!’ 2 The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness that, behold, the days are coming upon you, when they shall take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks. 3 And you shall go out through the breaches, every one straight before her; and you shall be cast forth into Harmon,” says the LORD. 4 “Come to Bethel, and transgress; to Gilgal, and multiply transgression; bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days; 5 offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim freewill offerings, publish them; for so you love to do, O people of Israel!” says the Lord GOD. 6 “I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to me,” says the LORD. 7 “And I also withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest; I would send rain upon one city, and send no rain upon another city; one field would be rained upon, and the field on which it did not rain withered; 8 so two or three cities wandered to one city to drink water, and were not satisfied; yet you did not return to me,” says the LORD. 9 “I smote you with blight and mildew; I laid waste your gardens and your vineyards; your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured; yet you did not return to me,” says the LORD.
COMMENTARY: Israel loved to go from one city to another to offer sacrifices and offerings. These were all transgressions (i.e. sins) in God’s eyes.
Micah 6:1-16 Hear what the LORD says: Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. 2 Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the LORD, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for the LORD has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel. 3 “O my people, what have I done to you? In what have I wearied you? Answer me! 4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of bondage; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5 O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Be’or answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the saving acts of the LORD.” 6 “With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” 8 He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? 9 The voice of the LORD cries to the city–and it is sound wisdom to fear thy name: “Hear, O tribe and assembly of the city! 10 Can I forget the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is accursed? 11 Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights? 12 Your rich men are full of violence; your inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. 13 Therefore I have begun to smite you, making you desolate because of your sins. 14 You shall eat, but not be satisfied, and there shall be hunger in your inward parts; you shall put away, but not save, and what you save I will give to the sword. 15 You shall sow, but not reap; you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine. 16 For you have kept the statutes of Omri, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and you have walked in their counsels; that I may make you a desolation, and your inhabitants a hissing; so you shall bear the scorn of the peoples.”
COMMENTARY: Old/First Covenant religionists wrongly believe that if they sow financial offerings and sacrifices they will reap financial rewards. What God really want is people who do justice, love kindness, and to walk humbly with God.
Isaiah 1:6-16 From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and bleeding 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 aliens devour your land; it is desolate, as overthrown by aliens. 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 Gomor’rah. 10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomor’rah! 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 fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of he-goats. 12 “When you come to appear before me, who requires 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 assemblies–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 forth 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 doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil,
How do we explain the contradictions, the disconnects between what God said and the practices of contemporary Christianity and Judaism? Did our trusted spiritual leaders miss class on the days these scriptures were studied? Were those scriptures wrongly interpreted? Did they forget to apply those scriptures in their personal lives? Did they know the scriptures but willfully decide to ignore those scriptures because they conflicted with their personal goals of earning incomes as religious professionals? Were they deceived into thinking that those scriptures do not apply to them because they are spiritual and God has a calling on their lives that supersedes obedience to the scriptures?
We don’t know the answers to these questions for any individual professional religious leader. But, because of the proliferation of professional clergy for the past four thousand years or so, we do know that those who fell into the sin of mixing business in religion were in very good (i.e. bad) company. Knowing that, however, provides no instruction about how those leaders and followers can extricate themselves from the business system that is called religion.