In my lessons for Sunday School I have finally come to the end of Isaiah (no, I didn’t teach the whole thing. We’re on the LifeWay plan which only covers about 10 chapters) and this week will be teaching out of Isaiah 66. As I read through this I was immediately struck by the first four verses and decided that was where I would camp out for the week. Here’s what it says:
Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be,declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.
“He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog’s neck; he who presents a grain offering, like one who offers pig’s blood; he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol. These have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations; I also will choose harsh treatment for them and bring their fears upon them, because when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, they did not listen; but they did what was evil in my eyes and chose that in which I did not delight.”
The first thing we need to remember in looking at this passage is the context. It is being delivered as a prophecy through Isaiah to a collection of Old Testament Jews. These were Jews who both had the temple in front of them and were fiercely committed to the Levitical law. Then armed with that information, standing in the sandals of 8th century B.C. Israelites, to hear God say, essentially, that the temple is foolishness and those who make sacrifices are wretched must come off as quite a shock. It doesn’t take much searching to find the places in Scripture where God actually ordained these things in the first place (cf. 2 Samuel 7.12-13 and Leviticus 1-7 resp.). So, what gives? Why do we now find the same God who instituted the temple and the sacrifical offerings calling them out as inadequate and evil?
The key of course comes in what is said at the end of verse 2:
“But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”
In this verse God is giving us the (new?) criteria by which he judges the works of our hands. He will not accept them unless proffered by those coming in humility and contrition (specifically in light of their personal sin and unrighteousness). We see this same thought echoed elsewhere in the Old Testament:
For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God area broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. (Psalm 51.16-17)
Still, in light of the fact that we understand why he says this now (in Isaiah 66), the question remains over the seeming about face from earlier in his commands. Does God now (in the Old Testament) not only seek offerings but also seek the right spirit in offering them? Well, yes and no. To some extent this is new, but to another it is the way things were always meant to be and through God’s progressive revelation of the truth it just took time for it to be expressed physically, even though it was always expected.
Most importantly, it points them forward to the New Testament and the final sacrifice for sins that will eternally satisfy God– that being the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Hebrews 10.1-7 speaks loud and clear about this event and how it was shadowed by the instructions for the Old Testament period. Thus, it is an abomination for us to perform sacrifices for iniquity by our own hands since “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10.4), yet this is exactly what the offering of Christ on the cross accomplished.
But still there is something remaining. Christ satisfies the sin and guilt and peace offerings (cf. 1 John 2.2, Colossians 2.13-14 and Romans 5.1-7 resp.), but there is one sacrifice which is left for us to perform: the thanksgiving sacrifice (Leviticus 7.12-15). This is our responsibility to offer as mentioned in Romans 12.1, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Of course, the same restriction applies. We must bring forth our offering in humility and contrite spirit for it to be acceptable to God; yet this is exactly what we can and will do “by the mercies of God,” who gives us hearts which can see beyond the darkness of ourselves and into the light of his glory.
Looking at this I am excited by the language of the Old Testament and the pictures it leaves which now, on the other side of the cross, we can look upon and see what God had intended through their use all along. There can be no doubt that God is sovereign over all creation and has divinely appointed all the times and seasons from before the foundation of the earth when one looks at how clearly God’s heart for his people in the New Testament was revealed to those under the law in prior days. God is good!
I will close by leaving for you guys a video of Switchfoot frontman Jon Foreman singing a very appropriate song entitled “Instead of a Show.”
