Did God never intend sacrificial system in OT? Crude theses

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The adversary is busy. One constantly encounters new, wild theories that always have only one goal: to distort, obscure, and drive the truth of Scripture from people’s minds. One such “idea” is that God did not introduce the sacrificial system in the Old Testament and never intended it.

Sacrificial System Was Against God’s Will

God never intended the sacrificial system in the Old Testament, nor did he even command it, let alone consider it necessary. A (further) theory is circulating, which either stems from a misunderstanding or is being deliberately spread to discredit the sacrificial system, which was absolutely necessary at the time.

The consequences can be fatal in both cases. For this alleged superfluity of the old sacrificial system has a direct impact on the self-sacrifice of Jesus Christ. This would have made Him go to the cross completely unnecessary, and, most importantly, would have also shed His blood completely unnecessarily.

The Verses Cited as Evidence

The following verses are often cited as (alleged) evidence for the theory that the sacrificial services in the Old Testament were introduced against God’s will and arbitrarily by humans:

Hosea 6:6:

“For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”

1 Samuel 15:22:

“And Samuel said, Hath 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.“

Psalm 40:6:

“Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.“

Psalm 51:17:

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”

Amos 5:21-22:

“I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts..”

Isaiah 66:3:

“He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.“

Micah 6:6-7:

“Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?“

Isaiah 1:11-15:

“To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.

Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.“

1 Peter 2:5:

“Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.“

An entire book dedicated to the sacrificial system

As always, the individual verses are suitable for supporting one’s own thesis. One “only” needs to ignore the context, or rather, conceal it.

Anyone who claims that the sacrificial system was not God’s will creates a complete contradiction in the Bible. This is another way to cast doubt on the coherence of Scripture. God specifically instituted the sacrificial system. An entire book is even dedicated to the entire package of feast days, seasons, and sacrifices: Leviticus, with a total of 27 chapters.

• Chapter 1: Regulations regarding burnt offerings
• Chapter 2: The grain offerings
• Chapter 3: The peace offerings
• Chapter 4: The sin offerings
• Chapter 5: The guilt offerings
• Chapter 6: Regulations regarding the execution of burnt offerings, grain offerings, and sin offerings
• Chapter 7: Regulations regarding the execution of guilt offerings and peace offerings, the peace offering, the prohibition against eating fat and blood, the priests’ offerings
• …
• Chapter 23: The Feasts of the Lord, the Sabbath, the Passover; the Feast of Unleavened Bread; the Offering of the Sheaf of Firstfruits; the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost); the Feast of Trumpets; the Day of Atonement; the Feast of Tabernacles

The Actual Ceremonial Law

It’s clear. The sacrificial system is crystal clear and more than clearly determined by God and dictated to Moses. The ceremonial law, or rather the Law of Moses, is written in a book and kept NEXT to the Ark of the Covenant (Info).

“Not taking pleasure in it” is certainly not the same as “no need.” As God Himself described it, He takes no pleasure in the mass slaughter, butchering, butchering, and burning of animals. The “big but,” however, is:

Romans 6:23:
“For the wages of sin is death;”
und
Hebrews 9:22:
“And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.“

Therefore, there can be no forgiveness of sins unless the blood (of sacrificial animals) is shed. Hebrews 10:4 says:
“For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.”
but it is precisely about the belief that these animal sacrifices within the sacrificial system are a reflection of what Jesus Christ, as the then-expected future Messiah, would fulfill. Jesus Christ ultimately sacrificed himself and shed his blood, thereby fulfilling the promise. The curtain of the Holy of Holies in the temple was torn from top to bottom at his death on the cross (Matthew 27:51). This is a clear indication that the sacrificial system according to Leviticus was thus ended..

Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham were justified by their respective faiths (Hebrews 11). They had already offered animal sacrifices, even long before Israel’s exodus from Egypt and the giving of the law at Mount Sinai. The sacrificial system to the people of Israel was therefore absolutely nothing new.

What actually displeased God

Why was God “raging” about the sacrifices? It was the absolute insignificance of the animal sacrifices performed purely as a matter of routine, without any attempt to finally turn away from their sins. The people sacrificed purely formally, even allowing it to degenerate into a kind of “folk festival.” A daily ritual, perhaps even with stalls and an opportunity to meet for profit. Even the Levitical priests discovered the sacrificial system as an additional source of income. Those who were supposed to exhort their people to return to God’s intended path had absolutely no interest in the people finally gaining insight.

“What does it matter if I sin today, if I simply have to offer an animal sacrifice? It costs a little money, but I’ll recoup it many times over through new business connections.” God rebuked the people for trampling on His courtyard (Isaiah 1:12). That’s where the altar of burnt offering stands. An endlessly repeated and miserable routine sacrifice.

Different Reasons for Sacrifice

A sin offering and a guilt offering were intended. These were “actually” meant to remain the exception. Necessary precisely when a person had actually sinned and thus incurred guilt. These sacrifices symbolized the self-sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who had taken our sin AND guilt upon himself and, on our behalf, paid the price for it with death.

The morning and evening sacrifices symbolized the sanctification of people. That is, the ongoing process of moving toward the path pleasing to God. This actually culminated in the overcoming of sin. Anyone who claims to want to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ would naturally also have to strive to overcome sin. So that no sacrifice (forgiveness of sin) would be necessary at all. None of this interested the people who were actually referred to in the “verbal quotations” from the Bible.

One topic until the end

Not surprisingly, this trampling of the courtyard is also mentioned at the end of time, along with its final consequences. For example, in Revelation 11:2:
“But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months..”

The 42 months in which the “holy city” was trampled underfoot had already ended in 1798. But as Hebrews 9-11 clearly describes, the sanctuary symbolized by the tabernacle is not passé (Info). It is the Heavenly Sanctuary in which Jesus Christ acts as our High Priest (Info).

The altar of burnt offerings of that time corresponds today to prayers, or rather, repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Thus, the outer court. Anyone who constantly hangs around there without showing any desire to finally return to the right path will be counted among the tramplers of the outer court and ultimately considered a heathen.

The sanctification of man is symbolized by the tabernacle of old by (symbolically) entering the sanctuary, studying the Word of God (showbread), allowing himself to be guided by the light of the Holy Spirit (minora with oil), and also praying persistently (altar of incense).

It “smells” of the adversary

Whoever or whatever put forward this thesis that God never introduced the sacrificial system and never intended it, it is a clear denial of the bloody sacrifice of Jesus Christ. This “idea” would thus come very, very close to the concept of the Roman Catholic Eucharist: a constant, repeated sacrifice of Jesus, but bloodless (Info). The denial of the blood sacrifice of Jesus by the Roman Catholic Church is obvious (Info)..

The easiest way to uncover these misleading statements, or to recognize them as such, is to read the Bible itself. This is especially true for quoted individual verses that are supposed to support some thesis. In such cases, feel free to look up and read around the verses, starting a chapter earlier and even reading beyond the verse. This way, you can grasp the context and thus the truth.

Bible verses from King James Version (1611)