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"To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word" (Isa. 66: 2).
Apart from this spirit the very offering of sacrifices is wickedness:
"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" (Isa. Ixvi. 3).
The whole sequence of thought expressed in these two chapters on this subject, and in those about
to be considered in Isaiah, is wonderfully expressed in Psa. 2:: "Blot out"; "wash me"; "whiter than
snow"; "Thou desireth truth in the inward parts"; "Thou desireth not sacrifice"; "The sacrifices of God
are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, 0 God, Thou wilt not despise"; "Then shalt Thou be
pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness," i.e., when Jerusalem is rebuilt, and Israel restored. How this
blotting out and washing whiter than snow can be accomplished Isaiah shows.
The second half of Isaiah proceeds upon the assumption of redemption. Gaal ("to redeem") occurs
in Isaiah for the first time in 43: 1: "The redeemed" are mentioned for the first time in Isa. 35: 9, and
"the Redeemer" for the first time in Isa. 41: 14, and as these different words occur over twenty times in
the second half, which deals with Israel's restoration, and not once in the first half, it becomes evident
that Israel can have no hope of restoration "by the deeds of the law," but are shut up to that new covenant
which finds its strength and its sanction in the precious blood of Christ. For the sake of clearness we
point out that the word "redeem" in Isa. 1: 27 and 29: 22 are not translations of gaal, the word that is
used so much of the redemption accomplished by the great kinsman, the man Christ Jesus.
Coming then to Isaiah 43:, and remembering that there the people are addressed in verse I as
"redeemed," the Lord says:
"But thou hast not called upon Me, 0 Jacob: but thou hast been weary of Me, 0 Israel. Thou hast not brought Me the
small cattle of thy burnt-offerings; neither hast thou honoured Me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve
with an offering nor wearied thee with incense. Thou hast bought Me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled
Me with the fat of thy sacrifices; but thou hast made Me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied Me with thine
iniquities. I, even I, am HE THAT BLOTTETH OUT THY TRANSGRESSIONS FOR MINE OWN SAKE" (Isa. 43:
22-25).
It is evident from this passage that the Lord had no further use for the sacrifices of bulls and goats
until this people were blessed and redeemed by a more perfect sacrifice, and called under the terms of a
better covenant. By so saying we but paraphrase the teaching of the epistle to the Hebrews, where both
covenant and sin-offering are "set aside" by reason of a "better," viz., "the blood of the everlasting
covenant."
The next reference to the offerings takes us into the very heart of the subject, for we must turn to
Isa. 53::
"When thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin. . . . He shall hear their iniquities. . . . He bear the sin of many"
(verses 10-12).
But Isa. 53: is too full, too deep, too sacred a passage to deal with as one of many in an article of this
character. The connection with our theme is obvious, and we would rather leave it there, reserving a fuller study of
the passage for another time. That it is vitally connected with the restoration of Israel a glance at the context will
show:
"Awake, awake; put on thy strength, 0 Zion. . . . 0 captive daughter of Zion. . . . My people went down aforetime into
Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. . . . the Lord hath comforted His people, He hath redeemed
Jerusalem. . . . For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall
the covenant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee" (Isa. 52:-54:).
Jeremiah's testimony is not so full as that of Isaiah upon this subject, but what he does say is to the
point:
"Hear, 0 earth; behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not
hearkened unto My words, nor to My law, but rejected it. To what purpose cometh there to Me incense from Sheba, and
the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt-offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto Me" (Jer. 6:
19, 20).
"I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt,
concerning burnt-offerings or SACRIFICES, but this thing commanded I them, saying, OBEY My voice" (Jer. 7: 22,
23).
Sinai's law was given and the covenant made before sacrifices and offerings were elaborated. Here
we have in another form the age-abiding truth, "to obey is better than sacrifice." In I Cor. 13: "obey" is
translated into "love," for all the law is fulfilled by love, and there again to give one's body to be burned
is nothing without love. To love is better than martyrdom, and charity than the fat of rams. Closely
parallel with Jeremiah's testimony is that of Hosea:
"For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings, but like men they
have transgressed the covenant" (Hos. 6: 6, 7).
"They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of Mine offerings, and eat it, but the Lord accepteth them not; now will He
remember their iniquity, and visit their sins; they shall return to Egypt. For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth
temples" (Hos. 8: 13, 14.).
The great things of the law were counted strange, Israel forgot his Maker, yet such is human nature,
though the great things of the law were counted strange, and the weighty matters of the law (judgment,