i. 11. _To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices
unto me? saith the Lord._
Try to conceive what emotions would spring up in the breasts of the
men to whom these words were first addressed--men who with most
scrupulous care had fulfilled the requirements of a costly ceremonial
worship, the respectable, the orthodox of their day. With what
indignation they would rebuke the prophet, and how triumphantly they
would remind him that all the sacrifices which they offered, and all
the ceremonies they observed, were of Divine appointment! And,
doubtless, to their rebuke they would add a protestation that they
had had a sincere delight in the services, which, they would not
doubt, had come up as a sweet-smelling savour before the Lord. Both
these allegations they might have made with truth, but the prophet
would have dismissed them as irrelevant. What he denounced was not
sacrifices, but certain sacrifices offered by particular individuals
whose wickedness disqualified them for taking part in Divine worship.
"To what purpose is the multitude of _your_ sacrifices," &c.
But why should the wickedness of the worshippers cause the rejection
of the worship, seeing that _it_ is of Divine appointment?
Because--1. _Sacrifices are in themselves worthless to God._ He does
not need, nor is He enriched by our offerings (Ps. l. 7-13).
2. _Sacrifices were instituted merely to be expressions of and helps
to human piety, and are worthless when there is no piety to be
expressed or fostered by them._ Outward worship is to religion just
what a bank-note is to commerce; it is valuable only in so far as it
is really representative of something beyond itself. The worship
which does not really represent penitence, faith, and love in the
worshipper is a falsehood, and is necessarily repulsive to the God of
truth, and to the offerer of it it is a deadly hurt. As the sunlight
which develops life only hastens the putrefaction of the dead, so the
very services which help to sanctify and ennoble the saintly may more
completely disqualify the insincere for heaven. 3. _Piety towards God
is proved, not by costly sacrifices and stately ceremonies, even
though pungent emotions are experienced by those who offer and take
part in them, but by its pervasive influence on the character and the
life._ In family life love is proved by obedience; and to our
Heavenly Father the protestations of reverence and love which are
offered by men who live in disregard and defiance of His requirements
are naturally and necessarily repulsive (1 Sam. xv. 22, 23). No
elaborateness or costliness of ceremonial worship can atone for the
absence of godliness in the lives of the worshippers; sacrifices are
no equivalents for sanctification; and by the love of sin in the soul
of the pretended worshipper even a divinely-appointed ritual is
rendered abhorrent to God.
Judaism and its ritual are now things of the past, but men still need
to be reminded of the facts now pointed out. The men of our day,
after committing during the week all the sins denounced in the
prophecies of Isaiah, assemble in the sanctuary on Sunday, and,
because they enjoy its services, they imagine that they are
well-pleasing to God, and will bring down His blessing on themselves.
To-day, as of old, men need to be told plainly that public worship
may be an abomination to God, and that, instead of making those who
join in it more sure of heaven, it may, by confirming them in their
self-delusion, make their eternal damnation more certain.
There is another side to all this. While "the sacrifice of the wicked
is an abomination to the Lord," _"the prayer of the upright is His
delight"_ (Psa. cxlvii. 11; l. 23). Concerning the "true
worshippers," who "worship the Father in spirit and in truth," it is
declared that "the Father _seeketh_ such to worship Him." How
wonderful, how astonishing is that! That GOD, whom angels,
archangels, and all the shining hosts of heaven adore, should not
merely condescend to accept the worship of men upon earth, but that
He should _seek_ such worship! Think much of that surprising and
comforting assurance. It used to seem to me almost too wonderful to
be true, but I believe and understand it now. I am helped to
understand it almost every day; for almost every day my little girl
steals away from her nursemaid. I hear her climbing laboriously up
the stairs; it is an immense journey for her little legs; and then
presently she knocks at my door, and calls me by my name. I am often
busy when she comes; she interrupts me when it is not pleasant to be
interrupted; but, notwithstanding, I rejoice that there is so much
love for me in her heart that she thinks it worth while to climb up
so far, just to see me for a moment and then be sent down again. So
the marvellous _"seeketh"_ is explained by the word that comes before
it! The "FATHER seeketh such to worship Him"! When His children come,
and knock at His door, and call "Abba, Father!" He listens with a joy
that only a father can understand.
"His saints are precious in His sight;
He views His children with delight;
He sees their hope, He knows their fear,
And looks, and loves His image there."