Offering a Proper Sacrifice

Proverbs 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.

Many Christians might read this verse and think, "This doesn't apply to me. We don't worry about offering sacrifices anymore." Before I talk about how this can apply to us, let me give an example of this from Scripture. Cain and Abel both presented sacrifices to the Lord. "Cain was a tiller of the ground..." and he offered "the fruit of the ground." "Abel was a keeper of sheep..." and he offered "the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof." (Genesis 4) For a long time, I thought that God rejected Cain's offering because of some unmentioned sin. But Abel offered a sin offering as well, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) So it wasn't his sin that made a difference (sin was a problem for everyone); it was his sacrifice.

So what was wrong with Cain's sacrifice? We can infer from the rest of the Bible that God had ordained the sacrifice of a lamb, bull, etc. as a burnt offering because "without shedding of blood is no remission [of sin]." (Hebrews 9:22) Remember even in the garden of Eden, God took the leaves with which Adam and Eve covered themselves and gave them coats of skins which implies that innocent blood was shed to provide a covering for them. Going against God's prescribed sacrificial order, Cain offered God the fruit of his own labor. He offered that for which he had toiled and sweat. This is a picture of religious man. Religion consists of man trying his hardest and doing various works to earn favor with God. But this is not what the Bible teaches. Instead it teaches that none of our own efforts are good enough to merit any favor from the Lord. We are saved only by God's grace through faith in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross.

Titus 3:5-7 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; (6) Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; (7) That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

The abominable sacrifice can also be seen in the episode of Aaron's sons:

Leviticus 10:1-2 And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. (2) And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.

Concerning this matter John Gill said,

"this fire was not that which came down from heaven, and consumed the sacrifice, as related at the end of the preceding chapter, but common fire, and therefore called strange; it was not taken off of the altar of burnt offering, as it ought to have been..."

The altar of burnt offering typified Christ's atoning work on the cross. Therefor offering fire from another source was unacceptable to God just as it is unacceptable for us to place our faith in anything other than Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2). In fact there is such a thing as believing in another Jesus.

2 Corinthians 11:3-4 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. (4) For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

Let us therefor be careful not to place our faith in anything other than God's plan of redemption which is Christ's finished work on the cross.