Throughout history many Religions of the World have believed that offering sacrifices to God brings people favor and makes them acceptable in God’s sight.
It seems as though it is something built in man that lets him know that something must die… blood must be spilt to account for the brokenness of man.
The Bible also makes this connection between sin and death and sacrifices.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death…
Hebrews 9:22 …without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
We’ll come back to that shortly…
So yes, there have been lot’s of human sacrifices to false gods throughout time… to try and make up for the inadequacy of humanity.
The ancient Hawaiians believed that by sacrificing humans to Ku, the god of war, they could achieve victory in their battles.
For the Mesopotamians, when royal families died, they sacrificed the palace attendants, warriors, and handmaidens so they could accompany their masters into the afterlife.
The Aztecs believed that in order to keep the sun alive they would have to offer human sacrifices. Which included children… they also took volunteers and those captured during war.
(During the reconsecration of the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, the Aztecs reported that they sacrificed 80,400 prisoners over the course of four days.)
Sacrifice was a religious activity in The Mayan’s sacrificed animals, humans, including children and also bloodletting.
The Incas practiced human sacrifice to prevent natural disasters. The entire empire was plagued by volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and floods, which the Inca’s believed were controlled by the gods. Wikipedia
The one true God… the God of Israel never advocated making human sacrifices. That practice is detestable to him.
The sacrifices of various cultures did not always include offering people. Still today, some offer other things don’t they?
People may give possessions or even time right?… Lot’s of people give money hoping it will make them acceptable to God.
Many give time and possessions to those in need as an offering to God hoping he would say unto them: Well done!
But Jesus said something much different. He indicated that neither sacrifices or good deeds can clear us from the penalty of sin…
In fact, if a person is to be acceptable to God by his own achievement… they have to be 100% perfect. Listen to Jesus words:
Matthew 5:48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
No matter how many sacrifices or what kind of sacrifices a sinner offers God it will not make them acceptable to God. Why?
They are already a sinner. Their heart is not true… They are self centered and prideful. Their heart is broken with sin.
However, Jesus knows all people are sinners and fall short of Gods glory.
That’s why he came to earth to be the ONE who would live a perfect life that he might give sinners like you and me his righteousness.
Listen to Jesus words of hope to sinners like you and me:
Matthew 9:13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
This is good news for sinners! Right?
