Volume 3 Issue 9

THE SACRIFICE OF FOOLS

“G

uard your steps as you go to the house of God, and draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools; for they do not know they are doing evil” (Ecclesiastes 5:1-2). The Hebrew word for “listen” used here is shama` which means to “hear intelligently, with the implication of OBEDIENCE”. Being religious in no way guarantees the Lord will accept our worship. If our worship consists of sacrificing time, money, talent, energy, or even life, without OBEDIENCE, we are nothing more than fools. Such worship may ease the conscience, but it reveals a spirit that is dis-eased, and in need of healing.

Throughout the Bible we have examples of sacrifices that the Lord rejected because they were offered with the wrong intent and motive. The first such example is found in Genesis 4:3-5, “So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. And Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard.” It has been suggested that the Lord accepted Abel’s sacrifice and rejected Cain’s because Abel’s involved the shedding of blood, whereas Cain’s was a bloodless one. The shedding of blood is an essential element when FORGIVENESS is the point of the sacrifice, but the offerings of Cain and Abel were a meal offering (Hebrew – minchah) which was usually a bloodless offering that was given to obtain FAVOR from the one receiving the gift.

So, why did God accept Abel’s sacrifice and reject Cain’s? It was the ATTITUDE and INTENT of the brothers that determined God’s favor. Abel gave of the FIRSTLINGS of his flock along with the fat, which God always required as His part of any sacrifice. Abel’s offering recognized God as the source of his blessings, and thus, he gave his best, not begrudging God the choice portions. Cain’s sacrifice, however, revealed a heart that desired God’s favor, else he would have brought no offering at all, but it also revealed a heart that did begrudge God His rightful portion. How do we know this? Cain was a farmer, so it would have been natural for him to bring an offering that the earth brought forth. Thus, Cain’s offering of the fruit of the ground is not what prompted God to reject the sacrifice. It was because Cain brought AN offering of HIS choosing and not THE offering of GOD’S choosing. The grain offering God required is detailed in Leviticus 2:14-15, “Also if you bring a grain offering of early ripened things to the Lord, you shall bring fresh heads of grain roasted in the fire, grits of new growth, for the grain offering of your early ripened things. You shall then put oil on it and lay incense on it; it is a grain offering.” Whereas, Abel’s offering is explicitly said to be of the FIRSTLINGS of his flock, Cain’s is simply described as the fruit of the ground, implying that it was not the FIRSTFRUITS of his harvest. Also, Abel gave the choice fat portions; Cain gave no oil or incense with his. Perhaps he thought the cost was to high or that God would not notice their absence. But He did notice, and rejected Cain’s sacrifice. That may seem harsh and an over reaction on God’s part. Yet, when we come to realize that “oil” in the Bible symbolizes the Holy Spirit and “incense” symbolizes the spirit of man freely submitting to the working of God in our lives through our daily dying to self, we more fully understand the gravity of what Cain did. He wanted God’s favor, His blessing, but on his terms. He was willing to worship the Lord, but only if he could do so in a way that pleased him. Cain’s sacrifice was clearly the sacrifice of a fool, for while wishing to appear to obey the Lord’s commands, his heart was full of deceit.

We have another example of an unacceptable sacrifice in Leviticus 10:1-3, “Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered STRANGE FIRE before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘It is what the Lord spoke, saying, “By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, and before all the people I will be honored.”’ So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.”

What was this sin that Nadab and Abihu committed that was so grave as to cause their deaths at the hand of the Lord? What is strange fire? The Hebrew word for “strange” used here is zuwr and means “to turn aside (especially for lodging); hence to be a foreigner, strange, profane; specifically (active participle) TO COMMIT ADULTERY.” It is this last definition that interests us. This Hebrew word is used in its FEMININE form when used to describe the fire Nadab and Abihu offered to the Lord. It symbolizes the SOUL usurping the place of authority that is reserved for the SPIRIT; in this case, the Holy Spirit. Nadab and Abihu had refused to submit to the will of the Lord and by offering the sacrifice in the way that pleased them, were, in essence, defiantly saying, “Not Your will, but OURS be done”. Nadab and Abihu had no problem being religious, but they did have a problem being obedient. They had been ordained through an elaborate ritual that included explicit instructions on how to serve the Lord, but their offering of strange fire revealed an unwillingness to submit to the authority of the Lord, their spiritual HUSBAND. This is the spirit of JEZEBEL, which means, literally, UNHUSBANDED. It is not that Jezebel did not have a husband; she just refused to accept her role as a wife and usurped his position. Thus the condemnation Jesus gives to the church in Thyatira: “But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she TEACHES AND LEADS My bond-servants astray, so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols” (Revelation 2:20). Nadab and Abihu, by offering strange fire, had committed spiritual adultery, joining themselves with the spirit of rebellion; thereby, offering the sacrifice of fools. Once again it is important to note that being religious in no way guarantees God will accept our worship.

To underscore the meaning of this Hebrew word, zurw, when used in its feminine form (zaaraah), we must turn to the book of Proverbs. It is here that we are warned to be on guard against the “strange woman”. We are told that the wisdom and knowledge of God serves “to deliver you from the strange woman, from the ADULTERESS who flatters with her words; that leaves the companion of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God” (Proverbs 2:16-17). “For the lips of an ADULTERESS (strange woman) drip honey, and smoother than oil is her speech; but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword” (Proverbs 5:3-4). We are exhorted to treasure the Lord’s commandments “that they may keep you from an ADULTERESS, (strange woman) from the foreigner who flatters with her words” (Proverbs 7:5). Who is this adulteress, this strange woman we are so strongly warned to beware of? Listen to how Proverbs describes this adulteress, this strange woman, in chapter 7: “And behold, a woman comes to meet him (a young man lacking sense), dressed as a harlot and cunning of heart. She is boisterous and REBELLIOUS; her feet do not remain at home; she is now in the streets, now in the squares, and lurks by every corner. So she seizes him and kisses him, and with a brazen face she says to him: ‘I WAS DUE TO OFFER PEACE OFFERINGS; TODAY I HAVE PAID MY VOWS. Therefore I have come out to meet you, to seek your presence earnestly, and I have found you. I have spread my couch with coverings, with colored linens of EGYPT. I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. Come, let us drink our fill of love until morning; let us delight ourselves with caresses. For the MAN is not at home, he has gone on a long journey; he has taken a bag of money with him, at full moon he will come home.’ With her many persuasions she entices him; with her flattering lips she seduces him. Suddenly he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as one in fetters to the DISCIPLINE OF A FOOL, until an arrow pierces through his liver; as a bird hastens to the snare, so he does not know that it will cost him his life” (Proverbs 7:10-23). Under the cover of darkness her true nature is revealed as being a harlot, an adulteress; she is rebellious, not being satisfied remaining at home; she is RELIGIOUS, having offered peace offerings; she is tainted and polluted with the world, having joined herself with it, as her EGYPTIAN bed coverings reveal; she is married, but takes advantage of her husband’s (the man’s) absence to fulfill her illicit desires. The result is the death of the one caught in her (spiritually) adulterous embrace.

So who is this woman? Jesus gave us an indirect clue when He said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel about on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves” (Matthew 23:15). Those are very strong words. Jesus was basically telling them that they were hell bound and any who were foolish enough to follow them would suffer the same fate. Jesus told His disciples, concerning the religious leaders that opposed Him, “They are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit” (Matthew 15:14).

The fault of the scribes and Pharisees did not lie in their LACK of worship, but in the HOW and WHY of their worship. “And the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him (Jesus), ‘Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?’ And He said to them, ‘Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. But IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.” NEGLECTING THE COMMANDMENT OF GOD, you hold to the tradition of men.’ He was also saying to them, ‘You nicely set aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition’” (Mark 7:5-9). How did they worship the Lord? By usurping the Lord’s will and replacing it with their own. This, again, illustrates the soul (feminine) rebelling against the spirit (masculine). Their commandments, which were an extension of their will, took precedence over God’s commandments. Thus, Jesus condemned how they worshiped. In addition, Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees, “They tie up heavy loads, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. BUT THEY DO ALL THEIR DEEDS TO BE NOTICED BY MEN; for they broaden their phylacteries, and lengthen the tassels of their garments. And they love the place of honor at banquets, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called by men, Rabbi” (Matthew 23:4-7). Why did they worship? To be noticed by men. The how of their worship was the result of the why of their worship. They made sure the way they worshiped God gave them the maximum OUTWARD exposure so that others would admire them and credit them with a holiness they actually did not possess. They made a great show in the flesh, but as Jesus so pointedly said to them, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the OUTSIDE of the cup and of the dish, but INSIDE they are full of robbery and self-indulgence…You are like whitewashed tombs which on the OUTSIDE appear beautiful, but INSIDE they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so you too OUTWARDLY appear righteous to men, but INWARDLY you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matthew 23:25, 27-28). This, by the way, was the sin of Ananias and Sapphira. They attempted to lie to the Holy Spirit and rob Him. Having sold their property they schemed to keep part of it back for themselves while pretending that the offering they laid at the feet of Peter was the full amount of the sale. OUTWARDLY they wanted the praise and approval of man, but INWARDLY they had been seduced by the siren song of the strange woman telling them that giving it all was foolish when no one would ever know the truth. It is interesting that their fate was the same as that of Nadab and Abihu: instance death. Ananias and Sapphira had offered strange fire by worshiping the Lord with deceit in their hearts. Their deaths were God’s response to a sacrifice of fools.

Does the strange woman live today; is the sacrifice of fools still offered today? Absolutely. In fact, she may live in your neighborhood; you may be acquainted with her; you may know her on a first name basis. Her identity is revealed in the book of Revelation. In chapters 2 and 3 we find Jesus speaking to the CHURCHES and what He tells them exposes the strange woman in their midst. It is no coincidence that the word “church” (which literally means – the called out ones) in the Greek is ekklesia, a FEMININE noun. The Church is the Bride of Christ. We, as the Church, have been betrothed to Jesus; He is our Husband; we are to submit to His authority, foregoing our own will if need be and fulfill His will. Yet, what Jesus’ words of exhortation to the churches in Revelation exposed is a spirit of rebellion forming within them that threatened to seduce the believers from remaining faithful to their Husband. The strange woman is on the prowl within the churches, for it is within the churches that “an adulteress hunts for the precious LIFE (Hebrew – nephesh, the SOUL) (Proverbs 6:26). Like any good hunter, the strange woman goes where the prey is. Thus, Jesus’ repeated warning to the churches, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7). He admonishes them to beware of their spiritual well being. To Ephesus He says, “Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first” (Revelation 2:5); to Pergamum He says, “But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit acts of immorality. Thus you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans” (Revelation 2:14-15); to Thyatira He says, “I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray, so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols” (Revelation 2:20); to Sardis He says, “I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead” (Revelation 3:1); to Laodicea He says, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I would that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth” (Revelation 3:15-16). (For a more in depth look at each of these churches I refer you to the first seven “Whispers of the Spirit” letters).

With the exception of the churches in Smyrna and Philadelphia we find corruption in one form or another beginning to take root within them. They were beginning to teach and accept that which the Lord had forbidden. Like the Pharisees they were beginning to worship in a way that brings glory to the creature rather than the Creator; they were beginning to worship for what they can get out of it and for what brought them pleasure rather than accept the teachings of the Lord. They were no longer worshiping in truth and spirit, but in lies and soulish rebellion. Their will, not God’s, was becoming supreme. The strange woman, the FOREIGN woman, was lighting the strange-fire-kindling, and they were about to be severely burned by the holiness of God. “Can a man take FIRE in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned” (Proverbs 6:27)? No! Some overcame the seduction of the strange woman (the adulteress church), but others succumbed to her false teachings. The result was the destruction of the churches.

Who is the strange woman and what is the strange fire? The strange woman is the false church and the strange fire is the false teaching she spews forth from the depths of hell. Today, we have churches and denominations that advocate the equality of faiths. They teach that all faiths, if firmly and sincerely believed, will lead to salvation, with heaven (whatever their concept of heaven might be) being the prize. Yet, the Bible says, “There is salvation IN NO ONE ELSE (than Jesus); for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Sexual sins that once would have made the most liberal Christian blush are winked at and sometimes outright embraced, with homosexuality being the most obvious example. Yet, the Bible says, “Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor HOMOSEXUALS, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). Abortion is hailed as an inalienable right of women, the exercise of which, expresses their freedom from male domination. They conveniently forget that at LEAST HALF of the babies murdered through abortion are FEMALE. They also conveniently forget that human life does not begin at birth, but at conception. “BEFORE I (God) formed you in the womb I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5).

Such are the “strange”, FOREIGN teachings our churches are promoting. Former President Clinton was frequently seen emerging from church on Sunday morning with a Bible under his arm, but nonetheless casually veto the Partial Birth Abortion bill, nonetheless enthusiastically brought America under the influence of homosexuality. THAT EPITOMIZES THE SACRIFICE OF FOOLS. “Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; give ear to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah. ‘What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?’ says the Lord. ‘I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed cattle. And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats. When you come to appear before Me, who requires of you this trampling of My courts? Bring your WORTHLESS OFFERINGS no longer, incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies - I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, they have become a burden to Me. I am weary of bearing them. So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you, yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. YOUR HANDS ARE COVERED WITH BLOOD. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless; defend the orphan, plead for the widow’” (Isaiah 1:10-17). More and more, those who call themselves “Christian” are offering strange fire before the Lord, seeking His favor, while rebelling against the truth as revealed in the Bible. The sacrifice of fools comes with a high price. Can we afford it?

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