Broken Spokes

Isaiah 66:3-4
(3) "He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog's neck; he who presents a grain offering, like one who offers pig's blood; he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol. These have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations;
(4) I also will choose harsh treatment for them and bring their fears upon them, because when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, they did not listen; but they did what was evil in my eyes and chose that in which I did not delight."

In our "tolerant" culture a lot of people seem to think that there are many valid paths to God. They look at God as the center of a wheel with many spokes coming to it. The problem is that you have to chuck the Bible if you're going to believe that. This isn't a problem for many, but if you do call yourself Bible-believing and you have universalist tendencies you might want to look at this passage.

Here God is condemning the practices of His people. What's interesting is that these are the very practices that He set up. What He is telling them is that there will come a day when those sacrifices are actually abominable to Him. They are as bad as those who would offer sacrifices while ritually unclean. To a Jewish reader this comparison would be very obvious.

I believe that we are to understand that God sent His Son so that we would no longer have to go through all this stuff to get closer to Him. In fact, there is nothing we can do to get ourselves closer to God. Jesus is the final, once-for-all sacrifice for sins. He is the ultimate offering. I hope that this brings joy to your heart. It certainly does for mine.