Of the True Service of God
If I were hungry, I would not tell thee, to plead for a sacrifice as food for Himself; for the world is Mine and the fulness thereof, and there is no desire on His part which might be satisfied through sacrifice. V. 13. Will I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?
Any believer bringing his offering should not do so under the delusion that he was doing something good to God personally, that he was obligating the Lord toward himself.
The manner of true worship is now described. V. 14. Offer unto God thanksgiving, for true communion with Jehovah, and pay thy vows unto the Most High, Lev. 7, 44-18, namely, by bringing the homage of the heart, faith, penitence, and love, v. 15. and call upon Me in the day of trouble, after the right relation has thus been established by the proper worship. I will deliver thee, helping the worshiper out of all his difficulties, and thou shalt glorify Me, giving all praises to God alone for His every deliverance. That is the right relation which should obtain between the faithful here on earth and their heavenly Father.
V. 16. But unto the wicked God saith, in a severe rebuke of hypocritical worship, What hast thou to do to declare My statutes,by imitating the behavior of the true believers, or that thou shouldest take My covenant in thy mouth, joining with the congregation in confessing the Word of God, v. 17. seeing thou hatest instruction, namely, the rebuke of hypocrisy and sin as contained in the Word, and castest my words behind thee, turning his back upon the divine instructions with a gesture of utter contempt?
V. 18. When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, taking pleasure in the form of wickedness practised against the Seventh Commandment and thus becoming guilty of the same crime, and hast been partaker with adulterers, in transgressing also the Sixth Commandment.
V. 19. Thou givest thy mouth to evil, to slanderous talk of every kind, and thy tongue frameth deceit, deliberate falsehoods in order to take away the neighbor's good fame.
V. 20. Thou sit test and speakest against thy brother, the nearest relative by blood not being safe against the tongue of the slanderer and reviler; thou slanderest thine own mother's son, the lowest and meanest form of betrayal. Throughout this passage the idea is brought out that God was amazed at the daring displayed by the hypocrite in being guilty of such transgressions and yet holding membership in the congregation of Yahweh.
V. 21. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence, compare Rom. 2, 21. 23; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself, conniving at such wicked behavior, because He did not punish the wickedness outright; but I will reprove thee, as soon as His patience which intended the sinner's salvation is exhausted, and set them in order before thine eyes, showing Himself in His awful majesty and in His revenging justice.
V. 22. Now consider this, ye that forget God, those who depend upon an external righteousness of works and forget the need of true piety of the heart, lest I tear you in pieces, in a punishment of utter destruction, and there be none to deliver, for when God once begins to strike, it is impossible to escape.
And so the conclusion is offered: v. 23. Whoso offereth, praise, the true thanksgiving of a believing heart, glorifieth Me, the external worship in this case being an expression of the faith of the heart; and to him that ordereth his conversation aright, making his whole life conform with the rule of God's divine will, will I show the salvation of God, His presence and favor attending him at all times.
All Christians will shun and abhor hypocrisy in every form and continually watch over their hearts, in order that all their worshiping of God may be the outflow of a heart grateful for His favor and love in Jesus Christ.