MERCY AND NOT SACRIFICE
Some Thoughts by
GARY RAY BRANSCOME
"If ye had known what this means, I will have
mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless."
(Matthew 12:7, Hosea 6:6)
The verse quoted above tells us that the law
of Moses did not require sacrifice because God likes the shedding of blood, but
because He wanted His people to look to Him for mercy (Psalm 13:5). In short,
those sacrifices were instituted, from the beginning, to testify of Christ, and
any promise of forgiveness connected with them was a promise of forgiveness in
Christ (John
As simple as that truth is,
relatively few understood. Most just assumed that God was pleased by what they
did. And, people make the same mistake today when they assume that baptism is
an act of obedience. The same God who said, "I will have mercy, and not
sacrifice" is saying to us, "I will have mercy, and not an act of obedience,"
yet they do not hear. They simply cannot understand that because baptism was instituted,
to testify of Christ, the promise of forgiveness connected with baptism is a
promise of forgiveness in Christ. Or to put it another way, even though God
uses the ceremony to give us His promise, it is only through personal faith in
Christ that we receive what is promised (Galatians
Do
not be misled by those who say that Baptism is not important. They contradict
Christ. They put their own opinion above Scripture. Take Jesus at His word, and you will find that through Baptism – and I
mean of course, not merely the performance of the ritual itself, but by your
personal faith in Jesus and in His promise – the Holy Ghost unmistakably
comes to you." (The Power of Pentecost, 1943, from the
book America Turn To Christ.)
Like baptism, the Lord's Supper was
instituted to point us to Christ as the source of all forgiveness. And, Christ
uses that ceremony to tell those who come that His body was given and His blood
shed, for them for the remission of sins (Luke
Now,
this great treasure is conveyed and communicated to us in no other way than
through the words “given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins”…
Whosoever believes these words has what the words declare and bring… And
inasmuch as He offers and promises forgiveness of sins, there is no other way
of receiving it than by faith. (Luther’s Large Catechism)
To better understand why the Lord's Supper was instituted, try to visualize a poor peasant woman who longs
for assurance of God's mercy and forgiveness. Although she is illiterate, and
her pastor is not preaching the gospel as he should, yet she believes that when
she comes to the Lord's Supper she will receive Christ's body and blood for the
remission of sins (Matthew 26:28). Therefore, when she receives the Lord’s
Supper, believing the words that Christ spoke, believing that His body was
given for her (on Calvary), and that His blood was shed for her (on Calvary), she
is in effect accepting Christ as her Savior. For to accept Christ's body and
blood for the remission of sins, is to accept His death as the sacrifice for
sin. And, believing that you have forgiveness in Christ is what faith in Christ
is all about. Thus, by faith she actually does receive Christ's body and blood,
not as something physical but as the atonement for her sin. Perhaps that is
what led John Bunyan (the Baptist Apostle of
During
this time when I thought of the blessed ordinance of Christ which was His last
supper with His disciples before His death, the Scripture, "Do this in
remembrance of Me" (Luke 22:19), was made very precious to me. By it the
Lord came upon my conscience with the discovery of His death for my sins, and
as I then felt, it was as if He plunged me in the
virtue of the same... After that I have been usually very well and comfortable
in the partaking of that blessed ordinance, and have, I trust, discerned the
Lord's body as broken for my sins and that His precious blood has been shed for
my transgressions. (From the book, "Grace Abounding to the Chief of
Sinners," by John Bunyan, pages 146-147)
Just as animal sacrifice, baptism
and the Lord's Supper were all instituted to point people to Christ as the
source of forgiveness, the law itself was instituted to point us to Christ by
showing us our sin and need for forgiveness (Galatians 3:24). Therefore, even
when God's law called for adulterers and homosexuals to be put to death, the
aim was to bring them to repentance. Moreover, when we consider the stubborn
refusal of most homosexuals to acknowledge any wrongdoing, it becomes evident
that without such punishments, few are likely to repent (Exodus 22:16-21,
Leviticus 20:10-16).
For that reason, those who refuse
to condemn sins of adultery and homosexuality actually hate those who are
guilty of such sins, for if they really cared about those people they would
want them to repent, instead of encouraging unrepentance.
If our government actually punished those guilty of adultery or homosexuality,
and our society backed up the government in taking such action, far fewer
people would commit such sins. Moreover, those who did would feel condemned and
unclean, would dread the thought of anyone finding out, and would very likely
desire God’s forgiveness while wishing that they had never committed the
sin to begin with.
Throughout history God has reached
out to people with mercy only to have most of them harden themselves in unrepentance (Matthew 23:37). Therefore, if we really want
to see souls saved, we need to stop using the law in a vain attempt to make
people righteous, and start pointing them to Christ for mercy.