Human Sacrifices! (Yuck!)

Sept. 18

Read: Romans 12:1-3

Human Sacrifices

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” - Rom. 12:1

In the ancient world many gods required blood sacrifices to appease them. As grotesque as this may sound to us as modern readers… it is nevertheless true. The greeks have many myths with human sacrifice as a part. The Aztecs and Incas had annual festivals with human sacrifice as a central part to feed the “sun god”. The ancient Mesopotamians had the same with their god Molech / Moloch (there are many alternate spellings). This “bull-god” required the blood of humanities “sons and daughters” through a sacrifice that involved fire. (cf.Lev. 18:21, 20:2-5, 1 King 11:7, 2 Kings 23:10, etc.) The people of God were influenced by their surrounding culture and throughout history fell into the worship of this detestable god. (King Solomon is even directly cited as building a temple for this worship to take place in the midst of the people!; 1 Kings 11:7) No doubt Abraham would have been familiar with this sort of activity and worship… which may explain why he is not shocked when God asks him to sacrifice Isaac. (Although we all remember how the story goes… God DOES NOT require the sacrifice of Isaac;

Gen. 22) God takes no pleasure in human sacrifices. God forbids his people from doing it. (cf. Lev. passages above.) Human sacrifice is rooted in the perverse and rebellious agenda of those gods which war against The Most High God… it is from the Devil and his cohorts.

So, imagine what people thought when they heard or read Romans 12:1-3!? “Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God”. Wait a minute… what?!? You see, to these people - even in Paul’s day and age - the act of human sacrifice was still a reality. The words of Romans 12 point to a stark contrast to between YHWH / God and the gods of this world. In short - God is pleased with his followers being FILLED WITH LIFE, not having their blood spilt in death. Unlike the gods surrounding the people, God Most High actually is quite the opposite.While other gods TAKE life… our God GIVES LIFE! When we lay our lives down for Christ - we are “living sacrifices”. Imagine the relief of God’s people when they first heard or read this truth!

The lesser gods of this world seek to kill and destroy. (cf. John 10:10) They are thirsty for bloodshed… for the death of humanity. Jesus is called the “light and life of men”. (cf. John 1:4) Jesus is the giver of life. (cf. Col. 1:16-10, John 3:16, Job 33:4, Rom. 6:23) Thank God that he is the OPPOSITE of the malicious gods of this world. He is not asking us to die… but rather to LIVE UNTO HIM. Christians represent a unique sort of “sacrifice”… a “living sacrifice”. Christ himself said that he came that we might have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:10) As gory and disturbing as these ancient rituals might be…when the TRUTH ofJesus Christ is presented against this cultural backdrop we see how amazing it actually is! There is GREAT HOPE for us because we are living sacrifices… Jesus is LIFE not death! Love you guys. - JDP