What other scriptures warn against empty religious rituals like in Amos 4:4? “Go to Bethel and transgress; go to Gilgal and multiply your transgressions; bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days.” Other Old Testament Warnings • 1 Samuel 15:22 — “But Samuel declared: ‘Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams.’” • Psalm 51:16-17 — “For You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You take no pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” • Isaiah 1:11-17 — “‘What is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?’ says the LORD. ‘I am full of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle; I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats. When you come to appear before Me, who has required this of you—this trampling of My courts? Bring your worthless offerings no more; your incense is detestable to Me. New Moons, Sabbaths, and convocations—I cannot endure iniquity with a solemn assembly. I hate your New Moons and your appointed feasts; they have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil! Learn to do right; seek justice, correct the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.’” • Isaiah 29:13 — “Therefore the Lord said: ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me, and their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.’” • Jeremiah 7:21-23 — “This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! For when I brought your fathers out of Egypt, I did not speak to them or command them about burnt offerings and sacrifices, but I commanded them this: “Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you.”’” • Hosea 6:6 — “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” • Micah 6:6-8 — “With what shall I come before the LORD when I bow before the God on high? Should I come to Him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves? Would the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Should I present my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” • Zechariah 7:4-6 — “Then the word of the LORD of Hosts came to me, saying, ‘Ask all the people of the land and the priests: “When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not doing so simply for yourselves?”’” New Testament Warnings • Matthew 15:7-9 — “You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you: ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’” • Mark 7:6-7 — “He answered, ‘Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites; as it is written: “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.”’” • Luke 11:42 — “But woe to you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint and rue and every kind of herb, yet you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former.” • 1 Corinthians 11:27-32 — “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Each one must examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. Now if we judged ourselves properly, we would not come under judgment. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined, so that we will not be condemned with the world.” • Hebrews 10:5-8 — “Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: ‘Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You prepared for Me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings You took no delight.’ Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about Me in the scroll—I have come to do Your will, O God.’ In the passage above He says, ‘Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not desire, nor did You delight in them’ (although they are offered according to the law).” • James 1:26-27 — “If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his heart and his religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” • Revelation 3:1 — “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of Him who holds the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars. ‘I know your deeds; you have a reputation for being alive, yet you are dead.’” |
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