Does God delight in animal sacrifice?

In fact, God being perfect, it would not be in accordance with his will to forgive man his sin on account of his truth and justice, which says, "The soul who sins is the one who will die" (Ezekiel 18; 4). If God is to forgive the sinner, there must be a reason for forgiveness, a reason that satisfies Justice, and this satisfaction in the Old Testament was from the offering of animal sacrifices, goats, calves and sheep. God accept these because they symbolized the sacrifice of Christ, which was offered in the New Testament of Grace, satisfying divine justice forever and making perfect all the believes.

"This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshipper. They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washing-external regulations applying until the time of the new order "(Hebrew; 9;9).

"The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!" (Hebrew 9; 13-14).

That which is written in Psalm 85;10 was fulfilled; "Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other."

Therefore it is clear in the New Testament, "Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4;12).

 God tells truth about mankind.

"There is no-one righteous, not even one; there is no-one who understands, no-one who seeks God." (Romans 3;10).

"There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins." (Ecclesiastes 7;20).

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (3;23).

"For there is no-one who does not sin." (1st. Kings 8;46).

"We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53;6).

"All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no-one who does good, not even one," (Psalm 14;3).

God says that He must punish sin.

"For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son-both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die." (Ezekiel 18;4).

 Now we can see from the above verses that we are all sinners and there is no way to get forgiveness by the blood of animals because it is impossible for the blood of animals to take away of our sins.

 Many people say’s that God is merciful and if anyone asks Him forgiveness, He will forgive him. Let’s see how true these thoughts are; "To God belonged all that is in the heavens and on earth. Whether ye show what is in yours minds or conceal it, God called you to account for it. He forgives whom He pleased, and punishes whom He pleased, for God hath power over all things.” (Surah 2-ALbaqarh THE HEIFER 284).

If God settled accounts with men on the basis of this verse there would no indication either of his justice or his mercy. While it is true he can do as he pleases, yet he would not will what denies his original attribute and his divine law.

 Supposing the judge pardoned your brothers murderer after his crime was proved, then went on to forgive him. Would you regard him as being just? Now think, the judge freed the murderer and he is free in your society, then what will you say to judicial system? Will you say that he was a good judge or will you say this is injustice? If this the case then we all will say there is corruption in the judicial system and the judge is corrupt person as well.

 That is the Holy Bible says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6; 23)

 Supposed a Muslim is dressed in a white robe and while on his way to prayer a speck of dirt fell on his robe or body. Wouldn’t he be considered unclean/ If that his state wouldn’t he have to return and purify himself to be able to start prayer?

 This is the state of man towards God in respect to purity and impurity. Therefore it is impossible for the believer to enter paradise before complete purification and renewal of heart. This purification and renewal of heart only comes from Jesus Christ, to accept him as our Saviour, confess our sins to him, repent for our sins and follow him in our daily life. Then we are NEW. We have died to the old; we have NEW life, eternal life-Now! You are RISEN with Christ! You are a child of God and God is your Father. Jesus died in the cross for our sin, the punishment we deserved to get but in our place Jesus paid the punishment in the cross, through His blood we became NEW, on the third day Jesus rose from death therefore we all rose from eternal death (hell) and have eternal life through Him. There is no doubt that the way God provided and appointed in the Torah and Gospel for human beings salvation is the ideal way.

 Surah AL-Maidah 46 says, “And we let their footsteps follow Jesus, the son of Mary, fulfilling what he had in his hands firm Torah. And We have given him the Gospel containing guidance and light, and affirming all that he had in his hands from the Torah, as guidance and warning for people devoted to God.”

 Again on Surah AL-Maidah 68 says, “Say, O people of the Book! You will be nothing unless you uphold the Torah and the Gospel, and all that is revealed to you from your Lord.”

 In the Koran, we find few texts, which confirm His (Jesus) death and two, which state that He (Jesus) was killed.

1. Surah AL-Maryam 33, “Peace be upon me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I am raised up alive.” In this verse it is clear confession that Christ became incarnate, and died and was raised from the dead, in the form of a prophecy and based on a miracle. It agrees with the text of the Gospel in Spirit and Word.
2. Surah AL-Imran 55, “When God said ‘Jesus I will take thee to Me and will raise thee to Me, and I will purify thee of those who believe not. I will set thy followers above the unbelievers till the resurrection day.’”
3. Surah AL-Miadah 117, “Serve God, my Lord and your Lord; And I was a witness over them, while I remained among them; but when Thou didst take me to Thyself, Thou wast Thyself the watcher over them; Thou Thyself art witness of everything.”
4. Surah AL-Baqara 87, “We gave Moses the Book and followed him up with succession of apostles; We gave Jesus the son of Mary clear signs and strengthened him with the Holy Spirit. Is it that whenever there comes to you an apostle with what ye you self desire not, ye are puffed up with pride? Some ye called impostors, and others ye slay! (The word “slay” here is not clear and can only be translated as “killing”. If the Koran does not mention how the killing of Christ took place, the Gospel is the original and only source on this subject.).
5. Surah AL-Imran 183, “They said, ’God took over our promise not to believe in an apostle unless He showed us a sacrifice consumed by Fire. Say: there come to you apostle before me, with clear Sign and even with what ye ask for: why then did ye slay them, if ye speak the truth.”

 Now we will see where Surah AL-Nisa 157-158, “That they said, we killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the messenger of God; but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no knowledge but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not-Nay, God raised him up into Himself.”

 Clearly we understand from the version of the heretics who clung to Christianity, that the Cross, in their estimation, was not an historical event or a doctrine of redemption, but a symbol or a sign, as the star which guided the Magi to the cradle of the Child in Bethlehem, or as the appearance of a dove in which the Holy Spirit appeared, coming to Christ at His baptism in the Jordan. But the heavy Cross on which Christ was hanged, which is the altar of redemption, where the Lamb of God was sacrifice to take away the sin of the world, was of no importance to them! They rejected the truth which Apostle Paul proclaimed to the nations in Galatians 3;13-14, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written; ’Cursed is everyone who hung on a tree.’ He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.”

 To be honest it is regrettable that Muslim scholars disagree on the matter of how another person took place of Christ, and many stories have arisen about it. Koran says that God cast Christ’s likeness on to another man, who died instead of Christ. There is no historical truth in this statement. This is completely false and baseless. The truth is that the crucifixion was attributed to the Roman Governor Pilate who ordered to crucify Jesus and not to the Jews.

 We have found verses in the Koran which hint, if not declare, that Christ actually died. It serves to clarify the obscure portions of the former verse as we will see from The House of Imran, 55, “When God said, ‘Jesus I will take thee to Me and will raise thee to Me, and I will purify thee of those who believe not.” Some commentators have said that the word “mutawaffeeka” (will take thee to Me) means to put you sleep. One cannot see at all the wisdom of putting someone to sleep before raising them. I wish the learned successors can enlighten us where the predecessors have failed!

 The truth is (will take thee to Me) means death, and this is according to Ibn Abbas and Mohammad Ibn Ishaq. They differed regarding the duration of death. Wahb said that Christ remained dead for three hours, then was raised. Mohammad Ibn Ishaq said that he was dead seven hours, then God raised him. Al-Rabee Ibn Ans said that God caused him to die when he raised him up to heaven. As for the Imam Al-Baidhawi, he believed that Christ actually died for three hours. In the language dictionary it says of the verb ‘tawaffa’ “God made him die, that is, he took his soul, of so and so, that he died, meaning his soul was taken and died.”

 The word ‘mutawaffeeka’ and the derivatives of this verb (tawaffa) in this sense occur 23 times in the Koran. In all but two cases it means absolute death. In these two exceptions the context refers to figurative death during sleep, “It is He who recalls you by night, and He knows what you work by day” (Cattle60); and in the Companies 42, “God takes the souls at the time of their death, and that which has not died, in its sleep.”

Some commentators have said that the “waw” (and) in the phrase ‘mutawaffeeka’ is a play on words to mystify reader. In their opinion the real meaning is that Christ will come again and die. Oh God! Save us from the evil of deception! Would it hurt if they considered these words in their real sense? If the Koran intended what they desire, it would surely not have couched it in an ambiguous statement!

 Now look at these two verses in Koran, Maryam, 15, “Peace be upon him, (refers to John) the day he was born, and the day he dies, and the day he is raised up alive1” And in Maryam, 34, “Peace be upon me (Jesus) the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I am raised up alive1”

 There is no disputing that all Muslims believe that (Yahya) John was born and died according to the first verse. Then why not believe the same of I’sa the Christ according to the second verse? Because the order of the two verses is the same and the words are practically the same.

 That is why we see in the New Testament (before the appearance of the Koran) Hebrew 10;57,”Therefore , when Christ came into the world, he said, ‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, ‘Here I am-it is written about me in the scroll-I have come to do your will, O God’”

Oh God, I beseech You, reveal the Truth to those who seek it and grant Light to those who need it, You are the best to be invoked, Oh most Bountiful of Givers, in Jesus name I pray, Amen.