Clean Hands – Being a Pilgrim

““What makes you think I want all your sacrifices?” says the Lord. “I am sick of your burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle. I get no pleasure from the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to worship me, who asked you to parade through my courts with all your ceremony? Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts; the incense of your offerings disgusts me! As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath and your special days for fasting — they are all sinful and false. I want no more of your pious meetings. I hate your new moon celebrations and your annual festivals. They are a burden to me. I cannot stand them! When you lift up your hands in prayer, I will not look. Though you offer many prayers, I will not listen, for your hands are covered with the blood of innocent victims.”
Isaiah 1:11-15 NLT

The Israelite sacrifices that were made initially in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple in Jerusalem were a central feature of Jewish religious life. God commanded the nation of Israel to perform numerous sacrifices according to certain procedures prescribed by God. First, the animal had to be spotless. Second, the person offering the sacrifice had to identify with the animal. Third, the person offering the animal had to inflict death upon it. When done in faith, this sacrifice provided a temporary covering of sins. Another sacrifice called for on the Day of Atonement demonstrated forgiveness and the removal of sin. The high priest was to take two male goats for a sin offering. One of the goats was sacrificed as a sin offering for the people of Israel, while the other goat was released into the wilderness. The sin offering provided forgiveness, while the other goat provided the removal of sin.

All this was going on in the Temple at the time of Isaiah’s vision, but the Temple was located in Jerusalem, which was in Judah, whereas Israel had no God-ordained place for sacrifices. Although Isaiah’s vision was directed against the inhabitants of Judah, the Israelites were not innocent because they continued the practice of animal sacrifice in the Northern Kingdom in Dan and Bethel, although prophets such as Hosea and Amos were scathing in their criticism of what was going on, particularly because the rituals often involved the worship of Baal.

So, having considered the background to Isaiah’s vision, we see that God was not at all happy with how the sacrifices and ceremonies were conducted. Yes, the Israelites were doing what was required, following the correct processes. They practised parades and ceremonies, the burning of incense, fasting and prayers, New Moon celebrations, in fact, all the things the Jews would have done in those days, but God was sick of them. Why was that? Because God provided a sacrificial system based on animal sacrifice that enabled the people to connect with God through the sacrifice being made. In Hebrews 9:22, we read, “In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness”. The animal sacrifice system was a temporary arrangement put in place until the coming of Christ and His sacrifice for all time on the cross at Calvary.

Today, we pilgrims can look back at the history and how the early Jews messed up. They were doing all the right things, but something was lacking. They were going through the process without connecting what they were doing to the forgiveness of sins and their relationship with God, which was the whole point of it all. But before we start climbing up onto the moral high ground, perhaps we pilgrims go to a church which follows some form of liturgy, perhaps quite complicated to an outside observer, with processions, canticles, prayer books, incense, hymns, gowns and funny-shaped hats, and so on, but it is always good to stop and think why we are following the script. What is the point of it? Others of us go to more fundamental churches with no set liturgy and few religious distractions. But again, the question is, what is the point of it?

We pilgrims go to church to meet with other Christians, and there we worship God through our songs and hymns. We receive teaching. We read the Bible and pray. We serve one another. We celebrate the Lord’s Supper on occasion. And we follow the instruction from Hebrews 10:25, “And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near”. In Acts 2 and 4, we see how the common purpose amongst the early believers developed into the early church, with them being “united in heart and mind” (Acts 4:32). So we pilgrims go to church to primarily worship God, and we do that as God’s people have been doing for centuries, even millennia. David wrote, “Who may climb the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies. They will receive the Lord’s blessing and have a right relationship with God, their saviour” (Psalm 24:3-5).

Do we pilgrims have a pure heart and clean hands? We make sure we do by kneeling at the Cross, repenting of our sins, and once again coming into God’s presence, holy before Him. If there is anything to put right with another person, we do so. If we are guilty of going through a mindless ritual in the church service, we pray for God’s help in reconnecting with Him. If we have stopped attending church, we return there and recommit to being with God’s people. If the church we normally attend is no longer one that preaches the whole Gospel, without human additions, we find one that does. But in it all, we do what God really desired the Jews to do. If necessary, we change our ways to return to the One who loves us so much.

Dear Father God. We come before You today, feeling Your gaze penetrate our hearts. We ask that You point out anything within us that causes You offence so that we too can worship You in a place of holiness. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

“I wash my hands to declare my innocence. I come to your altar, O Lord, singing a song of thanksgiving and telling of all your wonders. I love your sanctuary, Lord, the place where your glorious presence dwells.”
Psalm 26:6-8 NLT

David made a declaration about his innocence before God by washing his hands. Why should that be of any significance? We earlier considered Psalm 24:3-4, “Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god”. In Biblical days, the washing hands had several meanings. The Pharisees were obsessed with hand washing, as we read in Mark 7:3-4, “(The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the market-place they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles)“. The first mention of Biblical hand washing was in Exodus 30:18-21, when the Lord gave instructions to Moses. “Make a bronze basin, with its bronze stand, for washing. Place it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet with water from it. Whenever they enter the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die. Also, when they approach the altar to minister by presenting a food offering to the Lord, they shall wash their hands and feet so that they will not die. This is to be a lasting ordinance for Aaron and his descendants for the generations to come”. The Jews have maintained this tradition right up to the present day, particularly before eating bread. In strictly Jewish homes, the dining table has become a replacement for the Temple altar, which was destroyed in AD 70.

But the washing of hands was not just a Jewish ritual and like them we wash our hands to rid them of contaminants that might do us harm if we ingest them. Physical hygiene is not just a modern phenomenon. But in Biblical times hand washing was also a sign of spiritual cleansing. James 4:8, “Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded“. ‭‭Hand washing was associated with inner purity, to some a ritual but to others a necessary means of focusing minds. There are other parts of a Christian’s liturgy that do the same. Human beings seem to sometimes need something that connects them to God and His demands. In a conversation with religious leaders, Jesus reset the meaning behind hand washing. “Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, ‘Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!’ Jesus replied, ‘And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?” (Matthew 15:1-3). The disciples asked Jesus for an explanation, and we read His response, “‘Are you still so dull?’ Jesus asked them. ‘Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts – murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them'” (Matthew 15:16-20).

Another reason for hand washing was demonstrated by Pilate at Jesus’ trial. Matthew 27:24, “Pilate saw that he wasn’t getting anywhere and that a riot was developing. So he sent for a bowl of water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. The responsibility is yours!”” That very act has survived in our language today with an expression such as “I wash my hands of this”, signifying that we are giving up on something because it is something we are unable to change. Think of a rebellious teenager’s bedroom for example.

Before David could come into God’s presence, though, he was careful to clean his hands and ensure his innocence. We pilgrims have to do the same, not by literally washing our hands, but by confessing our sins and cleansing our hearts. We sing the song, “Purify my heart” and it continues, “Cleanse me from within and make me holy“. Nice sentiments, but I wonder sometimes what the congregants really understand what they are singing. But the lyrics are an accurate reflection of what we as believers must do. As we read in Psalm 24, only those who have “clean hands and a pure heart” can enter the Lord’s presence. But as we pilgrims know, it is hard, even impossible, to generate within us a pure heart in our own efforts. We need God’s help. After the Bathsheba debacle, David prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). We may not have broken the three commandments that David did on this occasion, but we still need that “clean heart”. John, the Apostle, wrote, “But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). And there we have it. We are light dwellers, reliant on the blood of Jesus for cleansing us from our sins. There is no other way into God’s presence.

Dear Heavenly Father. From You comes the light we need to be able to dwell in Your presence with clean hands and hearts. We thank You for the blood of Your Son, Jesus, through whom our cleanliness is assured. Amen.