14-15 Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of Your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise. 16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. 17  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. 18-19 Do good to Zion in Your good pleasure; build the walls of Jerusalem. Then You will be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering; then they will offer young bulls on Your altar. Psalm 51:14-19 Modern English Version

After he was confronted by the prophet Nathan about the terrible adultery and murderous plot he was guilty of, King David makes a startling statement in vs 16 when he says to God: “You do not desire sacrifice, or I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering.” He desperately wanted God's forgiveness for the innocent blood he had caused to be spilt (that of the husband of the woman he'd committed adultery with) but he realizes that the sacrifices God had prescribed to Israel through Moses were not going to provide the reconciliation to God he longed for? Does that mean that the sacrifices were wrong? Why did God prescribe them if He did not ‘desire or delight’ in them? Do you think vs 17 gives part of the answer to that question?

David saw that an animal sacrifice in itself was not what God desired. What God desired was for sinners to see the enormity of their wrongdoing and show true heartfelt sorrow for what they had done. Sacrifices were never meant to be a superficial way of saying sorry and be a substitute for true repentance. Remember too that David was looking through Old Testament eyes, and long before the prophet Isaiah was led by God's Spirit to describe a sacrifice that would take place one day which could, and would, take away all guilt and shame.

Listen to how Isaiah spoke of what the Messiah's sacrifice would be. He wrote: “He (the Messiah) was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned - every one - to his own way - and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:5-6)

The fullest explanation of what David said in vs 16 is found in the New Testament book of Hebrews. We read there that the Old Testament laws about sacrifices were only a shadow of the good things that were to come – not the realities themselves. Those sacrifices, offered year after year, were not able to make people perfect in God's sight. In fact, they were a reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of mere bulls and goats to take away sins. But, speaking of what Jesus did at Calvary, the writer says “but by one sacrifice He (the Messiah) has made perfect for ever those who are being made holy.” (Hebrews 11:14)

The sacrifices of the Old Testament were not wrong – they were just not sufficient to blot out the ugliness of sin. That's why they were not what God ultimately wanted. They were mainly to prepare the world for the only sacrifice that God could ever be truly pleased with, and which would remove sin and it's curse forever.

What about vs 18-19? Was David speaking of a future time (perhaps even the 21st century) when meaningful sacrifices would once again be offered in Jerusalem?

I’d say no - certainly not for the 21st century! David knew that, as King, his backsliding and the terrible sins he’d committed had done great damage to the Kingdom, so he prayed for God to restore righteousness to the nation so that the sacrifices of those days would be made in the right spirit. The Holy Spirit led the apostle Paul to tell us what sort of sacrifices God wants since Christ made the perfect once-for-all sacrifice. He says: “I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Don't conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:1-2)