Think about the strangeness of animal sacrifices. Can animal blood clean away human sins? Does God enjoy the smell of burning flesh? To both questions, the Old Testament would seem, at first, to answer, “Yes.” (About cleaning away sins, see Leviticus 4:13-35 and Numbers 15:22-28. About the pleasing smell, see Genesis 8:20; Exodus 29:18, 25 and Leviticus 1:17). As the Bible story unfolds, however, God’s apparent pleasure in sacrifices turns out to be part of the picture God is drawing to prepare people for the true sacrifice of His Son, Jesus. In fact, God neither enjoys animal sacrifices nor finds them effective (Psalm 50:7-23; 51:16-19; Isaiah 1:11). Notice what the Old Testament itself says on this subject.
In sacrifice and offering You have not delighted…. I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart. (Psalm 40:6, 8)
I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify Him with thanksgiving. This will please the LORD more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs. (Psalm 69:30-31)
Why do animal sacrifices not please God? One reason is that they are not the real thing. Hebrews 10:1-10 includes the animal sacrifices as being “but a shadow” as contrasted with “realities.” Think of a girl using the shadow of her hands to make various shapes on a wall. She arranges her fingers to make the shadow look like the head of a dog, then of a duck, then of an elephant. The animals on the wall are not real. They are childish imitations of animal shapes. Even the shadow has no substance. The reality behind the shadow is the girl’s hand. In the same way, the Old Testament’s shadows are merely representations—rough outlines or sketches—compared to the reality, the glorious sacrifice of Christ, to which they point. Could related things like incense and instrumental music also be shadows of better things?