What is sacrilege? What does it mean to be sacrilegious?

The root idea of the word then, whether we take its Old or New Testament use, is that of setting apart for God. A sanctified person or thing is one set apart from ordinary uses to be for God's own possession and use and enjoyment. In contra-distinction to sanctification stands profanation. The priest of Aaron's time was not to "defile himself … to profane himself" (Lev. 21:4). The priests of the coming millennial day are to "teach My people the difference between the holy and profane" (Ezek. 44:23). The very word used there means "common or polluted," and of course it is just when a thing is put to common use that it does get polluted. That is easily seen in connection with the ordinary affairs of life. When a piece of ground is thrown open freely to the public it becomes a "common," and at once rules must be made to keep it decent. Left to itself it would soon become more or less of a rubbish heap.

To an Israelite, this glaring sacrilege must have been a terrible revelation of the true character of the king. He who had begun by intruding into the priest's office at Gilgal, in offering a sacrifice, which he had no right to do, and who had gone on in rebellion and disobedience, now puts the seal upon the essential irreverence of his entire character by attacking God's priesthood.

Then it is that I eat and drink, unworthily. Then it is that I am in danger of being guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. I forget the solemn meaning of these emblems I forget the sacred presence of my Lord I ignore the guidance of God the Holy Spirit. And what is such conduct but sacrilege in the house of God? What can I expect but discipline, the exercise of the serious discipline from the Lord, of which warning is given here?

Moses' law, with which the Jews were familiar, sternly demanded death in the case of any who rebelled against it, when the case was established by competent witness. But the revelation of God's glory in the Person of His Son infinitely transcends God's speaking by the law of Moses. If the judgment under law is so severe, then the far greater enormity of the crime against the Son of God demands a far greater judgment. Three solemn charges are brought against the apostate; first, his treading underfoot the Son of God. This is similar to Ch. 6:6. It is cold contempt for the truth that the Lord Jesus Christ is God manifest in flesh. How dreadful an insult to the Eternal God! Secondly, the blood of Christ he treats as unholy, despite the fact that God's covenants with Israel demanded shedding of blood. Thus if the Son of God Personally is cast aside, so is His great work of redemption. Such a man plainly has never been born again, yet is said to have been "sanctified" by the blood of the covenant. Taking a public stand with Christians, he had been publicly set apart by the acknowledgment of the virtue of the blood of Christ. But his heart had not actually been reached: all was merely on the surface.

You may take a golden vessel and use it to dishonour. When Belshazzar used the sacred vessels at his idolatrous feast, they were put to a dishonourable use. Similarly in the great house, where the vessels represent persons, you may have a real believer in the Lord Jesus Christ doing something, perhaps happily though mistakenly, which dishonours the Lord Jesus Christ. But the Lord cannot approve of this service, because it is associated with evil. The golden vessel contains a libation to the gods. The good servant engaged in an unholy service is a vessel to dishonour, not to honour.

(8) “Unholy” or “profane”. If ungrateful for blessings temporal and spiritual, men will soon scorn and despise the mercy and grace that bestow the blessings. Esau profanely despised the birthright by which God would have blessed him.

In the N.T. also it occurs in the sense of having "all things common," Acts 2:44; Acts 4:32; "the common faith," Titus 1:4; and the "common salvation," Jude 3. It may mean 'unclean' in reference to animals forbidden by the law as food, or to Gentiles in contrast with Jews, Acts 10:14, 28; they were not sanctified. It is rendered 'unclean' in respect to food, Rom. 14:14; of unwashed hands it is 'defiled,' Mark 7:2; and an apostate virtually treats the blood of Christ as a 'common' thing ('unholy' A.V.), Heb. 10:29.

It will be seen, as regards profanity or uncleanness, that βέβηλος refers to what is moral, whereas κοινός descends more to what is ceremonial.

The third section legislates against the profanation of consecrated things, which was to profane God's holy name. Defilement of the priest cut him off from partaking of them while the defilement lasted. Nor could any stranger, not being of the priestly house, partake, nor even the daughter of the priest, married and living out of the priestly household.

The phrase — "the table of the Lord" — is not unknown to the O.T. In Ezek. 41:22; 44:16, Jehovah speaks of the altar of incense as the table that is before Him. Evidently this is to enforce the fact of its holiness, being in the sanctuary in His immediate presence as well as bearing the offerings made to His name. And in Malachi the phrase is again used, even more strikingly, in connection with the holiness of the altar. Jehovah there expostulates with the priests who offered polluted bread on His altar and profaned His name, saying that the table of Jehovah is contemptible (Mal. 1:7-12). It was the fact that the altar was before Jehovah and that it was called by His name, which made the desecration so terrible. And there was no excuse for ignorance of what was suited to the Lord; for His word of old had plainly forbidden that the blind, the lame, or the sick, should be offered in sacrifice (Lev. 20:11-22). This word however they had deliberately disobeyed (Mal. 1:8). And what they would be ashamed to bring to the governor, they brought to Jehovah. What was this but the most inexcusable levity in the most sacred things? It was despising His name; and therefore the burden of the word of the Lord was against Israel.

In verse 10 He says, "It is not out of love to me you present offerings, and shut the doors." The priests got the flesh. It was the portion of the Levites. And sometimes, when a priest saw a nice fat animal brought in, he saw it had a blemish - it might be a blind eye; but he knew it would be just as good for him and his family to eat if it were blind; so he passed over the blind eye, and offered the sacrifice; and God comes in and says, "You care for yourself; but what is due to me you pass over, and so you have 'profaned' my name before the Gentiles." (vv. 11, 12.)