It's in the Blood

O. T. #284  "It's in the Blood"
May 7, 2014
Leviticus 17
The life of the flesh is in the blood...    Leviticus 17: 11, 14

LET IT GLOW

Whether it was a chicken, a hog, a calf, a rabbit, or a squirrel that we killed for us to eat when I was growing up, we did not consume the blood. At the time, I did not understand the reason, nor did I think to ask why. This chapter explains that blood is the life of an animal. Modern day medicine knows that diseases and infections are carried to another through the contaminated blood. Whether it is a physical or spiritual reason, this is one Jewish law that should be respected and obeyed, in my opinion. Do you want to find out more?

Stipulations for practical holiness, laws of sacrifices and food, and prohibition concerning blood are detailed in this chapter.
Among these various regulations dealing with sacrifices and food are:

• Killing an animal for food had to be done at the Tabernacle. A violator would be bare the consequences of either excommunication or death (Ex. 31:14).
• Sacrifices of animals were brought to the door of the Tabernacle, with only the appointed priests making the offering. This prevented sacrifices to devils, idols, (practice done by Egyptians) being done in the field.
• Animals killed by the priests at the tabernacle entrance would have their blood properly drained and poured out, not carelessly eaten.
• Eating an animal which died naturally or was killed by another, was permissible. The person had to go through the ritual cleansing process. (Liberty Bible Commentary)

What do we learn from these regulations?

• It was a serious violation of their sacrificial laws if a man killed the sacrificial animal himself. The Lord considered him guilty of bloodshed. (verse 4)
• The Israelites were prohibited from sacrificing to goat idols, to whom they prostituted themselves. (verse 7)
• Consuming blood was prohibited. God would be against that person.
• A hunter had to drain the blood of the bird or animal he killed for food, covering the blood with the dust.
• Eating a dead animal found dead by natural causes or torn by a wild animal was permitted, but the person had to go through the ceremonial cleansing process.

LET IT GROW

The life of the flesh is in the blood. (verse 11)
Its blood sustains its life. (verse 14)
From these two principles, we understand the importance of blood to a living person or animal.

Blood carries life-sustaining elements to all parts of the body; Therefore, it represents the essence of life. In contrast, the shedding of blood represents the shedding of life, death. Since blood (death) from a substitute atones for or covers the sinner, who is then allowed to live. (MacArthur)

There was only one price that God would accept for sin-the blood. There was only one place He would accept it-the door of the Tabernacle. So it is today. God accepts but one price for sin-the blood of His Son. And that blood was shed at the one place God appointed-Calvary's cross. To depend on any other sacrifice at any other place is to be rejected by God. He was not Christ the Example, or Christ the Teacher who saves us; it is Christ the Lamb of God, crucified for the sins of the world. (Wiersbe)

In Hebrews 9 NIV, we read how Christ is our High Priest, who entered the more perfect tabernacle not man-made, into the Most High Place, with His own blood, not of goats and calves, nor bulls. He obtained eternal redemption for us unclean. Christ offered Himself, unblemished, to God for the cleansing of our conscience from the acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God.
Christ is our mediator of this new covenant.

That is why Jesus Christ could say, while hanging on the cross, "It is finished." He fulfilled the requirement which God had for the redemption of our soul-the shedding of blood.

Have you asked Jesus to be your Savior, to cleanse your heart from you sins? Has He become your blood sacrifice? He is only a breath away.


LET IT GO

Praise the LORD Jesus!
Glory to God in the Highest!
Worship The King!