THE LIFE IS IN THE BLOOD
February 4th | Pastor Gino
Leviticus 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.
The people of Israel were not permitted to drink the blood of animals, or anything else for that matter, because God had declared that the life (or lifeforce of all beings) is found in the blood (Leviticus 17:14). Blood is the stuff circulating thru our bodies that brings oxygen and nutrients that enable us to live. When Cain killed his brother the Lord declared, “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground” (Genesis 4:10). This is a vivid description of how precious our blood is in the scheme of God’s good creation and design.
Sin (our rebellion against God) has separated us from God and places upon us a guilty verdict before God as well as the penalty of death. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Only by the shedding of blood can sin be atoned for and the wrath of God be satisfied for the forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22). This is why the Old Testament is filled with blood! It pictures what God demands for the penalty of sin. It also foreshadows what God will one day do to provide a final atonement for the sins of all those who are redeemed.
In the Old Testament we see the picture of redemption thru the sacrifices offered by the priests of Israel. It is a seemingly endless array of blood sacrifices that must be given every year and in very precise ways in order to be accepted. We also see the seemingly endless ways in which mankind is declared unclean before a Holy, Holy, Holy, God. Even in childbirth a woman is declared unclean before the Lord (Leviticus 12). This is because it is a stark reminder of the sin that is passed on from generation to generation, for we are all born into iniquity (Psalm 51:5). Is there any hope? Is there any way for us to be released from this endless stream of blood that God demands for the penalty of sin and the reconciliation of mankind?
This is what makes the gospel so precious and dear to us. In the Old Testament story, we see how holy God is and how depraved and rebellious mankind is, whose heart is exceedingly wicked and who seeks only to do what is right in his own eyes (Jeremiah 17:9; Judges 17:6). We also see how all the blood of animals that is spilled in the Old Testament is insufficient to pay the price for the sins of man (Hebrews 10:4) or change his heart. Enter the God-man to whom all the OT sacrifices point to - the Lord Jesus Christ whose blood is so precious it is able to atone for the sins of the whole world once and for all (1 John 2:2) and change even the hardest heart of stone into a heart of flesh and devotion (Ezekiel 36:26)!
This was God’s plan all along, to send the One who would atone for sin sufficiently and conclusively. By his stripes we are healed and by his blood we have been justified and made clean (Isaiah 53:5; Romans 5:9). We are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation (appeasement) BY HIS BLOOD, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance (patience) he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Romans 3:24-26).
This is why we rejoice in the blood of lamb in which we have been washed and made clean (1 Peter 1:19; Acts 20:28). This is why we look to Christ, because we have come to understand that the life is in the blood and He has given his on our behalf. Christ has made atonement on God’s altar for our very souls as it is the blood that makes atonement by the life (Leviticus 17:11) even more so by the life of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, take a moment today to thank God for the precious blood of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And know, that in him, you truly have been made clean. God’s wrath and penalty towards you has been appeased and paid for. Furthermore, you are now a child of God and a part of His Kingdom Family! There can be no greater atonement and cleansing for sin than that of the Holy One, the Lamb of God, the Redeemer, and Savior of all those who receive Him and proclaim faith in His Name. Thank Him today because in Him you can be certain that all these things are true!
