A missionary traveled to a deep forest tribal place where no modern man had traveled so far. The first thing he observed there was the worship of a horrible-looking god. They were offering a pig to the spirits! An old woman of the tribe said incantations over the pig, bowed before it, waved cloths over it, and mumbled and whispered to the spirits. Then they took a knife and slit the pig’s throat. They caught the blood in a basin, offered it to the spirits, and sprinkled it around as they uttered more incantations.
Who taught those remote tribal people to do this? How did the most primitive people everywhere come to believe that blood should be offered to the gods they worship? Why did they not think that it is enough just to offer grain, cloth, or trinkets? They believed the spirits were not so easily satisfied. It takes blood. In fact, they believed that the more precious and purer the blood they offered as a blood sacrifice, the more God would be pleased. That is why they offered child sacrifices, thinking the blood was pure and very precious to them. Even now in the modern 21st century, why do we again and again hear of child sacrifices to gods, even in developed cities like Delhi, Bangalore, and Chennai?
This reflects a deeply embedded law of God in the human heart, which God gave when He created man: that there is life and power in the blood. Man, when he angers God, deserves to die, and the only way he can get life and atonement is through the blood. But man in his fallen blindness does horrible things like sacrificing animals and even children, not knowing God’s way of atonement.
We have been seeing that God is teaching His people, the Israelites, the true way to find acceptance with God. We are at Leviticus 17. After talking about atonement, God teaches the ancient people how to live as His people. Now He starts with their attitude toward blood in this chapter and sex in the next chapter, 18. If you think of our sins against the Second Tablet of the Law, these are primarily those sins. It is an important part of our holiness. Chapter 17 can be divided into four sections, giving four prohibitions. We saw the first two last time:
- Verses 1–7: The prohibition against private slaughtering or the killing of animals.
- Verses 8–9: The prohibition against private sacrificing.
Today, we come to the next two.
Thirdly: The Prohibition Against Blood Eating (Verses 10–12)
Verse 10: “‘And whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell among you, who eats any blood’”, (this includes individuals having gravy or juice with their meat) “‘I will set My face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people.’”
This is a scary threat. And so too, there seemed to be among the pagans the idea of the drinking and eating of blood as the infusion or the taking in of life from a false deity. And Israel was to have nothing to do with this. God is emphasizing the sanctity of blood.
This whole theme of life-blood runs throughout Scripture. The sanctity of life is related to blood. The blood of the beast, but even more so, the blood of a man is never to be treated profanely.
The root of this sacredness starts from the Genesis creation and is reinforced from Noahic roots. In Genesis 9:4, we see Noah comes out of the ark. The world has been purged and cleansed. Notice what the Lord says as He gives man meat to eat: “Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. And surely I will require your life-blood from every beast, I will require it, and from every man, and from every man’s brother, I will require the life of man.” We see here, in the cleansed creation, blood is set aside as sacred in the new world. Meat can be eaten, but the fluid of life, the blood, has been exempted.
God has pointed out blood as something special. He says, “I set a fence around all blood.” All reverence enshrines blood. When man sees blood, whether it be the blood of a beast or the blood of a man, man is to stand still in his tracks. He is to stop. He is to halt. And he is to be in awe, never treating it as common or profane. He should treat blood as sacred and with respect and awe.
We see that people in Jewish history also followed that. In 2 Samuel 20:12, when Joab deceitfully kills Amasa, he rams his sword through his abdomen. Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the middle of the highway. The whole army that was coming all stood still. And that is an appropriate response to seeing blood pour out because, profoundly, that blood is an emblem of life which only God has the ability to give.
In fact, one commentator suggests this: Isn’t it interesting how, in the first creation, plant food was given to man, but upon the entrance of the curse, what kind of plant food was restricted that man could not take and eat of? The tree of life. Now, in the new cleansed creation here, man is given flesh to eat, but what part of the flesh is he not allowed to eat? Blood, which is the blood of life; the life is in the blood. No one should kill and spill the blood of another human being. “I will punish them life for life if someone does it.”
Why is blood so important? The Reason for this Restriction.
Why shouldn’t people eat blood? Verse 11 is an important verse in this chapter, giving two reasons:
1. The Sacred Nature of Blood: There is life in the blood.
Verse 11 (first part): “For the life of the flesh is in the blood…”
As plainly as He possibly can, God is teaching His people by means of this visual aid that blood has something mysterious and sacred about it, since it is the bearer of life itself. It is only recently that modern medical science has ever understood this great fact. It is blood that maintains your life; if you do not believe it, let your heart stop pumping blood, and you will die in a few seconds. Blood is a highly complex red fluid that has within it cells, antibodies, and nutrients which actually carry life within us. So, blood is a wonderful emblem of the life which man holds within him.
2. The Power of the Blood: It is the only means of atonement.
Verse 11 (second part): “…and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.”
It is blood and blood alone that can make atonement for the sins of the human soul. We find echoes of Noah’s roots here from Genesis 9, where it was life for life, blood for blood. If you shed a man’s blood, there would be blood that would be necessary to pay for your great crime. And so we see God presenting blood as the means of atonement. The Lord is saying, “Your law-breaking against My statutes constitutes a crime that is so heinous that you deserve capital punishment. Your life should be taken. But I have given you blood as a substitute for your life which deserves to be poured out.” “I make the substitutionary provision, life for life. And blood is the fitting emblem of life. And that life to be given for the covering of your sin is My gracious gift. It is My gift that will rescue doomed sinners from their certain retribution and destruction.” So we see the blood’s atoning power and Levitical significance here.
So, we see that all life, whether beast or human, has a halo of awe around that life. A halo of awe around blood, which is the emblem of that life. And the Lord is saying, “No man ought to dare to denigrate or treat blood as profane by eating it, by treating it as a common thing.”
God has jealously guarded that emblem of blood so that whenever we see the red fluid flowing profoundly, we should stand still and be in awe. If any man does not follow this and respect blood, as God says concerning the sacred nature of blood back in Leviticus 17:10b, “for I will set my face against that person who eats blood and treats it profanely. I shall cut him off.” This is a very terrible threat of curse and punishment that should make any man shiver. We saw that “he shall be cut off” is a severe curse in that covenant community, meaning the loss of all the covenant blessings and, instead, a curse. This is comparable to the New Testament’s warning in Hebrews 10:29: “How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?” Even the question of his salvation is in jeopardy. This is the seriousness of the failure to treat blood properly and to recognize that it belongs to God.
If I go out and I make a kill in the open field, I can eat blood as I may well please, and Moses and none of the elders will see it. But we find the Lord is saying, “Though you may easily escape the authority’s punishment, My face sees it; My face is furious with it. You have cheapened life. I have set blood apart as a ceremonial symbol in the places of life so that whenever you see it, you are to stand still in awe, because blood had a sacred nature about it.” So we see this prohibition of blood for two reasons: its sacred nature and its atoning power.
Fourthly: The Prohibition Against Irreverent Hunting (Verses 13–16)
Verses 13–14: “‘Whatever man of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell among you, who hunts and catches any animal or bird that may be eaten, he shall pour out its blood and cover it with dust; for it is the life of all flesh. Its blood sustains its life.’”
Here we are no longer referring to the domesticated animals, such as the goat, ox, or lamb. But here we are referring to the wild animals, such as the deer, gazelle, fox, even tiger, lion, bear, or quail. And the Lord says in these verses, as I read in verse 13, that even in the heat of the hunt—when passions run and adrenaline pumps for the hunter, imagining his life or the animal’s life fighting with a lion—even in the heat of the hunt, there is to be a halo of awe around blood.
Mr. Bonar says this about the adrenaline rush for the hunter: “Let him, the hunter, go, and let him ride furiously over rock and chasm, and let him shoot the arrow. But when they find their kill, and the pool of blood next to the kill, and the blood inside the kill, there they must stand still.” What is the hunter to do when he comes upon his kill? You see, we find in these verses that even amidst the passionate chase, when the blood is running hot within the individual, the blood is not to be made profane.
When one comes upon it, he is still to be struck by that sentinel of awe. He is not to take it to the altar—it is a wild animal, a gazelle, or a quail. But he is to pour that blood into the ground, and cover it with mud.
Why into the ground? Well, back in Genesis 1:24, it speaks of how up from the earth came the living creatures, according to their kinds. God also fashioned them, coming up from the earth, and they were infused by life from God. So that when the life is found in the beast, it is to be poured out back to the ground, from which it came. And though the meat may be eaten, there is to be a proper reverence for the blood.
So we see the whole chapter has four prohibitions: against private slaughtering, against private sacrificing, against blood eating, and against irreverent hunting.
Application
The intense zeal God maintains regarding the sanctity of life. Did you see that in that passage? Clearly, Leviticus 17 casts a halo of sanctity over blood as the symbol of life.
And even if he was out hunting, the blood of any animal he killed had to be treated with respect and poured out and covered over with dirt, lest a ceremonial defilement result. What is God trying to impart with this kind of requirement? What is the lesson that He had for these people which still applies to us? We do not have to follow the letter of these regulations anymore, but we do have to obey the great principles that are involved. You will notice that for an Israelite to violate this requirement was a very serious offense. He was to be cut off from among his people if he did not follow it carefully. So, this must be a very important principle.
Both in creation—God says every man is created in the image of God—and then in Genesis 9, we found there is a sentinel of awe that circles every living creature, and profoundly, a sentinel of awe that circles every creature made in the image of God and His blood. God expects us to regard the life of every man and woman as precious and take care not to spill blood, or engage in both physical, verbal, or mental violence toward life created in God’s image.
But see how far our generation has come from this standard; there is a blasphemous and sacrilegious profaning of life that goes on. There is violence against life everywhere in media, politics, and movies. At least 20 years ago, they would not show blood, or the cutting of a hand or head in movies. But now, without violence, a movie is not a blockbuster movie.
Life and lifeblood are treated so cheaply. Where is the fear of God when blood is shed in our day? God sets His face against an individual or nation who profanes blood and makes life to be a common thing. When blood is shed cheaply, and the hero takes a knife and keeps killing, people whistle. When blood is shed, there is no stopping in one’s tracks. There is just a merrily skipping along to the next victim and laughter when the bloodshed takes place.
Oh, may God help us learn the lesson from this passage and regain the divine sensitiveness we need to maintain about the preciousness of life and blood. Let us not be anesthetized and numb our sensibilities by bloody games, bloody movies, and bloody videos.
Let us not allow our consciences to be numbed by our political and judicial system in our nation that cheapens life and has no value for the common man, instead of highly valuing life. We are becoming more and more uncivilized. Innocents are killed, and by corrupt politicians failing to do their duties, COVID claimed millions of lives; lives are lost in conflicts by terrorists, people are dying provoked by religious conflicts; death by poor road accidents; poor farmers and others are dying of malnutrition, with no medical facility. Government permits, encourages, and subsidizes the bloody slaughtering of infants in the wombs of their mothers. Yesterday, at one rally, I heard that 40 small children died; rivers of blood are flowing. All this blood will come upon these leaders.
Even modern courts, instead of valuing life and following God’s law that when someone takes the life of another, his life should be taken (the only way to stop crimes), now the modern world tries to remove the death penalty. Violating the life for life rule cheapens life. The most violent hero who kills hundreds of people and spills blood in every fight is hailed as a big hero and receives whistles, not realizing that life belongs to God, and God alone has the right to give life and take life, and no man has the right to usurp the prerogatives of God. What that man has done is a crime, breaking God’s law, but we whistle. Our world numbs us and anesthetizes us to the sanctity of life.
All this can have a numbing effect in our life, can I tell you in a few ways? We can hear about the death of people, blood flowing, and think that is normal, with no shock or grief. There is a profane interest in violent things in our day. All these constant violent videos can make us violent and make us angry, making us children of an angry, violent generation who will shed blood. We may not take weapons, but our cheap attitude toward life can make us careless, compassionless, and even violent in our speech. What a profane view of life and blood!
Did not our Lord say he who is angry with his brother is a murderer? He who calls his brother “fool” is guilty before the court. Isn’t this where we sin a lot? James 3:9 rebukes us: “With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God.” Oh, may God teach us to value the other life as precious.
Oh, may we realize blood is sacred, and God is sovereign, and surely the judge of all the earth shall set His face against them, and I shudder to think of the horror that will take place when the judge of all the earth unsheathes His sword and cuts them off.
And brethren, in the meantime, let us not be numbed. Let us not be lulled into an acceptance. It can happen, can’t it? Let us not be lulled into an acceptance. But every time we see it, every time we hear of it, we need to stop in our tracks. We need to be struck with awe at the spilling of blood, and we need to remember when we see it to scream bloody murder, because that is what it is! It is bloody murder! And some of you may even in this reminder be awakened, because it really has lost its shock to you.
Lesson 2: The Unforgettable Lesson of this Chapter
There is life and atonement power in the blood. Remember, this is a symbol lesson. If they have to be saved and live a life as saved people, this is a lesson they should never forget.
Why such importance at this early time? Blood is the type or a shadow of a coming substitute. We see God sets a sentinel of awe that circles blood. But for all covenant Christians, the blood was anticipating the coming of a great substitute. There was an ultimate sacrifice which would be provided by God. There was an ultimate lamb, whose blood would be poured out, whose life would be spilled on the altar of God’s justice. Life for life. And it took place in Jerusalem. And it took place on Golgotha. And it was spilled at the pillar. It was spilled on that mountain. It was spilled on the cross. And below the cross was a pool of blood. And if there was ever something that should cause man to halt, and to stop in their tracks, and to be filled with awe, it is that pool of blood at that great fulfillment. But the Israelites did not know what we now know.
As sinners, we have broken God’s law; we deserve His wrath; we deserve to be cut off. And we deserve to have our blood eternally spilled. As sinners, see, if you want to be saved and live a life as a saved person, never forget there is life and power in the blood.
Our new life started through blood, meaning by the suffering of Christ at the cross, and it can only be sustained with power when we keep living under the shadow of the cross.
The blood of Christ is shorthand for His sacrificial death to make atonement for our sins. Let me give several New Testament verses that highlight the importance of blood:
- Hebrews 9:22: “According to the law, all things are cleansed with blood. And without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.”
- Hebrews 9:12: “…he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing eternal redemption.”
- Hebrews 9:14: “…how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
Hebrews 12:24 says, “We’ve come to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood outside the Garden of Eden.” That blood cried out condemnation upon the one who shed it. But what does the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ shout out? Justification for the one who believes and the one who spilled this blood. Brethren, the life is in the blood.
Or think of Romans 5:9: “How much more, having been justified by His blood, shall we be saved from the wrath of God?” We deserve to be expelled from the presence of God. But with the blood having been sprinkled upon us, we are able to come and draw near to God. And God’s wrath does not come down upon us. The life is in the blood.
- “…knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” (1 Peter 1:19)
- “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood…” (Revelation 1:5)
- “…through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” (Colossians 1:20)
- “…and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” (Romans 3:25)
- “…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” (Romans 5:8–9)
- “…in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses…” (Ephesians 1:7)
- “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:13)
The Power and Necessity of the Blood
This honoring of the blood is not a one-time thing when we are saved, and then we treat the blood lightly. No. If they are to live a life as saved people, this is a lesson they should never forget: there is life and atonement power in the blood. That is why we are made to come to the Lord’s Table every month—never forget this. If you want life and power in the Christian life, you must remember the blood; otherwise, you will be dead.
The easiest way to look at that is the first part of atonement: atone. And if you take the word atone and break it down by the syllables, it is really at-one. And what that means is that if you are lost, you are separated from God.
We know that without the blood, there can be no life to the physical body. Also, without the blood of Christ, there is no life to Christianity. The life of Christianity comes about through the precious, precious blood of Jesus Christ.
The reason that the message of the blood never grows old is that it is the blood of Jesus that the writer John tells us cleanses us from all sin.
Without the blood, we have no message to preach. I am alarmed in the day we are living in that the message of the blood is no longer as significant in the church as it was a few years ago. When you would preach on the blood, people got excited about it. Today, they know everything about it. But how does that change the fact that if you have been saved for 50 years, you are saved because of the blood of Christ? Take the blood of Jesus out of our pulpit, take the blood of Jesus out of our church services, and we really do not have anything to offer hope to people with. But it is the blood of Christ that makes the difference. The church that fails to preach the blood is a church that is dead.
Without the preaching of the blood, there is no life. But there is life in any church that stands for and loves and preaches and teaches. It is the blood of Jesus that saves from all sin and unrighteousness. This blessed book is a portrait of the blood. The brush strokes of the blood are on every page of the Bible. I believe the central theme of the Bible is the blood of Christ.
Living Under the Shadow of the Cross
The blood of Jesus is perfectly pure blood, not only able to save us but what we need perpetually to live the Christian life. Yes, Christ was offered once for all, one sacrifice, but you see, just like Old Testament exercises, morning and evening, sacrifices were offered every day. Every day we need to remember that every time we come to God, we should come only through Christ’s sacrifice. Morning sacrifice, evening sacrifice. Why? Just like the Old Testament people, we continue to sin and defile ourselves. We need to go back to the blood, we need the blood to cover that sin. And it will be there tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day. Perpetual. Oh, bless His name. The Bible says in the Word of God, “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered once into the holy place, having attained eternal redemption for us.”
It is not by one thing you and I ever do that is accepted before God except by the blood and merit of Christ. The blood is powerful.
I also think we will go to heaven because every part of heaven is smeared with His blood. We are told that they overcome the wicked one, Satan, by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. What do they testify about? The blood. You take the blood out, and you do not have any power because you do not have any life.
The blood is protective, just like it protected the Jews in the Passover. It protects us.
Do you know what the Bible says of the devil? He is an accuser of the brethren. He will go back and try to bring out those old charges over and over and over again. You know how it should be tackled. We believe the Lord says, “I have found them not guilty.” By the blood of Jesus, all their sins are gone. They are acquitted.
On the day of judgment, the verdict comes in. The chief justice of all the universe will be able to say, “Not guilty.” And the verdict is, “Not guilty.” Glory, glory, glory. Is there anybody else happy that the guilt is gone? Oh, glory, they are gone, they are gone, they are gone.
In appraisal, the blood is precious. If you want to know how valuable something is, appraise it.
See why sometimes our prayer life, our drawing near to God, is so dead, and we do not sense the presence of God? Because we do not go through the blood. For a few days, we live a decent life outwardly; we learn to go to God like Cain, without blood, offering our own good works and efforts. If you want to continuously experience spiritual life and power, we studied today morning, you need to always approach God through the blood of Christ, the suffering of Christ. Like the old Jew, when he felt strange or distant, he would come through the burnt offering, the blood, and the priest. That is the only way even today if you want to experience God’s presence.
The Only Source of Life
Our Lord Jesus said in John 6:54: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.” Brethren, the life is in the blood. There is life nowhere else but in the blood, and only in the blood. Imagine a Jew who was taught no blood eating as in Leviticus 17 to hear such words. Such a stumbling block.
Christ was pointing out that the restriction was given as a foreshadow of His work as the long-awaited substitutionary sacrifice when He came and died, whose blood must be drunk. “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you. You are dead. But if you do, you abide in me and I in you.” And here is the reality. The idea of the ancients of drinking blood infusing life—no pagan god, but in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not literally and physiologically, but spiritually and symbolically. The drinking of His blood by believing in Him and His sacrifice infuses life every time we come to God. Oh, here is the true transfusion of life, symbolized.
Just as the warning in the old time if you take the blood lightly and start eating, the New Testament has a terrible warning in Hebrews 10:26–29. It says, “if we go on sinning willfully, having received the truth, no sacrifice remains for sins.” “For how much severer punishment do you think He will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, who has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which He was sanctified? And has insulted the Spirit?” If you profane this blood at this table, God’s face will be against you. If you have been engaged in sin in the last week, you come to this table, you plead for forgiveness. You know God will not be mocked. Find cleansing here. And may the fear of Christ’s blood constrain you to be faithful.
But just in conclusion, let me talk to the unbeliever. See if you are here not believing in Christ’s blood, do you see what a terrible warning that is to you? You have shed Christ’s blood by your sin, like Cain. You have been running to and fro over the face of the earth. You are treating the blood of Christ so lightly. That sin is more important for you. Oh, why will you die? This will take you to death and resurrection. Come, there is life and power in the blood. And I say, stop in your tracks and be in awe in the pool of the Son’s blood.