One missionary traveled to a deep forest tribal area where no modern man had traveled before. 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 do they not think that it is enough just to offer grain, cloth, trinkets, or something like that? They feel the spirits are not so easily satisfied—it takes blood. In fact, they believe that the more precious and pure the blood they offer as a sacrifice, the more God will be pleased. That is why they offered child sacrifices, thinking that child’s blood is pure and deeply precious to them. Even now in the modern 21st century, why do we repeatedly hear—even in developed cities like Delhi, Bangalore, and Chennai—of child sacrifices being made to gods?
This reflects a deeply embedded law of God in the human heart, given when He created man: that there is life and power in the blood. When man angers God, he deserves to die, and the only way he can receive 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 true way of atonement.
We have been seeing how God is teaching His people, the Israelites, the true way to find acceptance with Him. We are at Leviticus 17. After addressing atonement, God teaches His ancient people how to live as His redeemed people. Now He starts with their attitude toward blood in chapter 17, and then toward sex in chapter 18. If you think of our sins against the second tablet of the law, these are foundational issues, and proper understanding here 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 through 7 contain the prohibition against private slaughtering or killing of animals, and verses 8 and 9 contain the prohibition against private sacrificing. Today, we come to the next two: thirdly, verses 10 through 12 contain the prohibition against eating blood; and fourthly, verses 13 through 16 contain the prohibition against irreverent hunting. All of these relate to the careless handling of blood.
From verse 10 onwards, we see the prohibition against eating blood. Verse 10 says, “And whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell among you, who eats any blood…”—referring to individuals consuming gravy or juice with blood in their meat. The core concern here is the eating of blood.
God issues a solemn warning: “I will set My face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people.”
Among pagans, there was the idea that drinking and eating blood resulted in the infusion or 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 bound up with blood. The blood of a beast, but even more so the blood of a man, is never to be treated profanely.
The root of this sacredness starts from creation in Genesis—where man was created in God’s image—and continues in the Noahic covenant. In Genesis 9:4, 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 that 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—is exempted.
God points out blood as something special. He sets a fence around all blood, and reverence enshrines it. When a person sees blood, whether it be the blood of a beast or the blood of a man, he is to stand still in his tracks. He is to stop, halt, and be in awe, never treating it as a common or profane thing. He should treat blood as sacred, with respect and awe.
We see in Jewish history that people observed this principle. Old Testament believers understood this. In 2 Samuel 20:12, when Joab deceitfully kills Amasa by taking his sword and thrusting it through his abdomen, Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the middle of the highway. As the whole army came along, everyone stood still. That is an appropriate response to seeing blood pour out, because that blood is a profound emblem of life, which only God has the power 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 so that man could not take and eat of it? The Tree of Life. Now, in the new, cleansed creation after the Flood, man is given flesh to eat, but what part of the flesh is he not allowed to eat? Blood, which is the life—for the life is in the blood. No one should kill and spill the blood of another human being without account; God declares, “I will punish them, life for life, if someone does so.”
Why is blood so important? What is the reason for this restriction against eating blood? Verse 11 is the pivotal verse in this chapter, giving two key reasons.
First, the sacred nature of blood: there is life in the blood. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood…” As plainly as possible, 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 in modern times that medical science has fully understood this great fact. It is blood that maintains your life; if your heart stops pumping blood, in a few seconds you die. Blood is a complex fluid carrying cells, antibodies, and nutrients that sustain life within us. Thus, blood is a wonderful emblem of the life that man holds within him.
Second, there is power in the blood—great atoning power. Blood is the divinely appointed means of atonement. Verse 11 continues: “…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 the Noahic principles here from Genesis 9, where it was life for life, blood for blood. If you shed a man’s blood, blood is necessary to pay for that 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 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. Blood is the fitting emblem of life, and that life given for the covering of your sin is My gracious gift. It is My gift that rescues doomed sinners from certain retribution and destruction.” Here we see the Levitical significance of the blood’s atoning power.
So we see that over all life—whether of a beast or of one made in God’s image—there is a halo of awe. There is a halo of awe around blood, which is the emblem of that life. The Lord is saying that no man should dare to denigrate or profane blood by eating it or treating it as a common thing. God has jealously guarded this emblem of blood so that whenever we see the red fluid flowing, we should stand still and be filled with reverence.
If anyone fails to respect blood, God declares in Leviticus 17:10, “I will set My face against that person who eats blood and treats it profanely; I shall cut him off.” This is a severe warning of judgment that should cause anyone to tremble. To be “cut off” meant losing all covenant blessings and coming under a curse within the community. This is comparable to warnings in the New Testament—such as those in Hebrews concerning someone who initially tastes God’s salvation and later treats it lightly, ending up in a state worse than the first. Hebrews 10:29 asks: “How much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?” This underscores the gravity of failing to treat blood properly and failing to recognize that it belongs to God.
Someone might think, “If I go out and make a kill in the open field, I can eat blood as I please, and neither Moses nor the elders will see it.” But the Lord says that though you may escape human authority, His face sees it, and His anger is kindled against it. You have cheapened life. God has set blood apart as a ceremonial symbol of life so that whenever you see it, you are to stand still in awe because of its sacred nature. So we see this prohibition of blood for two reasons: its sacred nature and its atoning power.
Next, we see the prohibition against irreverent hunting in verses 13 through 16: “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 the text is no longer referring to domesticated animals, such as the goat, ox, or lamb, but to wild animals and birds, such as the deer, gazelle, quail, or other game. The Lord says in verse 13 that even in the heat of the hunt—when passions run high and adrenaline pumps for the hunter—there is still to be a halo of awe around blood. Commentator Horatius Bonar noted this regarding the adrenaline rush of the hunter: let the hunter ride furiously over rock and chasm, and let him shoot his arrow; but when he comes upon his kill, and sees the pool of blood beside it and within it, there he must stop. What is the hunter to do upon finding his kill? We find in these verses that even amid the passionate chase, when the adrenaline is running high, the blood is not to be profaned.
When one comes upon it, he is still to be struck by reverence. He is not to take it to the altar, for it is a wild animal—a gazelle or a quail—but he is to pour that blood into the ground and cover it with dirt.
Why into the ground? Genesis 1:24 speaks of how living creatures came forth from the earth according to their kinds. God fashioned them from the earth and infused them with life, so when that life in the beast is ended, its blood is to be poured back into the ground from which it came. Though the meat may be eaten, there must be proper reverence for the blood.
Thus, looking at the whole chapter, we see four prohibitions: the prohibition against private slaughtering, the prohibition against private sacrificing, the prohibition against blood eating, and the prohibition against irreverent hunting.
Application
Consider the intense zeal God maintains regarding the sanctity of life. Clearly, Leviticus 17 casts a halo of sanctity over blood as the symbol of life. Even if a man was out hunting, the blood of any animal he killed had to be treated with respect, poured out, and covered with dirt, lest ceremonial defilement result. What is God imparting through this requirement? What lesson did He have for those people that still applies to us? While we do not follow the ceremonial letter of these Old Testament dietary regulations today, we must obey the great underlying principles involved. An Israelite’s violation of this requirement was a very serious offense—he was to be cut off from among his people if he failed to observe it carefully—showing how important this principle is.
Both in creation—where God made man in His own image—and in Genesis 9, we find that a sentinel of awe encircles every living creature, and most profoundly, every creature made in the image of God. God expects us to regard the life of every man and woman as precious, taking care not to spill blood or engage in physical, verbal, or mental violence against life created in His image.
Yet see how far our generation has drifted from this standard. There is a blasphemous and sacrilegious profaning of life all around us. Violence against life is everywhere in the media, politics, and entertainment. Decades ago, media standards refrained from showing explicit bloodshed, but today violence is routinely glorified.
Life and life-blood 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 a nation that profanes blood and treats life as a common thing. When blood is shed casually on screen, characters move on to the next victim while audiences applaud the destruction.
May God help us learn the lesson from this passage and regain the divine sensitivity we need regarding the preciousness of life and blood. Let us not allow our sensibilities to be dirtied or numbed by violent games, movies, and videos.
Let us not allow our conscience to be dulled by worldly systems that cheapen human life. Rather than highly valuing life, human society often drifts into cruelty: innocent lives are lost through corruption and neglect; millions suffer through conflict, terrorism, neglect, poor infrastructure, and poverty without adequate care. Millions of unborn infants lose their lives through abortion—rivers of blood for which leaders and societies will answer to God.
Even in legal systems, when human life is taken, true justice requiring proper retribution is often set aside, violating the foundational rule of “life for life” and further cheapening the value of human existence.
When violent figures who spill blood casually are hailed and celebrated, people fail to realize that life belongs to God alone. God alone has the ultimate right to give and take life, and no man has the right to usurp His prerogative. To disregard the value of life is to break God’s law. We must not allow the world to numb us to the sacred sanctity of life.
All this can have a numbing effect on our lives. We can hear about the death of people and blood flowing, and think that it is normal—feeling no shock or grief. There is a profane interest in violent things in our day. Constant exposure to violent videos can make us angry and violent—children of an angry generation who are quick to shed blood. Even if we do not pick up physical weapons, our cheap view of life can make us careless, heartless, and violent in our speech. What a profane view of life and blood!
Didn’t our Lord say that whoever is angry with his brother is subject to judgment, and whoever calls his brother a fool is answerable to the court? Oh, may we learn to truly respect life and maintain a halo of sanctity around blood, honoring the principle of life for life.
How much we sin in our minds and words, even if not in our outward actions. What violent thoughts we entertain, and what cruel words we speak against another soul created in God’s image! James rebukes us in James 3:9, saying, “With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God.” Isn’t this where we sin so often? Oh, may God teach us to value every human life as precious.
May we realize that blood is sacred and that God is sovereign. Surely the Judge of all the earth shall set His face against those who profane life, and I shudder to think of the terror that will take place when the Judge of all the earth unsheathes His sword to cut them off.
In the meantime, brethren, let us not be numbed or lulled into passive acceptance. It can happen so easily, can’t it? Let us not be lulled into acceptance. Every time we see or hear of life being cheapened, we need to stop in our tracks. We need to be struck with awe at the spilling of blood, and we need to call out the gravity of it for what it truly is—murder! Some of you may need this very reminder to be awakened, because the violence of the world has lost its shock value to you.
Secondly, consider the unforgettable lesson of this chapter: there is life and atoning power in the blood. Remember that this was a symbolic lesson. If the Israelites were to be saved and live as God’s redeemed people, this was a truth they could never afford to forget.
Why was such importance placed on this at such an early time? Blood was the shadow and type of a coming Substitute. God set a sentinel of awe that circled all blood. For covenant believers, animal blood pointed forward to the coming of a great Substitute. There was an ultimate sacrifice that would be provided by God—an ultimate Lamb whose blood would be poured out and whose life would be given on the altar of God’s justice.
It was life for life, and it took place in Jerusalem, on Golgotha. His blood was spilled at the whipping post, on that mountain, and upon the cross. Below the cross was a pool of blood. If there was ever something that should cause men to halt, stop in their tracks, and be filled with awe, it is that pool of blood at the great fulfillment of redemption. Yet many did not recognize what we now know.
As sinners, we have broken God’s law, deserved His wrath, and earned the right to be cut off—our blood eternally required of us. If you want to be saved and live as a redeemed person, never forget that there is life and power in the blood. Our new life began through blood—meaning through the suffering and death of Christ on the cross—and it can only be sustained with spiritual power when we continue living under the shadow of the cross.
The blood of Christ is Scripture’s shorthand for His sacrificial death to make atonement for our sins. Notice how the New Testament highlights the necessity and glory of the blood:
- Hebrews 9:22: “According to the law, almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.”
- Hebrews 9:12: “Not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”
- Hebrews 9:14: “…how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
- Hebrews 12:24: “…to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.” The blood of Abel cried out for condemnation upon the one who shed it, but what does the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ proclaim? Justification for the one who believes, even though our sins drove Him to the cross. Brethren, the life is in the blood!
- Romans 5:9: “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.” We deserved to be expelled from the presence of God, but with His blood sprinkled upon us, we are able to draw near, and God’s wrath no longer rests upon us.
- 1 Peter 1:18–19: “…knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
- Revelation 1:5: “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood…”
- Colossians 1:20: “…and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”
- Romans 3:24–25: “…being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith…”
- Ephesians 1:7: “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace…”
- Ephesians 2:13: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”
Honoring the blood is not something we do merely once when we are first saved, only to treat it lightly afterward. If we are to live as saved people, this is a lesson we must never forget: there is life and atoning power in the blood. This is why we gather at the Lord’s Table—to remember this continually. If you want life and power in your Christian walk, you must stay near the cross; otherwise, spiritual decay sets in.
The root of the word atonement carries the sense of being made “at one.” If you are lost, you are separated from God. Without physical blood, there can be no physical life in the body; likewise, without the blood of Christ, there is no spiritual life in Christianity. The very vitality of the Christian faith flows through the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
The message of the blood never grows old because it is the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from all sin. Without the blood, we have no gospel to preach. It is concerning when the message of the blood is minimized in the church. When the blood is preached faithfully, hearts are stirred. Whether you have been saved for fifty years or fifty days, you are saved solely because of the blood of Christ. Take the blood of Jesus out of our pulpits and out of our services, and we have nothing left that offers true hope to lost souls. It is the blood of Christ that makes all the difference. A church that fails to preach the blood is spiritually dead, whereas vitality marks any church that loves, preaches, and honors it.
This blessed Book is a portrait painted in blood—the brushstrokes of the blood are on every page of the Bible, for it is the central theme of Scripture.
The blood of Jesus is perfectly pure blood that saves us, and we need its cleansing power continually as we walk with God. Christ was offered once for all as the final, perfect sacrifice, yet just as Old Testament worshipers brought their morning and evening sacrifices daily, we must approach God every day relying solely on Christ’s merits. Why? Because we stumble and defile ourselves daily. We need to return to the blood for daily cleansing, and His grace remains sufficient day after day. Scripture declares in Hebrews 9:12 that by His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Nothing we do in our own strength is accepted before God apart from the blood and merit of Jesus Christ. The blood is all-powerful. We will reach heaven only because the entrance has been opened by His blood. Revelation tells us that the saints overcame the accuser by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. If you remove the blood, you remove all power and life.
The blood is also our protection, just as it protected the Israelites on the night of the Passover. The devil is the accuser of the brethren, constantly bringing up past charges against us. How do we answer him? We stand on the promise of God that we are declared righteous through the blood of Jesus—our sins are forgiven, and we are acquitted. On the day of judgment, the Supreme Judge of the universe will declare the verdict: “Not guilty.” What joy to know that our guilt has been removed!
When you appraise the blood of Christ, its value is infinite. Why does our prayer life or our sense of God’s presence sometimes feel cold and dry? Often it is because we attempt to draw near without relying on the blood. We live decently for a few days and then approach God like Cain, bringing our own good works and self-effort instead of relying on the sacrifice of Christ. If you want to experience ongoing spiritual life and power, you must always approach God through the blood of Christ. When an Old Testament believer felt alienated, he brought his offering to the altar through the blood and the priest; that is the only way to draw near today as well if you wish to experience the presence of God.
Our Lord Jesus declared in John 6:54, “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life.” Brethren, the life is in the blood, and there is life nowhere else. Imagine how striking those words sounded to an Old Testament Jew who had been taught from Leviticus 17 never to consume blood!
Christ was showing that the Old Testament prohibition served as a foreshadowing of His work. He came as the long-awaited substitutionary sacrifice whose life must be received by faith. He stated, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.” Here is the glorious reality: what ancient people sought through false means—the infusion of divine life—is truly found only in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not in a literal or physical sense, but spiritually through faith in His finished sacrifice. Receiving His sacrifice infuses spiritual life into our souls every time we draw near to God. It is a true spiritual transformation.
Just as there were severe warnings in the Old Covenant against treating blood lightly, the New Testament gives a solemn warning in Hebrews 10:26–29: “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins… How much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?” If you come to the Lord’s Table while willfully harboring unrepentant sin, remember that God will not be mocked. Come seeking His forgiveness, find true cleansing through His blood, and let the awe of Christ’s sacrifice constrain you to walk faithfully.
Finally, to anyone who has not yet trusted in Christ: see what a solemn warning this is for you. Your sin is an offense against the Savior, yet you may have been wandering carelessly, treating the blood of Christ lightly and choosing sin instead. Why will you perish when life is offered to you? There is life and power in the blood. Stop in your tracks today, look in awe at the sacrifice of the Son of God, and turn to Him for eternal life.