The Importance of the Blood

Lev 17:11

If I can take some time to build on the foundation that Brent laid during Sunday school we can save a lot of introduction time. The premise of his lesson was the importance of doctrine which are teachings; specifically Bible teachings. An important point was made that if we do not exercise what we have learned, the possibility of losing what we learned exists. In Lev 17:11 we have the doctrine of life. No blood—no life. It is that simple. I do not think God could have made it any clearer, yet the Talmud has within its pages directions and suggestions on the procedure of bloodletting. There is also evidence that many Christians through the centuries have utilized this practice. Bloodletting was thought to be the cure for many diseases, when in fact it was the cause of many deaths. No blood—no life. Somewhere the importance of the blood was lost in translation. We can consider all of the medical aspects of blood. Blood is the only fluid that is found in every part of the body. The average person has 5 quarts of blood, and it travels through our body every 23 seconds. The blood has several functions that it performs: takes oxygen and nutrients to the cells, and takes away waste products. White blood cells are essential for fighting infection, and an infection in the bloodstream can affect the entire body. But I want to look at the blood from a different perspective. I want to consider why God tells us that the life is in the blood.

1. God has given us the blood. God is the giver of life, so He is the giver of the blood. In the context, we are talking about the blood being given in the sense of sacrificial offering system. God is the author of the sacrificial system. We know from Scripture and personal experience that man is capable of producing his own religious beliefs, with idolatry and works being the centerpieces. We can look back to Israel and the Golden calf at Sinai, or we can look to the multitudes of idols that represent the world’s religious beliefs. God gave the blood and the sacrificial offerings from the time man fell in the Garden.

Genesis 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. Cain and Abel.

If we look to the story of Noah, we see that seven of the clean animals were taken on board, and that was for the purpose of making sacrificial offerings. The Passover is a reminder not only of God’s deliverance, but that the shed blood was necessary for life.

Exodus 12:13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. Then we see this prophecy make itself manifest in the NT.

Hebrews 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

Matthew 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

1 Peter 1:18-19 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: God gave the blood at the altar to make an atonement. It was for a covering. Why is there a need for a covering? Because sin has separated man from God.

Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. God wants that breach to be restored, and it is done through Christ. He was willing to give His only Son so that we can be reconciled to Him.

Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. So we go back to the altar and see what God sees. He sees the blood, which has become a covering for sin. Here is the problem: sins are committed, sacrifices are made, sins are covered, sins are committed again.

Hebrews 10:11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: Think with me back to the days of the prophet Malachi—he was the last of the OT prophets. God speaks through him, and then the Book is closed for 400 years. What is going during that time? Sins, sacrifices, covering, sins…. Then John the Baptist breaks upon the scene and has a new promise for sinful man.

John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

Hebrews 10:12-14 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. We have shifted from covering to cleansing.

Hebrews 9:24-28 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,