#DailyDevotion The Life Is In The Blood!
Easter Week 4 Thursday
Read Lev 17:1–16
Lev 17:10-14 “If any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn among them eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. (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. (12) Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood. (13) “Any one also of the people of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among them, who takes in hunting any beast or bird that may be eaten shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth. (14) For the life of every creature is its blood: its blood is its life. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off.
It seems like a pretty stiff penalty for eating blütwurst doesn’t it. But there is a point in it. And it’s a good thing that the Old Testament law has been abrogated by Christ Jesus. But the fine point of the message here is that the life is in the blood. When you spill something’s blood you are removing its life. They were not to eat the life of the animal but only its flesh. The life belonged to God. So whether it was a sacrifice or a quick meal on the run, the life belonged to God by having its blood poured out at the temple as an offering for sin or buried in the ground.
Hebrews tells us there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood. You see the wages of sin is death. The only way to escape death was t to shed blood, that is an alternate life must be offered up. Hebrews also tell us that the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sins or give a clear conscience.
But all this bloodshed at the temple represented the blood Jesus would shed for us in his innocent suffering and death. The sin we commit is always against an eternal God. It would take the like of an eternal God to atone for our sin against him. Jesus is eternal God. Having become man eternal God has blood he can shed to make atonement for our sin and in particular you sin. Through holy baptism you are washed in the blood of Jesus because you are baptized into his death. Rom. 6:3 ff.
And unlike the Old Testament sacrifices where you did not eat the blood, Jesus in his Supper gives us his very blood to drink for in drinking his blood in the cup of the sacrament we are participating in the New Testament. Jer. 31:31ff Jesus’ blood is unlike the animals blood. Jesus is the Author of Life. His blood gives us forgiveness, His life and His salvation. No longer is the blood poured out on the ground or put on the temple made with hands. You are the temple of God upon which and in which God’s blood is poured on, in and anointed with.
Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for shedding you life-giving blood for us and anointed us with that blood in baptism and your Supper. Ever give us such faith in your blood that we may participate in your eternal life. Amen.