The Life of All Flesh Is in the Blood

 

Thus, God said in the law that whoever eats “any manner of blood” would be cut off from among His people.

 

Leviticus 19:26 “Ye shall not eat anything with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantments, nor practise augury.”

 

In fact, even before the law, God had said to Noah and his sons, “You may eat meat, but you shall not eat it with its blood.”

 

Genesis 9:3-4 “3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be food for you; as the green herb have I given you all. 4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.”

 

And concerning the reason for this, He said that the life of the flesh is in the blood.

 

Leviticus 17:14 “For as to the life of all flesh, the blood thereof is all one with the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh; for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.”

 

Deuteronomy 12:22-24 “22 Even as the gazelle and as the hart is eaten, so thou shalt eat thereof: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof alike. 23 Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou shalt not eat the life with the flesh. 24 Thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it out upon the earth as water.”

 

Thus, because life is in the blood, He said that blood makes atonement for sin.

 

Hebrews 9:22 “And according to the law, I may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.”

 

For this reason, man must not eat the blood together with the flesh. And yet Jesus said the following:

 

John 6:53-57 “53 Jesus therefore said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have not life in yourselves. 54 He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he that eateth me, he also shall live because of me.”

 

Thus, Jesus repeatedly said that we must eat His flesh and drink His blood in order to live. Then, does this word of Jesus contradict the law mentioned earlier, which says, “You shall not eat anything with the blood”?

 

It does not. Jesus said that “the Scriptures bear witness of Me.”

 

John 5:39 “Ye search the scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of me.”

 

Because this word is truth, when we look from this perspective, we can understand that the command in the law not to eat blood was given because the life of the flesh is in the blood and because blood makes atonement for sin. Therefore, we can see that this blood was bearing witness to the blood of Jesus.

 

In the same context, we can also understand why God told Moses and Aaron at the time of the Exodus to “take a lamb, and put its blood on the two side-posts and on the lintel of the houses wherein they shall eat it.”

 

Exodus 12:12-13 “12 For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am Jehovah. 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 there shall no plague be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.”

 

Because life was in the blood of the lamb, and because that blood made atonement for sin, the plague of the tenth judgment, the death of the firstborn, passed over the houses on which the blood had been applied. The feast that commemorates this day is the Passover. This Passover lamb bears witness to Jesus.

 

1 Corinthians 5:7 “Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, even as ye are unleavened. For our passover also hath been sacrificed, even Christ.”

 

Therefore, Jesus told the Jews to eat His flesh and drink His blood so that they might live. And at the Last Supper with His disciples, Jesus again told them to eat His flesh and drink His blood.

 

Matthew 26:26-28 “26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it; and he gave to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. 27 And he took a cup, and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many unto remission of sins.”

 

Amen. Truly, the blood of Jesus is the blood of the covenant, poured out so that mankind may receive the remission of sins. Therefore, today we also must all drink this blood of Jesus.

 

Acts 10:9-16 “9 Now on the morrow, as they were on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour: 10 and he became hungry, and desired to eat: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance; 11 and he beholdeth the heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending, as it were a great sheet, let down by four corners upon the earth: 12 wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts and creeping things of the earth and birds of the heaven. 13 And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill and eat. 14 But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common and unclean. 15 And a voice came unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, make not thou common. 16 And this was done thrice: and straightway the vessel was received up into heaven.”

 

The blood of animals under the law is a shadow and a type of the blood of Jesus, which would later be revealed.

 

Hebrews 9:18-23 “18 Wherefore even the first covenant hath not been dedicated without blood. 19 For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses unto all the people according to the law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, This is the blood of the covenant which God commanded to you-ward. 21 Moreover the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry he sprinkled in like manner with the blood. 22 And according to the law, I may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission. 23 It was necessary therefore that the copies of the things in the heavens should be cleansed with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.”

 

Hebrews 10:1, 4 “1 For the law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things, they can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect them that draw nigh. 4 For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.”

 

Hebrews 10:9-10 “9 ... He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. 10 By which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

 

Therefore, under the gospel, it is not the blood of animals but the blood of Jesus that cleanses us.

 

1 John 1:7 “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

 

Therefore, today we also must all receive the remission of sins by drinking the blood of Jesus, that is, by the name of Jesus (Luke 24:47, Acts 10:43). Then, according to the word of Jesus, those who drink the blood of Jesus will not be cut off, but will receive eternal life.

 

1 John 2:12 “I write unto you, my little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.”

 

John 6:54-55 “54 He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.”

 

Amen.