Articles
Blood by Reason of Life
The pages of Leviticus are filled with rules the Israelites were to strictly adhere to. When the Law was fulfilled by Jesus in the New Testament, many of them were done away. Something compelling, is the description of the sacrifices the Israelites were to bring. God always provided a reason for each one and why the Law must be kept. In Leviticus 17:10-13 God covers why the Israelites must not consume the blood of an animal. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement” (Leviticus 17:11). The life of that sacrifice is in its blood, and it is the blood by the reason of its life that any atonement is possible. This is why God calls for animals without blemish and the firstlings.
Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice. “Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). Although He existed in the form of God, He emptied Himself in the form of a man. He endured and overcame temptation, like no man had ever done or will do. He lived the perfect life so that His blood—by reason of His unblemished life—could make atonement for the sins of every man. “He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world” (1 John 2:2).
The animals the Israelites brought as sacrifices were never enough. Sacrifices were being made daily at the alter because man is prone to sin. “Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins” (Ecclesiastes 7:20). No life ever lived, whether man or animal, could ever cover all the sins committed past present and future.. It is “not through the blood of goats and calves, but through Jesus’ own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:12-14).
