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LIFE BLOOD

Genesis 9:4 "But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.

This is a universal prohibition for all mankind - as all mankind was represented in Noah and family. God gave man the permission to eat the flesh of animals, but the blood of these animals was to be forever off limits. Even down to and through the Christian era, the eating of blood was to be strictly prohibited.

Acts 15:19 "Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, 20 "but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood. . . . 28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: 29 that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.

Why? What was it about the blood that puts it off limits to all. In Leviticus we find an answer to that question.

Leviticus 17:10 'And whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell among you, who 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 to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.'

“For it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.�?/FONT> All death in this world, including the death of Jesus, is the result of sin. Blood is shed, even Christ’s blood was shed, because man sinned. The blood stands in type and symbol for the blood of Christ - the blood by which we are cleansed from all unrighteousness. Not only does the blood of these animals declare the guilt of man, but also the atoning sacrifice of Jesus.

“No blood was eaten under the law, because it pointed out the blood that was to be shed for the sin of the world; and under the Gospel it should not be eaten, because it should ever be considered as representing the blood which has been shed for the remission of sins.�?Adam Clark

And so the blood of animals is set forth as a perpetual reminder, not only of man’s guilt but also of the blood shed by Christ for man’s redemption. Whenever the blood of an animal is spilled onto the ground it is a reminder that death exists in this world because of man’s sin. Whenever the blood of an animal is spilled onto the ground it is a reminder that our sins cost Jesus His life, that because of our sins His blood was also spilled onto the ground that we may be redeemed. “For it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul