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Life is in The Blood

  • 10 hours ago
  • 6 min read
HighBeamMinistry.com

“For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have appointed it to you to make atonement on the altar for your lives, since it is the lifeblood that makes atonement.” (Leviticus 17:11)

 

As a pastor-teacher, one of my biggest peeves, though not my pet peeve, is how ignorant many Christians are of the Hebrew scriptures.

 

Because the Hebrew scriptures are referred to as the “Old Covenant” (marked by Israel’s relationship with God under the Mosaic/Sinai covenant), and the Apostolic scriptures are referred to as the “New Covenant” (marked by any believer’s relationship with God through Jesus’ New Covenant), many Christians view the left side of the Bible as mostly irrelevant and not worth diving into deeply.

 

So sad.

 

And completely irresponsible.

 

News Flash! The Bible is one book. It reveals humanity’s creation, failure, and restoration via the Father’s plan through Jesus’ work.

 

If you just read the right side of the Bible (the Gospels, Epistles, and Revelation), you’ll receive enough revelation to “get saved,” i.e., spiritually regenerated inside, reconnected relationally to the Father’s family, and restored to standing right with our Creator. Also, God living in us through His Holy Spirit is a big plus. Just sayin’.

 

But ignorance of the Bible’s left side creates serious problems—misunderstandings, confusion, and little to no frame of reference for what we’re reading about Jesus and His 1st-century community of disciples.

 

Let me share one example.

 

I’ve often heard or read about non-believers and God-seekers getting “weirded out” by the boring and bloody sacrificial system described in the first five books (the Torah), especially in Leviticus. And yet, because of the New Covenant scriptures’ references and explanations about blood sacrifices, many Christians understand that the sacrificial system was a temporary “fix” for the sin issue. People could then draw close to the Lord until the reality, Jesus, could make a final, continually effective sacrifice to neutralize sin and guilt for the repentant follower.

 

But the whole “blood” thing still weirds them out.

 

Let me give you a fresh perspective, perhaps one you’ve never heard before, perhaps because you haven’t dived deep into the left side of the Bible.

 

“For the life of a creature is in the blood.” 

 

What’s the point of a blood sacrifice? Why the focus on blood?

 

That’s because blood is the vehicle that keeps life active in our bodies. As God said in His word, “Life is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11, paraphrased). No blood, no life. That’s why we often refer to it as our lifeblood.

 

The thing is, many people look at the blood aspect of the Old Covenant sacrifice and get the ick factor. Flowing blood grosses many people out. The sight of blood makes some people pass out. It takes repeated exposure to the sight of blood to desensitize a person to the abnormality that blood is supposed to be inside of a person or animal. When blood leaks out of its fleshy container, we know by instinct and experience that death is present.

 

That’s the Lord’s point. Life is in the blood. When blood escapes, so does life. The absence of life is the state of the dead container.

 

“I have appointed it to you to make atonement on the altar for your lives, since it is the lifeblood that makes atonement.”

 

God has graciously provided a way to free us from our personal death sentence or cleanse us from any spiritual contamination that stains us when we sin. Don’t miss the most important point here. God gave us the way so we can approach Him. This way is a gift from Him. It’s not the blood itself that accomplishes such a magnificent task. It’s what the blood represents—life.

 

Our loving heavenly Father has graciously created a process so that an unstained-by-sin life may be exchanged for a stained-by-sin life so that death, the separation caused by sin, is neutralized. No sin = no separation.

 

Under the Torah (the Law), a person’s sinful state is a form of death because it separates us from God. But under the sacrificial system, any person could receive forgiveness and cleansing through the Grand Exchange, the innocent animal’s life for my contaminated and guilty life. It’s an acceptable exchange, because our Father designed it that way.

 

But it’s not a perfect exchange. Animals are not people, even though I’ve seen some animals behave better than some folks. That’s why animal sacrifices had to be performed over and over, because people kept getting themselves schmutzed up when they sinned.

 

When the time was right in the Father’s plan, He sent Jesus to be that sacrifice, the Life-Giver, to make the Grandest Exchange. Because Jesus was human, He is our perfect equivalent. Because Jesus is also God the Son, His sacrifice transcends any limitation as to the number of people cleansed or how deeply their sin has consumed them.

 

One “Yes!” to Jesus and the slate is wiped, and the Father embraces us, welcoming us home.

 

Again, it’s not Jesus’ physical blood as if it were some strange fluid with which to be doused or a magical elixir to be consumed. It’s what Jesus’ blood represents—His life!

 

A life for a life.

 

Because Jesus is God, the source of life, He continually pours His life into us, soaks us in His life, and rinses us clean when we sin. The active word is “continually.”

 

But the word “blood” still confuses some of the saved and unsaved. Imagine that you’re an unchurched, unsaved person visiting a Christian congregation, and the music team lets loose with songs like “The Blood” (David Funk) or “Thank You, Jesus, for the Blood” (Charity Gayle). While the lyrics are solid, the whole exaltation of “Jesus’ blood” sounds a little gruesome and gory. Some blood-themed Christian music gives the impression to the uninitiated seeker as if they’ve stumbled into a strange, blood-focused death cult. So, let’s help them out.

 

Think of “blood” as “life” instead. Don’t take issue with me, sir or ma’am. God Himself made the equivalence that the life of a thing is in the blood. Blood = Life.

 

Here’s something that might help you. It hit me hard during this last Sunday’s worship service. I was mulling the whole blood = life thing when the song The Blood began.

 

Everything changed, it’s getting harder to recognize

The person I was before I encountered Christ

I don’t walk like I used to

I don’t talk like I used to

I’ve been washed from the inside

I’ve been washed from the inside out

 

Hallelujah, hallelujah

I know it was the blood

Could have only been the blood

Hallelujah, hallelujah

I know it was the blood

Could have only been the blood

 

Based on God’s revelation that “the life is in the blood,” I suddenly switched to:

 

Hallelujah, hallelujah

I know it was Your life

Could have only been Your life

Hallelujah, hallelujah

I know it was Your life

Could have only been Your life

 

Granted, it changed the “blood” metaphor, but it spoke to me much deeper, and conveyed more fully the profound truth revealed in the blood sacrifice act. It connected me to the truth of what actually is the force that brings people to life spiritually, and forgives and cleanses them.

 

Jesus’ life can never run out, because He IS Life. He is the source of all life. Death is separation from, and the absence of, His life.

 

Jesus’ life is the power that gives life.

 

Jesus’ life is transactional—His life exchanged for mine.

 

Because Jesus surrendered His life on my behalf, I don’t have to surrender my life as a consequence for violating God’s law.

 

However, after I’m born again, alive forevermore, and never to be separated from God, it’s my turn. As the animal surrendered its life to bring life to others, and as Jesus surrendered His life to bring life to others, so I am now a living sacrifice whose life is to bring life to others by living Jesus’ way. The only “death” I experience is saying to my desires, “you’re dead to me.” In dying to myself, I can live for Jesus and share His life with others.

 

Yes, we read about Jesus’ blood in the right side of the Bible. But it’s only when we understand Jesus’ blood according to the left side of the Bible as well that we begin to grasp the profundity of God’s singular word and its implications for us.

 

There is pow’r, pow’r, wonder-working pow’r

In the Life of the Lamb;

There is pow’r, pow’r, wonder-working pow’r

In the precious Life of the Lamb.

 

Next time you’re worshipping, give it a try.


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Shining the Light of God’s Truth on the Road Ahead

 

Pastor Jay Christianson

The Truth Barista, Frothy Thoughts

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