Leviticus 17:11

The life of the flesh. Seven times in the books of Moses the prohibition against eating blood is repeated (Gen. 9:4; Lev. 3:17; 7:26, 27; 17:10; Deut. 12:16, 23, 24; 15:23). The reason given is that blood represents life; in fact, the blood is the life. This is true in a very literal sense. The blood carries nourishment, strength, and warmth to every part of the body, and carries away all that harms and destroys. It is the indispensible medium without which life is impossible. All other parts of the body are nourished by it. If a wound occurs anywhere, blood brings to it the needed material for healing it. Science is continually learning new facts about the blood, and every one discovered increases our wonder at its amazing qualities.

Blood holds a high place in the plan of salvation. The blood of Christ is repeatedly described as the vital element in redemption. Hence we have such expressions as “purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28); “redemption through his blood” (Eph. 1:7); “peace through the blood” (Col. 1:20); “sanctify the people with his own blood” (Heb. 13:12); “the blood of the everlasting covenant” (Heb. 13:20); “sprinkling of the blood” (1 Peter 1:2); “the Spirit, and the water, and the blood” (1 John 5:8); “not by water only, but by water and blood” (1 John 5:6); “washed us from our sins in his own blood” (Rev. 1:5). Remove the doctrine of the blood and blood atonement from the Bible and we are left without a Saviour. He was “brought as a lamb to the slaughter,” and “with his stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:7, 5).

It must indeed have been a hard saying for the people and the disciples when Christ announced, “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life” (John 6:53, 54, 60). For the sincere Christian these words have deep meaning. They call to mind the words of the new covenant, the blood covenant, the symbol of which is the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11:25).

An atonement for the soul. Literally, “a covering for the soul.” It is the blood that makes atonement, because of the life that is in it. Christ’s blood makes atonement because it represents His life. Christ’s death accomplished one purpose, His life another; and the two together assure us of salvation. By His death Christ paid the penalty and satisfied the claims of the law; by His life He assures us of life (see Rom. 5:10).