What Is the Significance of Blood in the Bible?
He leads me …
The shedding of blood as part of an animal sacrifice is something many modern Bible readers do not think much about. Our general understanding of animal sacrifices come from all sorts of sources, and many are not biblical. We may have read about pagan practices in the Greek temples through to modern day examples, such as the suspended Gadhimai festival in southern Nepal. At this festival a mass-slaughter of hundreds of thousands of water buffalo, goats, pigs, chickens, pigeons, ducks and rats were sacrificed to please the goddess Gadhimai. In return for the sacrifice the goddess was expected to protect the people from evil, and provide them with prosperity and power.[1]
For the Israelites, cutting an animal’s throat and letting its blood (its life) drain from its body was an important visual symbol of what was required to pay for their sin and self-centredness. While cheating our neighbour or stealing something is not life threatening, when these kinds of actions are multiplied across hundreds of thousands of people, the result is an immoral and destructive population. This in turn creates a serious decline in general standards that we see many examples of throughout the Bible.
However, the animal’s death does not just remind us of sin’s regrettable outcomes. The sacrifice was also offered as an alternative to the people personally having to suffer for their own sin. Because sin breaks down God’s world due to loss and pain, then He is perfectly entitled to make people face the consequences of their actions. Fortunately for us, He genuinely loves His creation and does not want to execute the sinners, so He substituted an animal’s life in exchange for us.
Why sacrifice the blood?
Blood is a transport liquid where oxygen from the lungs and nutrients from the stomach are pumped by the heart to all parts of the body. It then carries away carbon dioxide for the lungs to exhale, and other waste products to the liver, kidneys and intestine to be discharged from the body. The blood then goes back to the heart where the process is repeated.
If the blood flow stops, death occurs within minutes and the body starts to break down. We see from this that when the blood is flowing as it should, there is life, but if the blood flow stops, there is death. This is why God referred to blood as the lifeblood.[2]
Let us look at what God actually says about the importance of blood as a sacrifice. In Leviticus 17:10-12 (EXB) we read -
“I will be against any citizen [ anyone from the house] of Israel or foreigner living with you [sojourner; wanderer; resident alien] who eats blood. I will cut off that person from the people. This is because the life of the body is in the blood, and I have given you rules for pouring that blood on the altar to remove your sins so you will belong to the Lord [to make atonement]. It is the blood that removes the sins [makes atonement], because it is life. So I tell the people [sons; children] of Israel this: “None of you may eat blood, and no foreigner living among you [resident alien] may eat blood.”
In Old Testament times, the pagans knew that there was life in the blood, therefore they would eat or drink it to take that life for themselves. The godly Israelite on the other hand saw that the life of the flesh is in the blood, but that it belonged to God and not to them. This was part of an important view that life belongs to God. The result is that God will cut off that person who takes authority over life for themselves.
“Because the life of a creature is in the blood, blood makes atonement for one’s life. One life is sacrificed for another. The shedding of substitutionary blood on the altar makes atonement, since the blood of the innocent victim was given for the life of the one who has sinned.”[3] [4]
When we come to the New Testament, 1 John 4:9-10 helps us understand the importance of the blood sacrifice as it is fulfilled in Jesus’ death. John did not write anything about God’s anger due to Jesus shedding His Blood. Instead John shows that Jesus’ sacrificial death was in fact the greatest example of God’s love.
In 1 John 4:9-10 (EXB) we read –
This is how God showed [revealed] his love to us: He sent his one and only Son into the world so that we could have life through him. This is what real love is: It is not our love for God; it is God’s love for us. He sent his Son to die in our place to take away our sins [as the atoning sacrifice/ propitiation for our sins].
It is important to allow Leviticus and the story of Jesus to clarify any distorted ideas that we might have about animal sacrifice and God’s character. In fact the shedding of Jesus’ blood is really powerful in that the Christian believer is –
Forgiven –We are forgiven through the blood that Jesus shed on the cross. ‘In fact we can say that under the old agreement almost everything was cleansed by sprinkling it with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.’ (Heb. 9:22, TLB). For this reason, confidence, peace and joy can now replace condemnation, anxiety and grief in our lives.
Redeemed – When we have been bought back by Jesus from our sinful nature, we find that we have been redeemed from the powers of darkness. ‘God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.’ (1 Corinthians 1:30 NLT)
Cleansed – Our consciences have been washed by the blood of Christ Jesus because we have truly been purified from all sin. ’But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.’ (1 John 1:7).
Justified – It is one thing to know that we are forgiven, redeemed and cleansed, but it is another to realise that as believers it is now just as if we have never sinned in the first place. ‘For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him’ (2 Corinthians 5:21, NKJV).
Sanctified – Now we can also declare that we have been set apart for a holy calling—to be progressively changed to be like Jesus. ‘I am writing to God’s church in Corinth, to you who have been called by God to be his own holy people. He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus,’ (1 Corinthians 1:2, NLT).
Peaceful – Because of Jesus’ blood, we can have perfect peace, ‘for Christ’s death on the cross has made peace with God for all by his blood’ (Colossians 1:20b, TLB).
Able to have access to God’s throne – Jesus’ blood has made possible our complete reconciliation with our Father in Heaven. ‘And so, dear brothers, now we may walk right into the very Holy of Holies, where God is, because of the blood of Jesus’ (Hebrews 10:19 TLB).
The blood of Jesus, shed for our sin, is the greatest expression of God’s love toward us. That love covers every need man has had or ever will have.
Dear Reader – If you have found some value in this blog, please feel free to send a copy on to your family and friends. Kind regards, John
[1] Animal Slaughter at Gadhimai Festival, Kuni Takahashi, Humane Society International;
https://www.hsi.org/animal-slaughter-at-gadhimai/
[2] blood, biochemistry, C. Lockard Conley, Encyclopædia Britannica, britannica.com;
https://www.britannica.com/science/blood-biochemistry/Platelets-thrombocytes
[3] Leviticus Vol. 3A, Mark F. Rooker, B&H Publishing Group, USA, 2000, p236;
[4] Leviticus 17 – The Sanctity of Blood, David Guzik, enduringword.com;
