In Leviticus 17:11 we read, "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." The Israelite people were not to consume blood whether in meat, fowl, or fish. Why? For the "life of all flesh is in the blood." To eat blood was to eat the life of that animal. All life comes from the Lord and all life is in the blood.
Consider that blood carries all the necessary ingredients for life to be sustained. Oxygen, nutrients, and waste sustain every cell in the body. Without blood we could not live. Our lives are intricately tied to our blood. The following is an article I wrote on this subject in 2021. It is just as relevant today. At the conclusion of the article I've given some thoughts on the precious blood of the Savior, Jesus Christ, but first the 2021 article.
Blood is fascinating stuff. I’m not trying to be gory here, but it is fascinating. It is both attracting and repelling at the same time. Take the rush hour “gawker’s slowdown” at a traffic accident. Why do people slow down? The prospect of seeing blood at the scene. Why do people go to prize fights or ultimate fighting events? Blood shed by one or both opponents. It is equally repelling. Consider surgery. Most of us don’t have the stomach to perform or even watch surgery. Why? We are repulsed by the sight of all that blood.
Here are some interesting facts about blood. It can be frozen and is unaffected. It can be taken from one race and given to another without influencing the color of the recipient. Blood cannot be duplicated by scientists. There is no such thing as synthetic blood. Blood is the “red river of life” carrying food and oxygen to every cell in the body and, simultaneously, carrying away waste material. It circulates twice per minute through the body and, as the heart pumps it, supplies and cleanses every cell in the body. No part of the body can live without being in contact with blood. The white corpuscles (leucocytes) in the blood fight disease. The red corpuscles (erythrocyctes) carry food and oxygen. Blood is composed of plasma, corpuscles, and platelets. Most adults have between five and seven quarts of blood. Every cubic millimeter of blood (the size of a pin head) has 5.5 million cells in it! Those cells can live for 110-120 days. To replenish lost blood cells, the body manufactures 2 million new cells/second! Like I said, blood is fascinating stuff!
Christ died a bloody death. He wasn't gassed, electrocuted, shot, stabbed, hung, or drowned. Crucifixion alone sheds copious amounts of blood. Crucifixion was a brutal, sadistic method of execution only used during the Persian and Roman eras. Jesus was born during the Roman era. In addition to the period of time He had to die, Jesus had to be crucified to fulfill the biblical prophecy of Psalm 22:16-18.
The goal of crucifixion was to humiliate the victim by hanging him naked on a cross or impaling him on a stake. A secondary goal was to create as much pain and suffering for the victim as possible. That is what Jesus endured for you and me. His shed blood is the most valuable commodity on earth. Nothing but the blood of Jesus can atone for our sins, redeem our souls from the pit, cleanse us and make us holy. There is power in the blood of the Lamb!
There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel's veins; and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains!
Irv