“If any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn among them eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.
Leviticus 17:10-11 (ESV)
The Torah strictly forbade the consumption of blood. This was such a serious offense that God said he would set his face against the person who consumed blood and cut him off from among his people. It is unclear precisely what this punishment involved, but it was clearly serious.
But why? This passage gives us two reasons. The first is that “the life of the flesh is in the blood.” So, by consuming blood, you are consuming the life of the animal. But by pouring the blood onto the ground, you return that life to God from whom it came.
Making Atonement
Secondly, blood made atonement for our souls. Theologians understand atonement in a variety of ways. But, at its heart, it is about being made right with God. Atonement brings us into a right relationship with God.
The blood of a sacrificed animal made atonement under the Old Testament law (Lev. 4:4-6:7, 16). The blood of a sacrificed animal would be sprinkled on the Mercy Seat and altar. And the sins of the individual or community would be forgiven.
This annual sacrifice pointed ahead to the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Romans 3:25 tells us that God presented Jesus as a propitiation (ESV), or sacrifice of atonement (NIV), through the shedding of Jesus’ blood. The word translated as propitiation in the ESV is the verb form of the word for the Mercy Seat, where the high priest would sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice.
It is through the sacrifice of Jesus and his blood sprinkled on the heavenly Mercy Seat (Heb. 10:25-26), and our faith in it (Rom. 3:25), that we have atonement for our souls.
