Leviticus 17:11: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.”

December 31st, 2022 by Pastor Ed in devotional

Blood-donation drives challenge us with the slogan, “Give the Gift of Life,” and according to Scripture, this slogan is theologically correct. Throughout the Bible, blood represents the essence of life. And today, biologically, we understand how true this concept is. Blood carries many life-sustaining components to and from all parts of the body. It brings necessary nutrients and takes away toxins and other by-products of cellular metabolism. As it journeys through the body, it picks up carbon dioxide, which it then releases through the lungs. And then from the lungs, it picks up fresh oxygen and takes it back to the cells, making it truly a life-giving fluid.

Because the blood is life, it is sacred to God, and the shedding of blood represents the shedding of life, or death. A sacrificial substitute’s blood is required to cover or atone for the sinner, who is then allowed to live. Leviticus 17:11 says, “it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” This verse, written more than fourteen hundred years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, can be better understood in the light of Revelation 13:8, which speaks of our Lord Jesus as “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Webster’s dictionary rightly defines atonement as the reconciliation of God and man through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.

Only the blood of Jesus has the power to go beyond covering our sin to actually cleansing us from sin, as John wrote in 1 John 1:7: “the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.” And only the blood of Jesus can provide our souls with perfect peace, as Paul wrote to the Colossians in Colossians 1:20: “And by Him to reconcile all things to Himself . . . having made peace through the blood of His cross.”

“LORD, thank you for Your blood shed for us. We ask that You would cleanse us anew and use us to further Your kingdom this day.”