The Blood

THE BLOOD

By Gerry Pratt

PART I

The life of all flesh is in the blood

Gen. 9:4 - 4“But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its

blood.

Lev. 17:11,14 - 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.’

14“for it is the life of all flesh. Its blood sustains its life.

Therefore I said to the children of Israel, ‘You shall not eat the

blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood. Whoever

eats it shall be cut off.’

Lev. 19:26 - 26‘You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor

shall you practice divination or soothsaying.

Deut 12:23 - 23“Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the

blood is the life; you may not eat the life with the meat.

This goes for animals as well as humans. As obvious as this statement may

seem, many men have overlooked it, to their peril. Leaches were used to bleed

men and women to “health”. Not only did it not aid in making them healthy,

IT KILLED THEM!!! It is said that such notables as George Washington were

bled to death by the use of leaches.

God has ordained that, because the life is in the blood (and this life is

precious to God) we are not to eat (or drink) this blood.

Lev. 17:12 - 12“Therefore I said to the children of Israel, ‘No one

among you shall eat blood, nor shall any stranger who dwells

among you eat blood.’

Acts 15:20 - 20“but that we write to them to abstain from things

polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled,

and from blood.

Early on in the scriptures we see that God required the shedding of blood

because of and for sin. Even though we may not see a command of God

spelled out that required the shedding of blood as a sacrifice to God for the

sins of men... WE DO SEE THE PRACTICE.

Gen. 4:3-5 - 3And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain

brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. 4Abel

also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the

Lord respected Abel and his offering, 5but He did not respect

Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his

countenance fell.

Gen. 8:20-21 - 20Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of

every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt

offerings on the altar. 21And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma.

Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the

ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart

is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing

as I have done.

Gen. 31:54 - 54Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and

called his brethren to eat bread. And they ate bread and stayed

all night on the mountain.

Gen. 46:1 - 1So Israel took his journey with all that he had, and

came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his

father Isaac.

We see one of the most righteous men of God (Abraham) (Gen. 22:1-13)

offering a blood sacrifice to God.

1Now it came to pass after these things that God tested

Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I

am.” 2Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac,

whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him

there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall

tell you.”

3So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his

donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his

son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and

went to the place of which God had told him. 4Then on the third

day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. 5And

Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the

lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to

you.” 6So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid

it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife,

and the two of them went together. 7But Isaac spoke to Abraham

his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my

son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is

the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8And Abraham said, “My son,