“But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.”
Genesis 9:4 NKJV
In Hebrew the word for blood means life. This understanding brings such power to what Jesus did on the cross. Jesus was the lamb sacrificed for our sins, so that the Father could create a new covenant with us through Jesus. “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins”- Hebrews 10:4. We see many times in the Old Testament, mainly through the prophets, it is not animal sacrifices that God desired but our hearts surrendered to Him:
“So Samuel said: Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.” -1 Samuel 15:22
“For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” -Hosea 6:6
“With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” -Micah 6:6-8
Sacrifices were a symbol of our sin and God’s mercy on us, but Jesus was the only sacrifice that could truly give us freedom from sin and even death.
“By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” -Hebrews 10:10
And this is our new covenant, the Holy Spirit, that God promised us to come through Jesus sacrifice:
“This is the covenant I will make with them after those days says the Lord: I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them, then He adds, Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” -Hebrews 10:16-17
Now with His blood shed, power and new life can come into us through His Holy Spirit. Through Jesus blood we have life. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” -Romans 6:23.
“Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus” -Hebrews 10:19
