I was particularly struck today by the way verse 14 is worded, and even though it is different in other Bible versions, the essential meaning is the same - the life of a creature is in its blood and hence the blood represents the life.
It was that way from the beginning. When Cain slew his brother, Abel, God said that Abel’s blood was crying to Him from the ground, which had opened its mouth to receive it from Cain’s hand (Genesis 4:10-11). After the flood, God explains to Noah that he and his family are “not to eat the flesh with its life, that is, its blood” and begins to lay out the understanding that blood must be shed as a reckoning when there has been a shedding of man’s blood, since man is made in the image of God (Genesis 9:4-6). When Israel entered the land of Canaan, the Lord set apart cities to which someone could flee if he accidentally killed someone (Numbers 35:9-29), so that he would find a refuge from the Avenger of Blood who could otherwise justly take their lives.
It was also understood that the rebellion of Adam and Eve brought about their death spiritually. All their offspring were also brought into bondage to the same rebellion and to sin that leads to death. That meant spiritually and eventually physically, so Paul could write that the wages we receive on account of our sins is death (Romans 6:23).
When God redeemed His people from Egypt, the price paid for their safety from His wrath was the blood of a spotless lamb for each household - a life forfeit so their lives would be spared. And when God came to dwell among His people in the tabernacle and then later in the temple, the sins they had committed had to be atoned for - there had to be lives given up in payment for sin so that God would not break out against them in fierce anger and destroy them. And so morning and evening throughout the year, the blood of animals was shed, and especially so at the three feasts each year, chief among which was the Day of Atonement.
The writer to the Hebrews explains, though, that while the blood of all these sacrifices did make Israel outwardly clean, it did nothing to solve the root cause of the problem which was the heart of the people. And because their hearts were still wrong, they kept sinning and therefore kept needing sacrifices to make them outwardly clean. All these animals forfeiting their lives to make atonement for the sins of the people, but doing nothing to get to the heart of the problem, pointed forward to the great need for a Sacrifice that would cleanse consciences (Hebrews 9:13–14). In addition, a high priest, who had to offer sacrifice for his own sin and then for that of the people, and who had to be replaced when he died on account of his own sins, also pointed to a need. A greater High Priest was required, who had no sin of His own to atone for, and who was therefore not liable to death and could perform an everlasting ministry.
The genius of the Gospel is that the spotless Lamb Whose blood can cleanse the consciences of His people, and the High Priest Who can make lasting atonement with that blood and conduct an eternal ministry are one and the same person - Jesus Christ!
I am often struck when we take the Lord’s Supper (and I long for the time when we will be able to gather again to do that!) by the fact that the emblems of Christ’s flesh (the bread) and of His blood (the wine/juice) are separated. It is also clear in some of the gospel accounts that before they received the cup from Jesus, it was poured out into the cup (Luke 22:20). Since the life is in the blood and the blood represents the life, this becomes a vivid picture. Body and blood (life) are only separated in this way at death. Wine (standing for blood/life) poured out also speaks of death but pouring it out in this way seems reminiscent of sacrifice - the way the blood of the animals under the Old Covenant would be poured out at the base of the altar.
The blood of Jesus availed where all the blood of bulls and goats could not - in cleansing the conscience of the worshipers and in crediting to them Christ’s spotless righteousness. Accordingly, there is no continuing felt-need for blood sacrifice and therefore Jesus’ death put an end for all time to the Old Covenant sacrificial system!
In addition, although the death of Jesus was unjust, as was that of Abel, the appeal made to God by the blood of these two men is very different. From what we have seen about the life and the blood, and the Avenger of Blood, we understand that Abel’s blood cried out to God for vengeance. In contrast, the writer to the Hebrews assures us that the blood of Christ speaks a better word than this - it cries out for our acquittal, our pardon, our reconciliation to God! And Resurrection Day assures us that His sacrifice has been accepted as sufficient to completely cleanse the consciences of all God’s children!
Hebrews 12:22–24 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
Grace and life eternal in that blood I find,
Blest be His compassion, infinitely kind
