Honoring the Sanctity of Blood in Worship

Now here where it mentions in verse three whoever kills an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp this refers not to the mere Slaughter of animals for meat as we might imagine happening in a butcher shop or on a farm for food but specifically killing for the sake of sacrifice this is found in the technical language that's used here in verse three where it says whoever kills an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp that that reference word there that we Translate kills in the new King James version in verse three is actually a technical term for sacrificing an animal so we're not just talking about killing an animal butchering an animal we're talking about sacrificing an animal the law of ancient Israel said that when an animal was to be sacrificed unto God it had to well the Israelite as verse four says had to bring it to the door of the Tabernacle of meeting. [00:01:56]

God is putting severe restrictions you say on what he would accept in worship from Israel in other words if you were going to sacrifice a lamb or a goat unto the Lord you had to do it his way you couldn't just do it any way that pleased you it wasn't about pleasing you it was about pleasing the Lord and this command or maybe I should say the heart behind this command runs completely contrary to the way most people would like to come to God in our culture today our modern world emphasizes an individualistic way of coming to God where basically everyone does according to their own Preference they do it how they want to when they want to where they want to with whom they want to that's all that really matters when they meet with God what pleases me. [00:03:55]

To honor God an Israelite could not simply follow their heart their feelings or their opinions they had to come the way that God made for them now there were times when under the leadership of his appointed priests God authorized sacrifices at places other than the Tabernacle we see this with Samuel in 1st Samuel 7:9 and later on in 1st Samuel 11:15 uh we we see it occasionally but I like what Matthew P that old Puritan commentator had to say he said but though men were tied to this law God was free to dispense with his own law which he did sometimes to the prophets and I think that's true God could declare exceptions to this but not man. [00:09:12]

When Israel failed to sacrifice to God the way that he asked to the way that he wanted to they ran the great risk of actually sacrificing to demonic spirits did you see that phrase in verse 7 when I read it here's the phrase they shall no more offer their sacri sacrifices to Demons when an Israelite came to the Tabernacle of meeting and to God's appointed priests it was to offer the sacrifice to the Lord Yahweh the Covenant God of Israel they were to stop bringing their sacrifices to Demons as verse 7 says and they were to bring their sacrifice to Yahweh only at the Tabernacle of Yahweh performed by the priest of Yahweh. [00:10:15]

The life of the flesh is in the blood you see God agreed proclaimed that there was spiritual significance in the blood of an animal or a person now that's what the Pagan World believed and God said yes the the pagans said uh here's this life essence of this animal I'm going to drink it and receive the strength of that Ox the strength of that deer whatever it is now God said no no there is some kind of spiritual significance in that blood of the animal but the difference was that among the pagans this is what they said they said the life is in the blood I must eat it or drink it and take that life for myself The Godly or obedient Israelites said the life of the flesh is in the blood and it therefore belongs to God and it does not belong to me. [00:21:54]

Friends this idea of refusing to eat or drink blood emphasized a powerful idea here's the powerful idea life belongs to God God said that he would in verse 10 set his face against that person who takes authority over life for themselves friends life depends on blood it's preserved by Blood it's nourished by Blood when enough blood leaves a body life leaves the body and therefore it was very important that God said that the life belongs to me now the idea of life being in the blood is especially directed to the idea of sacrifice. [00:23:00]

The prohibition against eating blood became an important aspect of kosher food for food to be kosher the animal's ceroid artery was cut and animal had to bleed for a designated amount of time again and this was all in the idea of bleeding the animal as much as possible before butchering the meat now in Acts chapter 15 much later in New Testament times the Jerusalem Council told the Gentile Christians in Antioch Syria and cissa that they should not eat blood or meat that was not killed by draining the blood this was not a universal command for all Christians in all places and at all times this was specific to those Gentile Believers for the specific reason that they would not needlessly offend their Jewish neighbors for the greater sake of evangelism. [00:27:49]

This respect for the blood of animals should make us consider how we regard the blood of Jesus think about it Leviticus 17 tells us that under the old Covenant the blood of animals was to be respected well then what about the blood the precious blood of Jesus Christ which creates a New Covenant for the people of God let me read you from Hebrews chap 10: 29 of how much worse punishment do you suppose will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot counted the blood of the Covenant by which he was Sanctified a common thing and insulted the spirit of Grace. [00:28:43]

We thank God for the precious life of Jesus laid down for us and the Bible often speaks of that as his blood being shed for his people and then secondly and I'll repeat a point that I made previously but it's worth repeating just as blood could be profaned under the law of Israel so the blood of Jesus can be profaned let me read to you once again Hebrews 10: 29 of how much worse punishment do you suppose will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot counted the blood of the Covenant by which he was Sanctified a common thing and insulted the spirit of Grace friends to reject Jesus and his sacrifice is to count the blood of the Covenant the blood of Jesus as a common thing that it is not sacred in any way. [00:34:38]

Rejecting Jesus is to consider his blood of No Greater importance than the countless animals sacrificed under the old Covenant or an any animal that just dies even worse it could be understood to regard Jesus as unclean common and not holy to think that Jesus himself died as a breaker of God's law friends may it never be so for us may we never be among those who count the blood of the Covenant a common thing no it's a glorious thing it's a holy thing and we should honor Jesus and his great sacrifice for us that is our prayer Lord Jesus give us a heart to honor you to truly set apart to sanctify your life and the blood that represented your life poured out on our behalf in a sacrificial death and affirmed again in a glorious Resurrection. [00:35:59]

The Bible says there is one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus and it's through what Jesus Christ did in his sinless life in in his sacrificial death in his glorious resurrection that we must trust in rely on cling to all that Jesus is in his person and all that Jesus has performed in his great work as the Messiah that is how we become right with God not through any way we please but through the way that God has appointed well the same thought is expressed here again and again in Leviticus 17. [00:07:25]

The command was plain the command was to bring every SA sacrifice to the Tabernacle now that was not only for the Covenant descendants of Abraham Isaac and Jacob that's described in verse 8 as the house of Israel but it was also for foreigners who were prelit either full or partial converts to the worship of the god of Israel again notice that phrasing in verse 8 whatever man of the house of Israel or of the strangers dwell among you so if you were a visitor to Israel from another country you couldn't just sacrifice to your Gods there don't you had to respect the god of Israel and because of the way this phrase is used in verses 13 and verses 15 of this chapter there's reason to believe that the strangers referred to in verse 8 were foreigners who were either full or partial converts to the worship of the god of Israel. [00:14:24]