‘…I [the LORD] will set My face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’ Leviticus 17:10b-11
 
 

When God was explaining to Adam and Eve the future earthly effects of their sins, He also cursed the serpent that Satan used. In cursing the serpent, God gave a veiled prophesy of Messiah mortally wounding Satan “on the head” while Satan would bruise “Him on the heal.” Messiah would come from “her [the woman’s] seed.” He would be born of a “virgin.” God was also showing Adam and Eve that they--and everyone who has sinned against God and lost their right to go to heaven--needed a Savior from eternal punishment. The Savior would have to be someone who was innocent--without sin--and who would willingly suffer in the sinner’s place. Man was to give evidence of the understanding of his sinfulness by offering the blood of innocent animals, as a symbol, until Messiah came.

Genesis 4:1-7 Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD.” Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit [no blood] of the ground. Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock [blood] and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his [blood] offering; but for Cain and for his [bloodless] offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well [offer blood], will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

God would not accept Cain’s bloodless offering, and since Cain knew the proper thing to, God questioned Cain’s anger and graciously encouraged Cain to do the right thing, or “do well.” God also warned Cain that “sin” was trying to control him, and that Cain, like all of us, must “master” his sinful tendencies.

Genesis 8:18-20 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark. Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird [blood] and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

When God informed Noah that all the above creatures were good for human consumption, He made it very clear that the blood was not to be eaten because of its representation of life. Along with Muslims and Jews, Christians are also under command not to eat blood. In the letter from the apostles and elders of the Jerusalem church to the Gentile Christians at Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia was written this command:

Acts 15:29 …that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell.”

Genesis 12:7-8 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar[blood] there to the LORD who had appeared to him. Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar  [blood] to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD.

Even Abraham’s young son Isaac knew that there needed to be a “lamb” to provide blood for the offering as we see when God “tested” Abraham.

Genesis 22:1-2,6-13 Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”…  Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb [blood] for the burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up [blood] for a burnt offering in the place of his son.

In the following verses from the Torah we see that Abraham’s offspring continued to obey God in offering innocent blood for the forgiveness of their sins:

God reminds the people that these blood offerings for their sins were not to be made just anywhere, but where the Levitical priests and the Ark of the Covenant were. This is where God’s name would dwell.

Deuteronomy 12:10-11 “When you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security, then it shall come about that the place in which the LORD your God will choose for His name to dwell, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance with you. Be careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every cultic place you see, your tithes and the contribution of your hand, and all your choice votive offerings which you will vow to the LORD.

The prophecy above was received by Daniel in 538 B.C. from the angel Gabriel. It predicted that the city of Jerusalem and the sanctuary where God had established His name would be destroyed. History records that this happened in A.D. 70, at the hands of the Romans. Did this event mean that God, who has always required blood as a symbol of forgiveness of sins, beginning with Adam and Eve, no longer required the blood? Or did God establish His name somewhere else before Jerusalem was destroyed? In the above prophecy, Daniel was told that before the city would be destroyed Messiah would be “cut off.” Who is this “Messiah” that was “cut off” before A.D. 70?

Isaiah 7:13-14 Then he said, “Listen now, O house of David! Is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel [God is with us].

In the previous verses, the prophet Isaiah predicts that the Lord will give a special sign to the people of “David.” A virgin (from the lineage of David) will give birth to a son who will be referred to as “God is with us,” or “God will be among His people.”  In the following verses, Isaiah also predicts that this child will be referred to by other titles, such as “Mighty God, Eternal Father.”

Isaiah 9:6-7 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over His kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.

These prophesies from Isaiah indicate that God would become a man, and be born of a virgin. God is all-powerful, and since He is all-powerful, couldn’t He set aside His power and become a man if He desired to? What if He did that to show His great love toward mankind-- shedding His own precious innocent blood in order to provide the eternal blood atonement and forgiveness?  The fact is that He did this for all who would realize that they need salvation from the penalty of eternal flames because of their sins. He even spent three days and nights in the flames of lower Sheol, suffering for the sins of those who would put their faith in Him as Savior.

Deuteronomy 32:22  For a fire is kindled in My anger, and burns to the lowest part of Sheol, and consumes the earth with its yield, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

Isaiah 43:3a, 10-11 “For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior;… “You [Israel] are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “And My servant whom I have chosen, So that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me. I, even I, am the LORD, and there is no savior besides Me.

Isaiah 45:21 “Declare and set forth your case; indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none except Me.”

Isaiah 53:1, 4-11 Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?… Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushedfor our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of My people, to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth. But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities.

Zechariah 12:8-11 In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the LORD before them. And in that day I [the Lord] will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.I[the Lord] will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me [the Lord] whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, [the Lord] as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him [the Lord] like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. In that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo.

Exodus 3:14-15 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” God, furthermore, said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘The [I AM], the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations.”

God has revealed His name to man in the Torah. It is YHWH, pronounced Yahweh or Yahvah in English. It literally means “I AM.” A shortened form of God’s name is “Ye” or “Yah” when used with other words. Some examples are; Jonathan (Ye-honathen), which means “YHWH has given,” and Elijah (Eliy-yah), which means “God is YHWH.” The name Jesus is actually Ye-shua in Hebrew, and literally means “YHWH is salvation.” God has established His name in YESHUA HA MASHIACH (Jesus the Messiah). The innocent blood necessary for your salvation has been supplied by the very Creator Himself.

The above statement by Solomon, along with the rest of the Bible, condemns all of mankind as having sinned and broken God’s laws. From Adam and Eve, Abel and Noah, to Abraham, Jacob, Moses and David, all true, obedient believers faithfully offered the innocent blood of animals as God demanded. This blood was a symbol, showing that they understood their sinfulness, and also a symbol of the coming Messiah, God in flesh.  His substitutionary suffering and death would accomplish forgiveness for their sins and for the sins of anyone who would realize his need of a Savior. One can accept the innocent blood of God the Savior to be forgiven of his sins, or pay the penalty for his sins himself in flames forever. The penalty for sin cannot be “worked off” by participating in sacraments, acts of sacrificial kindness, keeping the commandments, repentant sorrow, or any other human effort. Innocent blood is what God demands, and it must be “where” God establishes His name. There is absolutely no other option for those wanting forgiveness. Allow the one we have all pierced--Jesus, the Messiah--to save you.