“For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the alter; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.”
~ Leviticus 17:11
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you like to eat meat? Your grandmaa and grandpaa like to eat meat. Your grandmaa’s favorite meat to eat is prime rib. If your grandmaa asks for prime rib to eat in a restaurant, your grandmaa will share the prime rib with your grandpaa. When your grandmaa and grandpaa arrived in Bolivia near the end of August of 1978 – where they joined the South America Mission field missionary team, your grandpaa could eat an entire parrillada. A parrillada is a meat dish. The meat is first grilled over an open fine. Once the meat is ready to be taken to the table to be eaten, the meat is put on a small hibachi that has had hot coals put under the hibachi’s grill to keep the meat cooking and warm. Don Miguel was one of the restaurants in Santa Cruz, Bolivia where your grandmaa and grandpaa really liked to go to eat – and where your grandpaa would eat an entire parrillada. The meat that comes in a parrillada includes a small steak, a piece of chicken and several different kinds of organ meats including a piece of liver, a kidney, a slice of cow’s udder, milk ducts, pieces of intestines and two different kinds of sausages. One of the sausages was made with blood. A parrillada always came with yucca and a picante sauce made from peppers.
Would you ever sacrifice an animal or a bird? Some Mayans – who are indigenous guys and gals who live in Guatemala, use live chickens to make appeasement sacrifices to their gods. When God – as God the Father, gave His list of rules and regulations to Moses when Moses met with Him on Mount Sinai, God – as God the Father, was very specific about where His specially chosen guys were to make and how they were to make animal and bird sacrifices and where His specially chosen guys were not to make animal and bird sacrifices. Moses explicitly scribed in his Leviticus Missive – in Leviticus 17, what God – as God the Father, told him about where His specially chosen guys were to take their animal and bird sacrifices and who was to make the guys’ animal and bird sacrifices for them and where His specially chosen guys were not to make their animal and bird sacrifices. When God – as God the Father, gave his very extensive list of commandments and mandates to Moses – when Moses met with Him on Mouth Sinai, God – as God the Father, was emphatic that if any guy among His specially chosen guys who on his own sacrificed an ox, a lamb, a goat or a bird in or outside the camp where the Israelite people group guys and gals had encamped would be guilty of bloodshed and the guy would have to be cut off from the Israelite people group of guys and gals. It seems to your grandpaa that God wanted to condition His specially chosen guys to bring their animal and bird sacrifices only to Him – which would be to the entrance of the Tent of Meetings, where His designated guys – the Levi tribal clan priests, would make the animal or bird sacrifice to God. The Levi tribal clan priest – as he made an animal or bird sacrifice, was to sprinkle the blood of the animal or bird that he had just killed against the side of the altar that was located at the entrance of the Tent of Meetings. The Levi tribal clan priest was to burn the fat of an ox, a lamb or a goat on the altar. God – as God the Father, also made it very clear through Moses that He did not want His specially chosen guys and gals to make any more sacrifices to goat idols. The only acceptable sacrifice that God will accept today is the life of a guy, gal or kid who has made the decision of faith in what God – as God the Son, did for him or her when He was tied and nailed to a cross to die as a ransom payment for his or her sins.
Blood is a symbol of life. Just as God – as God the Father, told Moses to cut off any guy from his people group of guys and gals who sacrificed an animal or bird in or outside their encampment, God – as God the Father, told Moses to cut off from His people group of guys and gals any guy who had eaten the blood of an animal or a bird. God – as God the Father, gave His reason in verse 11 why He expected Moses to cut off from his people group of guys and gals any guy who ate animal or bird blood, “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the alter; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.” When a guy took his animal or bird sacrifice to the altar that was at the front of the Tent of Meetings and who had a priest offer up his sacrifice of an animal or a bird to God, the blood of the ox, lamb, goat or bird that the priest sprinkled against the altar’s side acted as an atonement for the guy’s sins. It was imperative to God that all the blood be drained out of an animal or a bird that was killed by one of God’s specially chosen guys so that His specially chosen guys would not be eating any of the blood of the animal or bird. A guy who ate the blood of an animal or a bird would have to go through a ceremonial cleansing to become clean if all the blood was not drained out of the animal or bird – even when the animal or bird had been accidentally killed. Do you think that a guy is doing something wrong when he eats a blood sausage? The mandate from God – as God the Father, to sprinkle the blood of a sacrificed ox, lamb, goat or bird against the side of the altar that was in front of the Tent of Meetings was core in a new belief paradigm when God – as God the Son, suffered and died on a cross – with the blood that flowed from the spear pierced side of God – as God the Son, now acting once and for all as an atonement payment to cover all the sins of God’s specially elected guys, gals and kids. After God – as God the Son, suffered and died on a cross, the Old Testament rules and regulations that God – as God the Father, instituted through Moses at Mount Sinai – for His specially chosen guys and gals to obey, were no longer mandated. They can be used now though as life guidelines. The eternal life gift that God – as God the Father, gifts His specially elected gals, guys and kids does not include His Old Testament laws.
Leviticus 17 (716)