Why We Must Be Holy? - HOLY OBEDIENCE TO GOD'S LAW ON BLOOD

Read Leviticus 17:10. Jehovah commanded the Israelites not to eat "any sort of blood." Abstaining from blood-animal or human- is a Christian requirement as well.  (Acts 15:28, 29)  We shudder at the very thought of having God 'set his face against us' and cut us off from his congregation.  We love him and want to obey him.  Even when confronted with a life-threatening situation, we are determined not to cave in to the plan and demands of those who do not know Jehovah and who do not care to obey him.  Yes, we expect  to be ridiculed for abstaining from blood, be we choose to be obedient to God. (Jude 17:18) What view on this subject will strengthen us to "be firmly resolved" not to eat blood or accept a blood transfusion. - DEUTERONOMY 12:23.

The use of animal blood by ancient Israel's high priest on the annual Atonement Day helps us to understand God's view of blood.  Blood was reserved for special use. It was to make atonement for the sins of those seeking Jehovah's forgiveness.  The blood of the bull and the goat was to be spattered toward and before the cover of the ark of the covenant. (Leviticus   16:14, 15, 19)  This action opened the way for Jehovah to forgive the sins of the Israelites.  In addition, Jehovah decreed that if a man killed an animal for food, he was to pour out its blood and cover it with dust, "for the life of every sort of flesh is its blood."  (Leviticus 17:11-14) Was all  of this unimportant ritual? No.  The use of blood on Atonement Day, as well as the command to pour the blood on the ground, is in harmony wit  Jehovah's earlier command to Noah and his descendants concerning blood. (Genesis 9:3-6) Jehovah God had prohibited the consuming of blood to sustain life. What does this mean for Christians?

When the apostle Paul wrote to the Hebrew Christians about the cleansing power of blood, he explained: "According to the Law nearly all things are cleansed with blood, and unless blood is poured out no forgiveness takes place." (Hebrews 9:22)  Paul also pointed out that animal sacrifices, though of some value, only reminded the Israelites that they were sinners  and that they needed something more in order to take sins away completely.  Yes, the Law was "a shadow of the good things to come, but not the very substance of the things." (Hebrews 10:1-4)  How would forgiveness of sins become possible?

Next time: Why We Must Be Holy - Conclusion of  HOLY OBEDIENCE TO GOD'S LAW ON BLOOD

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