His life is in His blood…

 “If any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn among them eats any blood, I 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 for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood. “Any one also of the people of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among them, who takes in hunting any beast or bird that may be eaten shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth. For the life of every creature is its blood: its blood is its life. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off. And every person who eats what dies of itself or what is torn by beasts, whether he is a native or a sojourner, shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening; then he shall be clean. But if he does not wash them or bathe his flesh, he shall bear his iniquity.” (Leviticus 17:10–16)

This passage was never explained to me until today. I looked in a commentary for the significance of this command and discovered the following. It is from Leviticus. The Pulpit Commentary, edited by Spence-Jones, H. D. M., and published in 1910. While these thoughts are from the book, I put them in my words:

The reason why blood may not be eaten is that the life of the flesh is its blood so eating the blood was the same thing as eating the life of the animal. Therefore his Jewish listeners would understand what Jesus meant meant by the words, “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:54)

Simply put, those who become a partaker of His life, would thereby become a possessor of His eternal life, and, possessing that, would share in its privileges — resurrection and immortality. 

There is an eating and drinking of Christ’s flesh and blood, that is a partaking of His life and Spirit, which may be accomplished without any outward act whatever; but no doubt a special method of performing this mysterious act was instituted when Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples, and He “took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26:27–28)

In the OT, the point of life in the blood was made so that in the NT the life of Christ would be realized as the life of all who put their faith in Him. 

Jesus, this is such a deep and profound truth that occupied my mind almost all day. Tomorrow we take communion at our church. It will affect my emotions in a way never before just as it has today. Oh my Lord, what a wonder You are.