Life Is In the Blood [Leviticus 17]

¹Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,  ²"Speak to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel and say to them, 'This is what the LORD has commanded, saying, ³"Any man from the house of Israel who slaughters an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp, or who slaughters it outside the camp, ⁴and has not brought it to the doorway of the tent of meeting to present it as an offering to the LORD before the tabernacle of the LORD, bloodguiltiness is to be reckoned to that man. He has shed blood and that man shall be cut off from among his people. ⁵"The reason is so that the sons of Israel may bring their sacrifices which they were sacrificing in the open field, that they may bring them in to the LORD, at the doorway of the tent of meeting to the priest, and sacrifice them as sacrifices of peace offerings to the LORD. ⁶"The priest shall sprinkle the blood on the altar of the LORD at the doorway of the tent of meeting, and offer up the fat in smoke as a soothing aroma to the LORD. ⁷"They shall no longer sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat demons with which they play the harlot. This shall be a permanent statute to them throughout their generations."'

 ⁸"Then you shall say to them, 'Any man from the house of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice, ⁹and does not bring it to the doorway of the tent of meeting to offer it to the LORD, that man also shall be cut off from his people. ¹⁰'And any man from the house of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. ¹¹'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.'

Because blood contained the essence of life God made it the purifying factor in the sacrificial system. Once again, this points to Christ's blood that purifies us from all sin. "in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." Hebrews 1:2-3

2 Peter reminds us that remembering this purification is extremely important in being able to walk forward in holiness.  "For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins."  2 Peter 1:8-9 The qualities this is referring to were listed in the preceding verses and include diligence, faith, moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance,  godliness, brotherly kindness, and love.  These are things that God has given us (2 Peter 1:3) and that He wants to grow in us. God says that when we forget our purification from our sins we become useless and unfruitful in our true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.