Before we begin today’s passage from Leviticus 17, there is something you first need to know. The Bible we use in Christianity is divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament. We are now living in the New Testament age. In other words, we are living in the age after Jesus has already come and gone. The Old Testament records the things that happened before Jesus came, and it was also written before Jesus came. So the Bible is divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament based on the time when Jesus was on this earth.

In short, the Old Testament speaks of Jesus Christ who was to come. When Jesus Christ came to this earth, it was the Son of God who came. And when God sent His Son, He did not want people to miss Him. He wanted them to recognize Him. Then, for them to recognize Him, He would first have to tell them in advance, wouldn’t He?

For example, suppose we are going to meet a guest at the airport for the first time. The person going to welcome him does not know what he looks like. So the guest tells him in advance, either by phone or by letter: “I will arrive in Seoul on March 1. I will arrive at Incheon Airport on this airline, at 3:20. I will be wearing a suit and a hat. I will have a bag in one hand and a cane in the other.” If he says this in advance, then when the passengers come out, the person waiting can look carefully and welcome the one who matches that description. That is how he can recognize him.

In the same way, before Jesus came to this earth, God spoke about Him in advance. That is why the Old Testament contains many figures of Jesus. It explains, like a shadow, in a partial and somewhat hidden way, the things Jesus would do when He came to this earth.

What is amazing is that the Old Testament was written by different people in different times. The Old Testament is made up of many books—thirty-nine in all. And although these thirty-nine books were written by different people in different ages, they all speak of the same thing, and that very thing was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

But there are still people who do not believe this. They do not believe that it was fulfilled exactly in Jesus Christ, and they are still waiting for the promised One. These are the Jews today. Even now, they are waiting for the Savior who is to come, the One written about in their Scriptures. Naturally, they do not acknowledge Jesus Christ, whom we Christians believe in and follow, as the Son of God. So if you go to Jerusalem, you can see Jews there, but the people there are not people who believe in Jesus. Rather, they dislike those who believe in Jesus. And in many parts of Israel, those who believe in Jesus are persecuted.

So the Old Testament is important because it is not a book used only by Christians. It is the very Scripture the Jews have used from long ago and still use today. And that matters because they oppose us Christians and do not acknowledge us. Yet we are using the same Scripture.

What does this mean? It means the Bible is not something artificially made up. If we were going to make up a Bible, we would have made our own Bible to suit our own taste. Why would we use the Scripture of Judaism together with them, when they do not even acknowledge Jesus?

Then what is the difference between them and us? The Jews do not believe that the Old Testament has been fulfilled, and they do not acknowledge the fulfillment of the Old Testament that we have experienced through Jesus Christ. But we have confirmed that the Old Testament truly prophesized about Jesus Christ, and this is what we believe.

Now, the passage from Leviticus that I read to you today is from the Old Testament. In other words, it was given as a figure. What we have come to know by believing in Jesus is the spiritual reality. Spiritual reality does not change. It does not pass away. It has a very direct effect on us. We have now come to know this spiritual reality, and the Old Testament showed it in advance as a figure and as a shadow. Today’s passage is one part of that Old Testament. So you do not need to misunderstand what you heard today and think, “Oh, Christians do not eat blood. They are saying we must not eat blood.” It is a shadow. It is a figure.

One of the commandments emphasized most strongly in the Old Testament is this: “Do not eat blood.” It says that the blood and the life of a living creature are one. It says, “The life is in the blood.” It also says, “Whoever eats blood shall be cut off from among My people.” That is why the Jews do not eat blood.

In the food cultures of many countries, there are practices of eating or drinking blood. Korea is one example. We eat dishes made with intestines that contain blood. I have often been to China, and it is the same there. There are even intestines filled with nothing but blood. People like blood very much. And not only in ordinary food like this, but when I was young, I saw people drink deer blood because they said it was good for health. Later, when I went to the army, someone caught a snake. And out in the field, they drank its blood. Why? Because they believed they could receive something of the snake’s strength and vitality. They say, “It is good for your health!” I have not been to Thailand myself, but from what I have heard from people who have been there, snake sellers often say the same thing. They sell the snake’s blood itself, or they make snake soup and sell it. Now there is a virus going around, and some say it may be related to wild animals. That is how much people have practiced drinking blood and doing such things. Why? Because they want to receive the strength and vitality they believe are in that blood.

In Korea, people have also eaten dog meat. Then how was the animal killed? In the West, there is usually a different method of slaughter, isn’t there? That actually comes from the Jewish way. The Jews were commanded not to eat blood. So they first drained the blood. While the animal was still alive, they cut the artery and let the blood pour out. After the blood had been drained from the body, they would then skin and butcher it. So there was not much blood left in the meat. But in Korea, when dogs were killed, they did not drain all the blood. They said that if the blood was drained, the meat would not taste good. So they intentionally killed the animal with the blood still inside. Blood is normally in the blood vessels, isn’t it? It reaches even the smallest blood vessels. And if those vessels burst, the blood would seep into the muscles. So they would hang the dog upside down and beat it. Then the whole body would be bruised, and the blood would seep into the meat.

Why would they go that far? It was because they wanted to eat the blood. They believed that the dog’s qualities were in its blood, and they wanted to take in those qualities through the blood. In this way, people keep drinking blood because they want to take in the qualities of animals. Now that I think about it, there are many cases of people drinking animal blood. When I was young, I also saw people drink carp blood. They would catch carp from a stream, and when they caught a big one, they would drain its blood and drink it. So people drink blood because they want to receive what they believe to be the life, strength, and health of that animal.

But what did God say to His own people, the people of Israel? He said, “Do not drink blood.” What would happen if they did? He said, “He shall be cut off from among My people.” They had to be put to death. If anyone saw someone eating blood, that person had to be put to death. God was saying that He would require blood from that person. In other words, He would require his life. The meaning is this: “You were made in the image of God, so why are you trying to take in the qualities of beasts?”

But it may seem that there is some basis to this idea of an animal’s qualities being in its blood. I once read a story in a newspaper, and I also saw a picture. A man drank snake blood. He drank it to become healthier. But then he became ill, and something happened to him. What happened? His tongue split in two. After drinking snake blood, his tongue became like a snake’s tongue. So I thought, “Ah, it really is true that the qualities of that creature are in its blood, and that the life of that creature is in its blood.” That is why God said, “Do not drink blood, because the qualities of that living creature are in its blood.” The Israelites were trained in this way.

And then, finally, two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to this earth. He stayed on this earth for about thirty-three years. Then, around the age of thirty, He revealed who He was and began to do the work God had sent Him to do. What work was that? He became filled with the Spirit of God, began to reveal power, and started preaching the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. He proclaimed that there is a kingdom of heaven, the heavenly kingdom. It is not a kingdom that exists on this earth, but the kingdom of God. And its place is not in this world, but beyond this universe. The heaven of God, the place where God created countless angels—that is where the kingdom of God is. That is what we call heaven, the heavenly kingdom.

God wants to take us to that place. That is why He testified that such a kingdom exists. But He also said that none of us could go there. There is a kingdom of heaven, and He wants everyone to enter it, but no one can go. Why? Because all are sinners. Everyone has left God, and once they leave God, their hearts become paralyzed. So they live like beasts. That is why they try to drink the blood of beasts. They think only of the flesh.

But God did not make us human beings as creatures with only flesh. He also made us spirits so that He could pour His own qualities into us. God gave us spirit, and in that sense, man is a kind of divine being. God gave us spirit, and He also clothed us with flesh. In this way, He made human beings truly unique. The flesh will eventually pass away, but the spirit exists forever. That is why we are to live like God. So instead of trying to take in the qualities of beasts, God commands us to receive His qualities.

For this reason, Jesus came to this earth, and what did He do at the end? He died. He did not die by accident. He was put on trial in court and sentenced to death. But even after receiving the death sentence, He was not given an easy death. The punishment Jesus received was crucifixion. At that time, crucifixion meant making wood in the shape of a cross, hanging a person on it, and letting him die slowly. He died as His blood was poured out. Later, His body had no blood left. The blood had all been drained out. That is how He died.

But when they looked in the tomb three days later, He was not there. He had risen. God had raised Him from among the dead. And the One who raised Jesus is our God the Father. He is the very One we now call Father. We serve as our Father the God who raised Jesus from the dead. And that Father will also raise us, because we are in Jesus.

But didn’t Jesus say that we cannot go to heaven? Then how will God raise us and bring us into heaven? It is because the blood Jesus shed paid the price for our sins. How is that possible? Because the wages of sin is death. If a person sins, he must die. But what overcomes death is life. Then where is life? It is in the blood. If the blood of Jesus were merely human blood, it could only make the body healthy. If we drank the blood of Jesus, then the qualities of Jesus would only appear in the flesh. But the blood of Jesus is not human blood. It is the blood of God. The blood Jesus shed is the blood of God. That is why God speaks of those who drink the blood of Jesus as those He purchased with His own blood. It is the blood of God. Because God Himself shed His blood for us, we rely on that blood and escape from death. We escape from the consequence of sin.

Knowing that this would happen, what did Jesus say to His disciples? He gave them a command: “Drink My blood.” Until then, God had said, “Do not drink blood,” because the life of that living creature is in its blood. But now, for the first time, the very God who had said, “Do not drink blood,” was saying, “Drink blood.”

But whose blood are we to drink? It is not the blood of a snake, or the blood of a carp, or the blood of a deer. He was not telling us to receive the qualities of those animals. Rather, He commanded us, “Drink the blood of God.” He was telling us to possess the qualities of God. He was telling us to possess the life of God.

So when we believed in Jesus Christ and were baptized, we already accepted the merit of Jesus, the merit of His shed blood. That means we drank the blood of Jesus. We are people who have drunk the blood of Jesus. In the Old Testament age, God said, “Do not drink blood.” But when Jesus came, He said, “My blood is drink indeed.” In other words, “This is truly the drink you must drink. Do not drink anything else. Drink My blood.” That blood has become life to us today.

So we do not perish because of sin. In God’s eyes, we are not sinners who must go to hell. We are those who have that blood.

That is why those who believe in Jesus make this confession: “The blood of Jesus is in me! The blood of Jesus is in me!”

Let us say it three times. Confess it with me.

“The blood of Jesus is in me!”

“The blood of Jesus is in me!”

“The blood of Jesus is in me!”

So the life of Jesus, that is, the life of God, appears in me. That is why the Lord said, “if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them.” These days, I also wear a mask. I do not wear it because I am afraid of being harmed, but because others may feel uneasy. Yet the Lord said that even if we drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt us. This is the quality of God.

Long ago, as the apostle Paul went from place to place preaching the gospel, he came to an island. Because the ship had run aground there, he was wet and cold. So they gathered sticks and tried to make a fire. But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. It was a poisonous snake. When the people of that island saw it, they thought, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live.” In their eyes, he must have been a real sinner. He had somehow escaped from the sea, but now he was about to die from a snakebite.

But even after some time had passed, nothing happened to him at all. So the people of that village changed their minds. They bowed before Paul and said, “You are a god!” Paul tried to stop them, saying, “I am not a god. I am a man who serves God.” But if he had simply let them continue, they would have worshiped him as a god. Why did such power appear in Paul? Because the life of God, the blood of Jesus, was in him.

Because we are people who have received the blood of God, we are loved by God. And in the end, we will enter the kingdom of heaven.

Let me give you an illustration. The one a person loves most is his own child. A parent loves his son or daughter. Of course, when the children grow up, the parents may think of them a little less. But when the child is still young, that child fills the mother’s heart. When she sees something good, she wants to give it to the child. Even when she eats something delicious, if the child is not there, it does not taste the same. She keeps thinking of the child. And if that child is weak in body, she becomes even more concerned. She does not hate the child or abandon him because he is weak. Rather, she gives him more care and attention. But next door lives an enemy. It is like the families of Romeo and Juliet—families that have long been enemies. And there lives a very wicked old man who has brought much harm to our family for generations.

Then one day, that old man gets into a car accident. He loses a lot of blood, so they try to give him a transfusion, but they find that his blood type is extremely rare. It is not easy to find that kind of blood. Then the news comes: if he does not receive a transfusion right away, he will die. And when you hear more about it, you find that your own child has that very blood type.

Then would you give the blood of your beloved child to that enemy-like old man, or not? If it were you, would you give it? I do not think I could. If someone asked me to give my own blood, I might be able to give it. But if they asked for my child’s blood, I do not think I could. That is my honest feeling. And all the more because he is an enemy. He is someone I would almost want to see die. Could I really give my child’s blood for such an enemy?

Of course, in his heart, he may think, “I wish that man would die!” But that is only a sudden feeling of anger. Still, when a person is dying, how can he simply leave him that way? So he draws blood from his child. Looking at the child, he says, “I am sorry,” and with tears falling, he takes a certain amount of blood and brings it to the old man. Though he hates him so much, he takes the bag of blood and goes to the hospital.

When he is about to give him the blood, how should that old man respond? Of course, he should be deeply grateful, shouldn’t he? With tears falling, he should say, “I have done wrong all this time.”

But when he hands the blood to the nurse, the old man lying there suddenly snatches it away and says, “Who said I needed this?” Then he throws it aside, and the bag of blood bursts open.

What would you do? What do you think should be done to that old man? What would you do if you were there? It is difficult to say this, but you could not just let it pass, could you? Something would happen. A murder would take place that day. Think about it. You gave the blood of your most beloved child to your enemy, but instead of being grateful, that enemy says, “When did I ever ask you to help me?” and throws that precious blood away, spilling it everywhere and wasting it. Then what would happen in a single moment to the love you had just decided to show him? It would pour out as wrath and a curse. Whether I ended up in prison or not, I would want to draw blood out of that man’s own heart. Wouldn’t you?

Think about it. This is what God is suffering now. God has given His beloved Son. He has given all of His own blood. He watched His own Son shed His blood, because He loves mankind. But then man says, “Who said I wanted to go to heaven? When did I ever say I needed this?” “Why am I a sinner?” And he throws that blood away.

What will happen in the end? The wrath of God will pour out terribly. At that time, there will be no mercy. That is why Jesus warned us: “Never go there. You must never go to hell. If your right hand causes you to sin and leads you to hell, it is far better to cut off your hand and not go to hell.” It is a fearful place. There is nothing more fearful than God in His wrath. You say demons are frightening? Demons are nothing. We simply cast them out. We rebuke them and drive them out. But who can rebuke God and drive Him out? The One we must fear most is God. His wrath is the end.

But think about what happens when a person receives the blood God has given. If that old man had received the blood of your child with gratitude and lived by that blood, what would happen? From that moment on, how would you see him? You would love him, wouldn’t you? He would look completely different to you. Why? Because he is now a person who lives by the blood of your child. He has become someone special to you. In the same way, because we have been made alive by the blood of the Son of God, we have become special to God. In God’s eyes, we look like His Son, because we have now received that blood. So for the blood of God to be in us is an amazing blessing. It is a truly great thing. This is our faith.

In our church, we have Holy Communion on the first Lord’s Day of every month. Holy Communion is the act of remembering that the blood of Jesus Christ is in me. This is what Jesus commanded. He commanded us, “When you gather together, remember in this way that My flesh and My blood are in you. Remember what I have done for you, and the love God has given you.” That is why we gather on the Lord’s Day and have the Holy Communion. So we eat the bread and drink the cup. We drink the cup of wine. Eating the bread means that the flesh of Jesus is in me, and drinking the wine means that the blood of Jesus is in me. It does not mean that the wine becomes the blood of Jesus. Rather, as we eat and drink, we remember this.

Therefore, Holy Communion is only for those who already have the blood and flesh of Jesus. Those who have not yet been baptized and have not acknowledged that the blood of Jesus is in them are encouraged not to take part. Only those who have this faith take the Holy Communion with this confession: “The blood of Jesus is in me!”

Originally, the Lord’s Day is the day we gather to take Holy Communion. It is the day we gather to remember this. Then if we do not take Holy Communion, does that mean we are not remembering the blood of Jesus? Because of various circumstances, our church does it only once a month. But that does not mean we do not take Holy Communion. The meaning of Holy Communion lies in remembering. Although we do not take Holy Communion with bread every week, through the sermon, by the Word of God, we continue to remember what Jesus has done. So what we do when we come to church on the Lord’s Day is to confess, “The blood of Jesus is in me! The blood of Jesus is in me!”

What is important as we do this? It is that the life of God is revealed through us. The life of Jesus, the life of God, which had been limited by the flesh and forgotten, is revealed through us. The reason we do not fear is that the blood of Jesus is in me. “The blood of Jesus is in me! The blood of God is in me!” In the name of Jesus, I bless you that this confession may overflow abundantly from your hearts.

And in the name of Jesus, I bless you that the qualities of God may appear in you, and that everything unclean, everything weak, everything evil, and every sickness and curse may completely depart.

Father God, we thank You that our God has given His own blood to us. Work in us so that Your own qualities may appear abundantly through us. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.