Deuteronomy 12:15-32 NKJV
15 “However, you may slaughter and eat meat within all your gates, whatever your heart desires, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, of the gazelle and the deer alike. 16 Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it on the earth like water. 17 You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or your new wine or your oil, of the firstborn of your herd or your flock, of any of your offerings which you vow, of your freewill offerings, or of the heave offering of your hand. 18 But you must eat them before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord your God chooses, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all to which you put your hands. 19 Take heed to yourself that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.
20 “When the Lord your God enlarges your border as He has promised you, and you say, ‘Let me eat meat,’ because you long to eat meat, you may eat as much meat as your heart desires. 21 If the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may slaughter from your herd and from your flock which the Lord has given you, just as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your gates as much as your heart desires. 22 Just as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so you may eat them; the unclean and the clean alike may eat them. 23 Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life; you may not eat the life with the meat. 24 You shall not eat it; you shall pour it on the earth like water. 25 You shall not eat it, that it may go well with you and your children after you, when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord. 26 Only the holy things which you have, and your vowed offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the Lord chooses. 27 And you shall offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, and you shall eat the meat. 28 Observe and obey all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.
29 “When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, 30 take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ 31 You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.
32 “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.
In today’s reading, Moses prepares the Israelites for the time when they’re settled in the Promised Land. He assures them that they will be able to eat all the (clean) foods they like. There were only two exceptions: First, any animals they raised or food they grew that was dedicated to God, whether sacrifices or offerings or tithes, had to be taken to the one designated place of worship, where it was to be eaten either by them or by the Levites. Second, they were never, under any circumstances, to eat blood.
“The blood is the life.” And the life of all creatures belongs only to God. If the Israelites took an animal’s life in order to eat its flesh, they were to pour the blood on the ground; they were allowed to eat its flesh, but they weren’t allowed to partake in its blood, in its life. It didn’t belong to them. But if they took the animal’s life in order to present it to God as an offering—as a substitute for their lives—then they were to offer the blood to God on the altar together with the flesh, as a recognition that the animal’s life, and their lives, belonged to God. It took the flesh and blood—the whole life—of an animal to make atonement for their sins.
These regulations concerning blood all pointed ahead to the coming Christ, who would give both His body and His blood as the redemption price of mankind. But because of these very regulations, Jesus’ words to the Jews were all the more striking: “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me (John 6:56-57). Yes, we are both to eat Jesus’ flesh and drink His blood, in order to receive life from Him. “The blood is the life.”
We do this in two ways. The first way is spiritual. We eat Jesus’ flesh and drink His blood by believing in Him who came to give His flesh and blood into death for our sins. The second way is sacramental, in the Sacrament of the Altar, where Jesus takes the flesh and blood once given and shed on the altar of the cross and gives them now to us under bread and wine, so that we actually eat His flesh and drink His blood, and in this way we receive eternal life from Him who is the life. Let us pray: Lord Jesus, we thank You for giving Your flesh and blood for us on the cross, and to us in Your Means of Grace. Grant us life everlasting through this gracious gift! Amen.