Broken BreadDaily Devotions from the Daily lightbyEvan HopkinsMay 29The life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.~ Lev. 17:11 The blood is the vehicle of life; literally, it is "the soul of the flesh is in the blood." And "the blood maketh atonement by means of the soul." The life is in the blood; and so long as the blood is circulating through the body, the body lives. But when the blood is poured out, what we have then is not life, but death. So that shed blood is equivalent to death. Now, it is important to remember that always in the New Testament, where the blood of Jesus is referred to, it is blood as shed; and therefore, in every place, it is not the life of the Lord Jesus that is contemplated, but His death. When we commemorate His atoning sacrafice at the Lord's Supper, we do show forth, not His life, but His death ( I Cor. 11:26 ) . Identification with that death, sympathy and union of heart and will with that death, which was a death unto sin, is one of the best means of bearing about in the body the putting to death of the Lord Jesus ( II Cor. 4:10).