The Voice of the Blood
The life is in the blood, so shed blood is a poured-out soul, and the poured-out soul of the righteous cries to God from the altar.
One other cluster builds on this: Hidden and Revealed: The Descending City.
Scripture shows this in seven steps:
- Genesis 2:7 and Ezekiel 18:4
- Leviticus 17:11, 14
- Genesis 4:10, backed by Genesis 9:5
- Leviticus 4:7
- Hebrews 12:24, backed by Matthew 23:35 and 26:28
- Revelation 6:9-10
- Isaiah 53:12 and Mark 10:45
The first murder in the Bible ends with a strange sentence. God says to Cain: “the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground” (Genesis 4:10). How can blood have a voice? And who are the “souls under the altar” in Revelation, crying “How long”? One simple truth from Leviticus answers both: the life is in the blood.
Genesis 2:7 and Ezekiel 18:4
“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
Genesis 2:7
“Behold, all souls are mine… the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”
Ezekiel 18:4
The Hebrew word for “soul” here is nephesh. It means a living being, a life. Genesis uses the same word for the animals: “every living creature” (Genesis 1:21). So the soul is not a hidden part of me that lives on by itself. My soul is my life. And it can die. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”
Leviticus 17:11, 14
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.”
Leviticus 17:11
“…for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof…”
Leviticus 17:14
This is the key to the whole chain. In Hebrew, “life” and “soul” in this verse are the same word. God says the life, the soul, is in the blood. So when blood is poured out, a life is poured out. A soul is poured out.
Genesis 4:10
“And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.”
Genesis 4:10
Now we can read Genesis 4. Abel was dead. He was in the dust, and the dead “know not any thing” (Ecclesiastes 9:5). Yet his blood cried out. Why? Because his life was in that blood, and it had been poured on the ground.
God tells us what that cry means: “And surely your blood of your lives will I require… will I require the life of man” (Genesis 9:5). Abel’s ghost was not awake somewhere, pleading. The cry is God Himself taking account of an innocent life that was poured out. God hears it, and He will require it.
Leviticus 4:7
“…and shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering…”
Leviticus 4:7
When a sacrifice was made, the blood was not put on top of the altar. It was poured out at the bottom. So the blood, which is the life, ended up under the altar. Remember this. It explains the last part of the chain.
Hebrews 12:24
“And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.”
Hebrews 12:24
The New Testament says it plainly: blood speaks. Abel’s blood spoke. Christ’s blood speaks too, but it says better things. Abel’s blood cried against his brother: “What hast thou done?” Christ’s blood cries for the ones who killed Him: “Father, forgive them” (Luke 23:34).
Jesus Himself put the two bloods side by side in the same week. In the temple He spoke of “the blood of righteous Abel” (Matthew 23:35). At the supper He said, “this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28).
I am Cain in this story. My sin is what poured out that blood. And the blood that should cry against me cries for me.
Revelation 6:9-10
“I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?”
Revelation 6:9-10
Now every piece fits. The “souls” are the lives of those who were killed. They are “under the altar” because that is where the blood of a sacrifice is poured. Paul spoke of his own death the same way: “I am now ready to be offered” (2 Timothy 4:6). And they cry “avenge our blood.” That is Abel’s cry again, now from many voices.
Some say this shows the dead are awake in heaven. But Scripture says the soul dies, and the dead know nothing. Others say it is only poetry and means nothing. But the cry is real, because the life is in the blood and God hears it. These souls are told to rest and wait (Revelation 6:11). Their answer comes at the resurrection.
Isaiah 53:12 and Mark 10:45
“…because he hath poured out his soul unto death…”
Isaiah 53:12
“For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
Mark 10:45
The chain ends at the cross. Christ’s soul, His life, was in His blood. When He shed His blood, He poured out His soul. He gave His life as a ransom. It was a man’s life, in a man’s blood: “the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).
What this means
The life is in the blood. So shed blood is a poured-out soul. The poured-out soul of the righteous cries to God from the altar, and God hears. Abel’s blood cried from the ground for justice. The martyrs cry “how long?” from under the altar. And Christ’s blood, better than Abel’s, cries for mercy.
God does not forget a single life that is poured out. And the one blood that could speak against me speaks for me instead.
Connected chains
This cluster goes hand in hand with Thorns and Thistles, the Cursed Fruit, Sons of God Are Believers, Not Fallen Angels and The Head Is the Saviour of the Body.