Blood paves the way for fallen people to enter the presence of God.
If it were your own blood, you would be dying, shedding your mortal existence to enter God’s Presence. But while you yet live, you can offer the blood of proxies. Animals are not fallen, and God accepts their innocent blood in the place of ours. Jesus was unfallen, but His sacrifice was once and for all. It is His blood that brings us into the Presence while we live in this world.
The blood of innocent sacrifices is sacred, because it symbolizes their life force. Their lives are sacred in a certain moral sense — “sacred” means devoted to God. The lives of those who are at peace with God are also sacred. This is why the blood of Abel cried out to God. The blood of Cain would not have cried out.
However, this does not refer to objective facts. These things are noted as moral truths contextual to our lives. Cain was in a position to know that Abel was innocent of anything that demanded his blood at his hands. If your obedience to Biblical Law brings opposition, it could be necessary for your mission to take someone’s life. You are the only one who can discern that.
You may not know if an aggressor is at peace with God, but they have placed themselves in the kill zone, so their lives are forfeit. God defines your kill zone in your heart. You may still reverence their remains as worthy competitors, based on what you know. Then again, some enemies clearly deserve to have their carcasses left for carrion. The context will tell your heart.
The lack of objectivity here infuriates our fallen world. We have no answer for them if the explanation of Biblical Law exceeds their grasp. We aren’t required to justify ourselves to them, but we should be aware that a secular or pagan world will demand consequences based on their false understanding of things. Much of what we do is a matter of discerning God’s tactics for the context, whether to defy the world or to play along, and how much.
The issue with eating meat in our modern society is far removed from the context of Leviticus 17. The whole point is to bear reverence for blood as the symbol of life. Not all human life is sacred to us; that is the meaning of the Fall. Biblical Law explains how that works. However, all non-human life is sacred because it is not fallen. Living by this Law of God is how we honor the blood of Christ.
“The lack of objectivity here infuriates our fallen world.”
Oof, does it ever, especially with our information-age minds. It could be from my personal view, but we’re near the apex of “falsifiability” doctrines with our connected devices.