This declaration must have shocked Jesus’ literal-minded hearers still more (see v. 52), for the Law specifically prohibited the use of blood for food (Genesis 9:4; Deut. 12:16). If the Jews had recalled the reason for this prohibition, they might better have understood the meaning of Jesus’ words. The reason given for the prohibition is that the blood is the life (Gen. 9:4). Thus they might have realized that to eat His flesh and drink His blood means to appropriate His life by faith. “To eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ is to receive Him as a personal Saviour, believing that He forgives our sins, and that we are complete in Him” (DA 389; cf. 8T 169, 170; EGW RH Nov. 23, 1897). It is only because Christ gave HIs human life for us that we may partake of His divine, eternal life.