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What Does "This Is My Blood Of The New Testament" Mean?

Hi Letswao, The soul [not life] being in the blood, is the result of God "breathing into the clay vessel called man the "breath of life. The correct translation is "the soul ( Hebrew- nephesh) is in the blood." But this is the truth about life in the flesh:

John 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth [Greek gives life]; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
"The spirit gives life" to the soul.
Gen 2:7  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.
God did not breath blood into man. He breathed His spirit, "the breath of life," "and man became a living soul. Take away that spirit and the soul dies:
Eze 18:4  Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

Eze 18:20  (a) The soul that sinneth, it shall die.
Psalms 104 tell us this same Truth:
Psa 104:27  These [every creature on earth] wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season.
Psa 104:28  That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good.
Psa 104:29  Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.
Psa 104:30  Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.
What is so interesting and revealing in these last two verses is the fact that the word breath in verse 29 is the exact same Hebrew word, that is translated 'spirit' in verse thirty. That word is the Hebrew word 'ruach.' So when we read that when God takes away their "breath they die," what we are really reading is that 'when God takes away their spirit they die." There was no 'spiritual body' before they were created and without a resurrection from death there would be no spiritual body after death. If there were a spiritual body simply breaking free from the flesh at death then there would be no real death at all and there certainly would be no need for a resurrection from the dead. But this is the Truth about those who have died:
Ecc 3:18  I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
Ecc 3:19  For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath [ruach-spirit]; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all [is] vanity.
Ecc 3:20  All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
Ecc 9:5  For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. 

What was represented when Christ gave the cup of wine to His disciples and "they all drank of it" was "the shedding of His blood." If we are truly disciples of Christ, we must "drink of His blood" and admit that it is our sins which killed our own  Savior. But not only are we guilty of Christ's blood, the drinking of the wine representing His blood also signifies that we too are willing to die for our Lord. That is what "they all drank of it" means. It means both that we are guilty of that blood and that we are willing to fill up in our bodies what is behind of the afflictions of Christ:

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:
Now look at where Christ told His disciples that they too would have to experience his own life of rejection:
Mat 20:23  And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.
Christ's body is His church. It was his "church in the wilderness" which crucified Him. Still He was willing to die for His own assassins, you and me and all of mankind. Are we now willing to "drink of His cup?" Are we now willing to "fill up in our bodies what is behind of the sufferings of Christ" which are yet to be fulfilled "in my flesh for His bodies sake, which is the church?" Or will we continue as the carnal Corinthians to want only to hear about Christ and HIM crucified, and never want to hear about dying with Him in baptism and being raised with him into newness of life:
Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Col 2:12  Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
1 John 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
And God has ordained that it is through His shed blood both for us and in us that we are cleansed from our sins. It is only "Christ in us" that is able to die with Him daily.
1 Cor 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
1 John 1:7  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

As you stated, it was a sin to drink physical blood.  But we are sin by birth, and by birth we are guilty of the blood of Christ:

Psa 51:5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
"Shapen in iniquity" is "marred in the Potter's hand." And that is why we have both a sin offering and a trespass offering. The one for what we are by birth from the hand of the Great Potter, and the other for what we do in our sinful bodies. It is given to few to see what is the difference.

To answer your question directly, the only instance in which we are told that Israel drank the blood  was done when the Israelites were so hungry, they fell upon the spoils of war and ate without draining away the blood.  As it was a sin to do so, Saul immediately had them bring animals to sacrifice as atonement for their sin. Israel was no more ready to "drink my blood" than were the pre-flood population to eat meat. That is another story for another time. Here is the story of Israel eating meat with the blood:

1 Sam 14:31  And they smote the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon: and the people were very faint.
1 Sam 14:32  And the people flew upon the spoil, and took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and slew them on the ground: and the people did eat them with the blood.
1 Sam 14:33  Then they told Saul, saying, Behold, the people sin against the LORD, in that they eat with the blood. And he said, Ye have transgressed: roll a great stone unto me this day.
1 Sam 14:34  And Saul said, Disperse yourselves among the people, and say unto them, Bring me hither every man his ox, and every man his sheep, and slay them here, and eat; and sin not against the LORD in eating with the blood. And all the people brought every man his ox with him that night, and slew them there.
1 Sam 14:35  And Saul built an altar unto the LORD: the same was the first altar that he built unto the LORD.

The pouring of blood on the earth is yet another example in type of how God's saving grace is extended to all mankind.

I hope this answers your question, and my prayers are with you in all of your afflictions and your trials.

Mike