… ²⁴ and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.

Reprising the teaching from previous chapters, we are reminded that our new standing is that of being identified with Jesus, “His Son” (1:2). In this letter to the Hebrews, we have seen that Christ is superior to the angels, He is the Son “over” the house whereas Moses was a servant “in” the house. He is a priest of the order of Melchizedek, which is far superior to Levitical priesthood. His once-for-all-time sacrifice eclipses the earthly sacrifices of the Jewish system which had to be repeated, and never brought perfection.

Here in our verse for today we revisit the truth that He is a “mediator of a new covenant” which is vastly better than the old covenant. Lest there be any doubt to his Jewish readers (and to us), we are no longer subject to the Old Covenant with the old system of mediatorship. As God tells us through the words of the apostle Paul, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (2 Cor 5:17). And He is the mediator, the One and only (1 Tim 2:5).

Greater insight is now given about “having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience…” mentioned in Hebrews 10:22. This is a sprinkling, we are now told, by the blood of Christ. The imagery is clearly borrowing from the sprinkling of the animal blood in the tabernacle and upon the priests. The literary devices used here are intriguing. Physically, Christ did shed His real, tangible blood. For us today, we are not physically sprinkled with Christ’s blood, but figuratively so. We have been brought to it spiritually.

Now the comparison with the blood of Abel, on the surface may seem strange if the thought is of Abel’s death. But, it seems better and more fitting to see this as the blood of Abel’s sacrifice, which was the first sacrifice by a human that God accepted (Heb 11:4) and by which Abel was found to be righteous. The blood of Christ’s sacrifice is infinitely superior, because while Abel sacrificed only for himself, Christ did not need to do so for Himself. He Himself was sinless, and His sacrifice applies to all others, not to Himself (7:26-27). Abel’s was a prototype of Christ’s sacrifice, the shadow of the substance. And Christ’s offering “speaks better” than the “testimony” (11:4) spoken of by Abel’s sacrifice. To all this we have been brought. Christ is not only superior to everything else, He is our superior Savior. From beginning to end.

Lord, thank You for bringing me to Christ and all that means. In Him I live and it is Him that I worship!