<p>12:24 <em>And to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel</em>- Moses mediated the old covenant, shaking with fear because of his moral weakness; whereas the Lord Jesus mediates the new covenant in an ongoing sense to all who believe, confident in His moral perfection. The blood of Abel spoke, crying out for vengeance from the ground (Gen. 4:10); but the Lord's blood is not so much a cry for vengeance as of victory and vengeance achieved. It is &quot;the blood of sprinkling&quot; in that blood sprinkling was used to sanctify priests and equipment for service in the tabernacle. It has been a repeated theme of Paul that the whole wonderful path of salvation is so that we might serve with the Lord Jesus in the Holiest, working for others to the Father's glory. And yet the blood of sprinkling recalls that sprinkled on the day of atonement upon the mercy seat.</p><p>The blood of Christ speaks a message, better than that of Abel. As we examine ourselves before His cross, reconstructing in our own minds the physicalities of His time of dying, we hear a voice from Him. It is a voice that shakes heaven and earth (Heb. 12:24,26). This is after the pattern of how the commanding voice of Yahweh was heard above the blood sprinkled on &ldquo;the atonement cover of the ark of the Testimony&rdquo; (Num. 7:89 NIV). It shows forth, as a voice, God&rsquo;s righteousness (Rom. 3:25,26 RV). The ark was made of shittim wood- from a root meaning &lsquo;to flog, scourge or pierce&rsquo;, all replete with reference to the cross. And it was there on that wooden box that Yahweh was declared in the blood sprinkled upon it. Note how there is an association between the blood of atonement and the throne of judgment in 2 Sam. 6:2 and Is. 37:16, as if we see a foretaste of our judgment in the way we respond to the Lord&rsquo;s outpoured blood for us. The Lord Jesus in His time of death is the &ldquo;propitiation&quot;, or rather &lsquo;the place of propitiation&rsquo; for our sins, the blood-sprinkled mercy seat. &ldquo;There I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat... of all things which I will give thee in commandment&quot; (Ex. 25:20-22). The blood of Christ is therefore to be associated with the commanding voice of God, such is the imperative within it. Rev. 19:13 draws a connection between Christ&rsquo;s title as &ldquo;the word of God&rdquo; and the fact His clothing is characterised by the blood of His cross. Ps. 40:9 describes how the Lord Jesus accomplished God&rsquo;s will as the ultimate sacrifice, through the death of the cross. That death is foretold by the Lord, in the prophetic perfect, as &lsquo;preaching righteousness to the great congregation&rsquo; LXX <em>ekklesia</em>. In living out the dying of the man Christ Jesus in our daily lives, we are making the witness of Christ.</p>