12:24
We have come to Jesus. It is Jesus, the Son of God, who makes all the difference. He is the mediator of the new covenant. And it is His blood that “speaks a better word than the blood of Abel”. The blood of Abel cried out for judgement (Gen 4:10), the blood of Jesus cries out for salvation. Peterson seems to think there is more emphasis on the faith of Abel, but I don’t think the text supports this.
12:25
At Mount Sinai God spoke out of the fire, and the people were severely punished when they disobeyed. How much more will it be bad for those who refuse the voice of God from heaven. There are at least two vital points out of this. One is that the gospel is a message from heaven, direct from God. We are not promoting a human idea or philosophy, but a God given message. The second is our attitude towards the judgements we see being executed in the Old Testament. This is a point I have made several times before, and it is so important that I will keep on making it. The naive view is that all this judgement is Old Testament and no longer applies after the coming of Jesus. This is a deeply unbiblical view, and one that is nowhere supported by Jesus nor by any of the New Testament writers. The Biblical view, of which we have an example here, is that the examples of judgement in the Old Testament are a warning to us of even more severe judgement.
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