"I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's guardian?"
Then He said, "What have you done? Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground!"
Genesis 4:9-10
The blood from my deed was still warm and wet on my hands, quickly becoming sticky as I suddenly thought through the implications of what I had done. There I stood with my guilt before me, on me, within me, staining me.
The stain, would it wash? I was marked by my deed! Where would I go?
Think quickly. Evidence can be hidden. I had recently turned this soil, working long and hard. Yes, I would bury my sin and hide my shame. The dirt had enough grit to scour the blood from my hands. There, I was done. The grime concealed my guilt. I am not my brother's keeper.
But what is this? The blood cries out from the ground? "Guilty!" It says. "Sinner!" Cursed!" Must it cry so loudly? "Homeless!" Wanderer!" "Outcast!" It calls me. "Liar." "Profaner of God's Image."
My work had helped me hide my guilt. My sin, buried in the ground. Now the blood that I had scrubbed from my hands penetrated the soil, traveling through the water, saturating the works of my hands, taunting me and accusing me before God.
No. My punishment is more than I can bear! I have already rubbed the incriminating blood off my hands... Why does it still cling to me?
Wherever I go it haunts me. It cries out to me and against me. I cannot escape it. It clings to the dirt, the grass, and the trees. As Creation groans, the blood of my deed rushes through streams of water and no one can escape it.
It proclaims the state of man. It proclaims our darkened hearts. It proclaims the profanity of sin as it not only defies God's command, but destroys His Image-Bearers. The dreadful, haunting scream of its condemnation echoes through all reality.
Its echoes are even heard in the Tabernacle. The blood that I thought I had removed from myself by hiding it in the ground now intermingles with the blood of countless sacrifices.
To what end? More is always required. The irremovable stain of Abel's blood cries out, declaring the unrighteousness that fills the earth.
The guilt is inescapable.
But what is this? The veil of separation is torn. Who is this new Priesthood that arises? They approach that which could not be touched, and the blazing fire does not consume them. Outside of the city, a stream of blood seeps into the ground. As it mingles with the blood of Abel, the familiar cry of "Guilty!" is replaced. "Holy." "Righteous." "Chosen." It says. The Mediator of the New Covenant sprinkles his own blood that speaks better things than the blood of Abel, and the Assembly of the Firstborn approaches.
But you come to Mount Zion.... and to Jesus, the mediator of the New Covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
Hebrews 12:22a, 24
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