"...and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks of something better than Abel’s does" (Heb.12:24; NET).

A note in the NET states that the Greek word mesites (mediator) in the context of Hebrews 12:24 "does not imply that Jesus was a mediator in the contemporary sense of the word, i.e., he worked for compromise between opposing parties. Here the term describes his function as the one who was used by God to enact a new covenant which established a new relationship between God and his people, but entirely on God’s terms."

According to this the office of the mediator is in regard to "his function as the one who was used by God to enact a new covenant which established a new relationship between God and his people." We will see that this is true in regard to Moses' role as "mediator" as well as the Lord Jesus' role as "Mediator."

After the nation of Israel had been redeemed in Israel by the blood and then redeemed out of Egypt by the mighty hand of the Lord God she was then brought to Mount Sinai. There Moses served as the "mediator" of the covenant of the law:

"What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator" (Gal.3:19; NIV).

Only Moses could approach God (Ex.24:1-2) and that was because of his position as mediator of the covenant. Moses then "told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments" (Ex.24:3). The words were recoded in a book and next we see the dedication of the covenant:

"And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD. And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words" (Ex.24:5-8).

After this Moses went up to the Lord. Sir Robert Anderson explains the typological relationship between Moses and the Lord Jesus in the role of mediator:

"Moses, the mediator of the covenant, having thus made purification of the sins of the people, went up to God. This was the type, the shadow, of which we have in Hebrews the fulfillment, the reality; for when the Son of God 'had made purification of sins' "by the blood of the everlasting covenant,' he went up to God, and 'sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high" (Anderson, Types in Hebrews [Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1978], p.20).

We can see that in the case of Moses the term "mediator" describes his office as the one who was used by God to enact the covenant of the law which established a new relationship between God and his people, but entirely on God’s terms. The same can be said of the Mediatorship of the Lord Jesus.

"How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance" (Heb.9:14-15).

From the context we can see that the Lord Jesus' office as Mediator of the New Testament is directly tied to His death. It was not until He had obtained eternal redemption for believers that He entered the Holy Place and began to serve as High Priest:

"Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us" (Heb.9:12).

Anderson says that "the words of verse 12 are, 'Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, He entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption.' It is not the Priest going in to make atonement - to finish an unfinished work - but the Mediator going in on the ground of a work finished and complete" (Ibid., p.167).

The term "mediator" is used to the describe Christ's work as the one who was used by God to make the New Testament possible. Not only was the death of the testator necessary to put the testament in force but it was also necessary to secure the inheritance under that testament.

The Greek word translated "mediator" means "one who intervenes between two, either in order to make or restore peace and friendship, or form a compact, or for ratifying a covenant" (Thayer's Greek English Lexicon).

It was the Lord Jesus' death on the Cross which provided a "reconciliation" between God and the world:

"To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation" (2 Cor.5:19).

John F. Walvoord writes that "it may be seen, therefore, that while reconciliation does not embrace all the work of Christ, it depends on it. Its prerequisites are the work of God in Christ providing redemption and propitiation, on the basis of which man is justified, regenerated, and made a new creature in Christ" (Walvoord, "The Person and Work of Christ: XII. Reconciliation," Bibliotheca Sacra 119 [Oct.-Dec., 1962], p.292).

R. Bruce Compton writes that "Matthew makes explicit what was implicit in Mark and Luke by adding the prepositional phrase 'for the forgiveness of sins' as the goal of Christ’s sacrificial death. The two concepts, new covenant and forgiveness of sins, are found in the Old Testament only in Jeremiah 31:34 and would have been understood as a reference to Jeremiah’s promise by those who heard Jesus’ words. As such, Jesus’ death functions both as a covenant ratification sacrifice, thus establishing the new covenant, and as an expiatory sacrifice, thereby providing full and final forgiveness" (Compton, Dispensationalism, the Church and the New Covenant, p.25-26).

The idea that the death of a covenant sacrifice served as the source of the benefits under any promissory covenant is a concept outside of the normal understanding of such a covenant. But that is exactly the understanding in regard to Israel's New Covenant. The blessings which national Israel will receive under that covenant have been secured by the death of the Lord Jesus at the Cross.

In regard to a last will and testament, normally the death of the testator has nothing to do with securing any gifts for the benefactors execpt as being the thing which initiates that will. But in the case of both the New Covenant and the New Testament an extra element has been introduced, that the Lord Jesus' death both ratifies the diatheke and serves as the very thing which secures the benefits under the diatheke.