Matthew 23:35

CONTRAST AND TYPE

‘The blood of righteous Abel.’

Matthew 23:35

‘The blood of Abel’ speaks in two voices—by contrast and by type.

I. By contrast.—‘The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto Me from the ground.’ Vengeance,—dire vengeance! ‘The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from us all sin.’ Mercy,—all mercy!

II. By type.—Abel was a shepherd, ‘a keeper of sheep’; Christ is a Shepherd, ‘a Keeper of sheep.’ Abel offered ‘a lamb’; Christ offered that ‘Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world.’ Abel gave his best; Christ gave His best for the Church. ‘The Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering’; the Lord looked to Christ and His offering, and ‘His soul was well pleased.’ Abel was a martyr for truth; Christ was a martyr for truth. Abel was killed by his brother; His brethren killed Christ. Abel was killed for jealousy; Christ was killed for jealousy. Abel’s blood lived before God, and was eloquent after he died; Christ’s blood lives, and is eloquent for ever. The murderer of Abel was ‘a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth’; the murderers of Christ are ‘fugitives and vagabonds upon the earth.’

III. The Blood of Christ.—It was affectingly natural that just as He was approaching His own death, Christ’s thought should travel back to that ‘death of Abel’ upon the horizon of time, which was the prototype of His own. Never forget what the blood of Christ is. If ‘the blood of righteous Abel’ shall cry to God for His avenging hand, how much more will ‘the blood of His righteous servant justify many!’ The blood is the life. And that blood which Christ shed, was the life of His humanity. And He is the human head of a human body, the Church. Therefore that blood is the life—the true life, the only life, the eternal life of every member of the body, the whole Church of the living God.

—The Rev. James Vaughan.