The story of the exchange of places between Barabbas, the condemned murderer, and Jesus the Son of God epitomizes the truth concerning God and man. As the article said, the story of Barabbas has a meaning and a purpose. It is in the Bible for our sakes. It is a biography of the whole of mankind. God planned to include it in the Bible in order to open our eyes about ourselves and about His intent to save.
Barabbas is a 'type' of sinful man, a true image of man, just as Jesus is the true image of God. The story is in Mark 15:6-15. Pontius Pilate offered to release one of the men who was about to be crucified. He offered to release Jesus, knowing that he was innocent, but the chief priests riled up the people, who insisted on having Barabbas released rather than Jesus.
The Aramaic name of Barabbas means "son of the father." No surname or other identity is given about him and, of course, like everything in scripture this is no accident. He is Everyman. We can insert our own names, and if we do, it can be very enlightening.
We are sinful creatures by birth, and prone to evil from the beginning. From birth we are people under the rule of sin and Satan - just as Barabbas. He is described in the New testament, as "a robber...an insurrectionist...a murderer...a notable prisoner." From the descriptions we can characterize him as a notorious zealot who had taken part in a rebellion against the Roman government and killed a man in the process.
This sounds an awful lot like many people in the U.S. who are preparing to take part in an armed rebellion, doesn't it? See how easy it is to identify with Barabbas? He may well have been very popular with the people, a sort of hero 'of the people.' That's the way I see him - the kind of guy we might like.
The choice between Jesus and Barabbas is clear proof of how dangerous it is to allow public opinion to decide issues concerning questions of life, truth and a right course of action. Again, just like today. Decisions by the public opinion are uninformed, self-interested, self-deceptive, unwise, influenced by group pressure, and morally wrong. We can see proof of that right here in America, in the lack of quality of the leaders we have elected. (That's why our country was set up as a republic ... not a democracy.)
Just as the Jews did, so we will do. We are intent as never before on disobedience to Jesus Christ, and determined to choose leaders who will give us stuff. We will end up with Antichrist rather than Jesus Christ, because at first he will seem to give us everything we want.
Meanwhile, Jesus simply stands there. He shows us who God is. He says nothing, he does not argue over the injustice he is receiving; he simply stands in silence. His silence screams at us.
And so, he exchanged places with Barabbas. He took the fall. He took the punishment for Barabbas. He paid the price for Everyman.
It's interesting to consider what Barabbas must have thought when he left that place. He had certainly heard about Jesus and knew that his arrest and conviction was a sham because Jesus had done nothing wrong. Barabbas got off Scot free, and he knew he was guilty. The chains were removed from him and placed on Jesus, the innocent one. Jesus, the sinless one, the Son of God, the King and Judge, changed places with Barabbas. Just as he has done for us.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16
It's an offer you can't refuse. Can you?
Child of The King
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