KJV: Mk 15:6
6Now at that feast he released unto them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired.
Give Us Barabbas
As we study God’s Word we find particular people who are mentioned briefly and we soon pass over their record without fully gleaning the full significance of their rolls nor their application for us today. We should be very careful to remember that God has chosen to record the deeds and actions of these people and they appear for our reproof and for our benefit. God’s Word is carefully structured and nothing appears by chance!
Here we find the man Barabbas, a thief, an insurrectionist, and a murderer. When we consider this man the application is clear, he is a type of sinful man, under penalty of death for their crimes against God, who Jesus, the Son of God, gave his life in place of. This is application is sure, is wondrous, and is true this day. Through His substitutionary death on the cross of Calvary, now all that will confess his name shall be saved Romans 10:13 though we are guilty and should face a righteous judgment and the penalty of death, Jesus has died in our places.
The story of Barabbas can also call us to look at ourselves in another way. The decision to release Barabbas and to crucify Christ required a choice that had to made by the people that day before Pilate. The same decision is made over and over again each day and has been made for nearly two thousand years now. The question that Pilate asked of the people that day at the judgment seat has required an answer for thousands of years now and this very moment someone is making the same choice as we speak. Today, this hour, someone will have to answer Pilate’s burning question, "what shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?" Matt 27:22
22 Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified.
For thousands of years now the Jews have been persecuted by the Christian world and have been blamed for "Killing Christ." Those who will read the Word find the truth that if any thing Killed Christ it was the sins of each individual that has ever and will ever be born. Jesus was not killed at all but he gave His life so that we might be redeemed. The people that cried out that morning for his life were guilty of only a few things, being ignorant of the Son of God, being guilty of rejecting the Son of God, and being mislead by organized religion. This morning I would like to call your attention to the events that led to the reply of the crowd that day, "Give Us Barabbas."
They Were Misguided: (Luke 23:1 23:18)
And the whole multitude of them arose, and led him unto Pilate. 2And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King
It is easy to point a finger at the Jewish people that stood that day and cried for a murderer instead of the Savior. As a matter of fact this event has been twisted and used politically as a means to carry out terrible persecution against the Jewish people throughout history. Unlike us they had no written Word, they had no hope outside of their relation to Abraham, and they had not the assurance of redemption through grace! They made their choice being misled by many different factions.
By Religion: Luke 11:39
39 And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.
It was the Temple guards that arrested Jesus that morning (night) in the garden. It was the leaders of the Sanhedrin that sought to destroy the man Jesus. It was the keepers of the Law that broke the very Law they worshipped by holding court in the darkness of the night. It was the chief priest that led the parade to Pilate and made the accusations against our Lord. It was the church leaders who ran among the crowd and worked them up so as to cry out the name Barabbas. What a terrible testimony of the church of that day, yet today many leaders of the church are just as wicked in that they pervert the Word of God and lead His children astray from the narrow path of the truth. They place restrictions on the people and make them to conform to the rules of the church rather than the ordinances of the Lord. They place conditions on the salvation process by adding the requirement of baptism, membership, or works. The use the tigth to promote the works of man and personal ministries rather than for the good of the church. They go in the name of the Lord to heal at the large gatherings down town and completely by-pass the hospitals and nursing homes. Let it not be the record of your church that we have mis-led the people rather than leading them to the Lord Jesus Christ.
By Nature: 1 Corinthians 2:14
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
By nature we are wicked and sinful, unable to make judgments that are exempt of our fallen nature. Very seldom will a person make a decision based on the betterment of the church, or to honor God. Rather it is the natural choice to obtain that, which will immediately help us personally. The people that day before Pilate chose what seemed to them to be the best choice for deliverance from the Roman oppression. When the spiritual choice would have been to choose Jesus who would deliver them not only from oppression but also into salvation.
By Satan: John 8:41- 45
41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. 42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. 43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. 45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
The greatest victory that Satan can gain is to slander the name of Christ. Here Satan uses the very people that Jesus came to redeem to accuse Him before the world. Satan can not come through the blood of Christ to gain the soul of the child of God, but sometimes he can use us to attack the name of Christ. The lost world is not surprised to hear of the ways of the wicked, they are accustomed to it, but when a child of God falls into sin, when the saved begin to act as wicked as the lost, when God’s people sin it is big news. We should be on guard not to allow Satan to use us against the name of the Lord.
They Were Malevolent: KJV: Lk 23:2
2And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King.
Malevolent:
1 : having, showing, or arising from intense often vicious ill will, spite, or hatred
The crowd, being roused by the religious leaders, was worked up into a fit of anger and they indeed fit the definition of malevolent.
They were vicious: John 10:14-18
Those that beat, plucked, smote, and crowned the thorns into his head were not Romans, they were the temple guard; His own people! They brought the blood from the one that had come to give his blood for them. You cannot take from the Lord even that which he intends to give freely.
14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. 15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. 17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
They were Spiteful: Isaiah 53:4
For years they had looked, and prayed for, the Messiah to come. Now that he was in their midst they rejected Him because it upset their idea of the expectations of God. The one who had come to deliver them from the law, to redeem them unto God, was out of Spite rejected and mocked then crucified.
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
They were Hateful: KJV: Lk 23:18
The originator of love was hated to death. The greatest love the world ever will know was hated by His own people. Those who sought to worship God hated His Son who came to give His life in sacrifice for them!
18And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas:
They were Mistaken:
Luke 23:18
And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas:
John 18:40
Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.
They cried for His blood not knowing that His Blood would be their salvation. John 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
They were asked twice to choose carefully, and twice they cried crucify him. Mark 15:12-15
12 And Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews? 13 And they cried out again, Crucify him. 14 Then Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify him.
15 And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.
Do not make the same mistake in this hour! The Holy Ghost of God comes to fallen man to woo and call him back into repentance. The Holy Spirit comes again and again calling the sinner to make a choice between Heaven and Hell and between Christ and Satan! But there comes a time when the Holy Ghost will remove the conviction and the Lord will never call to you again, this is the unpardonable sin; to reject the work of the Holy Ghost. Today is the day of Salvation 2 Corinthians 6:2!
Conclusion:
KJV: Mt 27:22
22Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified.
What shall YOU do then with Jesus which is called Christ?
To the Saint:
Will you rest on your conversion and not walk in faith each day?
Will you choose to be a silent witness or will the world know your stand?
Will you have any crowns in the great reward or will you be saved "as by fire?"
Will your faith be enough to see you through this life in which we live today?
What will you do with this Jesus that lives inside of YOU?
To the Sinner:
This day, this hour, and this minute you must make a decision? What will you do with Jesus? Will you:
Reject the blood of Christ given for your redemption?
Ignore the calling of the Holy Spirit?
You commit the unpardonable sin?
Postpone salvation for another day, you have no promise of another day?
The choice is the same as was given to the crowd that day by Pilate, "What shall I do then with Jesus, which is called the Christ!"
Will you choose Christ, or will you choose the world, which is Barabbas!
Will we stand in the hour of decision and cry out with a loud voice,
“Give Us Barabbas”
