The other day I was in a time of worship and cleaning the
house (my wife would be so happy J), when a worship song came
on. It talked about the freeing power of Christ. How He came to set us free,
that He took our place while we get to walk free of the charges against us. It
was at that time that the Holy Spirit brought to mind Barabbas and Jesus. Let
us take a quick look at that part of the crucifixion story:
Luk 23:18-25 NKJV And they all cried out at once, saying,
"Away with this Man, and release
to us Barabbas"— (19) who had been thrown into prison for a certain
rebellion made in the city, and for murder.
(20)
Pilate, therefore, wishing to release Jesus, again called out to
them. (21) But they shouted, saying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" (22) Then he said to them the third time,
"Why, what evil has He done? I have found no reason for death in Him. I
will therefore chastise Him and let Him
go." (23) But they were insistent, demanding with loud
voices that He be crucified. And the voices of these men and of the chief
priests prevailed. (24) So Pilate
gave sentence that it should be as they requested. (25) And he released to them the one they
requested, who for rebellion and murder had been thrown into prison; but he
delivered Jesus to their will.
Isn't that a great picture of what Jesus has done for us?
Isn't that a picture of how the world treats Him? In fact isn't that how many
"Christians" treat Him too?
Think for a minute just who you once were, or are today.
We were all "Barabbas" at one time in our lives. We were guilty of
our crimes. We have all lied, cheated, committed sexual immorality, etc... You
and I both know that the list could go on. The fact remains we have all done
wrong, and we are all deserving of punishment! Though through Christ we are set
free from our wrongs! The picture of Barabbas and Jesus is a perfect picture of
what Jesus has done for us all! We stood there guilty as one could be, and
Jesus innocent as could be (through His actions!) says "Wait! I'll take
his place!" He says this as he is walking up the stairs to stand in front
of the accusing crowd. When He gets to the top, standing next to us, the
guilty, He turns and says to us "I have taken your place, you may now go
free! Go and sin no more!" He traded His perfection for our imperfection!
He became our sin and we became sinless! What did we have to do in this
transaction? Nothing but believe that what He said and did was the truth! Jesus
did the work!... What a wonderful word picture we have in Jesus, and Barabbas,
one that clearly shows the trading of guilt, for glory! This is a clear picture
of this:
Rom 5:7-9 NKJV For scarcely for a righteous man will one
die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. (8) But God
demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us. (9) Much more
then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath
through Him.
On the flip side of the Jesus and Barabbas’ story we have
the crowd. Who we too once were. And at times even still could be! How many
times have you seen, and been a part of the crowd? The ones who stood there and
said "give us that one!" picking the vileness of the world to be
your, all the while you point to Jesus saying "to death, to hell with
that!" How many times has this happened? How many times can we see this
happening even now? You can pick any issue in today’s society and put the
"Barabbas" banner over it. You will see the world,
"Christians", religious leaders saying "Give us that! Release to
us the right to do ___." All the while the release of that (whatever it
may be) means the death of Christ! To have the "world" given to us
means to have Christ crucified! This is a perfect example of what James wrote
here:
Jas 4:4 NKJV Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know
that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to
be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Even so, when we come to our senses, even us in the crowd
who has become "Barabbas" again, Jesus still says "I forgive
you!" and "You are set free! Now go and sin no more!" How do we
get there, when we were the ones in the crowd? The same way we came to Christ
the first time, repentance!" We turn from the world, and turn to Jesus! We
make Him our focal point! Just like Paul said:
1Co 2:2 NKJV For I determined not to know anything
among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
And
Gal 6:14 NKJV But God forbid that I should boast
except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has
been crucified to me, and I to the world.
That’s what this picture of Jesus and Barabbas is all
about. It shows the redemptive work of Jesus and His finished work on the
cross!
Let us today make our boast not in the world or the things
of this world. Let us boast not in ourselves, but in Jesus and the cross! For
we once were Barabbas, but are not freed captives! And it was all done through
the work of Christ, and Him crucified!
Your Brother in Christ
Grace and Peace be with you
Nate Cook, Setting Captives Free Team
Member
And Jesus said to me:
Eze 3:10b-11a "...Receive into your heart all My words
that I speak to you, and hear with your ears, and go, get
to the captives..."
No comments:
Post a Comment