Barabbas--and you

Imagine being a prisoner, arrested and imprisoned for a crime you knew you had committed. Tried and condemned. You are guilty. And you await death. You hear the footsteps of the guards approaching.

But suddenly... you are set free. How do you explain it? You are told that there is a man who would die in your place. Can you imagine it?

What must Barabbas have been thinking at the moment this very thing happened to him?
John 18:39-40 -- But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews? Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas.

Now Barabbas was a robber. Jesus had been arrested, but the officials found nothing to hold him on. It was their custom each year at this time to release one prisoner. Pilate would gladly release Jesus. For He had committed no crime.

Luke 23:13-19 -- And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him: No, nor yet Herod: for I sent you to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him. I will therefore chastise him, and release him. (For of necessity he must release one unto them at the feast.) And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas: (Who for a certain sedition made in the city, and for murder, was cast into prison.)

Jesus was accused of claiming to be a king. Accused of the claim that he was the Son of God. The people claimed that was a threat to the government. The only charge they would have on Jesus isinsurrection. And he was not guilty. He had done nothing wrong.

Luke 23:23-25 And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed. And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required. And he released unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they had desired; but he delivered Jesus to their will.

Now I want you to look at some things about Barabbas.. the man released in Jesus place. What was the charge against him?

A form of insurrection.They both had the same charge. But there is a difference. Barabbas was guilty but set free. Jesus was innocent but condemned.

Do you know what Barabbas means? Bar means "son of". Abbas means Daddy.Jesus was accused of claiming to be the Son of God, the one true Father... our Daddy.

See the similarities here? Barabbas is freed.. Jesus is condemned. Barabbas is guilty.. Jesus is innocentBarabbas has the name.. but Jesus IS

Now, look for a moment at your own life. When Jesus was crucified, Barabbas was set free. but Jesus didn't only die for Barabbas.He died for you...so that you could be free.

What things in our lives are we guilty of? Yet we escape the death we deserve by the atonement offered by the sacrifice of Christ on the cross that day. Isn't it an awesome thing to know that we have a God who loves us so much?

We have life because He died in our place. As He hung upon that cross, the worst way to die, He did it for you. Because He loves you so much.

You are that prisoner.. Receiving the news that you will be set free. What is your reaction?