The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas.
At the Passover feast Pilate asked the crowd whether he should release Jesus or Barabbas, following the custom of freeing one condemned prisoner. He set the innocent Prince of life beside a notorious robber and murderer, hoping the open contrast between righteousness and guilt would move the people to choose Jesus. Pilate knew Jesus was guiltless and had been delivered for envy, yet he surrendered his judgment to the mob and gave Him up to be crucified. The chief priests and rulers, moved by envy and fear of losing place, stirred up the crowd to demand Barabbas and cry out for Christ's death. That cry chose Satan the rebel and murderer before Christ the Truth, and the same choice faces every person today between receiving Christ unto life and rejecting His mercy unto wrath and final ruin.
Passover Choice and Setting
At the feast it was the pagan and unjust custom to set free one prisoner condemned to death at the great national festival, and Pilate used it to try to save Jesus by asking the Passover crowd which of the two he should release, Jesus or Barabbas. He set the true and innocent Christ, Jesus which is called Christ, side by side with the notable Barabbas, a notorious robber, thief and murderer, flattering himself that the open contrast between innocence and guilt, light and darkness, sin and righteousness, truth and falsehood would be so convincing that all could see it and be moved to pity and to choose Jesus of Nazareth. Barabbas stood in most striking contrast as a base and guilty criminal and wicked pretender to Christ who under satanic delusion claimed that whatever he could obtain by theft and robbery and murder was his own, who did wonderful things through satanic agencies, and who claimed religious power and the right to establish a different order of things and to set the world right. Pilate already knew Jesus was innocent, that the charges were false and unsubstantiated, that the leaders had delivered Him for envy, and he had received added light through the dream sent to his wife and through inward conviction that even bound and accused His power was the power of God and not of a common man, yet in terrible conflict of soul he was too weak to obey it and do justice. The crowd, stirred up and instructed by the priests and rulers, with satanic madness refused the Lord of glory, the Prince of Life bearing the seal of heaven and full of goodness, mercy and truth, and demanded that Barabbas be released, thereby showing they preferred the society of a murderer to that of the sinless One, while envy and malice overpowered justice and bigotry and prejudice prevailed through Satan working through the religious leaders. By that appeal to the crowd Pilate surrendered his own judgment and weakened his authority.
The question belongs to the trial in which Jesus, bound as a prisoner, was brought before Pilate while the Jewish leaders and a crowd pressed him to confirm and carry out the sentence against Jesus. The Jewish priests and rulers pressed the Roman governor to do their will, choosing Barabbas, a robber and murderer, for release instead of Jesus, the Son of God who was going to the cross. This choice formed part of the trial in which Jesus, though innocent, was condemned and rejected unto crucifixion, and in which Pilate failed to do justice.
The people who had hailed Him as king now turned against Him, reviled Him, and were determined that He should not be released. When Pilate presented Jesus and Barabbas and asked which prisoner they wanted, they demanded that Barabbas be released and that Jesus be crucified. Satan stood at the head of those who reviled and crucified Christ and led the cruel mob in its abuse of the Saviour, putting Christ to open shame by cruel deeds witnessed by angels. Pilate declared to the maddened throng that he found no fault in Christ, yet he delivered Him into their hands, and they crucified Him.
Jesus and Barabbas Contrasted
Barabbas was a notorious robber, thief and murderer, a base, guilty and hardened criminal set against Jesus when the choice of release was offered. He was a wicked pretender to Christ who under satanic delusion claimed that whatever he could obtain by theft and robbery and murder was his own. He did wonderful things through satanic agencies, claimed religious power and the right to establish a different order of things and to set the world right.
Set against him was Jesus, the innocent, pure, holy and undefiled Prince of Heaven and Prince of Life. He is the Son of God who made the world and all things therein, the world's Redeemer whose humanity bore the impress of the divine. He clothed His divinity in the garb of humanity, and He still wears that garb.
Pilate set the true and innocent Christ side by side with Barabbas so that all could see the open contrast. That contrast was light against darkness, sin against righteousness, and truth against falsehood, with the Lord of glory full of goodness, mercy and truth standing against guilt. Pilate flattered himself that the difference between innocence and guilt would be so convincing as to move the people to pity and to choose Jesus of Nazareth.
Pilate Priests and Crowd
Pilate knew Jesus was innocent, that the charges against Him were false and unsubstantiated, and that the leaders had delivered Him for envy, and he had received added light through the dream sent to his wife and through inward conviction that even bound and accused His power was the power of God and not of a common man, yet in terrible conflict of soul he was too weak to obey that light and do justice. By putting the question of release to the crowd he surrendered his own judgment and weakened his authority, and though he declared to the maddened throng that he found no fault in Christ he failed to do justice and delivered Him into their hands to be crucified. The customary release gave him an opportunity to free Jesus, but the opportunity was lost when he appealed to the people instead of acting on what he knew.
The chief priests, elders, and rulers, instructed by Caiaphas, stirred up and instructed the mob to reject Jesus and demand Barabbas. They acted from envy, malice, jealousy, bigotry, and prejudice, because He drew the attention of the people away from themselves, did greater works than they ever had done or could do, and might become higher in authority than they and become king of the Jews. Determined that Jesus should not be released, they prevailed upon the people despite Pilate's effort to move them to pity and despite his declaration that he found no fault in Him. Instructed by the priests and rabbis, the people rejected the innocent, pure, and undefiled Son of God and chose a guilty man over Him.
To prevent His becoming king they seized Him privately, hired false witnesses to testify falsely against Him so they could condemn Him and put Him to death, and refused Him as king. With satanic madness and satanically impelled rage the crowd chose Barabbas, a murderer and thief, to be released instead of Christ, the world's Redeemer, thereby showing they preferred the society of a murderer to that of the sinless One. Their cry, Crucify Him, crucify Him, meant they would not accept Him as their king and thought that by taking His life they could prevent His becoming king, while Satan stood at the head of those who reviled Him and led the cruel mob in putting Him to open shame by deeds witnessed by angels. The same rejection of light that grieves God's Spirit is shown today by whether people obey the light they have received, revealing whether they would have joined those who called for His death.
Caiaphas wore the high priestly robes but had no vital connection with God, being uncircumcised in heart and without capacity or heavenly authority or light for the priestly work. With the tyrannous, deceptive, ambitious, and corrupt priesthood he proved unworthy of the office, so that the true Jewish high priesthood ended with him. In directing the choice of Barabbas and crying out for the crucifixion of Christ the priests acted as representatives of the Jewish nation, placed themselves under the despised Roman jurisdiction, and by declaring submission to Caesar cut themselves off from God as His church.
Choice Between Christ and Satan
The judgment-hall cry for Barabbas was the final choice between Christ, the Truth, and Satan, the rebel, robber, apostate, liar, and murderer. Barabbas stood for Satan personified and represented him in character, so the roaring demand to release Barabbas chose Satan before Christ and exalted Satan over the Son of God who made the world and all things therein. That choosing was a yoking up with Satan, and to those with true religion Satan appeared linked with the men who triumphantly shouted blasphemy against Christ as He bore the insults of Satan and his agencies.
Choosing Barabbas expressed rejection of Christ in His holy character, of heaven's light when presented, of the message of mercy concerning God's commandments and the faith of Jesus, and of the only provision for cleansing from sin. Refusing the light brings deception, darkness, and rebellion, and choosing Satan's falsehoods aligns people with the chief liar and the disloyal and turns them away from the Son of God. The same rejection is repeated whenever people reject Christ and choose another leader, betraying Him in the person of His saints, and near the end of the world those who reject truth will again cry for Barabbas and demand Christ's crucifixion.
The rulers' decisive choice to have Barabbas instead of Christ fixed their character for life and exposed hearts needing the molding of the Spirit of God. It revealed selfishness, fraud, discontent, unholy passions, and hypocrisy cloaked by religious dress and ceremony that contradicted the Passover rites they kept, while they deceived the people by an outward appearance of sanctity and reviled One who came from heaven to save a perishing world, in whose heart zeal for right and justice and for the glory of God was the highest object, who was Commander of all heaven. Their choice gave evidence that profession of piety and of love for God, and claim to know the Scriptures, neither made them sons of God nor led them to represent His character.
The choice preferred a thief and murderer though no fault could be found in Christ, and it represented rejecting His rule and discouraging the Father's purpose despite the boundless gift of salvation offered. Those who reject His mercy face God's wrath, while those who receive and believe in Him have hope and eternal life. At the final judgment those who cast Him out and chose another in His place must answer for it.
Repeated Choice and Consequences
The same decision set before the crowd still faces every person today, the choice between the side of the rabble and the side of those faithful to Christ, between Christ and the apostate and opposing power, between having the Man Christ Jesus for King and having Barabbas for king. It is made by the power of the will in the few years left to give proof, by sanctifying the will to God, accepting His invitation without delay, obeying known truth, and receiving pardon, or by refusing the invitation, clinging to habits, resisting truth, accepting what suits one's own ideas, hardening the heart, and continuing in disobedience. A person's course of action and daily life shows whom he has chosen, saying in effect Barabbas, Barabbas, and crucify Him, and carries solemn responsibility and accountability to God for encouraging transgression by example. The choice reveals the spirit of man and what humanity will do when not under the control of the Spirit of God, as men inspired of Satan standing under the black banner of the powers of darkness. Those who resist God's Spirit become spiritually blind to reject truth and choose evil over Christ, and that same blindness comes when the Word of Life is overlooked and the Scriptures are not searched, when precious truth that would elevate, sanctify, refine, and fit for immortality is set aside for novels, stories, imagination, and trifles, leaving men weighed in the balances and found wanting.
The choice is repeated whenever people reject Christ and choose another leader, betraying Him in the person of His saints. Those who reject light and grieve God's Spirit bring deception, darkness, and rebellion upon themselves, and show by whether they obey the light they have received whether they would have joined those who called for His death. Near the end of the world and in the great crisis and final test before us, people who reject truth will again cry for Barabbas and demand Christ's crucifixion, for Barabbas in character represented Satan and choosing him expressed rejection of Christ in His holy character and preference for Satan's way. Their choice determines destiny. The cruelty of that coming crisis could not have been comprehended beforehand, so greater faith is needed to stand the test and trial ahead, with prayer for the Lord to increase faith.
The disappointment of worldly hopes and the sight of the beloved Teacher condemned while the murderous Barabbas was preferred grieved the disciples and tried their faith and hope, yet Jesus had prepared His true disciples through earlier tests and while still with them strengthened their faith for the trial of His condemnation and crucifixion. By refusing God's way Jerusalem's people brought humiliation upon themselves; God left them to the choice they had made, permitted them to carry out their rebellious purposes and follow the purposes of their unsanctified hearts, withdrew His Spirit and heaven's protection, and Jerusalem was humiliated and brought low. The people's sentence against Christ was connected with the later doom that came upon them, for at Jerusalem's destruction many were crucified and crosses stood thickly around Calvary. That warning points also to the world's destruction, because people will continue to refuse God's mercy until the end of earth's history.
The rulers' decisive choice fixed their character for life and exposed hearts needing the molding of the Spirit, with selfishness, fraud, discontent, unholy passions, and hypocrisy cloaked by religious dress and ceremony contradicting the Passover they kept. Joined to the cries to crucify Christ and to take His blood upon themselves and their children, it brought real guilt and curse upon them, torturing their hearts with the blight of God's curse, though Christ never spurns the true penitent but hates hypocrisy covered by religion. When judgment reveals the meaning of the cross, rejection of heaven's light and of the only provision for cleansing from sin will be seen as a choice for Barabbas instead of the Prince of Peace. At the final judgment, when compelled to look upon Him and when accumulated guilt is laid bare, those who slighted His love and abused His compassion by choosing a robber and murderer in His stead will remember the choice with indescribable confusion, the scales falling from their eyes to see what they might have been had they received Christ and improved their opportunities, with His self-denial and great humiliation, His suffering in Gethsemane and in the judgment hall, His condemnation and scourging while pronounced innocent, His crowning with thorns and crucifixion, the taunts of priests and rulers, and every tone of entreaty and every act of insult and mockery standing as fresh in memory as when done, and must answer for casting Him out and choosing another in His place.
At the Passover feast Pilate asked the crowd whether he should release Jesus or Barabbas, following the custom of freeing one condemned prisoner. He set the innocent Prince of life beside a notorious robber and murderer, hoping the open contrast between righteousness and guilt would move the people to choose Jesus. Pilate knew Jesus was guiltless and had been delivered for envy, yet he surrendered his judgment to the mob and gave Him up to be crucified. The chief priests and rulers, moved by envy and fear of losing place, stirred up the crowd to demand Barabbas and cry out for Christ's death. That cry chose Satan the rebel and murderer before Christ the Truth, and the same choice faces every person today between receiving Christ unto life and rejecting His mercy unto wrath and final ruin.
Passover Choice and Setting
At the feast it was the pagan and unjust custom to set free one prisoner condemned to death at the great national festival, and Pilate used it to try to save Jesus by asking the Passover crowd which of the two he should release, Jesus or Barabbas. He set the true and innocent Christ, Jesus which is called Christ, side by side with the notable Barabbas, a notorious robber, thief and murderer, flattering himself that the open contrast between innocence and guilt, light and darkness, sin and righteousness, truth and falsehood would be so convincing that all could see it and be moved to pity and to choose Jesus of Nazareth. Barabbas stood in most striking contrast as a base and guilty criminal and wicked pretender to Christ who under satanic delusion claimed that whatever he could obtain by theft and robbery and murder was his own, who did wonderful things through satanic agencies, and who claimed religious power and the right to establish a different order of things and to set the world right. Pilate already knew Jesus was innocent, that the charges were false and unsubstantiated, that the leaders had delivered Him for envy, and he had received added light through the dream sent to his wife and through inward conviction that even bound and accused His power was the power of God and not of a common man, yet in terrible conflict of soul he was too weak to obey it and do justice. The crowd, stirred up and instructed by the priests and rulers, with satanic madness refused the Lord of glory, the Prince of Life bearing the seal of heaven and full of goodness, mercy and truth, and demanded that Barabbas be released, thereby showing they preferred the society of a murderer to that of the sinless One, while envy and malice overpowered justice and bigotry and prejudice prevailed through Satan working through the religious leaders. By that appeal to the crowd Pilate surrendered his own judgment and weakened his authority.
The question belongs to the trial in which Jesus, bound as a prisoner, was brought before Pilate while the Jewish leaders and a crowd pressed him to confirm and carry out the sentence against Jesus. The Jewish priests and rulers pressed the Roman governor to do their will, choosing Barabbas, a robber and murderer, for release instead of Jesus, the Son of God who was going to the cross. This choice formed part of the trial in which Jesus, though innocent, was condemned and rejected unto crucifixion, and in which Pilate failed to do justice.
The people who had hailed Him as king now turned against Him, reviled Him, and were determined that He should not be released. When Pilate presented Jesus and Barabbas and asked which prisoner they wanted, they demanded that Barabbas be released and that Jesus be crucified. Satan stood at the head of those who reviled and crucified Christ and led the cruel mob in its abuse of the Saviour, putting Christ to open shame by cruel deeds witnessed by angels. Pilate declared to the maddened throng that he found no fault in Christ, yet he delivered Him into their hands, and they crucified Him.
Jesus and Barabbas Contrasted
Barabbas was a notorious robber, thief and murderer, a base, guilty and hardened criminal set against Jesus when the choice of release was offered. He was a wicked pretender to Christ who under satanic delusion claimed that whatever he could obtain by theft and robbery and murder was his own. He did wonderful things through satanic agencies, claimed religious power and the right to establish a different order of things and to set the world right.
Set against him was Jesus, the innocent, pure, holy and undefiled Prince of Heaven and Prince of Life. He is the Son of God who made the world and all things therein, the world's Redeemer whose humanity bore the impress of the divine. He clothed His divinity in the garb of humanity, and He still wears that garb.
Pilate set the true and innocent Christ side by side with Barabbas so that all could see the open contrast. That contrast was light against darkness, sin against righteousness, and truth against falsehood, with the Lord of glory full of goodness, mercy and truth standing against guilt. Pilate flattered himself that the difference between innocence and guilt would be so convincing as to move the people to pity and to choose Jesus of Nazareth.
Pilate Priests and Crowd
Pilate knew Jesus was innocent, that the charges against Him were false and unsubstantiated, and that the leaders had delivered Him for envy, and he had received added light through the dream sent to his wife and through inward conviction that even bound and accused His power was the power of God and not of a common man, yet in terrible conflict of soul he was too weak to obey that light and do justice. By putting the question of release to the crowd he surrendered his own judgment and weakened his authority, and though he declared to the maddened throng that he found no fault in Christ he failed to do justice and delivered Him into their hands to be crucified. The customary release gave him an opportunity to free Jesus, but the opportunity was lost when he appealed to the people instead of acting on what he knew.
The chief priests, elders, and rulers, instructed by Caiaphas, stirred up and instructed the mob to reject Jesus and demand Barabbas. They acted from envy, malice, jealousy, bigotry, and prejudice, because He drew the attention of the people away from themselves, did greater works than they ever had done or could do, and might become higher in authority than they and become king of the Jews. Determined that Jesus should not be released, they prevailed upon the people despite Pilate's effort to move them to pity and despite his declaration that he found no fault in Him. Instructed by the priests and rabbis, the people rejected the innocent, pure, and undefiled Son of God and chose a guilty man over Him.
To prevent His becoming king they seized Him privately, hired false witnesses to testify falsely against Him so they could condemn Him and put Him to death, and refused Him as king. With satanic madness and satanically impelled rage the crowd chose Barabbas, a murderer and thief, to be released instead of Christ, the world's Redeemer, thereby showing they preferred the society of a murderer to that of the sinless One. Their cry, Crucify Him, crucify Him, meant they would not accept Him as their king and thought that by taking His life they could prevent His becoming king, while Satan stood at the head of those who reviled Him and led the cruel mob in putting Him to open shame by deeds witnessed by angels. The same rejection of light that grieves God's Spirit is shown today by whether people obey the light they have received, revealing whether they would have joined those who called for His death.
Caiaphas wore the high priestly robes but had no vital connection with God, being uncircumcised in heart and without capacity or heavenly authority or light for the priestly work. With the tyrannous, deceptive, ambitious, and corrupt priesthood he proved unworthy of the office, so that the true Jewish high priesthood ended with him. In directing the choice of Barabbas and crying out for the crucifixion of Christ the priests acted as representatives of the Jewish nation, placed themselves under the despised Roman jurisdiction, and by declaring submission to Caesar cut themselves off from God as His church.
Choice Between Christ and Satan
The judgment-hall cry for Barabbas was the final choice between Christ, the Truth, and Satan, the rebel, robber, apostate, liar, and murderer. Barabbas stood for Satan personified and represented him in character, so the roaring demand to release Barabbas chose Satan before Christ and exalted Satan over the Son of God who made the world and all things therein. That choosing was a yoking up with Satan, and to those with true religion Satan appeared linked with the men who triumphantly shouted blasphemy against Christ as He bore the insults of Satan and his agencies.
Choosing Barabbas expressed rejection of Christ in His holy character, of heaven's light when presented, of the message of mercy concerning God's commandments and the faith of Jesus, and of the only provision for cleansing from sin. Refusing the light brings deception, darkness, and rebellion, and choosing Satan's falsehoods aligns people with the chief liar and the disloyal and turns them away from the Son of God. The same rejection is repeated whenever people reject Christ and choose another leader, betraying Him in the person of His saints, and near the end of the world those who reject truth will again cry for Barabbas and demand Christ's crucifixion.
The rulers' decisive choice to have Barabbas instead of Christ fixed their character for life and exposed hearts needing the molding of the Spirit of God. It revealed selfishness, fraud, discontent, unholy passions, and hypocrisy cloaked by religious dress and ceremony that contradicted the Passover rites they kept, while they deceived the people by an outward appearance of sanctity and reviled One who came from heaven to save a perishing world, in whose heart zeal for right and justice and for the glory of God was the highest object, who was Commander of all heaven. Their choice gave evidence that profession of piety and of love for God, and claim to know the Scriptures, neither made them sons of God nor led them to represent His character.
The choice preferred a thief and murderer though no fault could be found in Christ, and it represented rejecting His rule and discouraging the Father's purpose despite the boundless gift of salvation offered. Those who reject His mercy face God's wrath, while those who receive and believe in Him have hope and eternal life. At the final judgment those who cast Him out and chose another in His place must answer for it.
Repeated Choice and Consequences
The same decision set before the crowd still faces every person today, the choice between the side of the rabble and the side of those faithful to Christ, between Christ and the apostate and opposing power, between having the Man Christ Jesus for King and having Barabbas for king. It is made by the power of the will in the few years left to give proof, by sanctifying the will to God, accepting His invitation without delay, obeying known truth, and receiving pardon, or by refusing the invitation, clinging to habits, resisting truth, accepting what suits one's own ideas, hardening the heart, and continuing in disobedience. A person's course of action and daily life shows whom he has chosen, saying in effect Barabbas, Barabbas, and crucify Him, and carries solemn responsibility and accountability to God for encouraging transgression by example. The choice reveals the spirit of man and what humanity will do when not under the control of the Spirit of God, as men inspired of Satan standing under the black banner of the powers of darkness. Those who resist God's Spirit become spiritually blind to reject truth and choose evil over Christ, and that same blindness comes when the Word of Life is overlooked and the Scriptures are not searched, when precious truth that would elevate, sanctify, refine, and fit for immortality is set aside for novels, stories, imagination, and trifles, leaving men weighed in the balances and found wanting.
The choice is repeated whenever people reject Christ and choose another leader, betraying Him in the person of His saints. Those who reject light and grieve God's Spirit bring deception, darkness, and rebellion upon themselves, and show by whether they obey the light they have received whether they would have joined those who called for His death. Near the end of the world and in the great crisis and final test before us, people who reject truth will again cry for Barabbas and demand Christ's crucifixion, for Barabbas in character represented Satan and choosing him expressed rejection of Christ in His holy character and preference for Satan's way. Their choice determines destiny. The cruelty of that coming crisis could not have been comprehended beforehand, so greater faith is needed to stand the test and trial ahead, with prayer for the Lord to increase faith.
The disappointment of worldly hopes and the sight of the beloved Teacher condemned while the murderous Barabbas was preferred grieved the disciples and tried their faith and hope, yet Jesus had prepared His true disciples through earlier tests and while still with them strengthened their faith for the trial of His condemnation and crucifixion. By refusing God's way Jerusalem's people brought humiliation upon themselves; God left them to the choice they had made, permitted them to carry out their rebellious purposes and follow the purposes of their unsanctified hearts, withdrew His Spirit and heaven's protection, and Jerusalem was humiliated and brought low. The people's sentence against Christ was connected with the later doom that came upon them, for at Jerusalem's destruction many were crucified and crosses stood thickly around Calvary. That warning points also to the world's destruction, because people will continue to refuse God's mercy until the end of earth's history.
The rulers' decisive choice fixed their character for life and exposed hearts needing the molding of the Spirit, with selfishness, fraud, discontent, unholy passions, and hypocrisy cloaked by religious dress and ceremony contradicting the Passover they kept. Joined to the cries to crucify Christ and to take His blood upon themselves and their children, it brought real guilt and curse upon them, torturing their hearts with the blight of God's curse, though Christ never spurns the true penitent but hates hypocrisy covered by religion. When judgment reveals the meaning of the cross, rejection of heaven's light and of the only provision for cleansing from sin will be seen as a choice for Barabbas instead of the Prince of Peace. At the final judgment, when compelled to look upon Him and when accumulated guilt is laid bare, those who slighted His love and abused His compassion by choosing a robber and murderer in His stead will remember the choice with indescribable confusion, the scales falling from their eyes to see what they might have been had they received Christ and improved their opportunities, with His self-denial and great humiliation, His suffering in Gethsemane and in the judgment hall, His condemnation and scourging while pronounced innocent, His crowning with thorns and crucifixion, the taunts of priests and rulers, and every tone of entreaty and every act of insult and mockery standing as fresh in memory as when done, and must answer for casting Him out and choosing another in His place.