Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
Pilate released the notorious robber and murderer Barabbas and had the innocent Jesus scourged and handed over to be crucified, though he himself had repeatedly declared Him without fault and with no crime proved against Him. In setting Christ side by side with Barabbas under the festival custom of freeing one condemned prisoner, he vainly hoped the contrast and the sight of bloody punishment would move the rulers and crowd to pity and secure Jesus' release, but they pressed for death and chose Barabbas instead. That choice was a rejection of Christ for Satan personified, with the priests, rulers and mob yoking themselves to Satan who led them in reviling and abuse, while calling Christ's blood upon themselves and their children. Jesus endured the lacerating scourging and the mocking, crowning and crucifixion that followed without murmur or resentment, with quiet patience and dignity, as the just suffering for the unjust under the burden of the world's sins to redeem mankind to God. By that cruel death He exposed Satan's character and vindicated God before the universe, proving Satan's charges false, and the same choice between Barabbas and Christ still stands before everyone in deciding whether to accept Christ and His truth or reject Him.
Setting and Sequence
Matthew 27:26 belongs to the judgment-hall scene where Jesus stands bound before Pilate while the Jewish leaders seek to have their sentence confirmed and carried out, at the Passover whose significance those leaders had lost by rejecting Jesus, the true Passover lamb. Pilate tried to save Jesus by using the pagan and unjust custom of freeing one prisoner condemned to death at the great national festival. Knowing the priests had brought Jesus for envy, and knowing that even bound and under accusation Jesus had power not of a common man but of God, Pilate in terrible conflict of soul set the true and innocent Christ side by side with the notable Barabbas, flattering himself that the contrast between innocence and guilt would be so convincing that the people would choose Jesus of Nazareth.
Barabbas was a notorious robber and murderer and hardened criminal, the opposite of Christ. He was a pretended Christ who had done great wickedness and wonderful things through satanic agencies, who under satanic delusion claimed by theft and robbery and murder that whatever he could obtain was his own, and who claimed religious power and the right to establish a different order of things and to set the world right. Heaven beheld Jesus seized at midnight in Gethsemane as a murderer and hurried from tribunal to tribunal with mockery and violence. He was dragged to and fro from palace to judgment hall and arraigned twice before the priests, twice before the Sanhedrin, twice before Pilate and once before Herod, enduring the sneers of persecutors at His lowly birth and denial with cursing and swearing by one of His best-loved disciples, revealing the frenzied work of Satan and his power over the hearts of men. This trial and suffering in the judgment hall and on the way to the cross followed a night He had spent in prayer to His Father.
The scourging and delivery to be crucified stand on the road to Calvary, where the crowd saw the body of Judas. That sight quieted some of the mockery, and pale faces showed that many thought retribution was already coming upon those guilty of Jesus' blood. After Barabbas was released and Jesus was scourged, Jesus was led away to be crucified. The cross prepared for Barabbas was laid on Jesus' bruised and bleeding shoulders, while two thieves also carried crosses to be put to death at the same time, Barabbas's companions being taken to die with Jesus. The scourging and blows left Him so weak that from blood loss, exhaustion and pain He soon collapsed and fainted three times under the cross, which was then carried by one of His followers to the place of execution.
Pilate's Unjust Sentence
Pilate repeatedly declared Jesus innocent and without fault, with no crime proved against Him, yet he released Barabbas and had Jesus scourged and handed Him over to be crucified. In doing so he surrendered judgment to an enraged crowd and a maddened throng that demanded Jesus' death and called for the release of Barabbas. His authority made him responsible for the condemnation and cruel scourging.
He recognized Jesus as a just man but, unable to save Him, sacrificed an innocent life rather than risk his position, revealing failure to act on conscience and duty. That act exposed an unjust determination to get Christ out of the way though no fault could be found in Christ or His teachings, driven by hatred of His reproof and sinless character. He delivered an innocent Jesus to be crucified for selfish interest and love of honor from the great men of earth. Tempted by Satan and his angels on to his own ruin, he consented through fear of losing his power, authority, worldly honor and even his life, and through fear of being denounced as a believer on an impostor if he did not take part in condemning Him.
His public claim of innocence, washing his hands and attempting to place responsibility on the accusers, did not remove his guilt. By using his authority to condemn Jesus he made himself responsible and guilty of the blood of Christ for knowingly condemning an innocent man. Had he followed his convictions he would have had nothing to do with condemning Jesus. He had Jesus scourged and displayed beside Barabbas, proposing to chastise and then release Him though He had done no provable wrong. It was a vain, weak hope that the sight of punishment, bloodied wounds and exhaustion would satisfy the crowd and rulers' fury, move them to pity, and secure His release. The Jewish leaders recognized the weakness and pressed for death, and the crowd still demanded crucifixion.
He delivered Jesus to die for worldly honor and fear, and afterward trembled at the strong testimony that Jesus had risen and had brought up many others with Him. His peace left him forever as he became fully convinced the blood he was guilty of was not merely that of a common innocent man but of the Son of God. He lived miserably to its close with despair and anguish crushing every hopeful feeling, refusing comfort, and dying a most miserable death. Jesus was delivered to be crucified after the Jewish leaders had been permitted to exercise power over Him, and the later charge that they had been willing to receive His blood treats them as guilty of His death.
Suffering and Demeanor
Matthew 27:26 means He was scourged before He was handed over to be crucified, beaten with rods until His form was lacerated with stripes. Angels were present at that scourging and could scarcely endure the sight of His suffering. The same prisoner who stood before Pilate and Herod in that condition later came forth from the tomb glorified.
The abuse that followed the scourging came from the soldiers, including Herod's soldiers, who dressed Him in a purple robe and plaited a crown of thorns for His sacred brow. They bowed before Him in mockery as King of the Jews, then struck Him with the reed placed in His hand so that the thorns pierced His temples and brow. He was scourged as the worst of criminals and afterward hung with nails driven through His hands and feet.
He endured the scourging, blows and mockery without a murmur and without resisting. There was in Him no cowardly weakness and no resentment toward His persecutors, but quiet patience, gentleness and dignity. Though He had taken human nature He remained sustained by godlike fortitude and did not depart from His Father's will. Satan hoped He would resent such treatment and would not maintain His humility and meekness, but He maintained them under it.
Despite wounds, exhaustion and cruel humiliation inflicted to satisfy fury, His bloodied and wounded appearance still revealed noble character, patience, gentleness and dignity. That patient, dignified bearing impressed some onlookers and revealed His character even amid suffering. It stood in sharp contrast to Barabbas's hardened criminal appearance when He was displayed beside Barabbas.
The scourging as laceration with stripes was part of every cruelty that an apostate angel could instigate through evil men. It was joined to buffeting with temptations and to crowning with thorns and mocking and deriding Him as a false king, ending at last in crucifixion on the cross. He was mocked, struck, spat upon and hung like a criminal between two malefactors, enduring humiliation and suffering without seeking applause or fearing the world's threats.
His suffering took place as Satan stirred the Jewish priests, rulers and crowd against Him. Satan was at the head of those who reviled and crucified Him and led the cruel mob in its abuse, while angels witnessed these cruel deeds. The chief priests and elders ridiculed His claim to be the Son of God, and their religious frenzy spread through the vast mob until people from every level joined in mocking, insulting and blasphemy. That mockery included ridicule of His birth, humble life and deity, and their abuse revealed how the deceiver's dominion can make people violent and murderous.
His own nation took the most active part in contempt against Him, with truth scorned as a deceiver and hunted as a malefactor. His friends and even His brethren denied and forsook Him. His disciples followed in fear and despair, with their hopes of His reigning as a temporal king overturned. His death left the sick and suffering without the healing help they had hoped to receive from Him, and only after He was gone did many grasp how much His presence had meant to the world.
Barabbas Chosen, Christ Rejected
Although Pilate knew Jesus was innocent, the crowd demanded that Barabbas be released instead, and Barabbas, a robber and murderer and hardened criminal, was freed while Jesus was scourged and handed over to be crucified. The people who made that demand had joined in rejecting Jesus and demanding His death, prompted by the priests and rabbis. The Son of God they helped crucify was afterward proclaimed as the Prince of Life, risen and exalted at God's right hand, and His blood was mingled with the people's sacrifices because He was the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the whole world.
The crowd roared like wild beasts for Barabbas, choosing Satan personified before Christ and giving Satan exaltation. In choosing Barabbas the priests and rulers yoked themselves with Satan, and while hanging on the cross the Son of God bore the insults of Satan and his agencies through them. Pilate declared to the maddened throng that he found no fault in Christ yet delivered Him into their hands to be crucified and put to open shame, while the mob demanded His death and called for the release of Barabbas. Satan was at the head of those who reviled and crucified Him and led the cruel mob in its abuse, while angels witnessed these cruel deeds.
The rulers deliberately chose Barabbas over Christ and kept that choice for life, crying out for Christ to be crucified and calling His blood upon themselves and their children. That invoked blood did come upon them as the blight of God's curse and as unceasing torment of heart, and the character of Barabbas became their own character. While the Passover ceremonies went on with usual routine, their lives of selfishness, fraud, discontent, unholy passion and hypocrisy cloaked by a garment of religion contradicted their grand ceremonies. Christ never spurns the true penitent, but He hates such hypocrisy.
Jerusalem's people in choosing Barabbas and rejecting Christ refused to submit to God and determined to follow their own unholy desires. By persisting in rebellion despite warnings and appeals for mercy, they brought humiliation upon Jerusalem, and God withdrew the protection of the heavenly angels, illustrating the result of disobedience and rejection of mercy. The Jewish scribes and elders crucified God's Son while professing great zeal for the honor of God, which proves Satan's delusive power by which people follow their own will in opposition to the will of God and deceive themselves with the belief that they are in the service of God. Those who made the choice were whited sepulchers who deceived the people by an outward appearance of sanctity while reviling One who came from heaven to save a perishing world and in whose heart zeal for right and justice and for the glory of God was the highest object. Their choice gave evidence that a profession of piety and of love for God and a claim to know the Scriptures neither made them the sons of God nor led them to represent His character, and to spectators who had true religion it appeared as if Satan were linked up with the men triumphantly shouting blasphemy against One who was Commander of all heaven.
Redemption and Vindication
The scourging and handing over to be crucified was a sacrifice made to open the way for people to be saved, and that suffering is the measure against which any sacrifice made for faith is weighed. The scourging, the mocking, and the crown of thorns were part of what He bore as the just for the unjust under the burden of the sins of the world. He was innocent, yet prompted by the priests and rabbis the people chose Barabbas, a hardened robber and murderer, over Him and demanded His crucifixion, and He suffered for human sins so that His precious blood could redeem people to God as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, His blood mingled with the people's sacrifices.
The leaders sought to stop Him from gaining authority by rejecting Him as king and demanding His crucifixion, and their crime remained heinous even though God overruled it to make Christ the Redeemer of mankind and Saviour of the world. The time was drawing on for the accomplishment of the object for which He came into the world, and Satan's cunning and hatred did not break up the plan of salvation whose time had come. Satan and his angels consulted together and decided to inspire the cruelty and scorn heaped upon Him in the cry of His own nation eagerly for His blood, and Satan hoped Jesus would resent such treatment and would not maintain His humility and meekness.
That cruel treatment exposed Satan's character before the universe and showed that Christ's suffering came from Satan's hatred and malice, not from any fault in Jesus, for Satan stirred the priests and people to reject Jesus and demand His crucifixion while He was scourged and delivered to die. Pilate declared to the maddened throng that he found no fault in Christ yet delivered Him into their hands to be crucified, while the mob demanded His death and called for the release of Barabbas, a robber and murderer, putting Christ to open shame. Satan was at the head of those who reviled and crucified Him and led the cruel mob in its abuse while angels witnessed these cruel deeds, and by suffering this cruel death of shame on the cross of Calvary the Redeemer proved the falsity of Satan's charges against God and vindicated God before the angels in heaven as One willing to make in man's behalf the greatest sacrifice that could be made.
Though treated as a criminal and rejected in favor of a robber, Jesus was the Prince of Life and the King of kings. His suffering took place as Satan stirred the Jewish priests, rulers, and crowd against Him, and their abuse revealed how the deceiver's dominion can make people violent and murderous. The same prisoner who stood before Pilate and Herod, His form lacerated by the cruel scourging which He endured without resisting, later came forth from the tomb glorified. The Son of God whom the people had helped crucify, joining in rejecting Jesus and demanding His death, was proclaimed by the apostles as risen and exalted at God's right hand as the Prince of Life, and those who rejected and crucified Him will see Him in His glory.
The rulers deliberately chose Barabbas over Christ and kept that choice for life, crying out for Christ to be crucified and calling His blood upon themselves and their children. That invoked blood did come upon them as the blight of God's curse and as unceasing torment of heart, and the character of Barabbas became their own character. While the Passover ceremonies went on with usual routine, their lives of selfishness, fraud, discontent, unholy passion and hypocrisy cloaked by a garment of religion contradicted their grand ceremonies, and Christ never spurns the true penitent, but He hates such hypocrisy.
Present Choice and Warning
The judgment-hall exchange in which a robber and murderer was released while Jesus was scourged and handed over to be crucified stands as the symbol of the choice to be faced in earth's closing history. That final choice is between accepting Christ, the Truth, and the message of mercy concerning God's commandments and the faith of Jesus, or accepting Satan and his falsehoods and turning from the Son of God. To choose Barabbas is to reject Christ, and to reject the light of heaven and the truth is likewise to reject Him. He is the only provision for cleansing from sin, and those who reject Him bear responsibility for His death and will answer to God for their choice.
That same choice between Barabbas and Christ, with its demand to crucify Christ, is still being made and repeated in the world today. Each person demonstrates by life which one is chosen, for mankind was given the opportunity to choose between Barabbas placed beside Jesus Christ, the Son of God who made the world and all things in it. The crowd roared like wild beasts for Barabbas, choosing Satan personified before Christ and giving Satan exaltation. Finite man choosing Barabbas to rule over him instead of Christ Jesus, though no fault could be brought against Christ, exposes the moral taste of the world. The world cast Christ out, rejected the Prince of life, and crowned Him with a crown of thorns, while the heavens received Him and God exalted Him and crowned Him with a crown of royal majesty, and the same choice stands before everyone of having Christ to rule or having Barabbas.
The way people respond to this history of rejection, abuse, and crucifixion tests whether professed love for Christ is genuine. Horror at the actions of the Jews does not by itself prove that a person would not also deny or reject Him. The public rejection became a severe test for the disciples, for the multitude who had hailed Him as king turned to hiss at Him and revile Him and doomed Him to the cross. Their hopes were disappointed, and the example of those who turned against Jesus could have weakened the faith of His followers.
The disciples would see their beloved Teacher treated as the worst of criminals and chosen against by His own people, with the murderous Barabbas with all his crimes released and chosen in place of the Teacher in whom they centered their hopes of eternal life. This was the climax of the trying ordeal of betrayal, condemnation in the judgment hall, humiliation, and crucifixion. Jesus deliberately brought this testing crisis upon His followers beforehand while He was still present to comfort and strengthen His chosen, sifting out the unbelieving, weak and undecided. So when the hour of horror came the faithful few would not be overwhelmed with surprise at the insult to their Master, would not sink beneath fear and disappointment, and would not be carried away by the apostasy of faint-hearted professed followers. Yet when they witnessed Him descending into the depths of humiliation in the hands of wicked men, with His own nation clamoring for His blood, clad in the purple robe, crowned with thorns plaited for His sacred brow, bowed before and struck with the reed placed in His hand, scourged as the worst of criminals, then lifted upon the cross to die as a malefactor, their faith was tried and their hope and courage failed, giving them cause to mourn and fast.
The death of Christ brings to the rejector of His mercy the wrath and judgments of God unmixed with mercy, the wrath of the Lamb. But to all who receive Him and believe in Him that death is hope and eternal life. He is One who clothed His divinity in the garb of humanity and still wears that garb. When sinners are compelled at the final judgment to look upon Him, they will remember this exchange in which Barabbas, a murderer and robber, was chosen in place of Jesus, while Jesus was crowned with thorns, scourged, and crucified, with indescribable confusion. They will recall how His love was slighted and His compassion abused and how priests and rulers taunted Him in His agony on the cross, and all the insult and despite offered to Christ and all the suffering caused to His disciples will be as fresh in recollection as when the deeds were done.
After the Jewish priests and rulers pressured the Roman governor to do their will, and Pilate declared Christ without fault yet gave Him up to be crucified, Jesus on the cross stands as an example of faith in God's word holding firm against human power used to support evil. That surrender exposed unjust determination to get Christ out of the way though no fault could be found in Christ or His teachings, driven by hatred of His reproof and sinless character. The scourging meant He was beaten with rods, followed by cruel thorns piercing His brow and hanging on the cross with nails driven through His hands and feet. He bore the heaviest humiliations anyone can bear in behalf of fallen humanity, going to the greatest depths of humility, so that Christians partaking of His divine nature must expect to be partakers of His sufferings when placed in hard places, descending into humiliation in His steps.
Pilate released the notorious robber and murderer Barabbas and had the innocent Jesus scourged and handed over to be crucified, though he himself had repeatedly declared Him without fault and with no crime proved against Him. In setting Christ side by side with Barabbas under the festival custom of freeing one condemned prisoner, he vainly hoped the contrast and the sight of bloody punishment would move the rulers and crowd to pity and secure Jesus' release, but they pressed for death and chose Barabbas instead. That choice was a rejection of Christ for Satan personified, with the priests, rulers and mob yoking themselves to Satan who led them in reviling and abuse, while calling Christ's blood upon themselves and their children. Jesus endured the lacerating scourging and the mocking, crowning and crucifixion that followed without murmur or resentment, with quiet patience and dignity, as the just suffering for the unjust under the burden of the world's sins to redeem mankind to God. By that cruel death He exposed Satan's character and vindicated God before the universe, proving Satan's charges false, and the same choice between Barabbas and Christ still stands before everyone in deciding whether to accept Christ and His truth or reject Him.
Setting and Sequence
Matthew 27:26 belongs to the judgment-hall scene where Jesus stands bound before Pilate while the Jewish leaders seek to have their sentence confirmed and carried out, at the Passover whose significance those leaders had lost by rejecting Jesus, the true Passover lamb. Pilate tried to save Jesus by using the pagan and unjust custom of freeing one prisoner condemned to death at the great national festival. Knowing the priests had brought Jesus for envy, and knowing that even bound and under accusation Jesus had power not of a common man but of God, Pilate in terrible conflict of soul set the true and innocent Christ side by side with the notable Barabbas, flattering himself that the contrast between innocence and guilt would be so convincing that the people would choose Jesus of Nazareth.
Barabbas was a notorious robber and murderer and hardened criminal, the opposite of Christ. He was a pretended Christ who had done great wickedness and wonderful things through satanic agencies, who under satanic delusion claimed by theft and robbery and murder that whatever he could obtain was his own, and who claimed religious power and the right to establish a different order of things and to set the world right. Heaven beheld Jesus seized at midnight in Gethsemane as a murderer and hurried from tribunal to tribunal with mockery and violence. He was dragged to and fro from palace to judgment hall and arraigned twice before the priests, twice before the Sanhedrin, twice before Pilate and once before Herod, enduring the sneers of persecutors at His lowly birth and denial with cursing and swearing by one of His best-loved disciples, revealing the frenzied work of Satan and his power over the hearts of men. This trial and suffering in the judgment hall and on the way to the cross followed a night He had spent in prayer to His Father.
The scourging and delivery to be crucified stand on the road to Calvary, where the crowd saw the body of Judas. That sight quieted some of the mockery, and pale faces showed that many thought retribution was already coming upon those guilty of Jesus' blood. After Barabbas was released and Jesus was scourged, Jesus was led away to be crucified. The cross prepared for Barabbas was laid on Jesus' bruised and bleeding shoulders, while two thieves also carried crosses to be put to death at the same time, Barabbas's companions being taken to die with Jesus. The scourging and blows left Him so weak that from blood loss, exhaustion and pain He soon collapsed and fainted three times under the cross, which was then carried by one of His followers to the place of execution.
Pilate's Unjust Sentence
Pilate repeatedly declared Jesus innocent and without fault, with no crime proved against Him, yet he released Barabbas and had Jesus scourged and handed Him over to be crucified. In doing so he surrendered judgment to an enraged crowd and a maddened throng that demanded Jesus' death and called for the release of Barabbas. His authority made him responsible for the condemnation and cruel scourging.
He recognized Jesus as a just man but, unable to save Him, sacrificed an innocent life rather than risk his position, revealing failure to act on conscience and duty. That act exposed an unjust determination to get Christ out of the way though no fault could be found in Christ or His teachings, driven by hatred of His reproof and sinless character. He delivered an innocent Jesus to be crucified for selfish interest and love of honor from the great men of earth. Tempted by Satan and his angels on to his own ruin, he consented through fear of losing his power, authority, worldly honor and even his life, and through fear of being denounced as a believer on an impostor if he did not take part in condemning Him.
His public claim of innocence, washing his hands and attempting to place responsibility on the accusers, did not remove his guilt. By using his authority to condemn Jesus he made himself responsible and guilty of the blood of Christ for knowingly condemning an innocent man. Had he followed his convictions he would have had nothing to do with condemning Jesus. He had Jesus scourged and displayed beside Barabbas, proposing to chastise and then release Him though He had done no provable wrong. It was a vain, weak hope that the sight of punishment, bloodied wounds and exhaustion would satisfy the crowd and rulers' fury, move them to pity, and secure His release. The Jewish leaders recognized the weakness and pressed for death, and the crowd still demanded crucifixion.
He delivered Jesus to die for worldly honor and fear, and afterward trembled at the strong testimony that Jesus had risen and had brought up many others with Him. His peace left him forever as he became fully convinced the blood he was guilty of was not merely that of a common innocent man but of the Son of God. He lived miserably to its close with despair and anguish crushing every hopeful feeling, refusing comfort, and dying a most miserable death. Jesus was delivered to be crucified after the Jewish leaders had been permitted to exercise power over Him, and the later charge that they had been willing to receive His blood treats them as guilty of His death.
Suffering and Demeanor
Matthew 27:26 means He was scourged before He was handed over to be crucified, beaten with rods until His form was lacerated with stripes. Angels were present at that scourging and could scarcely endure the sight of His suffering. The same prisoner who stood before Pilate and Herod in that condition later came forth from the tomb glorified.
The abuse that followed the scourging came from the soldiers, including Herod's soldiers, who dressed Him in a purple robe and plaited a crown of thorns for His sacred brow. They bowed before Him in mockery as King of the Jews, then struck Him with the reed placed in His hand so that the thorns pierced His temples and brow. He was scourged as the worst of criminals and afterward hung with nails driven through His hands and feet.
He endured the scourging, blows and mockery without a murmur and without resisting. There was in Him no cowardly weakness and no resentment toward His persecutors, but quiet patience, gentleness and dignity. Though He had taken human nature He remained sustained by godlike fortitude and did not depart from His Father's will. Satan hoped He would resent such treatment and would not maintain His humility and meekness, but He maintained them under it.
Despite wounds, exhaustion and cruel humiliation inflicted to satisfy fury, His bloodied and wounded appearance still revealed noble character, patience, gentleness and dignity. That patient, dignified bearing impressed some onlookers and revealed His character even amid suffering. It stood in sharp contrast to Barabbas's hardened criminal appearance when He was displayed beside Barabbas.
The scourging as laceration with stripes was part of every cruelty that an apostate angel could instigate through evil men. It was joined to buffeting with temptations and to crowning with thorns and mocking and deriding Him as a false king, ending at last in crucifixion on the cross. He was mocked, struck, spat upon and hung like a criminal between two malefactors, enduring humiliation and suffering without seeking applause or fearing the world's threats.
His suffering took place as Satan stirred the Jewish priests, rulers and crowd against Him. Satan was at the head of those who reviled and crucified Him and led the cruel mob in its abuse, while angels witnessed these cruel deeds. The chief priests and elders ridiculed His claim to be the Son of God, and their religious frenzy spread through the vast mob until people from every level joined in mocking, insulting and blasphemy. That mockery included ridicule of His birth, humble life and deity, and their abuse revealed how the deceiver's dominion can make people violent and murderous.
His own nation took the most active part in contempt against Him, with truth scorned as a deceiver and hunted as a malefactor. His friends and even His brethren denied and forsook Him. His disciples followed in fear and despair, with their hopes of His reigning as a temporal king overturned. His death left the sick and suffering without the healing help they had hoped to receive from Him, and only after He was gone did many grasp how much His presence had meant to the world.
Barabbas Chosen, Christ Rejected
Although Pilate knew Jesus was innocent, the crowd demanded that Barabbas be released instead, and Barabbas, a robber and murderer and hardened criminal, was freed while Jesus was scourged and handed over to be crucified. The people who made that demand had joined in rejecting Jesus and demanding His death, prompted by the priests and rabbis. The Son of God they helped crucify was afterward proclaimed as the Prince of Life, risen and exalted at God's right hand, and His blood was mingled with the people's sacrifices because He was the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the whole world.
The crowd roared like wild beasts for Barabbas, choosing Satan personified before Christ and giving Satan exaltation. In choosing Barabbas the priests and rulers yoked themselves with Satan, and while hanging on the cross the Son of God bore the insults of Satan and his agencies through them. Pilate declared to the maddened throng that he found no fault in Christ yet delivered Him into their hands to be crucified and put to open shame, while the mob demanded His death and called for the release of Barabbas. Satan was at the head of those who reviled and crucified Him and led the cruel mob in its abuse, while angels witnessed these cruel deeds.
The rulers deliberately chose Barabbas over Christ and kept that choice for life, crying out for Christ to be crucified and calling His blood upon themselves and their children. That invoked blood did come upon them as the blight of God's curse and as unceasing torment of heart, and the character of Barabbas became their own character. While the Passover ceremonies went on with usual routine, their lives of selfishness, fraud, discontent, unholy passion and hypocrisy cloaked by a garment of religion contradicted their grand ceremonies. Christ never spurns the true penitent, but He hates such hypocrisy.
Jerusalem's people in choosing Barabbas and rejecting Christ refused to submit to God and determined to follow their own unholy desires. By persisting in rebellion despite warnings and appeals for mercy, they brought humiliation upon Jerusalem, and God withdrew the protection of the heavenly angels, illustrating the result of disobedience and rejection of mercy. The Jewish scribes and elders crucified God's Son while professing great zeal for the honor of God, which proves Satan's delusive power by which people follow their own will in opposition to the will of God and deceive themselves with the belief that they are in the service of God. Those who made the choice were whited sepulchers who deceived the people by an outward appearance of sanctity while reviling One who came from heaven to save a perishing world and in whose heart zeal for right and justice and for the glory of God was the highest object. Their choice gave evidence that a profession of piety and of love for God and a claim to know the Scriptures neither made them the sons of God nor led them to represent His character, and to spectators who had true religion it appeared as if Satan were linked up with the men triumphantly shouting blasphemy against One who was Commander of all heaven.
Redemption and Vindication
The scourging and handing over to be crucified was a sacrifice made to open the way for people to be saved, and that suffering is the measure against which any sacrifice made for faith is weighed. The scourging, the mocking, and the crown of thorns were part of what He bore as the just for the unjust under the burden of the sins of the world. He was innocent, yet prompted by the priests and rabbis the people chose Barabbas, a hardened robber and murderer, over Him and demanded His crucifixion, and He suffered for human sins so that His precious blood could redeem people to God as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, His blood mingled with the people's sacrifices.
The leaders sought to stop Him from gaining authority by rejecting Him as king and demanding His crucifixion, and their crime remained heinous even though God overruled it to make Christ the Redeemer of mankind and Saviour of the world. The time was drawing on for the accomplishment of the object for which He came into the world, and Satan's cunning and hatred did not break up the plan of salvation whose time had come. Satan and his angels consulted together and decided to inspire the cruelty and scorn heaped upon Him in the cry of His own nation eagerly for His blood, and Satan hoped Jesus would resent such treatment and would not maintain His humility and meekness.
That cruel treatment exposed Satan's character before the universe and showed that Christ's suffering came from Satan's hatred and malice, not from any fault in Jesus, for Satan stirred the priests and people to reject Jesus and demand His crucifixion while He was scourged and delivered to die. Pilate declared to the maddened throng that he found no fault in Christ yet delivered Him into their hands to be crucified, while the mob demanded His death and called for the release of Barabbas, a robber and murderer, putting Christ to open shame. Satan was at the head of those who reviled and crucified Him and led the cruel mob in its abuse while angels witnessed these cruel deeds, and by suffering this cruel death of shame on the cross of Calvary the Redeemer proved the falsity of Satan's charges against God and vindicated God before the angels in heaven as One willing to make in man's behalf the greatest sacrifice that could be made.
Though treated as a criminal and rejected in favor of a robber, Jesus was the Prince of Life and the King of kings. His suffering took place as Satan stirred the Jewish priests, rulers, and crowd against Him, and their abuse revealed how the deceiver's dominion can make people violent and murderous. The same prisoner who stood before Pilate and Herod, His form lacerated by the cruel scourging which He endured without resisting, later came forth from the tomb glorified. The Son of God whom the people had helped crucify, joining in rejecting Jesus and demanding His death, was proclaimed by the apostles as risen and exalted at God's right hand as the Prince of Life, and those who rejected and crucified Him will see Him in His glory.
The rulers deliberately chose Barabbas over Christ and kept that choice for life, crying out for Christ to be crucified and calling His blood upon themselves and their children. That invoked blood did come upon them as the blight of God's curse and as unceasing torment of heart, and the character of Barabbas became their own character. While the Passover ceremonies went on with usual routine, their lives of selfishness, fraud, discontent, unholy passion and hypocrisy cloaked by a garment of religion contradicted their grand ceremonies, and Christ never spurns the true penitent, but He hates such hypocrisy.
Present Choice and Warning
The judgment-hall exchange in which a robber and murderer was released while Jesus was scourged and handed over to be crucified stands as the symbol of the choice to be faced in earth's closing history. That final choice is between accepting Christ, the Truth, and the message of mercy concerning God's commandments and the faith of Jesus, or accepting Satan and his falsehoods and turning from the Son of God. To choose Barabbas is to reject Christ, and to reject the light of heaven and the truth is likewise to reject Him. He is the only provision for cleansing from sin, and those who reject Him bear responsibility for His death and will answer to God for their choice.
That same choice between Barabbas and Christ, with its demand to crucify Christ, is still being made and repeated in the world today. Each person demonstrates by life which one is chosen, for mankind was given the opportunity to choose between Barabbas placed beside Jesus Christ, the Son of God who made the world and all things in it. The crowd roared like wild beasts for Barabbas, choosing Satan personified before Christ and giving Satan exaltation. Finite man choosing Barabbas to rule over him instead of Christ Jesus, though no fault could be brought against Christ, exposes the moral taste of the world. The world cast Christ out, rejected the Prince of life, and crowned Him with a crown of thorns, while the heavens received Him and God exalted Him and crowned Him with a crown of royal majesty, and the same choice stands before everyone of having Christ to rule or having Barabbas.
The way people respond to this history of rejection, abuse, and crucifixion tests whether professed love for Christ is genuine. Horror at the actions of the Jews does not by itself prove that a person would not also deny or reject Him. The public rejection became a severe test for the disciples, for the multitude who had hailed Him as king turned to hiss at Him and revile Him and doomed Him to the cross. Their hopes were disappointed, and the example of those who turned against Jesus could have weakened the faith of His followers.
The disciples would see their beloved Teacher treated as the worst of criminals and chosen against by His own people, with the murderous Barabbas with all his crimes released and chosen in place of the Teacher in whom they centered their hopes of eternal life. This was the climax of the trying ordeal of betrayal, condemnation in the judgment hall, humiliation, and crucifixion. Jesus deliberately brought this testing crisis upon His followers beforehand while He was still present to comfort and strengthen His chosen, sifting out the unbelieving, weak and undecided. So when the hour of horror came the faithful few would not be overwhelmed with surprise at the insult to their Master, would not sink beneath fear and disappointment, and would not be carried away by the apostasy of faint-hearted professed followers. Yet when they witnessed Him descending into the depths of humiliation in the hands of wicked men, with His own nation clamoring for His blood, clad in the purple robe, crowned with thorns plaited for His sacred brow, bowed before and struck with the reed placed in His hand, scourged as the worst of criminals, then lifted upon the cross to die as a malefactor, their faith was tried and their hope and courage failed, giving them cause to mourn and fast.
The death of Christ brings to the rejector of His mercy the wrath and judgments of God unmixed with mercy, the wrath of the Lamb. But to all who receive Him and believe in Him that death is hope and eternal life. He is One who clothed His divinity in the garb of humanity and still wears that garb. When sinners are compelled at the final judgment to look upon Him, they will remember this exchange in which Barabbas, a murderer and robber, was chosen in place of Jesus, while Jesus was crowned with thorns, scourged, and crucified, with indescribable confusion. They will recall how His love was slighted and His compassion abused and how priests and rulers taunted Him in His agony on the cross, and all the insult and despite offered to Christ and all the suffering caused to His disciples will be as fresh in recollection as when the deeds were done.
After the Jewish priests and rulers pressured the Roman governor to do their will, and Pilate declared Christ without fault yet gave Him up to be crucified, Jesus on the cross stands as an example of faith in God's word holding firm against human power used to support evil. That surrender exposed unjust determination to get Christ out of the way though no fault could be found in Christ or His teachings, driven by hatred of His reproof and sinless character. The scourging meant He was beaten with rods, followed by cruel thorns piercing His brow and hanging on the cross with nails driven through His hands and feet. He bore the heaviest humiliations anyone can bear in behalf of fallen humanity, going to the greatest depths of humility, so that Christians partaking of His divine nature must expect to be partakers of His sufferings when placed in hard places, descending into humiliation in His steps.