Everything concerning Barabbas was in direct contrast to everything concerning Jesus. It was like darkness to light, evil to good and wickedness to righteousness. "Barabbas" comes from an Aramaic name "Bar'abba" which literally means "son of the father(abba)" - a contrast to Jesus Christ, the true Son of the Father. Jesus is perfectly righteous and sinless; but Barabbas was a rebel and a murderer (Mark 15:7, NKJV), a robber (John 18:40) and a notorious prisoner (Matt. 27:16).
At a place called Golgotha (Hebrew) or Calvary (Latin) three wooden crosses were prepared, one taller than the other two for the crucifixion of three robbers. The tall one was made for Barabbas who was the most notorious rebel. It was waiting for him. But God in His sovereign will allowed Jesus, His only begotten Son, through unbelievable circumstances, to take the place of Barabbas. He was crucified together with two robbers, one on His right and the other on His left (Mark 15:27).
In God's eyes, Jesus took your place and my place because we were all Barabbases! I was born a Barabbas and I was a rebel and a notorious criminal. Everything we know about Barabbas is an absolute correct description of me! I was a "prisoner" of sin by birth. I was the person for whom the cross was made! But, in the last moment an unexpected switch took place - I was set free when Jesus took my place on the tall cross!
Jesus Himself said, "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed" (John 6:36).
Crucifixion of the Old Man
Everyone of us has inherited from Adam, the old Adamic nature called the old man, the fleshly nature or the body of sin. Therefore every one of us, has inside us, by nature a rebel, a Barabbas. When we are born again by the Spirit of God, only our spirit is born again (please refer to my earlier postings concerning Spirit, Soul and Body and "Christians do Sin"). In many cases little is done to the old man. The rebel in us is hidden in the realm of our soul and body. It takes time for our born again spirit to take full control of our soul and body. Therefore, in the meantime, this old man is left hidden under religion, under a form of godliness (2 Tim. 3:4) or a form of "Christian" label. In a way many of us are still "Barabases" at large! Before we were born again we were rebels; but now we are Christian rebels - rebels just the same!
According to Roman Chapter Six the remedy for a rebel is execution. The good news is that the execution has taken place more than 2000 years ago when Jesus died on the cross and our old man was crucified with Him. This is a historical fact that becuase of what Jesus had done, every born again Christian should no longer need to live like a rebel. Satan would remind us that we were still rebel. His purpose is to deceive us and to make us feel guilty. But we must, in God, pull down the strongholds of Satan and "bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" (2 Cor. 10:5).
How God sees Rebellion
The entire Chapter One of Isaiah describes God's indictment of the sins of Israel.
God said, "I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me" (Isaiah 1:2, NIV).
God spoke through Isaiah and gave a vivid picture of Jesus hung on the cross because of our rebellion:
"Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted. From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness - only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil (Isaiah 1:5, 6, NIV).
In other words, the entire suffering of Jesus as a substitute for the suffering that we deserved, was the result of our rebellion!
The Root Problem of Rebellion
In the days of Moses God spoke to Moses regarding Israel's rebellion (Deu. 31:14 - 29).
Moses said, "For I know your rebellion and your stiff nect. If today, while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the Lord, then how much more after my death" (Deu. 31:27)?
The root problem of Israel, in the midst of all its religion and the observation of the Law, was rebellion. Similarly, the root problem of the contemporary Church in the midst of all its religion, ritual, tradition, politics and management structure is also rebellion.
In my opinion, all human problems can be depicted by tree parts of a tree - branches, trunk and roots. People in general are preoccupied with the branches. The truth is, if you are hoping to remove a problematic tree by just cutting off a few branches, you have not really changed things very much. It is the trunk that carries the brances and the roots that feed the trunk.
The Church, in general, is grappling most of the time with branches. It does not normally get below the level and deal with the trunk, much less the roots. We must dig down to the root problem, and the root problem is rebellion.
John the Baptist, who prepared the message of Jesus (the Gospel) said, "And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire" (Matt. 3:10, NKJV, emphasis added).
A rebellous "tree" cannot bear good fruit.
The message of the Gospel which is the "power of God to salvation" (Romans 1:16) is radical - it deals with the root. But, most contemporary presentations of the Gospel do not go deep enough. They do not deal with the sin of rebellion against God. They do not confront the sin of rebellion without compromise because of the fear of losing Church members. It would not be a surprise to discover how many Church elders, leaders and members all around us have never made a true submission to God.
In my opinion, any Christian who fails to make a true submission to God disqualifies himself to pray the Lord's Prayer:
Jesus said, "In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:9, 10, emphasis added).
No one is able to say "Your will be done on earth" unless he is prepared without reservation to submit to God's will in all areas of his life. Otherwise, he would be a hypocrite! No one is able to claim submission to God's will and rebellious against God at the same time.
Jesus fulfilled Isaiah's Prophecy
The fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah of how Jesus hung on the cross and bore the punishment of the rebel is found in Isaiah 53:6:
"We all, like sheep, have gone estray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (emphasis added).
The rebel in us causes each of us to turn to his own way - to be independent from God.
Isaiah painted a vivid picture of the Suffering Servant in Chapter 53 which many Bible scholars called the Atonement Chapter:
It is interesting to list out the divine exchanges that took place at the Cross of Calvary:
1. All the evil due to our rebellion came upon Jesus so that all the good due to His perfect obedience might be offered to us.
2. He was punished that we might be forgiven.
3. He was wounded that we might be healed.
4. He took our sin that we might have His righteousness.
5. He died our death that we might share His Life.
6. He was made a curse that we might receive the blessings of God.
7. He endured our poverty that we might share His abundance.
8. He bore our shame that we might have His glory.
9. He endured our rejection that we might have His acceptance.
Notice that in whatever way you look at it the divine exchange is total. That's why Jesus cried out "It is finished!" (John 19:30). Not only He bore our rebellion but He also bore all the evil consequences of our rebellion so that we might enter into all the blessings of His perfect obedience.
One word is all we need to describe what Jesus has offered us - GRACE. We can't earn; we can't claim it and we do not deserve it. There is only one way to receive it and that is by FAITH. We might not understand it but we just have to believe it.
When Isaiah presented the picture of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53, he began with a warning of unbelief - "Who has believed our report?" (Isaiah 53:1)
The great barrier to receive the benefits of Christ's atonement is unbelief:
The writer of Hebrews said an unbelieving heart is an evil heart:
"Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; ...." (Hebrews 3:12, emphasis added).
In other words, unbelief is evil and it causes God's people to rebel against Him; it causes them to walk independent from Him.
Rest and Peace
God spoke through Isaiah, "I created the fruit of the lips; peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near, and I will heal him. But the wicked (the rebellious) are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose water cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace for the wicked" (Isaiah 57:19 -21, NKJV, emphasis added).
In Old Testament language, "Him who is near" speaks of Israel. "Him who is far off" speakes of the Gentiles. In other words God is offering peace and healings to all people - Israel and the Gentiles. But, some can never receive peace and healing because they will never lay down their arms of rebellion!
Here is the divine Key to recieve God's offering of peace and healing - OBEDIENCE.
Hebrew 3:7 - 11 and Psalms 95:7 -11 give God's condition for God's people to enter God's rest. The condition is two-fold - To seek God and be obedient to Him.
In my opinion, the most important thing in human life is rest and peace - not money, wealth and abundant of material possession! But as long as we retain an attitude of rebellion, we cannot rest. We are then, like the "Troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt" (Isaiah 57:20).
May the New Year 2006 be a year of rest and peace for all God's people! Amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment