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(Charles
Spurgeon)
"Then cried they all again, saying: Not this man, but
Barabbas!" John 18:40
Barabbas was a murderer, a felon, and a traitor. This fact is very
significant. There is more teaching in it than at first sight we
might imagine. Have we not here in this act of the deliverance of
the sinner, and the binding of the innocent--a sort of type of
that great work which is accomplished by the death of our Savior?
You and I may fairly take our stand by the side of Barabbas. We
have robbed God of His glory; we have been seditious traitors
against the government of Heaven; and if he who hates his
brother is a murderer--then we also have been guilty of that sin.
Here we stand before the judgment seat; the Prince of life is
bound for us--and we are allowed to go free! The Lord delivers us
and acquits us--while the Savior, without spot or blemish, or
shadow of a fault, is led forth to crucifixion!
Two birds were taken in the rite of the
cleansing of the leper.
The one bird was killed, and its blood was poured into a basin.
The other bird was dipped in this blood, and then, with its wings
all crimson, it was set free to fly into the open field.
The bird slain well pictures the Savior, and every soul that has
by faith been dipped in His blood, flies upward towards Heaven
singing sweetly in joyous liberty, owing its life and its liberty
entirely to Him who was slain!
It comes down to this: Barabbas must die--or Christ must die. You
the sinner must perish--or Christ Immanuel, the Immaculate, must
die. He dies--that we may be delivered!
Though we have been robbers, traitors and
murderers--yet we can rejoice that Christ has
delivered us from the curse of the law, having been made a curse
for us!
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