Classic: Jesus Barabbas (Part 1)

The Gospel Theme of Substitution and the Death of Christ

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ. Based on the theme in Galatians 2 verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, but we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. I am Mike Abendroth, and this is the No Compromise juggernaut. How do you say that, Ted? How do you say juggernaut? Is it a French word? I actually think juggernaut might be Hindi.

I think so. I did a study on that a while ago, but that was a long while ago. Won't it be good to be in heaven and we don't forget things that we should remember? I mean, that is the problem that we have in our lives as Christians, isn't it?

We remember what we're supposed to get, past sin and shame and guilt, and we forget what we're supposed to remember, the glories and riches of Christ found in his person, work, and word. So I will be glad.

I am 52, almost 53, and it is harder to remember things, but I think juggernaut is of Hindi or Indian origin, but I can look that up. I wrote a little article on, I wrote the book on juggernaut. No, just use that concept of God being the spiritual juggernaut.

See, I want it to be French almost, but since I don't know any French words, beyond cheese and croissant and something else. That's all I know, et cetera. I have a book entitled, Woe is I, and it is a book that's supposed to help you with your English.

And so, woe is I, woe is me. Which one is it? Him, whom, he, her, I, you, we, you, they, you. So anyway, today on No Compromise Radio, I'd like to talk about the first man Jesus died for. That's right, today on No Compromise Radio, where we try to do things biblically and provocatively and sequentially, the man that Jesus died for, the first man that Jesus died for.

Actually, the only man Jesus died for physically. That's right, there's a man in the Bible that, for whom, of whom, of him, of her, Jesus died for someone physically by taking his place in a substitutionary way so this man would go free.

And so, although it has nothing to do with the concept of penal substitution, that is, penalty substitution, the due wrath of God on us absorbed by our representative and sacrifice and substitute Jesus, it does lead us to that concept.

And that might be one of my favorite all-time subjects is the death of Christ in a substitutionary fashion. And if you go back into the Bible and you do a quick little bit of research, you can find out that the way God works in his economy is through substitution.

And we like substitution. We like, well, maybe if you're sitting on the bench as the sixth person on the basketball team and you sub in for the fifth person, and you sub in, maybe the sub likes it, but the person coming out of the game doesn't like it.

But we do understand substitution if we read the Bible. For instance, when Adam and Eve sinned, someone had to die. And so the animal died instead. And then God, after he killed the animal, cloaked Adam and Eve physically with the garment.

And we see the first illustration of substitutionary atonement there. You don't have to go much further to read in Exodus, I believe it's chapter 12, and you've got the Passover. And so the lamb dies instead of the household.

Then you move to Leviticus chapter 16, Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, and we have the goat killed, lamb killed in place of the nation. You've got another one let go, but you still have substitution.

And then you see John the Baptist in John chapter one, verse 29, I believe, I don't have any notes today. And people say, oh, that's obvious. I do have notes, but I'm not looking at them quite yet. I'm actually just looking outside and I see a bunch of dirty snow and cloudy skies.

That's what I see. And so then you see John the Baptist say of Jesus, behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And here we have Jesus noticed by John as a substitute, as a lamb. And so today on No Compromise Radio, I'd like to talk about the man for whom Jesus died physically and the first man for whom Jesus died.

I think I've got the whom's right, don't I? Time for a little Pete's Coffee break. That's not like Pete Moss, P-E-A-T. This is P-E-E-T. And soon I'll be in California for No Compromise Conference.

My friend, Chris, at Pine Grove Church. The truth still matters. Trying to remember the actual name of it. I should know that, shouldn't I? Well, I know it now because I'm back already. See, it's already past February.

It was a great time. Chris Tingle was a great host. Church of the Cross, I believe. Cross Church. See, see what happens when you don't have notes? Well, who's the person? So, see, these days we don't have anyone, or there are a few people who tell stories.

Now, I don't think I'm the best storyteller, but I enjoy telling stories. And one of the things that you want to do when you tell a story, at least I want to do, is I want to lead people on to think about the issue.

What's he talking about? What's the punchline? How does this issue become resolved? What happens, right? If you're sitting in your grandpa's lap and he's telling you a story and there's some type of conflict and protagonist, antagonist, you want to know how the story ends.

You'd like to know, how is there resolution? Because that's how our minds are made. We want resolution. And so, I like to just string people along. A, because I like to. B, because I'm trying to get better at it.

C, this is radio. And D, what's the D? I don't know. It's the no compromise juggernaut. Who is the person that Jesus died for physically? Who is the person that Jesus died for? The first person Jesus died for.

And what is that person's name? That person's name is Jesus. What? You've got a, probably somebody just got in a car accident. Jesus died for Jesus. Now, maybe you're thinking covenant of redemption. Maybe you're thinking covenant of grace.

Maybe you're thinking Jesus died to satisfy himself. Maybe you're thinking, I don't know. Maybe you're thinking I'm crazy. Maybe you're thinking that the juggernaut needs to stop. Maybe you're thinking all kinds of things.

But the first person for whom Jesus died physically, and the only person he died for physically, and in order, the first person he died for was named Jesus. But his name wasn't Jesus of Nazareth, and he wasn't the Messiah.

Jesus the Christ died for physically, maybe more, but at least he died for Jesus Barabbas. Jesus Barabbas? Yeah, Jesus Barabbas. Now, you remember Simon bar Jonah. Simon, son of Jonah. That's how they would name people back in those days.

And we have Jesus bar Joseph. You could call him that, although he's not called that in the New Testament accounts. Jesus, son of Joseph. Then you would know who it would be because there's a lot of people named Jesus, or there's a lot of people named John, or Peter, or Simon.

So you would be son of John. John's son, right? So that's easy. Samuel, son of John. Samuel Johnson. I think by now it should be out that I'm going to, I don't know if it's co-write. Maybe that's wrong.

I'm going to adapt S. Lewis Johnson's information on Romans, and there will be a Romans commentary in 2014. Hopefully. I can't tell you the publisher. I should be able to tell you in real time. I can't tell you in no-code time.

I could probably tell you, but it's a big one. It's the biggest one. So what about Jesus Barabbas? Now, Matthew chapter 27 tells us about this man, Jesus Barabbas. Now, when you see Barabbas in the account in Matthew chapter 27, the first couple times that he is mentioned, he's mentioned by the name Barabbas and Bar, Simon Bar-Jonah.

Barabbas is Bar-Rabbi, Bar-Abba, son of father, son of the father, son of rabbi, son of a teacher. And so we don't know much about Barabbas in terms of his background growing up. We'll look at the text here in a minute.

We'll find out he's an insurrectionist, he's a murderer, he's a bad guy. He pretty much wants to be king, I think, of Israel as a zealot, functioning as a king. And Matthew develops that out because the book of Matthew is to show Jesus the king.

And so whether this guy had a father who was a rabbi and he was taught in synagogue and all that, I mean, it's just all conjecture. But there are some manuscript, not original manuscripts, but earlier manuscripts, and some manuscripts that have the word Jesus in front of the first two times Barabbas is mentioned.

And so today on No Compromise Radio, I'd like to just work our way through the narrative in Matthew chapter 27. See, I said biblical and provocative in that order, so I'm trying to reverse that order today and to some degree, I'm trying to get you to think about this man named Barabbas.

It's one of the most fascinating stories I just finished First Corinthians from the pulpit here at Bethlehem Bible Church, and I wanted to take a break before I started Romans. And I wanted to preach some of the passages that I was dying to preach, that I wanted to preach before I die.

I'm almost 53 years old, and my father died when he was 55. It's very hard for me to believe that in 1989, I was 29 and my father died. Actually, I was 28. I turned 29 later that year. My father was 55 when he died.

Now, I'm not living my life like I've got two years left. I might not. I might have one day left or less, or I might have 40 more years left. I kind of don't really want 40 more. I don't know what I would pick.

I'm sure if I was 30, I'd pick to be 75, 80 years old and good health, you know, and you have all those caveats. Now I'm 53 almost, then I don't think that's enough time, 75 or 80. But I don't know if I really want to live to be 90.

Maybe I do, but see, it's out of my hands. So what am I supposed to do? I'm trying to provoke you to think through this issue of Barabbas because of the movie. No, I want to rewatch that movie. There's lots of stuff written about Barabbas in a traditional way, in a non-traditional way, in a speculative way.

That's what I'm looking for, speculative. And who played Barabbas? Oh, it wasn't Gregory Peck. I think it was, I think he was a Greek guy, wasn't he? Or played something. Did he play Zorba the Greek? Did he play?

No, he wasn't in Big Fat Greek Wedding. Anthony, it's coming, Anthony, not Perkins. Hopkins, no, I don't know. So Matthew chapter 27, we're going to see there was substitution here physically, which will lead us to talk about Jesus' substitution in a spiritual sense.

Martin Luther said, "'Learn to know Christ and Him crucified. "'Learn to sing to Him and say, "'Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, I am your sin. "'You have taken upon yourself what is mine "'and given me what is yours.

"'You have become what you were not "'so that I might become what I was not.'". Now that is a great quote. By the way, if you have any desire to get one of these quotes that I use on No Compromise Radio, if you'd like to write me and tell me the context of the show, the name of the show, and send your enclosed self-addressed stamp envelope with some funny money attached, then I'll send you the quote.

Seriously, if you'd like to get the quote, just email me, tell me the show, and tell me about the quote, and I'll try to send you the quote. Reminds me of the time that I went to India to serve and go to the PTI, Pastoral Training Institute, I think it's Pastoral Training Seminary now, and I ordered my visa, my visa, and I had to send in some cash or something because something happened.

And so I, whatever it was, $95 visa, I sent in $100, I sent in $5 too much, and so they sent me back my visa and my passport, and they stapled $5 to the back of my passport in the last page. And so I thought to myself, let's just keep that in there because one day, if I lose everything overseas and I have only my passport, then I wouldn't have lost everything now, would I?

But I've lost everything besides my passport, I'll still have $5, which will get you someplace in India. I don't know how many rupees it is for a dollar now, 37, 44, I don't know what it was, it was 50 when I first went.

Won't get you much in Europe, won't buy you many espressos in New York City on Madison Avenue. But anyway, so I'm going through customs in India, and I was one of the first people off the plane and through the customs, and now I have to get my passport stamped.

And so I walked up to this desk and gave them my passport, and the guy gave me a look, and then he stamped the thing and it was out. I couldn't see what he was doing because he was raised and I was lower.

And so I couldn't see what was going on this desk, and so I made it through customs. I thought, man, this is fast. This country, they are quick here when it comes to customs. And so then I went on my merry way, and later I just looked at my passport and the $5 was gone.

So the only person who touched that $5, or my passport, was that guy. And I found out later that people bribe folks all the time in some other countries. Probably bribe them here in America too. We have people of the wrong race there.

The human race, right? We are all image bearers who, without Christ, are broken. Still broken. We're broken people. By the way, that is one of my all-time worst things, is when pastors start talking about brokenness.

We're all broken. I don't get that. I absolutely don't get it. But anyway, this is No Compromise Radio. Mike Abendroth here. You can email me if you want this quote. And so someone stole my $5. So you don't have to send me $5 if you want the Luther quote.

We'll do it for free. Now, if you'd like to listen to Tuesday Guys' special show on Saturday, well, that'll certainly cost you. This is the one man who was thankful for the physical death of Jesus. Now, maybe other people were thankful, like Herod or somebody else, some of the bad scribes and Pharisees.

But this man certainly was the most thankful because Jesus died for him physically in Barabbas' place, condemned Jesus stood. Now, Barabbas, as a man, he's an important biblical character. Now, I could say that of any Bible character because they're in the Bible and it would be important for us to know.

But here especially, as we look at the Gospels, you say to yourself, four Gospels, three synoptics, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And then you have John, that's a different kind of Gospel. Barabbas, do you think is mentioned in one, two, three, or four of the Gospels?

He is mentioned in all four Gospels. Now, you've got the birth of Christ just in two of the Gospels. You do have resurrection, of course, in all four Gospels, death of Christ, feeding of the 5 ,000. But if you just say to yourself, how many things and how many events are found in all four Gospels, you'll be surprised that it's not as many as you might think.

So my point here is, he's an important person because he is in all four Gospels, this account. Well, the other reason that it makes it very important for you to know about Barabbas, there's a lot written about him.

Now, Phil Johnson has added these things up and he's got 32 verses in all the New Testament mentioned Judas by name. And he's got Barabbas encountering Christ only tangentially, he says, and only on this one occasion, 38 verses in the New Testament are devoted to describing what happened to him.

So if you have your Bibles, we're looking at Matthew chapter 27 today, and we're going to look at the life of Christ specifically as he is in front of Pilate in the Roman trial of Jesus. Now, the plot has been hatched in Matthew chapter 26, and Jesus has been betrayed to the religious leaders.

Of course, our Lord has his last Passover, which is the first Lord's Supper. He goes to Gethsemane in Matthew chapter 26, is then arrested in the same chapter, and the Jewish trial starts in the same chapter.

Now, coming up to chapter 27, verses 11 through 26, we have the Roman trial of Jesus. And I'm not going to get to Barabbas very much today just for the introduction, because I want to talk about what's going on leading up to Barabbas.

We don't hit Barabbas until verse 16 of Matthew 27, but I want to hit, or begin with at least, Matthew chapter 27, verse 11, to just work through this issue, because it's in my mind. You've got Pilate the governor.

It says in verse 11, "'Now Jesus stood before the governor, "'and the governor asked him, "'Are you king of the Jews?'. "'Jesus said to him, You have said so.'". So who was Pilate? Maybe the whole show should be a study of who is Pilate.

Pilate was called the governor here. He could be referred to as procurator. He could be known as the Roman prefect of Judea, and he had been appointed by Tiberius in 26 AD. And so what would a governor do?

Well, he would make sure that the army did what the army was supposed to do, and he would make sure that law was kept and that taxes kept going to Rome. Now he was in Jerusalem for Passover, but he lived at Caesarea by the sea.

They've even uncovered some stone about Pilate with his inscription there. I think there's a copy in Caesarea. I don't know where the original one is, probably in the museum in Jerusalem. Philo, the historian, called Pilate inflexible, merciless, and obstinate.

And he had this job in Judah for 10 years, and he didn't really, according to secular sources, serve too nicely. And so here's the weird thing. When you read the gospel accounts of Pilate, and then you read the secular accounts of Pilate, it's like they're two different people.

Pilate was a bad character, but in front of Jesus, he almost did everything he could to get him off the hook. That is, Jesus. And he recognized his innocence, and he, of course, at the end, it was his decision and his decision alone to crucify Jesus in terms of authority and responsibility and power.

But when you read Pilate in the gospels, he doesn't come across as the same kind of person. And I think that is for a reason. So we see the utter innocency of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was from Spain, that is Pilate, and he served under Germanicus in the Wars of Rhine.

And he was married to a person that tradition calls Claudia Procula. P-R-O-C-U-L-L, Procula. And that's important because she's going to have a dream about Jesus in our text in Matthew chapter 27.

Procula was the granddaughter of the Emperor Augustus. And Augustus would refer to them later, them meaning Claudia and her mother, Julia. Would I, would I, would I were, it should be, would I, it says, would I were lifeless or had childless died?

Not the best grammar, but when the family thinks you're immoral and wicked and decadent, then you really must be. Pilate didn't come on the scene very well. He tried to rub it in the Jews' noses from the very beginning.

He comes into Jerusalem by night bearing standards, blazoned with images of Tiberius. And of course, you know, Jews would think that was idolatry at the extreme. He would take the sacred Korban money, this money's Korban, dedicated to God.

And he built a 50 mile aqueduct to Jerusalem. Of course, Luke chapter 13 talks about mixing blood of certain Galileans with their sacrifices. He was not a good man. He did not have integrity. He did not have nobility.

He did not have morality. Yet when it comes to the trial of Jesus, at least at the very beginning, especially, he had and did act exactly opposite of his past. So he says to Jesus, are you the King of the Jews?

And Jesus says, you have said so. Now, just before Matthew chapter 27, Judas hangs himself. Now Jesus stands before the governor. And don't you think it's fascinating that one day Jesus is going to be the one seated.

We have now Pilate seated on the Bema seat, casting judgment on Jesus. And here we have the creator of the world and the creator of Pilate himself, standing up in judgment, being judged by Pilate, who's seated on the judgment seat.

What a reversal from the future. When the son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then Jesus will sit on his glorious throne, Matthew 25. Well, today, No Compromise Radio, we're just tipping our toes into the story of Barabbas, the first man Jesus died for and the only man Jesus died for physically, a man named Barabbas.

The man named, we'll find out next time, Jesus Barabbas.

No Compromise Radio Program Information

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church, firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at six. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400. The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE in staff or management.