“I find no fault in this man,” said Pilate to the chief priests and rulers of the Jewish people who had arrested Jesus and brought Him to the Roman governor to be put to death (Luke 23:4 & 14). Having been warned by his wife, who had a dream of Jesus and sent to him the message: “Have nothing to do with this just man,” Pilate sought a way to release Jesus and still appease the priests.
But his questioning of Jesus left him troubled. The man who stood before him was meek and mild as a lamb. He opened not His mouth against those who mocked Him and called for Him to be crucified (Isa.53:7). In an effort to get Jesus off his hands, he even sent Him to Herod, the puppet king installed by Rome to help keep the peace. But Herod quickly lost interest in Jesus when he could not bait Him to perform a miracle. Again Pilate found Jesus, “The King of the Jews” on his doorstep and the angry crowd more impatient and adamant that Jesus should die “because he made himself to be the Son of God.” When he heard this, he was even more afraid to execute Jesus.
He then tried intimidation by reminding Him that he had the power to crucify Him or release Him, but Jesus responded, “You could have no power at all against me, except it were given you from above” (John19:11). At this, Pilate sought more to release Him, but the Jews played their ace card: “If you let this man go, you are not Caesar’s friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.” When men do not have the fear of God, they will always submit to the fear of man. The fear of being called into question by Rome for this mob scene trumped his will to use the custom that would have set Jesus free. He had the prerogative to release one prisoner at the Passover. Common sense dictated that Jesus was innocent of any crime and should be the candidate. But when Pilate said, “Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?”, they cried: “Away with this man! Release Barabbas!” Barabbas was imprisoned for sedition and murder, which were truly crimes that threatened Roman authority, but when they continued to cry: “Crucify Him!”, Pilate gave in to their will and set Barabbas free.
A Powerful Picture of Substitutionary Salvation
In this we see a parallel of what happens when a person is born again: Barabbas was notoriously guilty. Jesus was perfectly innocent: “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth” (1Pet.2:22). Yet Jesus suffered the death that Barabbas should have, and Barabbas went free. Likewise: We are all guilty sinners: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Rom.5:12). We are all condemned to death: “For the wages of sin is death…” (Rom.6:23). Yet Jesus suffered our punishment so that we may go free: “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2Cor.5:21).
“But he was wounded for our transgression; he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all…. He hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many…” (Isa. 53:5-6,12).
Barabbas did not ask to be set free, and Jesus became his substitute willingly. Jesus died the death of a criminal, and Barabbas was freed to live his life. Certainly, Barabbas did not deserve it. In the same way, “God commended his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Paul pointed out: “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die” (Rom.5:6-8).
We were neither righteous nor good. In fact, Paul said, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” (1Tim.1:15). In other words, Paul said, “I am public sinner number one and Christ saved me!” You could say that Barabbas was public sinner number one, and everyone knew it, but they still chose to let him go free and to put Jesus to death.
Peter told the Jewish leaders after Jesus was raised from the dead: “The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Son Jesus; whom you delivered up, and denied Him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; And killed the Prince of Life, whom God has raised from the dead; whereof we are all witnesses” (Acts3:13-15). In his epistle, he again noted the great exchange Jesus made with us: “For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit” (1Peter3:18).
That day Barabbas walked out a free man, but he still had to choose to accept this new start and live a righteous life and remain free, or he could return to his old ways of rebellion and again come under the judgment of Rome. We too have been set free from the judgment of God’s broken laws by Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross. But we also must choose to accept this divine deliverance from sin’s power and penalty by receiving Jesus as our Savior and Lord. Or we can reject it by denying Him.
In the end, Pilate caved to the fear of man. Before the multitude, he took water and washed his hands, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just person” (Matt.27:24). He used his wife’s expression “this just man.” But this did not absolve him of his guilt. He ignored his wife’s dream and violated the truth of his own conscience.
After he had Jesus scourged, he presented Him to the bloodthirsty crowd and said, “Behold the man” (Jn.19:5). Three years earlier, on the banks of the Jordan River, John the Baptist looked up and saw Jesus coming to be baptized and said: “Behold the Lamb… Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (Jn.1:29). Your sin and my sin: the Just for the unjust. The Sinless for the sinful:
On Calvary the Great Exchange was made.
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