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June 15, 2025 26 mins

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This week we look at Barabbas and his role in the crucifixion. 

Main Scripture:

Matthew 27:15-18

Additional Scripture:

  • Matthew 27:20-22
  • Matthew 27:23-26
  • 1 John 4:10
  • Matthew 27:19
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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
UNKNOWN (00:00):
Bye.

SPEAKER_00 (00:09):
Hello and welcome to A Path to Redemption, the
podcast.
My name is Daniel Arona and justremember this simple truth.
The Father loves you, Jesusloves you, and the Holy Spirit
loves you.
Once again, I hope that you'vehad a great week.
I hope that you've had time tospend with the Lord in prayer
and also in his word.
Again, I cannot stress thisenough.
We have to make sure that we arestudying to show ourselves
approved unto God, that we areputting in the work to foster

(00:31):
the relationship that he wantsto have with us, that we are
growing intimate with him everysingle day through scripture and
also through prayer.
You have to to do it right andit's it's really a key component
of where we need to beparticularly in these last days
i mean we're seeing protestserupt across the u.s we're
seeing obviously the wars inisrael and the things that are

(00:53):
going on there we also have thewar in russia and ukraine and
then potentially war coming totaiwan with china there's just a
whole lot of things happeningand the earth feels like it's
teetering on a knife's edgeright now and you know for us
This instability, this constantchaos is going to continue to

(01:13):
spiral down.
There has to be a ton of chaosin order for there to be a
single figure that can come andsay that they can fix it all,
being the Antichrist, and foreveryone to give their
sovereignty over to him.
So, understanding all of that,things are going to progress,
things are going to get worse,things are going to continue on,
and we have to be prepared forit.

(01:34):
And the only way to be preparedfor it is to be intimate with
the Lord Jesus Christ, to havethat relationship.
to have that relationship thatcauses you to go forward no
matter what.
Amen.
So I know I say it every week,but I just want you to make sure
that you're aware and fosteringthe things and doing the things
that God has for you.

(01:55):
Because the other thing is thatas this end quickly approaches,
I don't want to go before theLord empty-handed.
I don't want to go before himwithout nothing to show for my
life down here and for my works.
And while we're not saved byworks, we're saved by grace
through faith, not by works,lest any man should boast.
That's for salvation.
But when it comes to the beam ofseed judgment, when it comes to

(02:17):
going before Jesus Christ, Iwant to be able to have jewels
to be able to throw down at hisfeet because he deserves it all
anyway.
But I want to make sure thatI've been a good steward over
what he's given me andeverything that he has put in
me.
So it's important that all of uskind of think that way and go
that way.
So last week, again, we'recontinuing on in the book of

(02:38):
Matthew here.
We're getting Very close to theend, but there's still a lot
more to cover here.
But today we're going to look atBarabbas.
Last week we looked at thethings in the court of the
Gentiles, what that was, and whyit was important for the
Gentiles to have part in thecrucifixion of Jesus Christ.
And this week we're going tolook at Barabbas.
And Barabbas is a unique figurehere in this story.

(03:02):
He's a unique aspect of this,but it's easy for me to sit here
and say that Barabbas is me.
It's you.
It's everyone that Jesus Christcame to save.
And he absolutely is.
But he's a picture of how theredemption of Jesus Christ is
going to work.
And I think that it's really,really important that we take a

(03:23):
look at him.
So before we get started, all ofour scripture comes from the New
King James Bible.
If you'd like a copy of the NewKing James Bible, feel free to
drop me a note atPathToRedemptionOhio at
gmail.com.
Again, more than happy to getone into your hands.
Again, my book's out, GraceAbounds.
I'm more than happy to get oneof those into your hands as
well.
Just drop me a note at Path toRedemption Ohio at gmail.com.

(03:45):
Again, happy to do that.
And then finally, don't take myword for it.
Make sure that you are studyingto show yourself approved unto
God.
Make sure that you are puttingin the work.
Amen.
Make sure that you are doing it.
You know, the other thing that Iwould ask is that, you know, if
you have any questions oranything that you want to know,
you know, I'm looking to dopotentially a question and

(04:08):
answer kind of at We'll be rightback.

(04:39):
feel free to drop them over tome at PathToRedemptionOhio at
gmail.com.
So with that, let's go ahead anddive right in.
Matthew 27, 15 through 18 says,Now at the feast, the governor
was accustomed to releasing tothe multitude one prisoner whom
they wished.
And at that time they had anotorious prisoner called
Barabbas.
Therefore, when they hadgathered together, Pilate said

(05:01):
to them, Whom do you want me torelease to you, Barabbas or
Jesus who is called Christ?
For he knew they had handed himover, because of envy.
So the book of Mark here saidthat Barabbas was a murderer
during a rebellion.
He was in prison for it, and hewas being held by Pilate, no
doubt to be put to death.
If he murdered a Roman during arebellion, that would have been

(05:24):
the price.
There is no doubt that he wouldhave been crucified.
The feast of the governor that'smentioned here is actually the
Passover feast.
During this time, to reallyplacate the Jews during
Passover, the governor wouldrelease a prisoner.
From a practical standpoint,This was really to keep the Jews
in check from the Romans.
Throw them a bone, show a littlebit of mercy, and then you'll

(05:46):
keep them subdued.
But here, Pilate offers the Jewsa choice.
And there is a choice that isgiven.
Accept the murderer or Jesus,who will be delivered to you.
And we all have to make thatsame choice.
Do we choose ourselves and ourown iniquity?
Or do we choose Christ, who isthe perfect Lamb of God, and
allow ourselves to be put todeath?

(06:06):
And that's kind of the questionthat we have here.
When we choose ourselves, themurderer, what happens is we are
then rejected just as the Jewswere.
When we choose Christ, we arethen reconciled back to God
through him.
Understanding that our flesh isgoing to die on the cross of
Jesus Christ.
Understanding then that we'regoing to be laid on that altar

(06:27):
because just as Paul said, Ibeseech you therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of the AlmightyGod, to offer yourselves a
living sacrifice, holy andacceptable unto the Lord, which
is your reasonable service.
That's what he says in Romans12, 1.
So understanding that when wegain our life, we lose it, but
yet when we lose our life, wegain it.
And that's exactly what Jesusdid here for Barabbas.

(06:49):
He did not gain his life.
He lost his life in order forBarabbas to go free.
And then he's ultimately goingto gain his life, though, in the
resurrection.
But we don't know what happenedto Barabbas.
We don't know what happened tohim after this.
But all of it is about the waythat Jesus went in order to die

(07:12):
on the cross for us.
Now, the next section ofscripture is about Pilate's
wife, and we're going to comeback to that, but I want to keep
focusing on Barabbas and theJews.
So Matthew 27, 20-22 says, Butthe chief priests and elders
persuaded the multitudes thatthey should ask for Barabbas and
destroy Jesus.
The governor answered and saidto them, Which of the two do you

(07:33):
want me to release to you?
They said, Barabbas.
Pilate said to them, What thenshall I do with you?
So Pilate knew that they hadturned him over for envy.
They knew that they were jealousof him.
They knew that they didn't wanthim to establish his kingdom,
that he wasn't the son of God,that they were just, you know,

(07:55):
blasphemy after blasphemy.
They used this as an excuse toput him into death.
That's what the Jews knew, and Iput that in air quotes, right?
Because at the end of the day,we know that Jesus Christ was
the Son of God.
We know that he was the one thatultimately was the Messiah to
reconcile the nations back toGod.
But here, the priests and elderspersuaded the multitudes to go

(08:17):
ahead and say, no, give usBarabbas, but rather crucify
Jesus.
Now, I want you to think aboutthis for a second, because
earlier in the week, they weresinging the praises of Christ
saying Hosanna in the highestand just a few days later they
are now yelling to have himcrucified and that they want
Barabbas.
Think about that.
He's riding on a colt.

(08:38):
He's entering Jerusalem.
They're putting down palmbranches.
They're putting down theirclothes and then here they are.
No, no, no, no.
We want nothing to do with theChrist.
We want Barabbas.
This shows the role that badleaders play.
They will lead those that do notknow the truth or the way down a
road that they do not want togo.
In this case, leading them toultimately kill the Messiah.

(09:01):
So here the Jews want to takethe penalty that belonged to
Barabbas and put it on Christ.
While there was a choice,there's the choice of what's
always going to be Barabbas.
The law never dealt with theheart.
It only dealt with theritualistic purity of the flesh.
When placed with that choice,the carnal man will always
choose carnality.

(09:22):
Only when the Holy Spirit drawsthem to Christ can they be
changed through the hearing ofthe gospel.
And I think that that's a keypoint here, right?
Because Barabbas was the pictureof carnality.
He was a murderer.
He was a rebellious.
You know, he was rooted in hisiniquity and his pride.
But yet, here they are.
They chose him instead of JesusChrist.
The carnal chose carnalityversus the spiritual, even

(09:45):
though the king of kings andlord of lords was standing right
in front of them.
So understanding that, Eventoday, a carnal man is always
going to choose things incarnality versus the spiritual
because the carnal man cannotunderstand the spiritual things
of God.
But yet only the spiritual mancan.
It is only the Holy Spirit,though, that can draw them in.
So unfortunately, though, therewas no Holy Spirit on this earth

(10:09):
at this time.
At least the baptism of the HolySpirit hadn't fell, I should
say.
But at the end of the day, thecrux of this section is really
here in Matthew 27, 23 through26, where it says, Why?
What evil has he done?

(10:51):
Again, Pilate here recognizedthat Jesus had done no evil.
He tried to wash his hands ofthe innocent blood, but he was
still the one that gave theorder for Jesus to be crucified.
You see, this is all of us.
We try to wash our hands of ourguilt, or in other words, we try
to justify ourselves in all thethings that we do due to

(11:13):
circumstance or whatever theexcuse is that we can possibly
have, but we cannot wash awayour sin.
We can't do that.
We can't wash our hands and say,nope, I'm innocent of this.
That's not true.
Only the blood of Jesus Christcan do that.
Pilate could not wash away hissin either, even despite the
fact that he tried to.
And the Jews said this, hisblood be on us and on our

(11:38):
children.
And the Jews took the curse onthemselves and their children.
That curse is still there todayand has led to their persecution
over the past 2,000 years.
Look, when you say somethinglike that.
And when you say, look, allowthe curse to be placed upon us,
the curse that they were talkingabout was the curse that Jesus

(11:58):
Christ was going to take forhimself.
It was that was going to takefor them because that he was
going to draw all of it to him,that he was going to bear the
curse for all things, whichwe'll talk about when we get to
Jesus Christ on the cross.
But that's what he wasultimately going to take.
But yet they said, no, no, no,no, no.
We want that curse upon us.
And guess what?
God said, okay, that curse isupon you and your It's why

(12:22):
there's persecution.
They have rejected Jesus Christ,the Messiah.
It's why they ultimately havebeen rejected, in that if they
can see Jesus, they will bereconciled back.
We know that that's going tohappen in the book of Zechariah.
It's prophesied about that atthe end of this age.
But at the end of the day,though, that curse is resting
upon them.
It's the curse of the law.

(12:42):
It's the curse of all the thingsthat Jesus Christ came to try
and save us all from.
Yet they said, no, we will bearthis curse.
curse and our children will bearit as well.
It's what led ultimately to thedestruction of the temple and to
the scattering of the Jewsacross the world and across the
globe.
Only then when God finallythought about his chosen people

(13:05):
in 1948 was he able to bringthem back into their own nation.
But at the end of the day, theytook the curse on themselves.
You know, this would be againlifted if they would just accept
Jesus.
If they would just accept himfor who He is the trueness of
the Messiah, but they can't doit.
They just cannot bringthemselves to do it because of

(13:26):
the Pharisaical teaching.
So it was after this, though,that Barabbas was released and
Jesus was beaten and taken to becrucified.
And this is where Jesus took theplace and the punishment of the
murderer, Barabbas.
But Barabbas was a picture ofall of us.
The Jews and the Romans were themurderers of Jesus Christ.
I want to be clear about thatagain, because there's a lot of

(13:49):
replacement theology out there.
A lot of churches teach that,oh, you know, the church has
replaced the Jews.
That's not true.
Both of us, both the Jews andthe Gentiles, were responsible
for the death of Jesus Christ.
The only difference between theGentiles that have accepted
Jesus Christ and the Jews thathaven't is that they have
accepted Jesus Christ and thegrace that is offered to him.

(14:10):
But this is all of us.
Barabbas was a picture of all ofus.
We were all in this way.
And that's why John said in 1John 4 10, in this is love, not
that we love I want to be clearabout this because we're in a

(14:36):
world right now where people arelike, oh, God loves everyone.
God loves everyone.
We all deserve God's love.
I'm sorry, we don't.
What we deserve is the wrath ofGod given to us because of our
sinful nature, because of whoman is at the core.
Good back to Genesis 6, and yourealize that God recognized that
man was evil in his heartcontinually.

(14:58):
That is our thought process, isalways to be evil.
If you leave someone uncheckedby Jesus Christ, unchecked by
the Holy Spirit, we will go offand do all manner of evil that's
talked about in Romans 1,Galatians 2, all these other
places, Galatians 5 even.
So at the end of the day, We arethe ones that run and go and do
those things and to live, tofulfill all the lusts of the

(15:20):
flesh and all of that.
That's what man is at his coreand we see it today.
But at the end of the day, weare not deserving of the love of
God.
You aren't deserving of the loveof God.
No one is.
At the end of the day, the factremains that we love him because
he first loved us.
He loved us because he loved hiscreation.

(15:41):
He loved the people.
That's the whole thing.
God is about He wants everyoneto be reconciled back for all of
eternity.
But the truth is that the lawsays that we all deserve death.
So at the end of the day, Jesushad to take the place of

(16:03):
Barabbas here in order for himto bear the punishment that was
really due to Barabbas.
Pilate said himself, Jesus hasdone nothing wrong, but Barabbas
was a murderer during therebellion.
So if that's the case, hedeserved death.
So Jesus took the place ofBarabbas.
Barabbas goes off and doeswhatever Barabbas does.

(16:23):
But at the end of the day, Jesustakes his place.
And that was the price that hadto be paid.
We all have a debt that we owedue to sin.
The wages of sin is death.
That is our debt.
Not only the death of ournatural self, but honestly, this
complete separation And Godcould not just forgive this

(16:44):
debt.
And I want to be clear aboutthis here.
Because if God had just said,hey, it's okay.
It's okay.
You don't have to pay me back.
Look, your sin's okay.
We'll wipe it away.
My love will cover you.
Then guess what?
We're going to constantly belooking over our shoulder and
wondering when the next shoewould drop.
And also, we would not bechastised because our sins would

(17:05):
be covered underneath the loveof God.
But yet, the scripture says,whom he loves, he also
chastises.
So where does that come intoplay?

(17:39):
I want you to think about itthis way.
Let's say that you owed me$100,and I just forgave you of the
debt.
I said, hey, man, don't worryabout it.
You don't have to pay me.
You don't have to worry aboutit.
We're all good.
You wouldn't act the same aroundme because you would have this

(18:02):
guilt.
Oh, what if he wants that$100this time?
You're kind of constantlywaiting for that other shoe to
drop, constantly waiting for meto say, hey, hey man, remember
that$100 you owe me?
I kind of need it now.
I know I forgave it before.
I said, don't worry about it,but I kind of need it.
Can you give it to me?
Then you're going to be in ahard straight.
But at the end of the day, ifthat's the place that we're in,

(18:22):
there's never going to be arelationship there.
It's always going to be awkwardand you're never going to find
that type of love that youreally need from a friend,
right?
But let's say at the same timeyou owed me$100, but let's say I
give you a gift of$100.
Let's Say it's Christmas, yourbirthday, whatever it is.
It really doesn't matter.

(18:43):
But let's just say I put it inan envelope.
I say, hey, man, here's a giftfor you.
I love you, man.
You know, just felt like youshould have this.
And it's$100.
It's the exact amount that youowe me.
And then you turn around and youpay me the debt you owe me.
Then we're all square, right?
Because guess what?
I gifted you with no stringsattached,$100.

(19:04):
You turned around and paid me$100.
And then our debt is square.
That exactly what God did withJesus Christ.
You see, we owed a debt to Godthrough the death of flesh.
We deserve to die.
We deserve to be separated fromhim.
Yet, in his infinite wisdom, hegave us a gift in Jesus Christ.

(19:27):
He gave us the gift of salvationthat whoever would believe on
him would be saved.
And then through the work ofJesus Christ and the work on the
cross that he had, God was paidthe debt that was owed by me
through Jesus Christ because hedied on the cross for my sins.
So at that point, I can now goboldly to the throne of grace to

(19:50):
obtain mercy, to find grace, tohelp in the time of need through
Jesus Christ, through him.
I can go to the Father throughhim.
That's the key here, right?
The debt has ultimately beenpaid, been paid by Jesus Christ.
The debt that Barabbas owed, thesentence that Barabbas owed was
going to be paid Jesus steppedup on that cross and was nailed

(20:12):
to that tree and bore all thecurses that go along with that,
which we will talk about when weget there.
So understanding that then, wesee how Jesus became the
propitiation for our sins.
He paid the debt that we owed,that we may be reconciled back
to the Father in the newness oflife and being a new creature
through Christ Jesus, perfectedthrough the righteousness and

(20:35):
the love that he has given us tothose that believe.
Again, not a affirming your sinbecause he that is saved should
no longer dwell in sin.
We should not yield our membersas members of unrighteousness,
as Paul says in Romans 6-8.
And we should be crucified withChrist.
Whereas Paul says in Galatians,those that have mortified the

(20:59):
deeds of the flesh, those arethe ones that produce the fruit
and do those things.
So understanding all of that,our flesh still must die, but
the price for our salvation hasbeen paid but the Holy Spirit
and Jesus Christ will constantlybe working to change us into the
likeness of who Christ is.
But at the end of the day,Barabbas is really the crux of

(21:19):
the scripture.
It's where Jesus becomes thepropitiation of our sins.
Amen.
And it's also where the Gentilesare then grafted in as well, you
know, because it's an importantpart here because the Jews
rejected Jesus.
There's no doubt about that.
And Jesus even said himself thatthose that delivered him up,
have a worse sin than the onesthat would actually crucify him,

(21:44):
the Romans.
But at the end of the day, theyrejected him so that ultimately
the salvation could come to theGentiles because it was never
going to be for the Gentiles.
We were going to only get itthrough Jesus Christ and through
who he was because salvationcame to the Jew first, then to
the Greek.
And that's what Paul wrote atthe end of the day.

(22:06):
But it also fulfills a scripturein Genesis, Genesis chapter 12
where he tells Abraham thatthrough you all the families of
the earth will be blessed and weall are through Jesus Christ.
Amen.
So understanding all of that Iwant to go back to the section
that we skipped and it's onPilate's wife.
And it's on Matthew 27 19 wherehe says while he was sitting on

(22:29):
the judgment seat his wife saidto him saying have nothing to do
with that just man for I havesuffered many things today in a
dream because of him.
His wife was given a dreambecause And to warn her husband
Pilate.

(23:09):
down that road.
You don't want to be one ofthose Jesus freaks.
You don't want to do that.
And that's the state that theGentiles are especially.
And look, it's not that theynecessarily have openly rejected
Jesus, although some have.
There are some out thereprotesting even today that want
nothing to do with Jesus Christ.
That'll say all manner of evilthings to you if you try and go

(23:29):
up to them and say, look, ohman, you really should know
Jesus.
But the vast majority of peoplethat I've come across, it's
pretty rare that I find peoplelike that.
But the vast majority of peoplethat I I personally come across
are the ones that typically say,you know what, I just don't
really want anything to do withit.
I don't want to get allreligious.
I don't want to do all thatstuff.
You know, I just really don'twant to do anything.

(23:51):
And that's kind of wherePilate's wife was.
She's like, I just don't wantyou to have anything to do with
him.
And that was an option forPilate, except he was sitting in
the judgment seat.
So at the end of the day, youknow, it's really the same as
the rejection of Jesus.
If you're not going to choosesize, you do by doing it so here

(24:11):
we are he's sitting in the seaof the judgment sea which is
another interesting pointbecause gee here he is trying to
judge the king of kings hejudges that he is good that he
has done nothing wrong yet stillsends him to the crucifixion
still sheds the blood of theinnocents which carries its own
personal curse but here you havehim his wife saying look leave

(24:31):
him alone stay away from him becareful around those people that
tell you to avoid Jesus Christbe careful when they tell you
hey you're becoming a Jesusfreak.
You're becoming one of thoseradicals.
Take it as a sign that you'redoing the right things.
Because at the end of the day,people know I wear my
Christianity on my chest.
I wear it on my sleeve.

(24:52):
Everyone knows where I stand andthere's no doubt about it.
Now look, the only thing I cando is offer them Jesus as a
gift.
And if they don't want to acceptit, that's their responsibility
and their choice.
I'm not going to force them.
I'm not going to make them docertain things.
I can't at the end And that hasto be our way, the same way that

(25:13):
Pilate here had a choice.
Have nothing to do with him,free him, or send him to be
crucified.
He ultimately sends him to becrucified.
Amen.
So look, I hope you gotsomething out of this lesson.
I think it's a really importantlesson.
Next week, we're going to startgetting into the crucifixion and
a lot of the things about thecurses that he took.

(25:34):
on our behalf.
So with that being said, just areminder, if you do have any
questions that you want me toanswer after this season, just
drop me a note atpathredemptionohio at gmail.com.
More than happy to put anepisode together for that.
But until next time, justremember this simple truth.
The Father loves you, Jesusloves you, and the Holy Spirit
loves you.
God bless.
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