Barabbas (Mt.27:11-26)

There is nothing better than waking up to the smell of a fresh pot of coffee and getting your Bible out to spend time in fellowship with the Savior of the World!  Deuteronomy 4:2 says, "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you."  We can trust every word that God intended for us to have is found right in our Bible.  Every time we read, it should become more evident to us that there is authority, clarity, necessity, and sufficiency in the Word of God!  What a wonderful comfort!

We have almost completed the Gospel of Matthew.  I want to say a GREAT BIG Thank You for going on this journey with me!  I am blessed to have Brothers and Sisters in Christ to share the joy of the Word with!  HUGS!  Today, we are reading Matthew 27:11-26.  You can read through it in your Bible or online HERE!!!!

 

 

"He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth." Isaiah 53:9  The blameless, sinless Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor.  Would you agree that Pilate governed a jealous and violent people?  He wanted nothing more than to secure favor with them and had little conscience of sin against God.  After several weak attempts to divert the mobs fury from Jesus to Barabbas, and publicly washing his hands of the matter, he condemned Jesus whom he called a "just man".

 

What a representation of many rulers and leaders in the world today!  Have you ever wondered what made Pilate, such a powerful ruler, cower before the people?  The praise of men can easily become and idol and blind people from doing what is right and just.  The sad thing is that men's favor is feeble....here one day, gone tomorrow.  This should be a lesson to us as believers to let our striving be to please and fear God greater than anything or anyone else! 

 

Acts 10:38 says that Jesus "went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil".  So why did the Jews hate Him so much?  He was no robber, murder, or blasphemer of God.  He was innocent of any transgression against the Laws of God and man.  And yet the Jews wouldn't rest until Jesus was dead. 

 

THEY HATED JESUS BECAUSE HE TOLD THE TRUTH!  They hated the light because it made their darkness visible.  Jesus spoke against sin, and they wanted to stay in their sin and not let go.  Human nature is corrupt.  Jonathon Edwards said, "unconverted men would kill God, if they could get to Him."  Many unbelievers flatter themselves that it is the inconsistency and hypocrisy of professing Christians that they dislike, but truly they hate the light. 

 

There is nothing that the heart of man is not capable of doing.  As long as we live, we should not trust our hearts.  Even after salvation, our hearts are still "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked"! (Jer.17:9)  We need to trust in the Word and the guiding of the Holy Spirit!