Thursday, April 02, 2015

Two men: A stark choice

Tomorrow is Good Friday, when we remember how the world did its worst to the Son of God.

When Jesus was tried before Pilate, it was Passover. At Passover it was Pilate's custom to release a prisoner of the people's choice. Pilate could find no fault in Jesus, so he gave the people the choice: Barabbas, a terrorist and a robber, or Jesus.

In those days, Jews didn't have surnames as we know them. They were known as Judah son of Joseph, or Simon son of Jonah. Barabbas means "son of Abba." It can be translated  "son of the father." According to several old manuscripts, his first name was Jesus, a fairly common name in those days. So the people had to choose between Jesus, son of the father, who was a murderer, and Jesus,Son of His Heavenly Father, who came to bring life. They chose the son of Abba.

God was gracious to those people. Jesus died and rose again. So they had the opportunity to repent of their sin, believe on Jesus, and receive forgiveness

We have a somewhat similar choice. Jesus gave His life to be the one and only Saviour. Only the sacrifice of His life was good enough. He was the perfect sacrificial lamb. His blood, and only His blood, is sufficient to wash away our sin. We won't always have the choice, but we do have the choice now.

"As many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name." John 1:12.

Do it now.
   

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