Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 240

August 28;       John 18:39:       86/260(III);       ‘Released’

John 18:39 "But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?"

The Jewish custom of releasing a prisoner on the Passover once again reveals the genius of the Lord and the Word.  Remember on the Passover, a lamb was slain and the blood of the lamb was spread around the door post.  This was what the Jews did the night they left Egypt.  That night, when the death angel went around, those homes where the blood was spread around the door post, were protected from the death of their first born child.  This custom, done on Passover is a type of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus on our behalf.  John the Baptist calls Jesus the Lamb of God in John 1.  Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent and that the religious leaders wanted Him dead because they were jealous of Him.  Pilate wanted to release Jesus, but the religious leaders refused and asked for the release of Barabbas instead.  Barabbas was called a robber and a murderer in the gospels.  In other words the guilty was released and the innocent was condemned and crucified.  That is the picture of redemption.  Innocent Jesus was crucified that guilty humanity would go free.  Barabbas represents all of us.  We were pardoned and released even though all of us were guilty.  Jesus never sinned, He was innocent, but in fulfillment of His ministry Jesus went to the cross we deserved and guilty mankind was set free.  As we read the Word, the literal facts are fascinating, but if you look a little deeper, you realize that there is ‘hidden’ revelation waiting to bless you.