The Great Exchange

John 18:38 – 40

The Great Exchange.

I originally wrote most of this post November 19, 2015, but have added to this based on further revelation since then.

Today, as I read this scripture it brought back a revelation I had some time ago so today I thought I would write it down. One of the things I love when reading and studying the Bible is the foreshadowing, metaphor and analogy when you look at the meanings of names in the original Greek and Hebrew that many probably never notice if you just read the Bible from a literal perspective and never take the time to study the original language and the deeper meaning in names. The Biblical Greek and Hebrew language is fascinating and I often wish I had had the time and ability to study and learn these languages.

Every Hebrew name in the Bible has a meaning and in this particular scenario in scripture we have Jesus the Christ and another man, a prisoner named Barabbas.

"Pilate went back out and said, “I don’t find this man guilty of anything! And since I usually set a prisoner free for you at Passover, would you like for me to set free the king of the Jews?”
They shouted, “No, not him! We want Barabbas.” Now Barabbas was a terrorist." - John 18:38-40 CEV

The footnote for verse 40 in the Contemporary English Version states that a terrorist, was someone who stirred up trouble against the Romans in the hope of gaining freedom for the Jewish people. As a result of his rebellion against the Roman Empire he was condemned to death. Yet the Jews cried for his release, while calling for Jesus the Christ to be crucified. The depth of the symbology, metaphor, analogy or foreshadowing going in this exchange and its meaning and significance, like so many other stories in scripture are what convinces me that these words are not just the words of mere men which we'll soon discover as we unpack what is going on here in this post today.

Why is the name Barabbas so interesting to me? Because when you look at the name in the original language, Bar translates as Son and Abba is translated as Father in English, so his name is literally son of the Father. Just a coincidence that the name of the man who is about to be released in exchange for the life, suffering, and crucifixion of Christ is called Barabbas and not some other name. Some early manuscripts of Matthew give him the surname Jesus, Jesus Barabbas who is a convicted criminal, an insurrectionist and murderer who according to Luke’s account, ( was in prison for starting an insurrection in Jerusalem against the government, and for murder.) - Luke 23:19

in·sur·rec·tion
ˌinsəˈrekSH(ə)n/
noun
noun: insurrection; plural noun: insurrections
a violent uprising against an authority or government.
It can also be defined as open rebellion and isn’t that really what we discover in Genesis chapter three when Adam and Eve rebel against God. And hasn’t humanity for the most part been doing that ever since then? But I digress. This is just one example of many in the Gospels of Jesus Christ that when looked at beneath the surface conceals a much deeper truth, one we will explore today.

 It is the glory of God to conceal the word, and the glory of kings to search out the speech. - Proverbs 25:2 - Douay-Rheims Bible

 As we've just discovered, we have the Son of Man, the Creator Himself in the person of Jesus Christ, who according to scripture, has lived a perfect, sinless life, while also completely and perfectly fulfilling the whole of the Mosaic Law, a Law which no man could keep up to that point or has since, up against another man, one who has been condemned to death for insurrection and rebellion against the governing authorities.

 What we see in these two verse in John 18:39-40 is what I call The Great Exchange. Symbolically it is a beautiful representation of the innocent perfect sinless God man, Jesus the Creator, willingly offering Himself as the ultimate sacrifice or substitute in place of the man, so that the guilty, rebellious, sinful imperfect man who is completely deserving of death can be set free and live! Both are sons of the Father, with one, Barabbas I believe, representative of the first Adam or all of humanity, fallen, sinful and deserving of death according to the Law and Jesus representing the second Adam, the new creation man, 1 Cor. 5:17.

 God's life for our life, the innocent sacrificed for the guilty, so that the guilty could become the innocent. His sacrifice of Himself to fulfil His Law, that we had no ability to fulfill so that He could set us free from it because according to 1 Corinthians 15:56,

"Sin is what gives death its sting, and the Law is the power behind sin." - CEV

 Through God's own death and resurrections we are set free from the Law and it's consequences, death and that is exactly what we see about to happen here in this exchange.

 But there is a catch for believer's today that requires another exchange and that is that we have to sacrifice our lives to gain His. and Jesus tells us this,

"But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.…" - Matthew 16:23-24 Berean Study Bible

Mark also speaks to this,

"If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take up your cross and follow me. If you want to save your life, [yourself, soul] you will destroy it. But if you give up your life for me and for the good news, you will save it. What will you gain, if you own the whole world but destroy yourself? What could you give to get back your soul?" - Mark 8:34-37 CEV

We see this represented with one Simon of Cyrene,

"On the way they met a man from Cyrene named Simon, and they forced him to carry Jesus' cross." - Matthew 27:32


We also see this in Mark 15:21 and Luke 23:26, while Paul tells us in Galatians,


"When the Messiah was executed on the stake as a criminal, I was too; so that my proud ego no longer lives. But the Messiah lives in me, and the life I now live in my body I live by the same trusting faithfulness that the Son of God had, who loved me and gave himself up for me." - Galations 2:20 Complete Jewish Bible


This is the Great Exchange He dies in our place to give us His life, but, in order to receive His life we must also die to Self.