2. OLD COVENANT: The priests chose two perfect adult male goats
2. NEW COVENANT: the Son of God and Barabbas were chosen by the Holy Spirit
Jesus was described by John the Baptist as the “Lamb of God.” The Bible records, “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29.
At his trial, Pontius Pilate offered to the crowds two men, Jesus Christ and Barabbas, one of whom would be crucified, and one of whom would be set free.
The Holy Spirit had arranged for two men, the Son of God and a murderer, to be presented to the crowds, including the Sanhedrin, the religious authorities.
Barabbas was a murderer
“And there was one named Barabbas, who was chained with his fellow rebels; they had committed murder in the rebellion,” Mark 15:7.
Barabbas means “son of the father”, and his father was the devil
The name “Barabbas” literally means, in Hebrew, “son of the father”.
Jesus had spoken to Jewish priest and said, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it” John 8:44.
Barabbas, like all of us, was born a “son of the devil.”