Barabbas, or Yeshua Bar Abba (ישוע בר אבא)
His name literally means “son of the father”. The significance of his name totally escaped the Jewish leaders who sentenced Yeshua to death.
Most English translations only refer to him only as Barabbas, however if we go back to Mark 27:16, in original Greek, we see his full name is Yeshua (Jesus) Barabbas:
When the Jewish leaders chose to release Barabbas and to condemn Yeshua, they were literally given a choice to choose between two different “sons of the father” - that father being the Devil or that father being G*d.
Their choice to free a brutal killer and condemn a man of peace and love solidified what Yeshua had told them earlier in the following passages:
"I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.
I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.
They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did,
but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did.
You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.”
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.
Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.
Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?
Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” - John 8:37-47
When the Jewish leaders chose to release Barabbas and to condemn Yeshua, they were literally given a choice to choose between two different “sons of the father” - that father being the Devil or that father being G*d.
All four Gospels state that Barabbas was a notorious criminal and Luke and Peter both refer to him as a murderer:
Matthew calls him a notorious prisoner:
"And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas." - Matthew 27:16
Mark and Luke both state that he had committed murder in the insurrection:
"And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas." - Mark 15:7
"But they all cried out together, “Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas"
a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder." - Luke 23:18-19
John states that Barabbas was a thief:
"They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber." - John 18:40
Peter also refers to him a murderer in one of his first sermons:
"The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him.
But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,
and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses." - Acts 3:13-15
According to all four gospels it was a prevailing Passover custom in Jerusalem that allowed Pilate, the governor of Judea, to commute one prisoner's death sentence. Pilate then reluctantly yields to the insistence of the crowd.
“So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying "I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves." And all the people answered, "His blood be on us and on our children!" - Matthew 27:24–25
Just as Yeshua told them that they would do, they chose the son of the devil and released evil back into the world; as Barabbas was literally evil personified.
They obviously didn’t comprehend the mystical significance of their prophetic choice, and ultimately sealed their own fate when they condemned Yeshua; as he had hurt no one and his offense against them wasn’t worthy of death. They in turn put a blood curse on themselves and their generations to follow and we can easily see this time and time again, throughout history.
Of course, we all know that not long after this, their second temple was destroyed and they were exiled once again for this most grievous transgression.
Understand what's done is done and it all happened exactly as G*d willed it to, as it is written:
"The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes." - Psalm 118:22
"And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem." - Isaiah 8:14
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