Three of the most gripping stories of Salvation in the Gospels, take place on Jesus’ way to the hill of death called Golgotha.
They set the stage for us to celebrate the many victories of Resurrection Day.
I write in detail about all three of these stories in my new book on Sonship. Our first stop being the Passover Feast where Pilate is holding two prisoners: Jesus, and Barabbas.
You can read about the exchange of Barabbas for Jesus in Matthew Chapter 27. He’s mentioned in all 4 Gospels and carries immense significance and help for the reader searching for a greater understanding of Salvation.
While the perfect Son of the Father, Jesus, was being tried before Pilate, a convicted murderer named Barabbas was under heavy guard in the Roman prisons. The authors of the Gospels call Barabbas ‘notorious,’ and we learn that he was being held by the regime for sedition, murder, and conspiracy to overthrow Roman rule. In other words, a worldly savior.
He killed to be free of Roman rule, and he was going to die for it.
Pilate thought he had found his out. He would not need to kill Jesus after all. Because every year, at Passover, the Romans released one prisoner. Saved one lamb from the slaughter. A slaughter which had seen countless thousands crucified by the time Christ arrived in Pilate’s courtyard, on Friday April 3, 33 AD.
But the crowd chose their earthly son, given the choice between a convicted killer, and The Giver of Life.
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. Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus, but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!”
Barabbas, a worldly son, was selected, and the Son of the Heavenly Father was given in exchange for his life. There may be no greater revelation of Salvation in Scripture, than the moment that happened between Christ and Barabbas. And it’s important to note that Jesus and Barabbas have the same name. Bar-Abbas, translates into English as ‘Son of the Father.’ And beyond that, early manuscripts even reveal his full name to be Yahshua Bar-Abbas, or Jesus, Son of the Father.
Within so blatant a fact as his actual name, we have little reason to miss the point. Christ died so that the lost sons could be found. On the way to the crucifixion, Barabbas finally became a true son of the Father. A life for a life.
The first Salvation in our study today was all about Sonship. Becoming a son is the purpose of Salvation.
Second, we find the thrilling story of the Thief on the cross.
I wrote about this in detail in this post about the choice between Earth and Heaven. In short, after berating Christ along with his fellow criminal on the other side of Jesus, one of the two thieves on the cross encountered Salvation.
And I love it so much, because it reveals how little a person needs to grasp of theology to be saved. And how wide Jesus opens the door, if we simply turn to Him.
Mark 15:27
Along with Jesus, they crucified two robbers, one on His right and one on His left.
Matthew 27:44
In the same way, even the robbers who were crucified with Him berated Him.
The Gospel of Luke adds a truly intriguing nuance to the story. Did the Gospel writers’ versions differ because Matthew and Mark weren’t physically present at the time of the crucifixion? Or perhaps not present for the climactic moment. More likely, by even greater grace than I can comprehend, after berating Jesus himself, the penitent thief changed his tune.
It could be a song, a banner, a logline on a poster, or in the Thief on the Cross’ case, the story of his life:
“YAHSHUA…REMEMBER ME.”
The thief said in effect, “Salvation - Remember me.” And Jesus (whose name Yahshua means Salvation) responded, “Verily, on this day you will be with Me in Paradise.”
After a LIFETIME (you have to read that out loud and yell it like I’m writing it). After a LIFETIME! of sin and rebellion against Yahweh, the thief on the cross asked Salvation to REMEMBER him!
Luke 23:42
And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
And Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
Imagine the difference. The stark contrast between Earth as the thief and Christ knew it in that moment in the suffocation and blood of their crosses, and the Paradise that they would be entering, only a few breaths later.
It’s another twist in the Gospels that we should not miss for its poignancy. The world of sin is crucifixion Hell! But the life found in Christ Jesus our Messiah is everlasting Paradise!
And it only takes one word from a lifelong sinners’ lips. Your moment of Salvation may take a lifetime to come, but it launches you out of the world’s Atmosphere into outerHeaven in a split second, with a word, in a moment of heart change, a singular revelation, in a breath.
And the third Salvation on the road to the crucifixion just might be my favourite. Which is hard to believe, when considering the implications of the first two.
Perhaps the third one grips me most because as a Gentile I understand the moment a little more clearly. The moment when a non-Jew encountered Christ, and after witnessing how Jesus died, he had the revelation that would transform the rest of his life.
It was the centurion beneath the cross. A Roman soldier, a man of duty. He oversaw the execution of dozens, or maybe hundreds. And today started as just another miserable day in the office. He had final say in the way Jesus and the other criminals would be treated, how far they would take the torture. He knew how much a man could take, and he knew how men responded to the pain.
They cried out in rage, whimpered, even cursed God. But this Man did something he’d never seen before. He spoke kindly to the co-crucified men with Him, and even spoke a blessing over them. After taking relentless abuse from His own religious scribes and lawmakers, He whispered, “Father, forgive them.”
There was also the darkness. The sun had never disappeared at midday before. But as the centurion pondered the meaning of the title above Jesus’ head, he had to admit that there was a kingliness to the man wearing a crown of thorns, beneath the sign written in all of the regions major languages in big bold letters, “Yahshua (Salvation), King of the Jews.”
And then, by no mere coincidence or happy turn of chance, he was the first one to call the time of death of Yahshua. It was Good Friday, April 3, 33 AD at 3PM.
For the man of authority that the centurion was, the last moment shook Him most of all. Because as Jesus Christ gave up His spirit, the earth began to literally shake, a titanic moment for Creation, when the ground itself gave way, a massive earthquake, probably 7.7 on the Richter scale, sent men and women screaming on their way to level ground.
But the ground would never be stable for this man again. He, a Gentile, a Roman soldier, was shaken more fiercely than the Earth beneath his feet.
“Surely this Man IS the Son of God.”
Keep Breathing,
Daniel Kooman
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The Centurion story is one of my favourites too. How deeply that moment shook the world and reestablished its foundations. Amazed at how understated the gospel accounts really are. I understand why you are shouting.
Thank you Daniel! What a wonderful God we have. One whose mercy is so great and a love like no other!!