Do Not Shout, "Give Us Barabbas!" A Clarion Call.
God gave the people a choice: Jesus or Barabbas. The Word says that Pilate gave them a choice, but Pilate acted only with the authority and circumstances brought about by the will of God. Surely God gave Pilate a choice in the matter—it was for this reason that his wife dreamed a warning and shared it with her husband. Just as He sent Paul to Rome, so, too, might He have sent Jesus, had Pilate truly washed his hands of the matter. Or maybe he could simply have set Christ free, sending Christ down another road to the cross. It would’ve led to the cross, regardless, but I digress. Ultimately, God gave the people the same choice, and He gives you that choice today. Would you have Jesus or Barabbas? What do I mean asking about Barabbas? What kind of choice is that? And how does God ask it of you today when the man died roughly two thousand years ago?
Look at the Word. What does it say? John 18:40 gets translated a few different ways across several translations. Not being an expert in Hebrew and Greek as used in the Bible, I have to trust the translators to an extent because when I look up the word in Strong’s I find here it says Barabbas was an insurrectionist and there a robber. If we look to other verses, the writers describe him as notorious and a murdering insurrectionist. Those words bear powerful implications and an indictment of the decisions made that day by all, but that’s not what leaps out at me from the Word today. Today, the thing that strikes me (and that by the Spirit) is the meaning of the name Barabbas.
So, God gave the people a choice between the Son of God and a son of Abba, which means “father,” but in a close, endearing manner such as “daddy” or “papa.” It is the same word we are meant to use of God the Father. We rarely do that today, at least publicly, but we should. It’s one of the terms Jesus uses to address Him in Gethsemane. On the one hand, Barabbas means something like “daddy’s boy,” but on the other, it offers a contrast to the Son of the Father. The people chose between the Lawmaker and a lawbreaker, and they chose a scoundrel rather than Christ. They literally chose an antichrist and a foreshadowing of the one who is to come and will go to destruction.
I submit to you this day that the people again decide. God gives them the opportunity to do right. They may choose the Ruler of the World or a ruler of the world. Donald means “world ruler.” In an act of forgivable ignorance, a great number chose him in 2016. Much speculation and talk abounded, and wisdom should’ve guided them into better circumstances, but they did what they did. Then the man revealed his character before the world while claiming to be a follower of Christ. A great number chose him again in 2020, during a sweeping pandemic that he desired to wash over this nation while his allies in Russia hacked into our systems and pulled the strings on those who formerly opposed him until they, too, had been compromised in the hacks.
Every matter shall be established by two or three witnesses. I posted a warning to the Christians of this nation on November 13, 2017 that things were coming if they did not consider their ways before God, to correct error and restore a right relationship with Him. The signs in the heavens have been clear. And now It seems Trump will run for re-election in 2024. The second eclipse crisscrossing America comes that year—no coincidence that. If the people again choose to place that man in power, a great number of evangelicals will have proclaimed 3 times to release to them Barabbas rather than Jesus. They will have demanded 3 times to give them the insurrectionist and many much darker adjectives I will not write here. If you would have better days return to our nation, I urge you to spend much of your time in the next few years on your knees in prayer (at least in spirit if the physical act proves too difficult or impossible). We must humble ourselves that He may lift us up.
I have heard Donald Trump called the anti-Christ, but he is only an antichrist, like many others. How do I know? Because I cannot foresee any possibility that all people around the world, including Muslims, North Koreans, and remote tribes in various regions, would worship the man as God. Clearly, some adore the man, although they ought to know better based upon sound doctrine and God’s guidance. No, the one who will come will be so loved by all that only those truly in Christ stand a chance of resisting his infectious influence. So, I warn you, if you would have America truly be great again, have nothing more to do with that man and his affairs. But if you want more of the same turmoil, dishonor, and death which marked his first term in office, give him another chance to destroy our nation. If you do not heed my warning, the blood that runs as a result will be upon your own hands and head—not mine. A watchman has spoken.