The Wedding Feast (~19.49) - Moriel Ministries

‘For I will pour out water on the
thirsty land And streams on the dry
ground; I will pour out My Spirit on
your offspring And My blessing on
your descendants; (Isaiah 44:3)
The rain being poured out is a picture of
the Holy Spirit. It forms the Living Water
we read about in John 4 and John 7, which
Jesus tells us is the Holy Spirit. So looking
at this again in Hosea 6:1, we see the
wounding, but also the resurrection. Then
we see the giving of the Holy Spirit after
the resurrection. What happens to Him
happens to us. His death is to be our death,
His life is to be our life, and the power of
His Spirit is to be manifested in us.
Corporate Solidarity in
Barabbas
There’s a theological term called “corporate
solidarity.” A “corporate solidarity”
is where when one person represents a
larger group of people, where one man or
one woman is a picture of a bigger group
of people. And in the Passion narrative, the
story of the death and resurrection of Jesus,
there are a number of important “corporate
solidarities” – people who are pictures of
us. One of the most important is someone
called in Aramaic, “Bar-Abbas” – “a son of
the father.” We see this when Pilate brings
him out in Luke.
But they cried out all together, saying,
“Away with this man, and release for
us Barabbas!” (Luke 23:18)
“Release for us Barabbas!” Pilate
wants to release Jesus and tries to defer
the matter to Herod. Herod is happy to let
Jesus off as long as Jesus puts on a show.
As long as Jesus would be willing to perform
miracles, Herod was quite willing to
let Him go (Lk. 23:8). Notice that the only
thing Jesus had to do to not go to the cross
was to pull a “Benny” or a “Kenny.” All
He had to do not go to the cross was put on
a religious freak show of signs and wonders.
The Lord Jesus never allowed signs
and wonders – what is called in Hebrew
“semeion mipla’ot” – He never once allowed
signs and wonders, healings or miracles,
to be the focus of His message or His
ministry. His ministry was not about that;
these signs followed. There are those who
assert that signs and wonders are the key to
seeing people saved; that was John Wimber’s
argument. But in fact, John 10 tells us
the opposite: “For which one of these signs
are you stoning me” (Jn. 10:32)?
“Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing
the word of God” (Ro. 10:17), not
by seeing a show. The Antichrist and the
False Prophet are going to put on a show
and they are going to deceive the nations
Jacob Prasch
(Rev. 16:13-14); they are going to deceive
the Jews; they are going to deceive the
apostate church. (In fact, those people are
deceived already, they are just waiting for
a bigger deception.)
Herod sends Jesus back to Pilate, so
Pilate says, “Well, I have got to get this
guy off somehow – I know He is innocent
– what am I going to do? I know! I am going
to get a terrorist.”
Barabbas was somebody the New Testament
refers to as a “Zealot.” Josephus
writes about them extensively and informs
that they were the “Sukim.” They were people
who used religion as a cloak for what
basically amounted to murder and terror,
very much like Al Qaeda, very much like
the IRA or other people who simply use religion
as an umbrella or a propaganda device
– or as packaging – to what amounts to
criminal activity of the most unspeakable
kind. They preyed on their own people,
and Josephus writes about how the cruelty
of these people against the Jews exceeded
anything the Romans did to them. These
“Sukim,” of which Barabbas would have
been one, acted worse toward their own
kind than anything the Romans ever did.
And so we have “Bar-Abbas.” Not a
Hebrew name but an Aramaic one which
means literally, “son of the father.” “Who
shall I release to you? Bar-Abbas or Rabbi
Yeshua Bar-Jozef ? Do you want me to
give you this terrorist, this murderer, this
criminal, this predator, or do you want me
to give you this rabbi from Galilee who
taught love, peace, and forgiveness – who
raised the little girl from the dead, who
made the blind see, the deaf hear, and the
lame walk – this man of love? Who shall I
give you: Barabbas or Rabbi Yeshua?”
And the same crowd who a few days
before had been singing, “Hosanna!” now
yelled, “Crucify Him! Give us Barabbas!”
At the Triumphal Entry, as long as Jesus
was willing to put on a show they were
all for Him. But when He would not give
them what they wanted on their terms, they
were no longer interested. “Crucify Him!
Give us Barabbas!” Not all, but enough of
them were incited by the religious establishment.
The Sanhedrin incited the people
to say, “Give us Bar-Abbas! Give us the
son of the father.”
We are All Bar-Abbas
If someone is born again – if they have
repented of their sin and accepted Jesus,
they have another name. That name is
“Bar-Abbas.” Each of us has become a son
of the Father. “Give us Barabbas!” We have
become a son of the Father because Jesus
was accursed of the Father for our sin.
“Give us Barabbas!” It is always like that.
Give us that cocaine dealer from the
Special Interest
east side of New York, Jacob Prasch. What
shall I do with this rabbi who raised the
dead, who healed the sick, who made the
cripples walk, who taught love, peace,
truth, gave the little girl back her life
– what should I do with Him? Kill Him!
Give us Jacob Prasch. Kill Him! Give us
John Higgins. I become a “Bar-Abbas”
because Jesus, who was innocent, was put
on trial in my place. I am actually guilty
of all the things they falsely accused Him
of – found guilty of sedition, guilty of rebellion,
I was guilty of blasphemy, I was
guilty of deceiving other people – I was
actually guilty of all the things Jesus was
put on trial for.
You can call me “Jacob,” and that is
OK, but just realize that my real name
– and yours – is “Bar-Abbas.” Barabbas.
Why am I Barabbas? Why am I a son of
the Father? Because concerning the true
Son of the Father they yelled, “Crucify
Him!” He died so I could become a son of
God. That is the first corporate solidarity.
The Corporate Solidarity of
Simon Cyrene
But then there is another one. According
to Roman law, when a person was to
be executed by Roman crucifixion (the
Jews stoned people; crucifixion was purely
Greco-Roman) the person had to carry his
guilt, which was publicly exemplified or
publicly illustrated through carrying the
cross. The guilty person had to carry his
own cross. That was the Roman law. But
here we see that something else happens.
When they led Him away, they seized
a man, Simon of Cyrene, coming in
from the country, and placed on him
the cross to carry behind Jesus. (Luke
23:26)
Why did Jesus not carry His own
cross? Because by Roman law it would
have meant He was guilty of what He was
going to be executed for. He was not guilty
of what He was going to be executed for;
Simon was, I was, you were.
Richard Wurmbrand, a Jewish believer
who became a Christian – my wife’s family
actually knew him before he was saved
from the Jewish community in Romania
– was persecuted as a Jew by the Nazis
and then persecuted by the Communists
as a Christian. They locked him up for 14
years, they arrested his wife, they did terrible
things to them – they tortured him. My
wife could speak to him in Romanian, and
I remember a sermon he once preached in
which he said, “Jesus never simply said, ‘I
am going to die in your place. I am going
to die in your place, but you get up here
and die with Me.’” After two days, He will
revive us; the third day He will raise us up
December 2009 • Moriel Quarterly 13