THE WONDER OF RECONCILIATION

The Divine Exchange

Jesus died on the Cross that was actually meant for Barabbas. Barabbas had been arrested because he had committed at least one murder during an uprising. He was waiting in his jail cell on death row, waiting until he would be crucified. The name ‘Barabbas’ was a very common name and meant ‘son of the father’. You could see him as a representative of the entire human race. His life full of rebellion, violence and death represents your sinful and rebellious nature.

I don’t know if Barabbas understood what happened that day at Golgotha, just outside the city of Jerusalem. But God showed Barabbas and us His great love by sending Jesus and letting Him die in our place, while we were still enemies of God⁷². By dying on the Cross, Jesus took the place of all the condemned sons and daughters of the Father.

A divine exchange took place on the Cross: Jesus bore the punishment which we deserved.⁷³. Through the wonder of the Cross God destroyed our animosity, so that we could be reconciled to God again: ‘At one time you were far away from God and were His enemies because of the evil things you did and thought. But now, by means of the physical death of his Son, God has made you His friends, in order to bring you, holy, pure, and faultless, into His presence⁷⁴. You are just like Barabbas, son of the Father, destined to live in the presence of the Father.