Anatomy of the Gospel - Back to the Basics Sýnishorn

The Substitution

In the great exchange, we see that Christ took the nature of sin from us and in exchange, gave us the nature of God. In the substitution, we see how Jesus took our place, fought our battle against sin, and let us take the trophy of sonship and access to all its inherent blessings.

“[26] Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.” Matthew 27:26 NIV‬‬

Because of this, believers are more than conquerors who fight from a place of victory because the battle has already been won. Glory!

We see this play out in Matthew 27:16-26, where according to the Jewish custom, the governor of Judaea, then Pontius Pilate, pardoned and released one prisoner every year in honor of the Passover festival. In this instance, the choice was between Jesus Christ, who Pontius Pilate found to be innocent of the charges laid against him, and Jesus Barabbas a well-known criminal. When asked to make a choice, people insisted that Jesus Barabbas be released, and Jesus Christ be crucified.

The name Barabbas in Aramaic means ‘son of Abba’, that is Jesus Barabbas means Jesus the son of the father. Therefore, we see that what really happened here is that Jesus Christ ‘the son of God’, took the place of Barabbas so that Barabbas can truly become a son of God and live freely as one. After his freedom, Barabbas was no longer guilty of sin just as there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).

This clearly depicts what Jesus did for us at salvation, the son of God became the son of man that the son of man can become the son of God. ‬‬“[12] Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—” John 1:12 NIV

We also see substitution in types and shadows with Abraham and Issac in the Old Testament (Gen 22:8-14 KJV) where God provided a ram (the Lamb: Jesus) caught in a thicket (a tree: the cross) to take the place of Isaac the son of Abraham as a sacrifice.

How reassuring it is, knowing that our sonship is eternally irreversible by reason of this substitution.

Glory!