Identical Twins
By Kurt Bomar
Avery County
I read an interesting article in Jonathan Cahn’s The Book of Mysteries that I wanted to share.
It centers around the story of the Scapegoat in Lev. 16:7-10. In short, on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement (the holiest day of the year for the Jew) the High Priest would be presented with two identical goats. He would reach into an urn and pull out two stones and randomly place them on the heads of the goats. One would be set free and one would be sacrificed.
Almost every event in the old testament sacrificial system is a picture of something in the new testament that would follow. This is no exception.
When Jesus stood before Pilot, there was another present at that time. His name was Barabbas. Of course, Jesus was sacrificed and Barabbas was set free.
But for this picture to be accurate, the two would have to be identical. Certainly, they were not identical in their lifestyles. Jesus lived a perfect life and Barabbas was the very picture of sin. So how could they be identical?
The key is in their names. The story is recorded in all four gospels but interestingly in the book of Matthew it says:
Matt. 27:15 “Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. 16. At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas.”
So they had identical first names. But wait, there’s more.
Jesus Christ was called the Son of God, or the son of the Father. But what about Jesus Barabbas. What did his last name mean?
Barabbas is broken down into two words: “Bar” which means “the son of” and “Abba” which of course is “Father”. So in fact they both had an identical last name. Both were called “the son of the Father”.
So once again, an old testament picture was fulfilled by a new testament event.
What does that mean to us? In addition to the confidence of yet another old testament prophecy being fulfilled by Jesus, we see that the picture is still active today.
We are all Barabbas’. We are all the very picture of sin. We are the scapegoats that have been released because of the sacrifice of Jesus.
Let us thank the Lord that our salvation is made possible by his sacrifice.
Selah (think about it)
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Kurt Bomar is pastor of Walnut Grove Church located in Avery County. You are welcome to join them on Sundays at 11:00 AM for worship! (When we are allowed to meet in the building again). You can read more from Kurt Bomar HERE.
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