Crucify him, give us Barabbas, By Ayo Akerele

The murder of the sinless son of God still remains the world’s greatest example of the travesty of justice. The gang up against Jesus by the Sanhedrin, Pilate, Caiaphas, the corrupt High Priest, and the oppressive Roman government,​ led to the release of Barabbas and the conviction of the righteous one. Till date, the world is still ganging up against Him and backing up Barabbases. Rather than Jesus and His values, the world wants Barabbas as pastors, presidents, and leaders at all levels.

Today in history marks the turning point in what was to be man’s descent into eternal damnation. The murder of Jesus is the world’s greatest example of the travesty of justice. It was the crucifixion of the sinless son of God in the world’s most painful and shameful manner. The highest court of law in Israel at the time of Jesus was the Sanhedrin, whose jurisdiction mostly covered religious matters, but not civil matters. On many occasions, the Sanhedrin deferred to the Roman government on matters relating to capital punishment, which explains why Jesus was taken to Pontius Pilate the governor to validate the accusations against Him, and hence the need for capital punishment.

Historically, the Romans learnt the art of crucifixion from the Persians, in present day Iran. ​Many historical accounts of the traditions of the Romans point out that they rarely approved requests for capital punishment, unless such were thoroughly proved beyond reasonable doubts, as insisted by Roman laws. But in the case of Jesus, all of these laws were violated — He was already the lamb of God who had been slain from the foundation of the world (Revelations 13:8). Thus, crucifixion became the Romans’ favourite method of punishing insurrectionists and those they classified as dangerous criminals at the time of Jesus, and in the early days of the church. In fact, Flavius Josephus and Herodotus, famed historians who documented much of the history of the Jews under Roman occupation, wrote that when General Titus raided Jerusalem in AD.70, after the death and resurrection of Jesus, he crucified so many people to the point that there were no more wood left for making crosses and no place left to set them up.

In his study on this subject, Dr John Macarthur wrote that, “by the time of Christ alone, Rome had already crucified more than thirty thousand victims in and around Judea — a sad reminder of Roman brutality.” Many Jewish scholars, including those from the first century as Josephus, are unanimous in their knowledge of the Romans’ cruel ways of crucifying their victims. To maximise shame for a person deemed for crucifixion, it was to be done at a heavily trafficked location, in order to make the condemned person a public example to all passersby — which was exactly what was done to Jesus. Further, Dr Macarthur wrote that, “the Romans perfected the art of crucifixion in order to maximise pains up till the next three days — and they knew how to prolong the horror without permitting the victim to lapse into a state of unconsciousness that might relieve the pain.

Supernaturally, God withdrew the spirit of the Lord Jesus to disallow him from going through the three-day cycle of pain, and also in fulfilment of God’s prophetic timelines for His death and resurrection. This was exactly what Jesus went through, a gross humiliation of God. Truly, Christianity, according to Bruce L. Shelley, is the only major religion on earth to have as its central event the humiliation of its God.”

Some modern day writers have often described the crucifixion as the nailing of the centre part of Jesus’s palms to the cross. But that is not true. Many evidences have proven otherwise. It was Jesus’s wrist that received those long inches of Roman nails — a method which effectively crushed His wrists’ bones, producing an unimaginable amount of pain. A theory attributed to Pierre Barbet holds that when “His whole body weight was supported by the stretched arms, the typical cause of death was asphyxiation.”

Asphyxiation is the state or process of being deprived of oxygen, which can result in unconsciousness or death through suffocation. This was exactly what Jesus went through on the cross.

The cross is the greatest success factor on earth. There is no side the cross turns to you that would not transform you, permanently. Standing erect, the cross looks like the plus (+) sign. If you come to the cross, the life of God will be added to you. The grace of God will be added to you (John 1:16). The righteousness of Christ will be added to you (Romans 5:17), and above all, your name will be added to the book of life (Revelations 13:8).

In their epic book, Finding Jesus, Faith, Fact & Forgery, David Gibson and Michael McKinley describe the scientific research and efforts that were invested into the process of validating Jesus’ crucifixion from the standpoint of scientific evidence. In their study, the authors uncovered some very stunning empirical facts that confirmed beyond all doubts that the art of crucifying victims truly existed in Jesus’ days. Scientists from Israel, Italy, and Canada found pieces of the cross on which Jesus was crucified, and subjected them to scientific carbon dating tests.

According to David Gibson and Michael McKinley, the piece of cloth that was used to wrap Jesus’ body after His death was also recovered, and also tested scientifically. Results showed that the stains on this cloth were blood. Usually, when the Romans removed crucified bodies from a cross, they would wrap them with burial clothes typically called, “shrouds”, and carry them with their faces facing the ground to allow all the remaining blood in their body to flow through their noses to the ground.

Thus, despite the numerous attacks on the validity of the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus, scientists have continued to stumble on various evidences of His crucifixion that are contradicting their earlier stances.

The cross is the greatest success factor on earth. There is no side the cross turns to you that would not transform you, permanently. Standing erect, the cross looks like the plus (+) sign. If you come to the cross, the life of God will be added to you. The grace of God will be added to you (John 1:16). The righteousness of Christ will be added to you (Romans 5:17), and above all, your name will be added to the book of life (Revelations 13:8).

If you flip the cross around, it looks like a multiplication sign (X). Gladly, if you come to the cross, Grace and peace will be multiplied to you (2 Peter 1:2).

From the past to the present, and to the future, the cross of Christ is, and will always remain the world’s greatest success factor. There was a man in history whose name was Alexander the Great. As we commemorate the ultimate sacrifice of Christ on the cross, we ought to see some striking, but opposing parallels between Christ who was crucified at 33 and that of a renowned Barabbas — Alexander the Great who also died at 33.

The murder of the sinless son of God still remains the world’s greatest example of the travesty of justice. The gang up against Jesus by the Sanhedrin, Pilate, Caiaphas, the corrupt High Priest, and the oppressive Roman government,​ led to the release of Barabbas and the conviction of the righteous one. Till date, the world is still ganging up against Him and backing up Barabbases. Rather than Jesus and His values, the world wants Barabbas as pastors, presidents, and leaders at all levels. The cross was the hidden wisdom of God which none of the princes of this world knew. The cross is an offence to the world. Turn to the cross to crush your sins.

From the past to the present, and to the future, the cross of Christ is, and will always remain the world’s greatest success factor. There was a man in history whose name was Alexander the Great. As we commemorate the ultimate sacrifice of Christ on the cross, we ought to see some striking, but opposing parallels between Christ who was crucified at 33 and that of a renowned Barabbas — Alexander the Great who also died at 33.

In Dr David Jeremiah’s words, “Alexander the Great achieved so many great things at the age of 33, but compared to the life of Jesus, who also died at 33, his records pale.

1. Alexander died at 33. Jesus died at 33.
2. Alexander lived for himself, Jesus lived for the world.
3. Alexander died on a throne, Jesus died on a cross.
4. Alexander shed the world’s blood, Jesus shed his blood for the world.
5. Alexander conquered every throne, Jesus conquered every grave.
6. Alexander was man, but made himself God. Jesus was God, but made himself man.
7. Alexander made all men slaves, Jesus made all men free.

It’s one thing to change the world in one day, it’s another thing to change the world forever.” Through the cross, and ultimately through His resurrection, Jesus changed the world forever.

Ayo Akerele is the senior pastor of Rhema Assembly and the founder of the Voice of the Watchmen Ministries in Ontario, Canada. He can be reached through ayoakerele2012@gmail.com.