Magna Tales

Magna Tales literary magazine

10/09/2026

The Miracle of Life

Dear Claire, I wanted to share with you this treatise which consists of my reflections around the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus which, in all its essence, is the miracle of life. This piece is now more thoroughly fleshed out after my hiatus, expanding the draft that I first shared with you in its raw form during that Christmas holiday a few years ago. The miracle of redemption is not so much that we choose God, but that He chooses us in the first place. Truth be told, man, in his fallen natural state, cannot come to God, does not come to God, and won't come to God. Fallen, sinful and unregenerate man has no moral capacity to either choose God or come to God. He is in fact reckoned as dead. As you know, a dead body has neither property value nor capacity for any claim-much less a claim to life-save there be a force or power exerted upon it from outside it so as to revive or quicken it as was the case with Lazarus. The image of Lazarus as depicted below-who was once dead and then quickened back to life by Jesus-therefore, will be the central motif of my undertaking here. John 11:38-44 (KJV):
"38Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. 39Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. 40Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? 41Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. 42And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. 43And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 44And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go."
It certainly must be the case, that in His day, many people died throughout Israel. But we are made to understand from Scripture, when Jesus learnt of Lazarus' ailment, He waited for two days before deciding to make the journey to that village in Bethany whereupon arrival, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. But the important detail which I do not want to fail in pointing out, is we are told in verse 5 of that chapter, "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus." This will become important in helping us to firmly grasp that the miracle of life is, foremost, undergirded by God's love. It is the reason, after all, that Jesus made the journey to go all the way to Bethany in the first place.
But for God's love, man is dead, and would continue to be dead in sin. A dead man or a dead body in all certainty cannot exercise the power of choice. Lazarus, while dead could not choose when or by who, he was to be revived, if at all. That choice rested solely and exclusively, with Jesus and as He himself declared to His disciples, that death was for God's glory.
To underscore the point that I make here above, let us make a brief detour to John chapter 6 which we covered earlier. At verse 63, Jesus affirms this truth by stating:
"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."
Further down at verse 68, Peter who had been listening intently at Jesus's exposition on man's inability to come to Him for purposes of salvation, makes the declaration:
"Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life."
Circling back again to the story of Lazarus, whom we will use his image as a metaphor-who was once dead and then quickened to life by Jesus. In like manner, so is fallen man wholly incapable of choosing when or by what means he must come back to life from death. The only One who ELECTS both the recipient and the time of being quickened is God the Holy Spirit who does it in love. It is God, we are made to understand, who exerted His power also in raising Jesus from the dead.
To lay a firm, proper and scriptural basis for the assertion that unregenerate, fallen man is deemed as dead in sin and that it is God who quickens, revives or brings him back to life while dead in sin, and that the very act is not only ensconced but deeply rooted in His love, let us consider Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus in 2:1-9:
"And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Among whom also we had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."
From the foregoing, we understand that even the faith necessary for believing in Jesus for salvation, is a divine grant, a donation or as the quoted Scripture reveals: it is the gift of God. That is an important line to draw, for faith does not and cannot inhere in a dead body or co**se. We have already canvassed that with the case of Lazarus. It is then quite the riddle, how we have been found to preach and teach in our churches and from our pulpits, that all a man must do is to profess faith in Jesus in order for one to be saved, as if man has means and ways of acquiring faith while forensically-at least from Scripture's perspective-he is deemed as dead. It is a peculiar thing, don't you think? When man makes such a claim-from the altar no less-it not only is a brazen usurpation of what God has reserved for Himself but it also is the exclusion of God by man. However, Scripture on the other hand reveals that it is in fact the arm of flesh; man's agency and intermediacy that are in absolute terms excluded and ousted.
To put this in perspective: the profession of faith by man, proceeds and is as a result of having been quickened-brought to life-lby the Holy Spirit, and not its antecedent. It is the fruit of the divine work of the Holy Spirit which enables man to not only profess but make the confession of faith in Jesus. The human will, having been quickened, exuberantly exercises the gift of faith.
But Iet me pivot back to my core theme. In bringing men to life by the Spirit or in quickening them, it is He who elects or chooses, for to elect in simpler English is to choose. Apart from Sovereignly choosing the recipients or beneficiaries of the life He gives, He does it also in love. With great love.
Let us consider one more time Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus at 1:4:
"According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love."
Paul introduces complex thought here that the choice or election by God is not made in the physical expanse of time, or on a case by case basis as things evolve, but that it was made in eternity, before the world was. I however don't want to get into that here. The important detail I wish to highlight, as the quoted scripture indicates, is that the choosing by God is done in love.
Continuing with the thrust of God's election as not only the precursor to life but the very expression of His love, we look again at Paul as he labors to point out God's sovereign choice or election in his letter to the church in Rome in 9:10-13:
"And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; 11(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) 12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. 13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."
Jacob was God's elect and through him, his twelve sons who make the nation of Israel. For it is through his lineage that Jesus descends from, here on earth. But it pleased God that in Jesus and through His love, the household of God's elect should be expanded to include the gentile nations too, which Paul makes clear to the church at Ephesus.
The men who have ultimately been considered by God to receive the life that is promised in His Son, like Lazarus, are so destined because He elected them. He alone. Not the pastor, not the preacher, the local presiding Bishop or the mighty prophet. That election, is the outworking of His love.
The whole miracle of life as we understand it, is guaranteed by God. Not only that, He has ensured that the ensuing glory is His and His alone. There is no boasting or gloating by man. That glory is neither available for appropriation by man nor to be shared with man in any way or at all, though he may vie for it. That is the pure, pristine, unvarnished truth as revealed and distilled by the Holy Spirit in Scripture.

10/09/2026

The Monergy Of Salvation

At the heart of this essay is a valiant attempt to persuade the reader that salvation as we know it or being " born again, " (a coinage whose progenitor is Jesus Himself )-is not only the sole prerogative of One, but that the supply of necessary ingredients for salvation is the efficacious labor of that same One.
So that, the entire architectural renderings, scaffolding and edifice of salvation are monergistic and not synergistic as some are wont to proclaim. So in advancing the argument, I am acutely aware that this very notion runs counter to the belief and dogma of many in the charismatic and evangelical extraction, who espouse that salvation is a co-operative enterprise between God and man so as to bring about the desired net result. In making the case for the monergistic nature of salvation, I remain alive to the fact therefore, that this will greatly upset many a reader who is unable to reconcile the unvarnished truth claims made by Jesus Himself with what they have been taught and conditioned to believe.
Join me therefore in this excursion into the landscape of the exposition given by Jesus-the author and finisher of our faith-to Nicodemus on this very subject of being born again, in the Gospel of John at Chapter 3, which is one of the most intriguing dialogues that I have ever encountered between Jesus and anyone and on any subject in the entirety of scripture .
We are told that Nicodemus of the Pharisees, a leader of the Jews, approached Jesus at night with this icebreaker:
"Rabbi, we know you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do the things you do if God were not with him."
Jesus, on the other hand wasted no time at all in pleasantries but went straight to the heart of the matter with Nicodemus: "Assuredly I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
A little background information on Nicodemus. In the orthodoxy of Jewish society, he belonged to an elite and influential cadre of those who served as synagogue leaders and experts in Mosaic Law. As a matter of fact, the Pharisees were considered not only teachers of the law, but also the repositories of that very law. It is they who not only gave instruction but extracted strict observance of the law from the masses as they considered themselves to be the moral exemplars of that law. It was a position not only of privilege but of pride too. But most importantly, it was a position that was earned. A position of merit and of works achieved through great learning, observance and application.
That is the backdrop against which Nicodemus' encounter with Jesus occurs and as fate would have it, all his learning and understanding of the law was about to be torpedoed; in fact, it would end up in a tailspin faster than he had ever anticipated resulting in his coming wholly undone in a matter of minutes under that opening salvo by Jesus.
For his immediate response is, "But how can that be since am already old, how can I go back to my mother's womb a second time?" What Nicodemus was really grappling with here, is the fact that it had dawned on him, that what Jesus had declared, was a feat beyond his reach, and for that matter, any man's reach. One that can't just be achieved, earned or merited. That was an important acknowledgment and confession by Nicodemus. In other words, he admitted that he quite could not come up with the wherewithal to bring about such a happening of rebirth. How could anyone? The limitation of, the poverty of and utter hopelessness of the human condition and endeavor is what Jesus made Nicodemus realize. If being born again was both a physical and biological impossibility, how much more herculean would it be to bring about spiritual rebirth? The rebirth that Jesus was now teaching and introducing to Nicodemus was one that was and is beyond human conception nor indeed can it possibly be.
Jesus then compounds matters further by adding: "Verily verily I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God." That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." ( John 3:5-6)
The Lord Jesus, a masterful teacher, skipped the milk altogether and threw the bone at Nicodemus for him to chew as he too was a teacher of the Jews. For the subjects that the Lord was broaching here were heavy theological themes or doctrines of rebirth, regeneration by the Spirit alone and ELECTION by the Spirit alone. To rephrase it, what Jesus intimated to Nicodemus was to the effect that it is the Spirit of God who not only brings about regeneration or rebirth but it is He who elects who is to receive the rebirth in the first place.
So that, those who will enter the kingdom of God are those who have not only been born again by Him but have also been elected by Him; born out of His good pleasure which is in turn born out of His will. Therefore, human piety, endeavor, merit and achievement are expressly stripped and ousted and in their place man stands before and comes face to face with the grace of God such as Nicodemus did, staring straight into the face of the embodiment of God's grace but he perceived Him not and could not see clearly, perhaps because it was nightfall. We like to think that Paul is the one who introduces the doctrine of Election in scripture but in fact it is Jesus who inaugurated it, yes, even proclaimed it albeit through the veil of metaphors to Nicodemus. We see not only why but how in the succeeding verses of the same chapter.
That rebirth or regeneration or being "born again" is foremost, the work of God the Holy Spirit cannot be overstated. For certitude's sake, it bears repeating here again, that it is monergistic in its nature and operation in that there is only ONE agent who brings about the said rebirth and that is God the Holy Spirit. It cannot be achieved by man, it cannot be brought about by sheer will neither can it be earned so that man should boast or be prideful about it. Man's agency is altogether excluded.
But second of all, and perhaps even more profound is the proclamation that the work of rebirth is a SOVEREIGN prerogative. And now we see how. Continuing after verse 6 of the same chapter, Jesus continues to lay into Nicodemus with the following words:
"Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit."
The metaphor of the wind is the Spirit. He comes under no direction of any man, seeks not the concurrence of any man and blows wherever and to whomever He pleases. You will hear Him but won't tell where He has come from and in His wake no one will tell where or to whom He goes next.
Nicodemus was astute enough to understand what exactly Jesus was talking about here and he became all the more unravelled and protested much after this exposition by the Teacher quipping thus, " how can these things be?" And of course, the Teacher retorts right back at him, that if he has problems understanding earthly things what will become of him should He begin to expound on heavenly things.
Friends, the problem here that Nicodemus presents is one of works and of human agency. He came to Jesus with the mental rigor of the law, and Jesus discerning the disposition of his heart schooled him gently that the coming kingdom of God which He was here on earth to inaugurate, will not be based on works of men but on the grace of God which had now appeared to all men.
In his letter to the church in Rome, Paul writes in chapter 11:6 thus:
"But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace."
Again elsewhere, to demonstrate the correspondence of this truth enunciated by Jesus Himself to Nicodemus, Paul writes in his epistle to the Galatian church in chapter 2:16:
"Knowing that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not of the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be saved."
It is those who are born of the Spirit that Jesus fondly referred to as, "little children." It was for their sake therefore before His departure, that he charged Peter solemnly to feed His lambs.
It is my sincere hope that in due course, we will examine how man comes to have faith in Jesus Christ in the first place for the purposes of salvation. For the instant theme of the Monergy of salvation which we have delved into, is true and has correspondence and continuity in holy writ.

10/09/2026

Coming To Jesus

Subsequent to the previous missive on the subject of the Monergy of salvation, we continue further along that road, to explore how-and by what means-man comes unto salvation before God in the first place. I do so with a great deal of trepidation, for I am least equipped for such a gargantuan task. Nevertheless, I am impelled to offer an exegesis on this subject since I am convinced beyond mere conjecture, that the One who holds the keys is that same One whom I revealed in my previous discussion.
As we begin this discourse, it is important to note that we will be pitching camp in the Gospel of John for the most part yet again, after having looked into that most intriguing conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus of the Pharisees. In John 6:40 (KJV) Jesus declared:
"And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up on the last day."
Easy, one would say! Problem solved! You know, if all we have to do is to declare and profess that we believe in Him and we will be well and truly on our way to heaven, then there would be nothing easier for men to do. That is exactly the kind of teaching and preaching that spills from pulpits of Evangelical and Charismatic churches every single day.
Except it is not necessarily so. For there is a condition precedent that Jesus introduces, qualifies and emphasises in the immediate preceding verse which is verse 39:
"And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again in the last day."
Now, we see that there is the looming, overarching presence and superintendence of not only the Father's will but also of the Father's hand which gives of necessity, to the Son all those who would end up believing in the Son.
Moving forward, Jesus elevates the conversation by employing absolute categories in His statement in verse 44 of the same chapter:
"No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day."
The words, "no man can" is an absolute negative in philosophical, rhetorical and linguistic categories. It applies to all men who have ever lived anywhere and at anytime. That is to say, there is no mortal soul who has within himself the impetus, ability or drive to come to Jesus except the Father draws him or as some other translations put it, "unless it is given him of the Father." So the words "except"or "unless" in their usage, signify the introduction of a necessary condition-one that must be fulfilled prior to the act of coming to Jesus. And we have it here, the One who fulfils that condition is God the Holy Spirit who is the one that gathers or draws one to Jesus. The import of this therefore, is that no mortal soul has the moral disposition or capacity within himself to approach Christ for purposes of acquiring saving grace.
It is quite satisfying to watch and see how Jesus reframes, redirects, repurposes and firmly centers the conversation on the primacy of the Father, so that once again, the arm of flesh is excluded entirely.
Man in his fallen, unregenerate, base and natural state is not merely an amoral being but an immoral creature that dares not approach God nor indeed can he. In fact, man does flee from God and there is only the greatest unbridgeable distance between the two save there be an intervening act. The One who takes the initiative of reconciliation is God Himself and not man.
Paul underscores the problem of the human condition in his letter to the Romans in chapter 8 verse 6:
"For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God."
Paul employs another absolute negative here, stating that the carnal, unregenerate man cannot in any sense, please God.
Again, in his first letter to the Corinthian church at chapter 2:14, Paul puts it this way:
"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
It is of course quite true, that in the course of the life of Jesus here on earth, there are many who came to Him. There are many who came to listen to Him as He taught. Many others came to Him with questions on all manner of subjects: marriage, divorce, paying of taxes et cetera. But that isn't quite the kind of "coming to Jesus" that is envisaged in the texts from John chapter 6 and certainly not what Jesus had in mind when He made these proclamations.
The "coming" that is contemplated here in the text and by Jesus Himself is the kind that is effectuated by an altogether irresistable persuasion and conviction, the kind that overcomes and surmounts man's moral impediment. It is the triumphant prevailing over every compunction, reticence and hesitation stemming from man's guilt so as to afford man the opportunity to encounter grace. And that, dear friends, is a supernatural act initiated by One. A case in point, is the woman with the alabaster flask in the gospel of Luke 7:37-38 (KJV):
"And, behold a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,
And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with ointment."
Of course, as the scriptures reveal, this woman drew the ire of some "important" personages who were reclining at table with Jesus, not least among them, Simon the host, who was a pharisee and who we are told, could not countenance Jesus making contact with a woman of such ill repute. But the woman came not to Jesus because of her sinful life, she came in spite of her sinful life and in spite of the heavy guilt weighing on her shoulders. When finally in His presence, she wouldn't stop weeping. She bowed down to the earth and kissed His feet in total submission to the grace that was before her. We are also made to understand, that when Jesus had finished upbraiding Simon for his self-righteous indignation, he turned to the woman saying, "Thy sins are forgiven." Now, there were many at that table and certainly many more in that house; yet the only uninvited guest-and the least likely among all who came-was the one who received that momentous demonstration of grace and forgiveness of sins from Jesus.
In sum, what are the scriptures then saying? That man comes to Jesus to believe in Him for purposes of saving faith not through planning, standing, dedication, decision or drive of the human will. But that there is One who is a necessary actor or agent, who must qualify one not through merit but through the good pleasure of His will to so act.
Back to Paul's letter to the Roman church again in chapter 9:14 -16, he delivers this truth this way:
"What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy."
He, Paul, writes again in his letter to the Philippian church in chapter 2:13:
"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."
In conclusion, the scriptures reveal not a subtle truth, but a bold and declaratory one through the entirety of its tapestry, that it is God alone therefore, who has reserved to Himself both the discretion and prerogative to grant to whomever He pleases according to His will, the wherewithal to come to Jesus for purposes of believing in Him for salvation. The exercise of this discretion is not capricious or whimsical, but one that arises from the counsel of His will.

10/09/2026

The Substitute

The true import of the trial of Jesus, the Son of man, under the Roman Praetor, Pontius Pilate is a stunning hair-raising episode, where human animus and Roman law would not only collide but find integration and confluence in providential grace enmeshed in the person of the Son of man. The unfolding drama that preceded the march to calvary through the processional route, the way of suffering, which would see the Son of man ending up as not just the substitute designate but the supremely elect substitute was missed by all of Israel on that fateful day. For Pilate, unable to find impeachment in neither the person nor conduct of the Son of man touching on the charges laid out against Him by the High Priests and elders, after a troubled trial, adjudged Him as blameless before all Israel. It was a legal verdict.
Yet the crowd which had worked itself into a frenzy would have none of it and continued to bay for His blood and insist that His blood be upon them and their children as Pontius Pilate rinsed his hands with water, after he had thought, in a desperate act of appeasement, to offer a substitute to them in the man Barabba. It was then as it is today, a profound providential paradox.
The parable that played out in the open is this: The Man who was proffered to Israel by Pontius Pilate bore the name Barabba which is an Aramaic patronymic that means "son of the father" (\(bar\ abba\)). It may also mean "son of the teacher" (\(bar\ rabban\)).
John 8:44:
"You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him."
It should be pointed out in great haste, the crimes for which the son of the father (Barabba) had been indicted and convicted for and was condemned in the first place, included sedition and murder as borne out in the synoptic gospel of Luke 23:18-21 (King James Version):
"18 And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas:
19 (Who for a certain sedition made in the city, and for murder, was cast into prison.
20 Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, spake again to them.
21 But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him."
As the wheels of Providence ground on that morning it would heighten into a riveting crescendo where the Son of man who had been adjudged blameless was pitted against the son of the father who had previously been adjudged guilty and was under condemnation of the law.
They, the Chief Priests, elders and the people proceeded to not only procure but extract a death warrant from the Prefect Pontius Pilate, that the Son of man should die by crucifixion, while the son of the father should walk away scot-free. It is, therefore, an understatement to preface this particular eventuality as simply being an audacious subversion of true justice. It was indeed a monumental miscarriage of justice.
But in making the Son of man the sacrificial lamb, as grim as it appeared then and appears now, it is safe to posit that on keen observance, a picture of supreme husbandry does emerge. The metaphor of the sacrificial lamb was not just for the books of literature but of enduring historicity. The ultimate sacrificial lamb, the one on whom in fact the full measure of the brunt of the law was laid upon and who drank every last dreg from that cup as the substitute, was provided. For Pilate capitulated to the vehement insistence of the Jews and gave sentence that it should be as they had required. The Son of man then bore by edict, vicarious liability for the transgressions of the son of the father. That is the plain and simple denotation of what transpired.
But should we delve into the more arcane theological connotations of the themes emanating from the events of that day, a picture of a grand, cosmic scheme of things does begin to emerge on the true implications and far-reaching ramifications of the Substitute that was slain; the nature of forgiveness, the pardon of sins, the prize or cost of such forgiveness, and the crisis of judgement.
That is to say, man's moral turpitude as opposed to mere crimes under a municipal penal system is counted for reckoning under the blame laid upon the Son of man before a Just arbiter who is God in heaven, who accepts the Substitute's vicarious liability for the transgressions of many, metes out on Him the fullest extent of the penalty resulting in the pouring of blood and death on the cross. Meaning, God in heaven above does not countenance sin neither does He compromise on His righteous standard. The wages of sin is death as we have come to learn. Since the blame is then laid on the Substitute, it is He who not only incurs the debt but satisfies it in full vicariously. That every man owes God the debt of righteousness. He on the other hand owes every man the debt of justice according to His righteous standard. For we understand that all men have sinned and fallen short of God's glory.
The especial twist here, in the riveting unfolding drama of the cross is that the debt owed by man to God was laid upon the Son of man in order that guilty man typified by Barabba, the son of the father, may walk. Free from condemnation of death which the righteous law of God prescribes.
For Barraba, who is a type for sinful man, was let loose from his imprisonment and obtained pardon before the unrighteous and unjust judge, Pontius Pilate for a capital crime he was guilty of. It was not a free lunch though and it came at a hefty cost, for the penalty was transferred onto someone else in this case Jesus, the Son of man. He assumed his position as the substitute and was led to Golgotha to settle the debt.
But in making the Son of man the sacrificial lamb so that death may pass over the sons of the father, the very events mirrored the stipulations prescribed in Exodus 12 as regards the sacrifice lamb that was to be slain for the memorial night of the Passover which the chief priests and elders would have been very familiar with. From the instructions handed to Moses by God, the sacrifice lamb had to be selected from among the flock, one which was a spotless 1 year old lamb. The events would also mirror the stipulations given in Leviticus 16 for the feast of the day of atonement in selecting the two male goats: one upon which the blame would be laid upon as the scapegoat and be driven out of the camp into the wilderness and the other which Aaron was to slay and have it's blood sprinkled upon the Mercy seat behind the curtain. Just as the ceremonial law of Moses required that the man who released the scapegoat into the wilderness had to bathe and rinse himself with water before re-entering the camp, so did Pontius Pilate also rinse himself with water.
That is exactly what was going on here. For the parable that played out before the Chief Priests, their officers and all Israel, who were the custodians and guardians of the law was sealed from their eyes and understanding so that it completely eluded them. That is to say, the instructions for the preparations for the sacrifice lamb for both the Passover given in Exodus 12 and the scapegoat and sacrifice goat for atonement of sins given in Leviticus 16, did find both embodiment and ultimate consummation in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of man thus unfurling God's hidden mystery. As Paul observes in his first epistle to the Corinthian church in chapter 2:7-8:
"No, we speak of the mysterious and hidden wisdom of God, which He destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it. For if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."
What the Chief Priest Caiaphas, his cohort in the Sanhedrin and certain Jews plotted as a narrow substitution to get rid of the Christ whom they regarded as a direct threat and challenge to their authority and whose crucifixion they watched with such relish and great satisfaction, really was a cog in a mysterious and cosmic plan of God that would have ramifications in aeternum.
He, Jesus Christ, who was perfect and blameless, not only went to the cross to receive the penalty of death as a substitute for sinful man but He went to the cross too as a substitute for the Passover sacrifice lamb, the scapegoat and the sacrifice goat for the sin offering that the law required, indicating that God was passing over the sins of the sons of men on account of His blood that was shed and which was accounted for them as salvation from death.

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