In My Place Condemned He Stood!

We are grateful for another opportunity to come to the Lord's Table. As we prepare our hearts to come to the Supper, I want to open up an interesting account that is recorded by Luke. It involves Jesus, the innocent Lamb of God, and a wretched criminal by the name of Barabbas. But it also involves another well-known person, who is none other than Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor in Judea. Although he acknowledged more than once the innocence of Jesus, he cowardly capitulated to the demands of the crowd and authorized Jesus to be condemned. Amazingly, he also released the notorious criminal Barabbas. We are stunned as we ponder the historical account, but we also see the reason why God recorded it in Holy Scripture. This is an incredibly explicit picture of what is involved in substitutionary atonement. This is the only way that sinners can be saved, and God accomplished this work when He sacrificed His Son and thereby released guilty sinners. May we be mindful of what Jesus did; how He did it; and why He did it. And may God be pleased to bless His word, and to make His presence known at the Supper.