Matthew 27: 21: The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas.
On the Day of Atonement, a unique ceremony took place. The high priest would stand before the people with two goats at his side; each goat being identical in appearance. The high priest would then reach into an urn and pull out two lots, having one in each hand, and would place one lot on the head of the goat to his right and the other lot on the head of the goat to his left. One of these lots (or stones) identified the goat that would die as the sacrifice for the sins of the people, whilst the other lot identified the goat that would be set free. Thus before there could be a sacrifice, there firstly had to be the presentation of the two goats before the people and the deciding by lots which would live and which would die.
Before Jesus was sacrificed on Calvary, He was firstly presented before the people along with a man named Barabbas, for the people to choose which of the two men should live and die (Matthew 27: 15 – 16). By the coercion of the chief priests and elders, the people chose Barabbas to be set free and cried aloud that Jesus should be crucified. As with the unique ceremony on the Day of Atonement whereby two identical goats were presented before the people, so Jesus and Barabbas fulfilled this Old Testament shadow in a profound way.
Jesus was the Son of God; He was the Son of the Father. But the name “Barabbas” is very interesting here because it comes from two Hebrew words, the first being “bar,” meaning “son,” and the second being “abba,” meaning “father.” Thus the meaning of the name “Barabbas” is actually “Son of the father.” Here we have two lives that were presented before the people, and each of the two lives bore a name meaning “son of the father.” Both Jesus who was chosen to be the sacrifice and Barabbas who was released were identical in their names, because for Jesus to die in our place, He had to become like one of us.
Jesus came to the earth in a body made like unto sinful flesh, and became identical to us in every way except that He Himself was without sin, but took our sin upon Himself on the cross and became our sin offering (Isaiah 53: 10). He died that we might live. Barabbas was the first man to have a practical experience of the atonement whereby Jesus came and took His place. Jesus died that Barabbas might live, even as Jesus died for us that we might have eternal life in Him.