ኢየሱስ ወይስ በርባን, ማንን ትመርጣለህ?

When Jesus and Barabbas were led before the people of Israel, the people were given a choice to release Jesus or Barabbas. The people choose to release Barabbas. Through the influence of the (ሃይማኖታዊ) leaders of the people, the people didn’t choose for the good and for righteousness by releasing the innocent Man Jesus Christ, but they chose for evil and unrighteousness, by releasing the guilty prisoner Barabbas, who was a thief and murderer and deserved the death sentence. And so the guilty Barabbas, who deserved to be crucified was released and the innocent Jesus was scourged and crucified(ማቴዎስ 27:15-26, ምልክት ያድርጉ 15:6-15, ሉቃ 23:13-25, ዮሐንስ 18:38-40).

There are many aspects to this event, including the following two, ማለትም, that the people were influenced by the (ሃይማኖታዊ) leaders and therefore chose evil instead of good and released the criminal; ኃጢአተኛው, and judged the Righteous, and that Jesus Christ took the place of the prisoner Barabbas, ኃጢአተኛው; the transgressor of the law, who deserved to be crucified and took the punishment upon Himself, while Barabbas was released.

ኢየሱስ ወይስ በርባን?

Now at that feast he released unto them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired. And there was one named Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection. And the multitude crying aloud began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto them. But Pilate answered them, እያለ ነው።, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews? For he knew that the chief priests had delivered Him for envy. But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them. And Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews? And they cried out again, Crucify Him. Then Pilate said unto them, ለምን, what evil hath He done? And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify Him. And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged Him, to be crucified (ምልክት ያድርጉ 15:6-15)

ሰዎች አሉ።, who don’t understand that when God’s people were given a choice between the releasing of Jesus or Barabbas, the people chose to release the guilty prisoner Barabbas, whose name means son of a father or teacher, instead of releasing the innocent Man Jesus Christ, and point with a judgmental finger to the people.

But isn’t it so, that in our age many do exact the same thing and reject Jesus Christ; ቃሉ, and chose the sinner and sin through the influence of the words of the devil and by believing and following his words and do the works of the flesh and approve of sin?

They don’t choose to submit to God and walk in obedience to the Word after the Spirit in the will of God and do righteous works, but they reject the words of God and chose to walk after the will, ምኞት, and desires of the flesh and do the works of the flesh and persevere in sin.

And so many approve of sin and/or persevere in sin

God is light and in Him is no darkness

ስለ እርሱ የሰማነው መልእክት ይህ ነው።, ለእናንተም አሳውቃችሁ, እግዚአብሔር ብርሃን እንደሆነ, በእርሱም ውስጥ ጨለማ የለም።. ከእርሱ ጋር ሕብረት አለን ብንል።, እና በጨለማ ውስጥ ይራመዱ, እንዋሻለን።, እውነትንም አታድርጉ: በብርሃን ብንመላለስ ግን, እርሱ በብርሃን እንዳለ, እርስ በርሳችን ኅብረት አለን።, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin (1 ዮሐንስ 1:5-7)

ኃጢአትን የሚያደርግ ሁሉ ሕግንም ይሻራል።: ኃጢአት ሕግን መተላለፍ ነውና።. ኃጢአታችንንም ሊወስድ እንደ ተገለጠ ታውቃላችሁ; በእርሱም ኃጢአት የለበትም. Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him, አላወቀውምም። (1 ዮሐንስ 3:4-6).

ግን ሁሉም ሰው, who is born of God and has received His nature and belongs to Him, should not walk in darkness and persevere in sin. Because in Him is no darkness and if we are in Him, then shall there be no darkness in us and we shall not do the works of darkness.

1 ዮሐንስ 3:5-6 በእርሱ ኃጢአት የለም።, በእርሱ የሚኖር ኃጢአትን አታድርጉ

ሁሉም ሰው, who persevers in sin walks in darkness and not in the light.

If someone says to walk in the light, but do the works of the flesh and doesn’t repent, then the unrighteous works of the person show that the person belongs to the world; የጨለማው መንግሥት, and not to Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God (1 ዮሐንስ 1:5-11).

ይላል ቃሉ, that God has not called us unto uncleanness, ለቅድስና እንጂ. እሱ, ስለዚህ, that despises, despises not man, እግዚአብሔር እንጂ, who has also given unto us His Holy Spirit (1 ተሰሎንቄ 4:7)

When you refuse to submit to God’s Word and His will and keep living in uncleanness; ኃጢአት እና በደል, then you shall not be any different from the world. ምክንያቱም እነዚያ, የዓለም የሆኑት, belong to the generation of fallen man and walk as enemies of God and His Word as transgressors of the law of God in darkness and live after the flesh in uncleanness (እንዲሁም አንብብ: ‘If Christians live like the world of what should the world repent off?'').

He that does righteous is righteous, እርሱ ጻድቅ እንደ ሆነ, but he that commits sin is of the devil for the devil sinned from the beginning

ትናንሽ ልጆች, ማንም አያታልላችሁ: ጽድቅን የሚያደርግ ጻድቅ ነው።, እርሱ ጻድቅ እንደ ሆነ. ኃጢአትን የሚያደርግ ከዲያብሎስ ነው።; ዲያብሎስ ከመጀመሪያ ኃጢአትን ያደርጋልና።. ለዚህም የእግዚአብሔር ልጅ ተገለጠ, የዲያብሎስን ሥራ ያፈርስ ዘንድ. ከእግዚአብሔር የተወለደ ሁሉ ኃጢአትን አያደርግም።; ዘሩ በእርሱ ይኖራልና።: ኃጢአትንም አይሠራም።, ከእግዚአብሔር የተወለደ ነውና። በዚህ የእግዚአብሔር ልጆች ተገለጡ, የዲያብሎስም ልጆች: ጽድቅን የማያደርግ ሁሉ ከእግዚአብሔር አይደለም።, ወንድሙንም የማይወድ (1 ዮሐንስ 3:7-10)

And so many believe the lies of the darkness and chose to submit to the sinful nature of the flesh and obey the will of the flesh and do the works of darkness, whereby they obey their father, ሰይጣን, who is a transgressor of the law of God and a liar, a thief, and a murderer.

1 ዮሐንስ 2:29 ጻድቅ እንደ ሆነ ብታውቁ ጽድቅን የሚያደርግ ሁሉ ከእርሱ ተወልዷል

Instead of choosing Jesus Christ; ቃሉ, and obeying the Word and doing the Word, they choose and obey the devil and the sinful flesh and because of that, they show that they love sin and death rather than righteousness and life.

This not only happens in the lives of many believers, but also in the lives of many preachers, ሌላ ቦታ, and leaders of churches, who suppose to be born again and spiritual and ought to walk as mature sons of God after the Spirit in de will of God, ይልቁንም, they carnal and walk after the flesh and do the will, ምኞት, and desires of the flesh and a.o. ውሸት, ማጭበርበር, መስረቅ, ጠጣ, get involved with sexual uncleanness, ዝሙት, አታመንዝር, እና ፍቺ and act like it’s all normal.

And if they are caught and people address their behavior and confront them with their deeds, their acting talents arise and they show some remorse and repent and are believed by the people and are restored and after a while, they revert to the same behavior and commit the same sin again and walk the same road as before, whereby they not only defile and damage the church, but also make a mockery of the gospel of Jesus Christ and crucify Jesus Christ again(እንዲሁም አንብብ: ‘ኢየሱስን በድጋሚ ሰቅላችሁ በግልፅ አሳፍሩት?'', ‘‘Lay hands suddenly on no man, ጳውሎስ ምን ማለቱ ነበር።?, እና ‘Can you be complicit with the sin of fellow believers?'').

Many churches have become indifferent towards sin

Many churches have become indifferent towards sin and approve of sin in the church and allow the people to walk in sin and/or fall back into the same sin over and over again, even if they are in ministry.

Instead of condemning the sin and acting according to the Word and calling to repentance and the removal of sin, they condemn the believers of the church, who obey the Word and condemn sin, and to substantiate it, they use some pious words and subjects from the Bible, ከዐውደ-ጽሑፉ የተወሰዱ, like false love, ጸጋው, and forgiveness (እንዲሁም አንብብ: ‘What does it mean to deliver a person unto satan?”, ‘What is false love?’ and ‘Lost in the sea of grace’).

And so they turn evil into good and good into evil and because of their carnal humanistic behavior, they reject the Word and turn the truth of God into a lie and worship and serve the sinner and their sins and give power to the devil, who continues his destructive work.

The grace of God is not a permit to sin

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? አያድርገው እና. እንዴት እንሁን, ለኃጢአት የሞቱ ናቸው።, ከእንግዲህ በውስጧ መኖር? አታውቁም።, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? (ሮማውያን 6:1-3)

ምን እንግዲህ? ኃጢአት እንሠራለን?, ምክንያቱም እኛ ከህግ በታች አይደለንም, ከጸጋ በታች እንጂ? አያድርገው እና. አታውቁም።, ራሳችሁን እንድትታዘዙለት ባሪያዎች እንድትሆኑለት, እናንተ የምትታዘዙለት ባሪያዎቹ ናችሁ; ከኃጢአት እስከ ሞት ድረስ, ወይም ለጽድቅ መታዘዝ? (ሮማውያን 6:15-16)

But Jesus has not taken man’s place on the cross, so that man could remain living in sin. The grace of God and the blood of Jesus Christ are not a permit to persevere in sin.

Just like sin reigned as king unto death in the old man, the grace reigns through righteousness in the new man unto eternal life by Jesus Christ and His perfect work of redemption.

Jesus has taken the place of (ወድቋል) man on the cross, so that through regeneration in Christ; the death of the flesh and the resurrection from the spirit from the dead, (ወድቋል) man would be healed (ሙሉ የተሰራ, reconciled) and be truly free. Reconciled with God and free from the power of sin, free from the authority of the devil and the kingdom of darkness, ሞት የሚገዛበት.

Just like what happened to Barabbas, the thief, and murderer. The sinner, the transgressor of the law, who was found guilty and deserved the death penalty, was released and Jesus took the place of Barabbas and carried sin (transgression of the law) and the punishment for sin, which is the death.

Jesus Christ gave His life and died for mankind

But what nobody knew, was that Jesus not only took the place of Barabbas and carried the punishment for sin, ይህም ሞት ነው።, but Jesus took the place of the whole human race.

Jesus Christ gave His own life and died on the cross for all those sinners, who were born of the seed of Adam and belonged to the generation of the old man, and by hearing the words of God and the confrontation with their sins and sinful nature and their state as sinner repent and lay down their own lives and follow Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Living Word (እንዲሁም አንብብ: ‘አንድ ሰው ዋጋውን መክፈል አለበት!.”).

Do you love Jesus Christ?

ሌባ አይመጣም።, ለመስረቅ እንጂ, እና ለመግደል, እና ለማጥፋት: እኔ የመጣሁት ሕይወት እንዲሆንላቸው ነው።, እና በብዛት እንዲኖራቸው (ዮሐንስ 10:10)

If ye love Me, keep My commandments (ዮሐንስ 14:15)

አብ እንደ ወደደኝ።, እኔም ወደድኳችሁ: በፍቅሬ ኑሩ. ትእዛዛቴን ብትጠብቁ, በፍቅሬ ትኖራላችሁ; እኔ የአባቴን ትእዛዝ እንደ ጠበቅሁ, በፍቅሩም ኑሩ (ዮሐንስ 15:9-10)

If you love Jesus Christ, you shall submit to Him and keep His commandments. ምክንያቱም ኢየሱስ ይናገራል, that if you love Him you shall keep His commandments. And as long as you keep His commandments you will abide in His love.

But if your love for Jesus Christ becomes lukewarm and you don’t spend time with Him and don’t do what the Word says, but give priority to other things, it won’t take long before you will return to your old life and chose to please your flesh instead of the Spirit.