… should release one unto you at the Passover” John 18:39 KJV
… that I release someone for you at the Passover” John 18:39 NASB
The song of the children of Israel, led by Moses, filled the air. They stood on the farther bank of the Red Sea and saw their enemies buried beneath the waters as the waters returned and engulfed them. Miriam led the women in the antiphonal chorus; Moses led the hosts of Israel in his song. No dissenting voice was heard; no murmur of complaint or disappointment was raised.
Listen to some of the expressions of the nation on that memorable day: “Who is like unto Thee .. glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders” (Ex 15:11). Again, “The Lord is my Strength …He is my God … Thy right hand hath become glorious in power … The Lord shall reign forever and ever” (vv 2, 6, 18). These and other expressions of worship ascended to heaven that day. Jeremiah tells us that God never forgot that first, unsoiled love of His people (Jer 2:2).
This song and worship occurred at the first Passover the nation experienced. It was a time of “first love,” of the enjoyment of redemption from a cruel foe. No longer would they feel the taskmaster’s whip. No longer would the foreman count the number of bricks they had made that day. They were free. They were free, and they recognized the awesome power of God that had accomplished their redemption.
Come now to the last Passover, literally. It was far different. The scene is not now the banks of the Red Sea but the city of Jerusalem. It is not the song of a redeemed people filling the air, but the shrieks of Satanically inspired men. They are not now praising the Lord for His might, deliverance, glory, and holiness. They are accusing the Lord Jesus, the Jehovah of the Old Testament, of being a sinner, a blasphemer. They are denying His worth. They are calling for His crucifixion.
At the Red Sea, they sang that God would reign forever and ever. Now, Pilate says, “Shall I release unto you the King of the Jews?” (John 18:39). The King – whom they sang would reign eternally, now is placed in the docket, and men issued their verdict. “Not this Man.” The King Whom at the first Passover they sang would reign, they are now rejecting at this last Passover.
The One they acclaimed as “glorious in holiness” now stands before them, and they face a choice: Christ or Barabbas. The people chose Barabbas. John adds, “Now Barabbas was a robber.” Holiness was exulted in at the first Passover; a robber was chosen over God incarnate at the last. God exalted, lifted up in their praise at the Exodus; Christ lifted on a tree outside Jerusalem.
Consider
Find other contrasts between the first and last Passovers.
