and tlie Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you." (Acts iii. 13, 14.) They publicly declared that they liked a rob- ber and a murderer better than Christ 1
The Greek word rendered " cried," signifies a very loud cry or shout. It is the same word that occurs at the raising of Lazarus. " He cried, Lazarus, come forth ! " (John xi. 43.)
The expression " again " must either refer to the loud cries the Jews had raised, when they first brought Jesus to Pilate and demanded His condemnation ; or else it must refer to a former cry for Barabbas to be released. According to Matthew they TWICE demanded this, with an interval of time between. (Compare Matt, xxvii. 15 — 26.)
The singularly typical character of all this transaction should be carefully noticed. Even here at this juncture we have a lively illustration of the great Christian doctrine of substitu- tion. Barabbas, the real criminal, is acquitted and let go free. Jesus, innocent and guiltless, is condemned and sentenced to death. So is it in the salvation of our souls. We are all by nature like Barabbas, and deserve God's wrath and condemna- tion ; yet he was accounted righteous and set free. The Lord Jesus Christ is perfectly innocent ; and yet He is counted a sinner, punished as a sinner, and put to death that we may live. Christ suffers, though guiltless, that we may be pardoned. We are pardoned, though guilty, because of what C!hrist does for us. We are sinners, and yet counted righteous. Christ is righteous, and yet counted a sinner. Happy is that man who understands this doctrine, and has laid hold on it by faith for the salvation of his own soul.
In leaving this chapter, it is vain to deny that there are occa- sional difficulties in harmonizing the four different accounts of our Lord's examination and crucifixion. This of course arises from one Gospel writer dwelling more fully on one set of facts, and another on another. But we need not doubt that all is ])er- fectly harmonious, and that if we do not see it, the reason lies in our present want of perception. If each Evangelist had told the story in precisely the same words, the whole result would have been far less satisfactory. It would have savored of im- posture, concert, and collusion. The varieties in the four ac- counts are just what might have been expected from four hon- est independent witnesses, and, fairly treated, admit of expla- nation.
Augustine remarks, " How all the Evangelists agree together and nothing in any one Evangelist is at variance with the truth put forth by another, — this whosoever desires to know, let him seek it in laborious writings, and not in popular discourses, and not by standing and hearing, but by sitting and reading, or by lending a most attentive ear and mind to him that readeth. Yet let him believe, before he knows it, that there is nothing writ-
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