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The Greatest Insurrection in History


HighBeamMinistry.com

“There they crucified him and two others with him, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle. Pilate also had a sign made and put on the cross. It said: Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Many of the Jews read this sign, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Don’t write, ‘The king of the Jews,’ but that he said, ‘I am the king of the Jews.’” Pilate replied, “What I have written, I have written.”” (John 19:18-22 CSB)

 

Insurrection: “an act or instance of revolting against civil authority or an established government” (Merriam-Webster.com).

 

During the recent Holy Week observance, I read a most excellent article, More than a Deathbed Conversion, penned by Tori Campbell. When you get a chance, please give it a good read and meditate on her message. (article – https://www.christianitytoday.com/2025/04/good-friday-penitent-thief-on-the-cross-deathbed-conversion)

 

While I enjoyed the entire piece, it was something Tori pointed out that gripped me. She dove under the English text to reveal something new to me through the original Greek. That revelation spurred me to double-check and confirm what Tori unveiled and what the Holy Spirit was showing me.

 

Tori pointed out that the two “criminals” who were crucified with Jesus were not just stick-‘em-up thieves or robbers (kleptai). Luke uses the Greek word for “evil doers, criminals (kakourgos),” but Matthew and Mark get more specific. They use the word lestes, “which most Bibles translate as ‘robber’—that is, someone who takes goods by force—for its connotation of violence. For reference, this is the same word used in the story of the Good Samaritan for the robbers who beat up the traveler on the Jericho road” (Campbell).

 

Ms. Campbell then shares how the Jewish historian Josephus used the word lestes. “What’s even more interesting is that the first-century historian Josephus’ use of this term suggests an additional element of opposition to Roman authority. In fact, John’s gospel uses the word lestes, translated as ‘rebel,’ to describe Barabbas, whose crimes were insurrection and murder (18:40). Given the timing, it’s possible both Dismas and Gestas (the traditional names of the two co-crucified – author) were among Barabbas’s compatriots (Mark 15:7), albeit fatally lacking Barabbas’s public relations clout and popularity (italics author).

 

Connection made.

 

Mind blown.

 

“Like Jesus’ death, the two mens’ (sic) death sentences were designed to crush the spirits of both victims and observers—as crucifixion was often used against political enemies to show off the intimidating power of the Roman Empire and stand as a warning to potential imitators” (Campbell, italics author).

 

It makes sense to me now. Yes, we know that the Jewish leadership rejected Jesus as Israel’s Messiah, posing a potential threat to Roman rule. The leaders used that perceived threat to push Pilate to issue the typical death sentence against Jesus under the guise of Him being an insurrectionist.

 

In Jesus’ day, Passover was an emotionally charged time. Jerusalem’s population would swell to upwards of one million people, many of whom were Jewish pilgrims following the Torah’s command to celebrate Passover “in the place he chooses” (Deuteronomy 16:16). As most of you readers know, Passover commemorates Israel’s deliverance from an iron-fisted oppressor through God’s strength and His chosen Deliverer. As you can guess, Passover was a prime time for wanna-be deliverers to try to inflame Jerusalem’s captive Jewish audience against their latest oppressor, Rome.

 

Given the fact that Pilate presented Barabbas, a real insurrectionist, to the crowd in exchange for Jesus, an accused insurrectionist, is stunning.

 

The name Barabbas means “son of Abba” (Greek Dictionary of the New Testament). During Pilate’s proposition, we have two accused insurrectionists, one named “son of Abba” and the other being the true Son of Abba, standing side-by-side, one guilty of insurrection and the other innocent of the charge.

 

With the Jewish leadership’s prodding, the crowd chose poorly. In fairness, the people likely realized that Jesus, the man whom they thought was the most excellent candidate for Messiah (and they were right), failed to meet their messianic expectations. So, who wants to back a failure and run the risk of Rome coming down hard on the populace? Therefore, most willingly turned on Jesus. No doubt the leaders thought this would not only remove their messianic problem, but also placate the Roman forces whose contingent tripled in size during the feast to prevent uprisings.

 

So, Jesus the Insurrectionist was selected and crucified between two other men, apparently caught up in the same revolt that Barabbas the murderous insurrectionist had participated in.

 

But when Jesus’ cross was raised, the real insurrection, the greatest insurrection in history, began.

 

Jesus never advocated the overthrow of Roman rule over the province of Judea. He was following another plan.

 

A plan that had come from His Father.

 

A plan that He executed even as He was being executed.

 

Through His crucifixion, Jesus became a one-man insurrection against “a global authority and established government,” one that goes all the way back to Adam and Eve.

 

You see, Adam and Eve staged their own insurrection first. In Genesis 3, they revolted against God, the King who was their governing authority and leader of the global government. They took their God-given, delegated authority to rule God’s earth into their own hands and defied their King. But what they thought was their Independence Day became their Slavery to Satan day.

 

Since that time, Satan has exercised his rule over this world through God’s delegated rulers, humanity. I like the way gotquestions.org puts it:

 

“The phrase god of this world (or god of this age) indicates that Satan is the major influence on the ideals, opinions, goals, and views of the majority of people. His influence encompasses the world’s philosophies, education, and commerce. When people live as if there is no God, they by default follow the god of this world.” (gotquestions.org)

 

Although Satan is not the king over this world as the Lord God is, right now he functions as the “prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2) and the “ruler of this world”” (John 12:31). “In some way he rules over the world and the people in it: ‘The whole world is under the control of the evil one’” (1 John 5:19, gotquestions.org) and his dominion is limited to unbelievers alone.

 

Which brings me to my point. From Genesis 3 to the moment Jesus died on the cross, the entire world was under Satan’s influence. Through humanity, Satan was the global authority and established government, well, insofar as the Lord God of Creation would let him. However, humanity and the world needed to be rescued from Satan’s grip, and that required an insurrection the likes of which Satan and his minions never imagined.

 

The spiritual forces aligned against the Father and His Son thought that by killing Jesus, they would remain in control forever. They figured they had stopped the Father’s incursion into their earthly territory by eliminating His Advance Team of One.

 

But they overlooked one thing.

 

The Insurrectionist was God’s Deliverer.

 

The penalty for breaking God’s law is death. All who sin will die. Death is separation from God. Therefore, all who are not born-again, forgiven, and cleansed members of God’s kingdom of life are part of Satan’s rebellious kingdom of death. The only way to escape that kingdom of darkness and death is for a deliverer to arise who will execute God’s plan.

 

Jesus the Deliverer revealed God’s plan embedded in the Passover celebration. The blood of an innocent victim, a Passover lamb, would stop death dead in its tracks. Instead, death would strike the kingdom of darkness, and God’s people would be free to follow their Deliverer into God’s kingdom. “He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves” (Colossians 1:13). Israel’s Exodus from Egypt foreshadowed it. Isn’t it amazing how our Father put His plan out there in plain sight, and Satan still didn’t see it.

 

Through His death on an insurrectionist’s cross, the real Son of the Father, “disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; he triumphed over them in him” (Colossians 2:15).

 

The Father’s plan was a long time in coming. “On the contrary, we speak God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestined before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, because if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (2 Corinthians 2:7-8, italics author).

 

Oh, had those wicked spiritual authorities only known.

 

“Christ’s cross did not negate his coming kingdom” (Campbell). In fact, by killing Jesus as an insurrectionist, Jesus pulled off the greatest insurrection not just in history, but ever, affecting the spiritual and material realms simultaneously. Zowie!

 

Satan and his gang thought that by killing the Father’s human representative, they would put an end to the Father’s “insurrection” to overthrow Satan’s humanity-given authority and established government. But it was Jesus’ very humanity that caused His Father’s insurrection to succeed. “Now since the children have flesh and blood in common, Jesus also shared in these, so that through his death he might destroy the one holding the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death” (Hebrews 2:14-15).

 

Just like Adam and Eve’s insurrection, Barabbas’s insurrection brought death. Jesus’ insurrection, however, brings life to all His reborn brothers and sisters.

 

Now, all who come to Jesus are free. “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20, italics author).

 

Will you join the Greatest Insurrection in history?

 

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Sources

How is Satan god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4)?, www.gotquestions.org/Satan-god-world.html

 

Shining the Light of God’s Truth on the Road Ahead

 

Pastor Jay Christianson

The Truth Barista, Frothy Thoughts

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