This morning,
I was fascinated by the rich and amazing conversation between a dying sinner
and a dying Savior.
When Jesus was
crucified, two criminals were also crucified, one on each side of him.[1] At
first they both joined in the mocking against him, challenging him to prove he
was the Son of God by coming down from the cross, and releasing them as well.[2]
However, one
of the criminals had a significant change of heart, and, after a while,
presented a request to Jesus. He said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”[3]
So,
let’s get this straight: Jesus was dying by crucifixion, and this convicted
criminal was dying by crucifixion, but the dying criminal asked Jesus to
remember him whenever it would be that Jesus came into his kingdom. This meant
that he believed Jesus did have a kingdom, that he would come into his kingdom
after his death, and that dead criminals might have opportunity to be part of
whatever amazing thing Jesus could do for him.
Jesus’
reply to the criminal was, “Truly, I say
to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”[4] In spite of what all the Romans and Religians had declared in
nailing Jesus to the cross, and in spite of the fact that Jesus was dying, he
declared that the thing he was about to say was the one thing that was true.
Jesus
then announced that he would do far more than the dying criminal could have
asked or imagined.[5] The man asked Jesus to remember him; Jesus said the man would be with
him. The criminal wanted this whenever Jesus would come into his kingdom; Jesus
would give it to him that very day. This would be far beyond remembering; it
would be a forgiven sinner joining his Savior in Paradise.
What
stood out to me so strongly this morning was that this was not only a wonderful
gift to a dying man, that he could experience salvation right on the doorstep
of eternity. It was also an amazing gift from God the Father to God the Son.
You
see, Jesus had said that he did nothing by himself, but only what he saw
his Father doing.[6] This
meant that, even as Jesus was suffering for the sins of his people, becoming a
curse for us who were under the curse of death, he recognized that his Father
was then and there blessing him with a BROTHER!!! Right there, in front of that
whole crowd of animosity, Jesus was not ashamed to call this man his brother.[7]
Jesus statement to the man was one thing to the man, but to every onlooker it
was a declaration of, “Behold, I and the
children God has given me.”[8]
Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners![9]
He was now laying down his life as the atonement and propitiation for our sins.
He was in the midst of suffering death, the curse of sin. And, in the midst of
his work to save sinners, the Father blessed him with this wonderful gift, the
saving of a sinner!!!
What
this did for me was raise my heart in another expression of praise that, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on
the throne, and to the Lamb!”[10]It
belongs to the Triune God now; it belongs to them forever; and it belonged to
them even while Jesus was in the midst of securing our salvation through his
death. Even then, God ruled from his throne and snatched a sinner from the
certain condemnation for his sin.
While so many ominous
things are going on in our world, all consistent with what God said would
happen as the world, the flesh, and the devil, escalate their wicked pursuits,
God continues to declare to us that, “The
reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”[11]And,
to encourage us in this, especially when Satan’s work on earth is so prominent,
he gives us the picture of the great multitude in heaven on one side, and a
poor, dying criminal on the other.
© 2015 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
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