One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him,saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
The Bible does not tell us who these men were, that hung on crosses next to our Lord, we know only that one now resides with Christ in paradise, and the other does not.
Some people tend to have their opinions regarding who goes to heaven and who does not. I have heard callous and cruel people inform people that their loved ones now reside in hell. What a terrible thing to say to someone. My question to such people is "how do you know this?" "Do you claim to know the mind of God"?
It would seem from the story of the thief on the cross that it is possible for someone to live a life of evil, and in their final moments God speaks, God moves, and their eyes are open and they believe. It is pretty obvious from the scriptures that this thief did not serve God, and upon believeing he had no oppurtunity to remedy that problem.
Today I was thinking about the loved ones of the repentant thief. Perhaps they were in the crowd watching the scene. I wonder about his mother, did she go to her grave thinking her son was lost forever, seeing him live his life apart from God, seeing him break the law day after day, until one day they came to her home, and took him out in chains.
Did she watch her son as he stumbled along the road to Golgotha, her heart breaking? Or was she able to hear the words of the God man, whispered to her child......."Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise"? It is all specualtion but it is very possible that this man's loved ones had no evidence whatsoever of the final destination of their loved one.
Maybe she did not even know about the death of her son until later, perhaps people came to her home and informed her that her child had been crucified a criminal. We can specualte that if she did not hear the words of the Lord to her son, she would have believed the worst for her own. He had broken God's commands and the commands of the state and died a sinners death on an instrument of torture.
The story of the thief on the cross, and of his transformation from mocking thief to a believer in Christ, always gives me great hope. It does not matter how bad things may seem. Our God is a gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in mercy. If He reached out, in the midst of His own physical suffering that day, and granted eternal life to this man, this man who had never done anything of value that we are aware of, then we can have assurance that He still does so today to people that we love.
Never give up hope, continue to pray always for those you love, even if they mock God, even if they mock you. God seems to enjoy delivering people like this........he delivered me!
Thief by Third Day
I am a thief, I am a murderer
Walking up this lonely hill
What have I done?
I don't remember
No one knows just how I feel
and I know that my time is
coming soon.
It's been so long. Oh, such a long time
Since I've lived with
peace and rest
Now I am here, my destination
guess things work for the
best
and I know that my time is coming soon
Who is this man? This man
beside me
They call the King of the
Jews
They don't believe that He's the Messiah
But, somehow I know it's
true.
And they laugh at Him in mockery,
and beat Him till he
bleeds
They nail Him to the rugged cross,
and raise Him, they raise Him up
next to me
My time has come, I'm slowly fading
I deserve what I
receive
Jesus when You are in Your
kingdom
Could You please remember me
and He looks at me still holding
on
the tears fall from His eyes
He says I tell the truth
Today, you
will live with Me in paradise
and I know that my time is coming soon
and I
know paradise is coming soon.