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Jesus Dies on Calvary
447
Lamb of God. Hope mingled with anguish in his voice as the dying
soul cast himself on a dying Saviour. “Lord, remember me when
thou comest into Thy kingdom.”
Quickly the answer came, soft and melodious the tone, full of
love and power the words: Verily I say unto thee today, Thou shalt
be with Me in paradise.
With longing heart Jesus had listened for
some expression of faith from His disciples. He had heard only the
mournful words, “We trusted that it had been He which should have
redeemed Israel.” How grateful then to the Saviour was the utterance
of faith and love from the dying thief! While even the disciples
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doubted, the poor thief called Jesus “Lord.” No one acknowledged
Him on the cross save the penitent thief, saved at the eleventh hour.
The tone of the repentant man arrested the attention of by-
standers. Those who had been quarreling over Christ’s garments
stopped to listen and waited for the response from Christ’s dying
lips.
As He spoke the words of promise, the dark cloud that seemed
to enshroud the cross was pierced by a living light. Christ in His
humiliation was glorified. He who in all other eyes appeared con-
quered, was Conqueror. He was acknowledged as the Sin Bearer.
They could strip from Him His raiment, but they could not rob Him
of His power to forgive sins. It is His royal right to save all who
come to God by Him!
I say unto thee today, Thou shalt be with Me in Paradise. Christ
did not promise that the thief should be with Him in Paradise that
day. He Himself did not go that day to Paradise. He slept in the
tomb, and on the morning of the resurrection He said, “I am not yet
ascended to My Father.”
John 20:17
. But on the day of apparent
defeat the promise was given. “Today,” while dying on the cross
as a malefactor, Christ assured the sinner, “You will be with Me in
Paradise.”
Christ’s position “in the midst” between the thieves was done by
direction of the priests and rulers to indicate that He was the greatest
criminal of the three. But as Jesus was placed “in the midst,” so His
cross was placed in the midst of a dying world lying in sin. And
1
The comma in Luke 23:43 is often misplaced in English translations. No comma
existed in the Greek text