Luk 23:39-43 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.
And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
This passage of scripture is a very well known one for most of us, it is somehow a picture of Gods mercy and grace and forgiveness to the ultimate sinner, who never did anything right in his life, he did not even live one day for God or one day honoring him or praying to him, he never read the bible, not even one book or chapter. He might have heard some sermons in his life or as a child but these things did not influence how he lived I assume. But I dont wanna spend time on that so much, its a wonderful truth God can forgive anyone for anything if we just come to him. What strikes me tho is that this robber, this thief and wicked man recognized something in Jesus no one else did. Not even his disciples that walked with him for years, sitting by his feet, saw him do miracles had such a revelation of Jesus as Christ as this thief had.
What am i talking about? I am thinking of the fact that the thief said this And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
Although he was a wicked sinner, a vile man, a thief and robber, and perhaps worse, yet he somehow, through the spirits revelation i suppose, no man can see Christ except through the spirits work, but he clearly sees that Christ even tho he had a sign over his head saying he was a king, this ungodly man knew his kingdom and dominion was not an earthly one, he knew somehow it was an heavenly kingdom, he saw Christ as the King of this kingdom, he saw Christ as the heavenly King, the king of kings. The scholars of the day, those that had studied scripture, studied about the kingdom, the prophesies, the doctrines, they saw not Christ like that, the disciples who followed him seems not have had such a clear understanding of Christ and his kingdom. They seem on several occasions to believe Christ would bring about a earthly kingdom and deliberate them from the romans.
But this thief saw such a vision of the Lord, he saw him as an eternal king in the next world. Hanging there beside the Lord, looked upon as the scum of the world as an example to the rest of the world, the other thief on the other side, mocking and also having a worldly mindset that the man with the sign king over his head could not save them in this life, but he did not understand who Christ was, nor could he see who he was, the scholars did not either, the twelve did not either to the extent this robber did.
I mean, picture Jesus hanging there, distorted physically, blood and naked and repulsive , in the heat and warmth, yet he could see through all that and see Christ coming glory as an eternal king.
Some situations it is easy to have faith, so to speak, but when hanging on a cross, in pain, with a knowledge shortly death will lay a hold of us, and then looking to my side at a man in the same position as myself, and i put my eternal destiny and faith upon him, i believe in him.... remember me.....
What a revelation! This man saw more of Christ those hours on the cross then all men saw during three years. I pray God opens my eyes like that, before the final moments of my life, to live daily with such a revelation of the King of Kings.
God bless you all
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CHRISTIAN
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