One of the most interesting conversions in Scripture is the thief on the cross. As one stated long ago, there is one death bed conversion in Scripture so sinners should not give up all hope. Yet there is only one so no one should presume. If we look long enough we can see the various theologies clashing. Where is the act of faith or even prayer in this criminal? Was the criminal saved by a sovereign act of grace or by an act of the will? Did Jesus or someone else preach the Gospel to him? How did he come to faith? It is most likely that no one will ever know all of answers to these questions until heaven. But until then there is enough glory to see.
Two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with Him. 33 When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. 34 But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves. 35 And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One.” 36 The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, 37 and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!” 38 Now there was also an inscription above Him, “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.” 39 One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” 40 But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 “And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” 43 And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:32-43).
This text sets up multiple parallels for us. We have Jesus “saying” in v. 34 “Father, forgive them.” Verse 35 has the rulers sneering and saying, “He saved others; le Him save Himself.” The soldiers mocked Him saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save yourself.” Verse 38 had the inscription (saying) nailed above Him that He was the King of the Jews. Verse 39 has the words of one of the criminals who hurled abuse at Jesus saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” So we have the saying of Jesus, of the rulers, of the soldiers, and then of one of the criminals. The contrast between their words is remarkable. They were all hurling abuse at Him as He, at the very least, was praying for the Father to forgive the soldiers. These words were spoken in the context of the conversion of the thief on the cross. These words pointed the thief to something very different about Jesus the Messiah.
A second parallel in the text is the contrast with the idea of salvation involved in the sayings of the people in Luke 23. As Christ was on the cross suffering for the sins of sinners in order to glorify God in salvation, the rulers were mocking Him by saying “let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One” (v. 35). The soldiers were after Him to again challenging Him to save Himself (v. 37). The non-repentant criminal was mocking Him telling Him to save Himself and the criminals (v. 39). The parallel is with the external or temporal salvation from suffering that everybody else was mocking Jesus about as He was earning eternal salvation by being on the cross. If He had stepped down off of the cross then no one in history could have been saved.
At first both thieves mocked Jesus, but something changed. Matthew 27:44 uses the plural “robbers” which tells us that both of them mocked Him. “The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words.” This shows that at this point the heart of both thieves with Jesus were still dead in sins and at enmity with God. But one of the thieves recognized his sin and knew that justice was being carried out on himself and his fellow thief, but he recognized the innocence of Jesus. He then asked Jesus to remember him when He came into His kingdom. This is truly an extraordinary thing to say about a man who is hanging on the cross and condemned to die while being mocked by the government and religious establishments. This shows that his self-love and self-sufficiency had been defeated. He was changed and no longer went alone with the others in mocking Jesus. What a demonstration of faith it took to say to Jesus who was also on the cross to “remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” This is not just an ordinary conversion, but this was one who looked in faith to a man dying on the cross. He looked to one who was nailed to a cross for salvation. He was delivered from any belief in the Jewish system of salvation or of favor with man and looked to Christ alone. He had his eyes opened and saw the glory of God in Christ with spiritual eyes because there was none to see with the natural eyes.
Jesus was numbered with the transgressors, but He saved one of them while both of them were on their crosses. This is to snatch a brand from the burnings. While His own disciples stood back from fear, this criminal was brought to Christ by Christ. The man who had once spoken evil of Him and mocked Him, was now brought to humility and called Him Lord. He who had once demonstrated with his words that he was a child of the devil and under the dominion of darkness, was now translated into the kingdom of the Beloved Son. He was brought to a conviction of sin and from darkness to light. Most likely this man had been taught some of the basics of religion since he was in Jerusalem, but nothing about that religion had changed his heart. He was there to see God in human flesh humbling Himself and going to the cross. He saw the glory of God in the meekness of Christ who prayed for those who abused Him. He heard bits of the Gospel through the mocking words of the others. God can use His Word as He pleases. It was true faith as set out in Hebrews 11 to behold the glory of God in Christ while Christ was on the cross. He had to have been born again because he now saw the kingdom of God. As Jesus said to Martha regarding Lazarus, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” (John 11:40).
This wicked man was taken to a place of execution and nailed to the cross, and yet before the day was out he was in paradise with Jesus. Was that because of his good works? Was that because he was faithful to keep the Law or the covenant? Was it contingent on his own choice? No, it was because Jesus was faithful to the Father and He did not lose one that the Father had given Him. That criminal looked to Christ alone as his sacrifice and the satisfaction of the justice of God because now he knew his sin and saw the justice of God in Christ. This thief had nothing do offer and could do nothing either. He was utterly dependant on grace alone. This thief stands as a testimony to true as well. We must tell people the Gospel in plain words. God used the words of the ungodly mockers to proclaim the truth to this man and we must learn to quit the methods of men and proclaim the truth of God. This man was dying and on his way to hell and did not want or need sophisticated reasoning nor platitudes and gracious words; he needed to hear the truth of his sin and the truth of Jesus Christ. To those who feel the weight of sin, our man-centered methods seem as nonsense because they are nonsense to an awakened soul.
Behold the sovereignty of God. He who years before speak through a donkey now spoke through the mouths of wicked men. Sinners in the Old Testament were saved by looking ahead to Christ and sinners since then look back to Christ. Yet the thief on the cross looked directly to Jesus on the cross and was delivered from his sinful heart and the guilt of his sin. Whether or not the sun shone at all that day, when the thick darkness came the sight of the brightness of the glory of God was shining. The Gospel of grace and the glory of God alone shone brilliantly. The condemned criminal, as the object of grace, was graciously convicted of his sin and shown that what his suffering and death was justice. Then his heart was opened and he beheld the glory of God’s justice in Christ and looked to Christ for entrance into the eternal kingdom. We know that he entered because Christ told him that he would be with Him in paradise that day. Jesus is the Great Physician who did not come to save the righteous but sinners.
Do we see the beauty of the glory of His grace or is there something here that irritates us? Does it bother us that this criminal would be saved without doing anything? Do we see anything in salvation other than the beauty and glory of God’s grace? Is it unfair of God to save sinners like this? The glory of Divine love, meekness, holiness, justice, wrath, and grace were all on display here. The criminal was used to display the glory of God which was what he was created to do. This is the display of the beauty of grace and no one should think that anyone is saved for any other purpose or reason. Yet the grace of God is seen both in convicting this man of his sin and then changing his heart. The grace of God convicted him or his sin and then delivered him from it. This criminal is in fact all of us. No one has done anything but sin to prepare for salvation and only grace can save from sin.
The conversion of this criminal shows us the sovereignty of God and the Gospel of grace. It was by grace that this man came to be broken of his self-love and self-sufficiency. It was by His sovereignty and His grace that when Christ was mocked aspects of the Gospel was proclaimed. It was by the sovereignty of God that this man was arrested, convicted, and was then sent to the cross at the same time as Jesus was. It was here that the glory of the love, meekness, grace, justice, and mercy of God were put on display before this criminal. It was the sovereignty and grace of God that arranged and carried this entire situation out. It was the Spirit who gave this man a new heart where he could behold the glory of God in all that was going on. It is also only by the sovereignty and grace of God that anyone is saved. Let us learn from this that sinners need to be deeply convicted of sin and they need to hear the truth of Christ. Let us not despair when others have great trials. Sometimes God uses them to save sinners.
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