The Thief On The Cross

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The Thief On The Cross

By R. Keith Calvert

The account found in Luke 23:39-43 of the thieves who were crucified alongside Christ is a very wonderful and profoundly revealing view of Christ as our personal Savior. An important key to an understanding of this account is found in verse 43 where Christ said to the repentant criminal "Assuredly, I say to you today, you will be with me in Paradise."

The word Paradise according to Strong's Concordance 3857 (Paradeisos) means a park, i.e. (Spec.) an Eden (Place of future happiness}. This particular word is found only in two other places in the new testament and none in the old. II Cor. 12:3-4 relates how Paul was caught up into paradise either in the body or out of the body, he didn't know. Its the same Greek word Luke used in Luke 23:43. The other account is found in Rev. 2:7 where Christ says "He who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God." Again it's the same Greek word meaning "place of future happiness."

Christ in Luke 23:43 granted the repentant criminal eternal life and he will be with Him in the first resurrection. The criminal will be a part of the bride of Christ and be among the "dead in Christ" that will rise to meet Him in the air. As human beings we tend to want do some sort of "work" to earn eternal life or the other extreme, accept the gift of grace giving us eternal life and never do any work or even change our attitude. The criminal did do a work by believing Christ is the Messiah and his personal Savior (John 6:29). He had a complete change of attitude and repented of his sins. Gen. 15:6 tells us that "Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness." It was through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that the criminal was saved (Acts 15:11) as it is with any human being. It is interesting to note that Christ did not stop the criminal's horrible death just because he repented and was granted eternal life. He died right along side his Savior. How encouraging to see an account of Christ while still in the human flesh before His death and resurrection, use His power and authority to directly grant a human being eternal life. Particularly a man that society felt was so despicable that he was beyond salvation of any kind. Thank God for our Lord and Savior who gives eternal life to all who repent and are begotten by Him (John 6:40).