43. "Today you will be with me in paradise." This sentence deserves
truly penitent.
7. That the key of this kingdom did hang at Christ's girdle, though he now hung dying on the cross.
8. That he does roll his whole soul for eternal salvation upon a dying
Savior.
43. "Today you will be with me in paradise." This sentence deserves close attention. It is a distinct answer to the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory. It shows clearly that no purification of any kind after death is needed for the person that dies a penitent believer. If the thief needed no purgatory, the whole doctrine of purgatory falls to the ground.
This is an instructive intimation about the state of believers after death. The moment they die, they are "with" Christ. Their condition, of course, is one we cannot pretend to explain. We cannot comprehend that state of a soul separate from the body. It is enough for us to know that a dead believer is immediately with Christ.
This is clear proof of the separate existence of the soul when the body is dead. We shall live and have a being even when our earthly tabernacle is moldering in the grave. The thief's body was that day to be broken and mangled by the Roman soldiers. But the thief himself was to be with Christ.
"In paradise." Heinsius remarks that Christ never performed a more illustrious miracle than he did in saving the penitent thief.
The Church of England's Homily of Good Works quotes Chrysostom as saying: "I can show a man that by faith without deeds lived and came to heaven: but without faith never man had life. The thief, who was hanged when Christ suffered, did believe only, and the most merciful God justified him. And because no man shall say, that he lacked time to do good deeds, or else he would have done them, truth it is, I will not contend therein. But this I will surely affirm, that faith only saved him."
Luther says, "This is a comfortable symbol and example for all
Christians, how that God will never let faith in Christ and a confession of his name go down. If the disciples as a body, and those otherwise related to Christ, confess not and lose their faith, deny him in fear, are offended and forsake him, this malefactor and murderer must come forward and confess him, to preach him to others, and teach all men who he is and what consolation all may find in him."
LUKE 23:44-49
JESUS' DEATH
Let us observe in these verses, the miraculous SIGNS which accompanied our Lord's death on the cross. We are told that there was "a darkness over all the earth" for three hours. "The sun was darkened and the curtain of the temple was torn in two."
It was fit and right that the attention of all around Jerusalem should be arrested in a marked way, when the great sacrifice for sin was being offered, and the Son of God was dying. There were signs and wonders wrought in the sight of all Israel, when the law was given on Sinai. There were signs and wonders in like manner when the atoning blood of Christ was shed on Calvary. There was a sign for an unbelieving world. The darkness at mid-day was a miracle which would compel men to think. There was a sign for the professing
Church and the ministers of the temple. The tearing of the curtain which hung between the holy place and the holy of holies, was a miracle which would strike awe into the heart of every priest and Levite in Jewry.
Signs like these, on special occasions, let us remember, are a part of God's ways in dealing with man. He knows the desperate stupidity and unbelief of human nature. He sees it necessary to arouse our attention by miraculous works, when He brings in a new dispensation. He thus compels men to open their eyes whether they will or not, and to hear His voice for a little season. He has done so frequently in the days that are past. He did so when He gave the law.
He did so in the passage before us when He brought in the Gospel.
He will do so once more when Christ comes again the second time.
He will show a sneering, unbelieving world that He can suspend the laws of nature at His pleasure, and alter the framework of creation as easily as He called the earth into being. He will yet fulfill His words, "Yet once more, I will shake not the earth only, but also the heavens."
"The moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion." (Heb. 12:26; Isaiah 24:23.)
Let us observe, secondly, in these verses, the remarkable
WORDS which our Lord spoke when He died. We read that "When he had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit—and having said thus, he gave up the spirit."
There is a depth of meaning, no doubt, in these words which we have no line to fathom. There was something mysterious about our Lord's death, which made it unlike the death of any mere man. He who spoke the words before us, we must carefully remember, was God as well as man. His divine and human nature were inseparably united. His divine nature of course could not die. He says Himself; "I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." (John 10:17, 18.) Christ died, not as we die when our hour is come—not because He was compelled and could not help dying—but voluntarily, and of His own free will.
There is a sense, however, in which our Lord's words supply a lesson to all true Christians. They show us the manner in which death should be met by all God's children. They afford an example which every believer should strive to follow. Like our Master, we should not be afraid to confront the king of terrors. We should regard him as a vanquished enemy, whose sting has been taken away by Christ's death. We should think of him as a foe who can hurt the body for a little season, but after that has no more that he can do. We should await his approaches with calmness and patience, and believe that when flesh fails our soul will be in good keeping. This was the mind of dying Stephen; "Lord Jesus," he said, "receive my spirit."
This was the mind of Paul the aged, when the time of his departure was at hand. He says, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day." (Acts 7:59; 2 Tim. 1:12.) Happy indeed are those who have a last end like this!
Let us observe, lastly, in these verses, the power of conscience in the case of the centurion and the people who saw Christ die. We are told that the centurion "praised God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man." We are told that the people who had come together to the sight, "smote their breasts and went away."
We know not exactly the nature of the feelings here described. We know not the extent to which they went, or the after-fruit which they brought forth. One thing, at all events, is clear. The Roman officer felt convinced that he had been superintending an unrighteous action, and crucifying an innocent person. The gazing crowd were pierced to the heart by a sense of having aided, countenanced, and abetted a grievous wrong. Both Jew and Gentile left Calvary that evening heavy-hearted, self-condemned, and ill at ease.
Great indeed is the power of conscience! Mighty is the influence which it is able to exercise on the hearts of men! It can strike terror into the minds of monarchs on their thrones. It can make multitudes tremble and shake before a few bold friends of truth, like a flock of sheep. Blind and mistaken as conscience often is, unable to convert man or lead him to Christ, it is still a most blessed part of man's constitution, and the best friend in the congregation that the preacher of the Gospel has. No wonder that Paul says, "By