Luke 23:39–43 (ESV)
39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

  1. Barabbas was released instead of Jesus. The symbolism is unmistakable. In the eyes of the Jewish leaders, Jesus was the worst of all sinners.
  2. Jesus was crucified between two of the worst sinners in Rome. The symbolism again is unmistakable: Jesus is the worst sinner in the world.
  3. At first, both criminals reviled Jesus along with the Jewish leaders: Matthew 27:44 (ESV) “And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.”
  4. Later, the eyes of one of the criminals was opened to see Jesus for who he was.

Notice that this criminal met every requirement for salvation.

  1. ) It began with the fear of God: He said to the other criminal, “Do you not fear God?” The implication is that he now feared God.
  2. ) Then came repentance:
    “since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?
    “And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds;”
  3. ) He recognized the holiness of Jesus:
    “but this man has done nothing wrong.”
  4. ) He recognized Jesus to be his Savior when he called him “Jesus”
  5. ) He recognized Jesus to be his Lord:
    ”when you come into your kingdom”
  6. ) He believed Jesus would be raised from the dead:
    “remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
    DEAD PEOPLE DON’T REMEMBER

Now, please allow me to give you a final insight that will zing your zinger: Do you remember this verse? 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV) “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Think about this: As Jesus was becoming sin for the criminal, the criminal was become righteous.

All that remained was for Christ to die so that he might rise again. He bowed his head, giving his seventh saying from the cross:

Luke 23:46 (ESV). Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.

Even in the moment of his death, Jesus remained the one who gave up his life. (John 10:11, 14, 17-18) And when Jesus died, he went immediately into the Father’s hands, There was never a moment that he ceased to be the Son of God.