The seven last words of Christ on the cross. II: The word of salvation (A. W. Pink)

Editor’s Review

We continue with the series of sermons by A. W. Pink titled “The Seven Sayings of the Savior on the Cross”, a work that examines in depth the words spoken by our Lord Jesus Christ during His crucifixion. On this occasion, we present the second saying, known as the word of salvation, in which the grace of God toward the sinner is revealed in a clear and powerful way.

This word, addressed to the repentant thief, shows us that salvation does not depend on works, merits, or time, but on faith in Christ. Even in the midst of the suffering of the cross, the Lord extends mercy and promises eternal life, demonstrating that no one is beyond the reach of His grace. We invite the reader to meditate carefully on this teaching, trusting that it will be of great spiritual edification.

Sermon by A. W. Pink: The Word of Salvation

“And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:42, 43).

THE SECOND OF CHRIST’S SAYINGS UPON THE CROSS was spoken in response to the request of the dying thief. Before considering the words of the Savior, we will first meditate on what occasioned them.

It was no accident that the Lord of glory was crucified between two thieves. There are no accidents in a world that is governed by God. Much less could there have been any accident on that day of days, or in connection with that event of all events — a day and an event which stand at the very center of the world’s history. No, God presided over that scene. From all eternity He had decreed when, where, how, and with whom His Son should die. Nothing was left to chance or to the caprice of man. Everything that God had decreed was fulfilled exactly as He had ordained it, and nothing happened except according to what He had eternally determined. All that man did was simply that which the hand and counsel of God “had determined before to be done” (Acts 4:28).

When Pilate gave the order that the Lord Jesus should be crucified between the two malefactors, without knowing it, he did nothing more than carry out the eternal decree of God and fulfill His prophetic word. Seven hundred years before this Roman official gave his command, God had declared through Isaiah that His Son would be “numbered with the transgressors” (Isa. 53:12). How improbable this seemed — that the Holy One of God should be counted with the ungodly; that the very One whose hand wrote upon the tables of stone the law of Sinai should be placed among those who had no law; that the Son of God should be executed with criminals — this seemed utterly inconceivable! Yet it came to pass. Not one word of God can fall to the ground. “Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89). Just as God had ordained it, and just as He had announced it, so it happened.

Why did God ordain that His beloved Son should be crucified between two criminals? Surely God had a reason; a good reason, a manifold reason, whether we can discern it or not. God never acts arbitrarily. He has a good purpose in everything He does, because all His works are ordered by an infinite wisdom. In this particular case, several answers present themselves for our consideration. Was not our blessed Lord crucified with the two thieves in order to fully demonstrate the unfathomable depths of shame to which He had descended? At His birth He was surrounded by the animals of the field, and now, in His death, He is numbered among the refuse of humanity.

Furthermore, was not the Savior numbered with the transgressors to show us the position He occupied as our substitute? He had taken the place that belonged to us, and what was that place but the place of shame, the place of transgressors, the place of criminals condemned to death?

Furthermore, was He not deliberately humiliated in this way by Pilate to show the estimation that man had of that incomparable One — “despised” as well as rejected?

Furthermore, was He not crucified with the two thieves so that in those three crosses and in those who hung upon them we might have a vivid and concrete representation of the drama of salvation and of man’s response to it — the redemption of the Savior; the sinner who repents and believes; and the sinner who blasphemes and rejects?

Another important lesson that we may learn from the crucifixion of Christ between the two thieves, and from the fact that one received Him while the other rejected Him, is that of the sovereignty of God. The two malefactors were crucified together. Both were equally close to Christ. Both saw and heard everything that took place during those fateful six hours. Both were notoriously wicked; both suffered intensely; both were dying, and both urgently needed forgiveness. Yet one of them died in his sins, died as he had lived — hardened and impenitent; while the other repented of his wickedness, believed in Christ, cried out to Him for mercy, and went to Paradise. How can this be explained except by the sovereignty of God?

We see exactly the same thing happening today. Under exactly the same circumstances and conditions, one is broken while another remains unmoved. Under the same sermon, one man will listen with indifference, while another will have his eyes opened to see his need and his will moved to accept the offer of God’s mercy. To one the gospel is revealed, to another it is “hidden.” Why? All we can say is: “Yes, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.” And yet, the sovereignty of God is never intended to destroy human responsibility. Both are clearly taught in Scripture, and it is our duty to believe and preach both, whether we can harmonize or understand them or not. In preaching both, we may appear to our hearers as though we contradict ourselves, but what does that matter?

The late C. H. Spurgeon said, when preaching on 1 Timothy 2:3, 4: “There is the text, and I believe it is my Father’s desire that ‘all men should be saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth.’ But I also know that He does not will it in such a way that He will save any of them unless they believe in His Son; for He has told us again and again that He will not.

He will not save any man unless he forsakes his sins and turns to Him with full purpose of heart: that also I know. And I also know that He has a people whom He will save, whom by His eternal love He has chosen and whom by His eternal power He will deliver. I do not know how to reconcile this with that; that is another of the things I do not know.” And this prince of preachers said: “I will simply stand where I have always stood, and take the Word of God as it is, whether I can reconcile it with another part of the Word of God or not.”

We say again: the sovereignty of God is never intended to destroy the responsibility of man. We must diligently use all the means that God has ordained for the salvation of souls. We are commanded to preach the gospel to “every creature.” Grace is free; the invitation is broad enough to include “whosoever believeth.” Christ rejects none who come to Him. Yet, after all has been done, after sowing and watering, it is God who “gives the increase,” and this He does according to the good pleasure of His sovereign will.

In the salvation of the dying thief we have a clear view of victorious grace, such as is found nowhere else in the Bible. God is the God of all grace, and salvation is entirely by His grace. “By grace are ye saved” (Eph. 2:8), and it is “by grace” from beginning to end. Grace planned salvation, grace provided salvation, and grace works in and upon His elect in such a way that it overcomes the hardness of their hearts, the stubbornness of their wills, and the enmity of their minds, thus making them willing to receive salvation. Grace begins, grace continues, and grace consummates our salvation.

Salvation by grace — sovereign, irresistible, and free grace — is illustrated in the New Testament both by example and by precept. Perhaps the two most notable cases of all are those of Saul of Tarsus and the dying thief. And the case of the latter is even more remarkable than the former. In the case of Saul, who later became Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles, there was at first an exemplary moral character. Writing years later about his condition before his conversion, the apostle declared that as touching the righteousness which is in the law he was “blameless” (Phil. 3:6).

He was a “Pharisee of the Pharisees”: meticulous in his habits, correct in his conduct. Morally, his character was beyond reproach. After his conversion, his life was one of evangelical righteousness. Constrained by the love of Christ, he gave himself to the preaching of the gospel to sinners and to laboring in the edification of the saints. No doubt our readers will agree with us when we say that probably Paul came nearer than any other to attaining the ideals of the Christian life, and that he followed his Master more closely than any other saint since then.

But with the saved thief it was very different. He had no moral life before his conversion, nor a life of active service after it. Before his conversion he respected neither the law of God nor the law of men. After his conversion he died without having had opportunity to devote himself to the service of Christ. I wish to emphasize this, because these are the two things that many consider as contributing factors to our salvation.

It is supposed that first we must prepare ourselves by developing a noble character before God will receive us as His children; and that after having received us, provisionally, we are placed on probation, and that if we do not now produce a certain quality and quantity of good works, we shall “fall from grace and be lost.” But the dying thief had no good works either before or after his conversion. Therefore, we are compelled to conclude that if he was saved, he certainly was saved by sovereign grace.

The salvation of the dying thief also removes another prop which the legalistic carnal mind sets up to rob God of the glory that belongs to His grace. Instead of attributing the salvation of lost sinners to the incomparable grace of God, many professing Christians seek to explain it by human influences, instruments, and circumstances. They look to the preacher, or to favorable providential circumstances, or to the prayers of believers, as the main cause. Let us not be misunderstood here.

It is true that God often is pleased to use means in the conversion of sinners; that He frequently condescends to bless our prayers and efforts to point sinners to Christ; that He often uses His providences to awaken and arouse the ungodly to a consciousness of their condition. But God is not limited to these things. He is not restricted to human instruments. His grace is omnipotent, and when He wills, that grace is able to save in spite of the absence of human instruments and in the face of unfavorable circumstances. Thus it was in the case of the saved thief.

Let us consider:

His conversion took place at a time when, in outward appearance, Christ had lost all power to save Himself or others. This thief had walked alongside the Savior through the streets of Jerusalem and had seen Him fall under the weight of the cross. It is very likely that, as one who practiced the trade of a thief and robber, that was the first day he had ever seen the Lord Jesus, and now that he saw Him, it was in the midst of every circumstance of weakness and shame. His enemies triumphed over Him. His friends had for the most part forsaken Him. Public opinion was unanimously against Him.

His very crucifixion was regarded as entirely incompatible with His claim to be the Messiah. His humble state had from the beginning been a stumbling block to the Jews, and the circumstances of His death must have intensified this, especially for someone who had never seen Him except in that condition. Even those who had believed in Him were led to doubt by His crucifixion. There was not one in the crowd who, pointing to Him, said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!” And yet, in spite of all these obstacles and difficulties in the path of his faith, the thief discerned the character of Christ as Savior and Lord. How can we explain such faith and such spiritual understanding in one under those conditions? How explain the fact that this dying thief took a suffering, bleeding, and crucified man as his God? It cannot be explained apart from divine intervention and supernatural operation. His faith in Christ was a miracle of grace!

It must also be noted that the thief’s conversion took place before the supernatural phenomena of that day. He cried, “Lord, remember me” before the hours of darkness, before the triumphant cry “It is finished,” before the veil of the temple was torn, before the earthquake and the rending of the rocks, before the confession of the centurion: “Truly this was the Son of God.” God intentionally placed his conversion before these things so that His sovereign grace might be magnified and His sovereign power acknowledged.

God deliberately chose to save this thief under the most unfavorable circumstances so that no flesh should glory in His presence. God intentionally arranged this combination of adverse conditions and circumstances to teach us that “salvation is of the Lord”; to teach us not to exalt human means above the divine work; to teach us that every genuine conversion is the direct result of the supernatural operation of the Holy Spirit.

Now we will consider the thief himself, his various expressions, his request to the Savior, and the response of our Lord.

1. Here we see a representative sinner.

“And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:42, 43).

We shall never get to the heart of this incident until we consider the conversion of this man as a representative case, and the thief himself as a representative character. There are those who have attempted to show that the original character of the repentant thief was more noble and worthy than that of the other who did not repent. But this is not only untrue according to the facts of the case, but it also removes the peculiar glory of his conversion and detracts from the wonder of the grace of God. It is of great importance to see that, before the moment when one repented and believed, there was no essential difference between the two thieves. In nature, in history, in circumstances, they were the same. The Holy Spirit has been careful to tell us that both reviled the suffering Savior:

“Likewise also the chief priests mocking Him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He be the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him: for He said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also, which were crucified with Him, cast the same in His teeth” (Matthew 27:41–44).

Terrible indeed was the condition and action of this thief. On the very brink of eternity he joins with the enemies of Christ in the dreadful sin of mocking Him. This was depravity without equal. Think of it! A man in his final hour ridiculing the suffering Savior. Oh, what a demonstration of human depravity and of the natural enmity of the carnal mind against God! And, reader, by nature that same depravity is in you, and unless a miracle of divine grace has been wrought in you, that same enmity against God and against His Christ is present in your heart. You may not think it, feel it, or believe it. But that does not alter the fact.

The Word of Him who cannot lie declares: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer. 17:9). This is a statement of universal application. It describes what every human heart is by natural birth. And again, the same Scripture declares: “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8:7). This also describes the condition of every descendant of Adam. “For there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:22–23). This is exceedingly solemn; yet it needs to be emphasized. It is not until our desperate condition is recognized that we discover our need of a divine Savior. It is not until we see our total corruption and ruin that we hasten to the great Physician. It is not until we find in this dying thief a portrait of ourselves that we shall join in saying, “Lord, remember me.”

We must be humbled before we can be exalted. We must be stripped of the filthy rags of our own righteousness before we are prepared to receive the garments of salvation. We must come to God as beggars, with empty hands, before we can receive the gift of eternal life. We must take the place of lost sinners before Him if we are to be saved. Yes, we must acknowledge ourselves as thieves before we can have a place in the family of God.

“But,” you say, “I am not a thief! I admit that I am not all that I should be. I am not perfect. Indeed, I will go further and admit that I am a sinner. But I cannot accept that this thief represents my state and condition.” Ah, friend, your case is far worse than you suppose. You are a thief, and of the worst kind. You have robbed God! Suppose a company in the East appoints an agent to represent it in the West, and each month sends him his salary. But suppose also that, at the end of the year, his employers discover that, although the agent cashed the checks sent to him, he had been serving another company all that time. Would not that agent be a thief? This is precisely the condition of every sinner.

He has been sent into this world by God, and God has endowed him with talents and the ability to use and develop them. God has blessed him with health and strength; has supplied all his needs, and has given him countless opportunities to serve Him and glorify Him. But what has been the result? The very things God gave have been misused. The sinner has served another master, namely, Satan. He squanders his strength and wastes his time in the pleasures of sin. He has robbed God. Unsaved reader, in the sight of heaven your condition is as desperate and your heart as wicked as that of the thief. See in him a portrait of yourself.

2. Here we see that man must come to the end of himself before he can be saved.

“And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:42, 43).

Above we have contemplated this dying thief as a representative sinner, an example of what all men are by nature and by practice: by nature, in enmity against God and against His Christ; by practice, robbers of God, misusing what He has given us and not rendering to Him what is due. Now we shall see that this crucified thief was also a representative case in his conversion. And at this point we shall pause simply upon his helplessness.

To see ourselves as lost sinners is not enough. To learn that we are corrupt and depraved by nature, and transgressing sinners by practice, is the first important lesson. The next is to learn that we are completely ruined, and that we can do absolutely nothing to help ourselves. To discover that our condition is so desperate that it is entirely beyond all human remedy is the second step toward salvation, viewed from the human side.

But if man is slow to learn that he is a lost sinner and unable to stand in the presence of a holy God, he is even slower to recognize that he can do nothing for his salvation, nor work any improvement in himself to make himself fit for God. Yet it is not until we realize that we are “without strength” (Rom. 5:6), that we are “impotent” (John 5:3), that it is not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy that God saves us (Titus 3:5), that we then despair of ourselves and look outside of ourselves to Him who can save us.

The great biblical type of sin is leprosy, and for leprosy man can find no cure. Only God can deal with this terrible disease. So it is with sin. But, as we have said, man is slow to learn this lesson. He is like the prodigal son, who when he had wasted his substance in a far country living riotously and began to be in want, instead of immediately returning to the father, “went and joined himself to a citizen of that country,” and was sent into the fields to feed swine; in other words, he set himself to work.

In the same way, the sinner who has been awakened to his need, instead of going directly to Christ, tries to earn the favor of God by his own works. But he will fare no better than the prodigal: the husks of the swine will be his only portion.

Or again, like the woman who was bowed together for many years. She tried many physicians before coming to the great Physician: so the awakened sinner seeks relief and peace first in one thing and then in another, until he travels the whole weary round of religious practices, and ends up “nothing bettered, but rather grew worse” (Mark 5:26). No, it was not until that woman “had spent all that she had” that she sought Christ; and it is not until the sinner comes to the end of his own resources that he will turn to the Savior.

Before any sinner can be saved, he must come to the place of a recognized weakness. This is what the conversion of the dying thief shows us. What could he do? He could not walk in paths of righteousness, because there was a nail in each foot. He could not do good works, because there was a nail in each hand. He could not begin a new life, because he was dying. And, reader, those hands of yours which are so ready to work out self-righteousness, and those feet of yours which run so swiftly in the path of legal obedience, must be nailed to the cross. The sinner must be turned away from his own efforts and made willing to be saved by Christ.

The acknowledgment of your sinful condition, of your lost condition, of your helpless condition, is nothing other than the old conviction of sin, and this is the only requirement for coming to Christ for salvation, because Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

3. Here we see the meaning of repentance and faith.

“And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:42, 43).

Repentance may be considered under various aspects. It includes in its meaning and scope a change of mind concerning sin, a sorrow for sin, a forsaking of sin. However, there is more in repentance than this. In reality, repentance is the realization of our lost condition, it is the discovery of our ruin, it is the judging of ourselves, it is the acknowledgment of our state of perdition. Repentance is not so much an intellectual process as it is the conscience acting in the presence of God.

And this is exactly what we find here in the case of the thief. First he says to his companion: “Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?” (Luke 23:40). Shortly before, he had joined his voice with those who reviled the Savior. But the Holy Spirit had been working in him, and now his conscience is active in the presence of God. It was not: “Do you not fear punishment?” but: “Do you not fear God?” He perceives God as judge.

And then, secondly, he adds: “And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds” (Luke 23:41). Here we see him acknowledging his guilt and the justice of his condemnation. He judges himself. He offers no excuses nor attempts to justify himself. He acknowledges that he is a transgressor and that, as such, he fully deserves punishment for his sins, yes, that death is his just desert.

Have you taken this position before God, reader? Have you openly confessed your sins to Him? Have you judged yourself and your ways? Are you willing to acknowledge that death is your “just desert”? As long as you minimize sin or justify it, you are shutting yourself off from Christ. Christ came into the world to save sinners — sinners who recognize themselves as such, sinners who truly take the place of sinners before God, sinners conscious that they are lost and ruined.

Repentance toward God in the thief was accompanied by faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. In considering his faith, we may note first that it was an intelligent faith. In the previous paragraphs of this chapter we have called attention to the sovereignty of God and to His irresistible and victorious grace which was manifested in the conversion of this thief. Now we consider another side of the truth, equally necessary, not contradictory, but complementary.

Scripture does not teach that if God has chosen a soul to be saved, that person will be saved whether he believes or not. That is a false conclusion. Scripture teaches that the same God who predestined the end also predestined the means. The God who decreed the salvation of the dying thief fulfilled His decree by giving him the faith with which to believe. This is the clear teaching of 2 Thessalonians 2:13: “God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.”

This is exactly what we see here. He believed the truth. His faith laid hold of the Word of God. Above the cross was the inscription: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” Pilate had placed it in mockery, but it was the truth. The thief read it, and divine grace opened his eyes to see that it was true. His faith grasped the kingship of Christ, hence he said: “when thou comest into thy kingdom.” Faith always rests upon the written Word of God.

Before a man believes that Jesus is the Christ, he must have the testimony that He is the Christ. A distinction is made between intellectual faith and heart faith, and rightly so, because it is a real and vital distinction. Sometimes intellectual faith is despised, but this is an error. There must be intellectual faith before there can be heart faith. We must believe intellectually before we believe savingly in the Lord Jesus.

It is true that intellectual faith alone does not save, but it is also true that there is no heart faith without prior intellectual faith. How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? One may believe about Christ without believing in Him, but one cannot believe in Him without first believing about Him. So it was with the dying thief. He had probably never seen Christ before that day, but he saw the inscription which testified to His kingship, and the Holy Spirit used it as the basis of his faith.

We say, then, that his faith was an intelligent faith: first, an intellectual faith, believing the written testimony; second, a heart faith, resting with confidence in Christ Himself as the Savior of sinners.

Yes, this thief exercised a heart faith which rested savingly in Christ. A man may have intellectual faith in Christ and be lost. He may believe about Christ and derive no benefit from it, like one who believes about Napoleon. You may believe everything about the Savior — His perfect life, His death, His resurrection, His ascension — but you must do more than that.

Saving faith is a trusting faith. It is more than a correct opinion or reasoning. It transcends reason. Look at this thief: was it reasonable that Christ would attend to him? A crucified criminal, who shortly before had reviled Him. Was it reasonable to expect immediate salvation? The intellect reasons, but the heart believes. And this man’s request came from his heart.

He had no use of his hands or his feet (and they are not needed for salvation), but he did have his heart and his tongue. And that was enough: “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:10).

We may also note that his faith was a humble faith. He prayed with appropriate modesty. It was not: “Lord, honor me,” or “Lord, exalt me,” but: Lord, if only You would remember me; if only You would look upon me — “Lord, remember me.” And yet, that word “remember” was wonderfully full and appropriate. He might have said: Forgive me, save me, bless me; but “remember” included it all. An interest in the heart of Christ includes an interest in all His benefits! Moreover, this word was perfectly suited to the condition of the one who uttered it. He was an outcast from society — who would remember him? The public would think of him no more. His friends would be glad to forget him for having disgraced his family. But there is One to whom he dares to present this request: “Lord, remember me.”

Finally, we may note that his faith was a courageous faith. Perhaps this is not evident at first glance, but closer consideration will make it clear. He who hung upon the central cross was the center of all eyes and the object of all the mockery of a vulgar crowd. Every group of that multitude joined in ridiculing the Savior. Matthew tells us that “they that passed by reviled Him,” that “the chief priests also, with the scribes and elders, mocked Him.” While Luke informs us that “the soldiers also mocked Him” (23:36). It is easy to understand, then, why the thieves also joined in the same cry of mockery. No doubt the priests and scribes looked with approval upon them when they did so.

But suddenly there was a change. The repentant thief, instead of continuing to mock Christ, turns to his companion and openly rebukes him in the presence of all who were gathered around the crosses, saying: “This man hath done nothing amiss.” Thus he condemned the whole Jewish nation. But there is more: he not only bears testimony to the innocence of Christ, but also confesses His kingship. And in one stroke he separates himself from the favor of his companion and of the multitude. Today we speak of the courage required to bear witness to Christ, but such courage in our day pales in comparison with the courage displayed that day by the dying thief.

4. Here we see a wonderful case of spiritual illumination.

“And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:42, 43).

It is truly astonishing the progress this man made in those final few hours. His growth in grace and in the knowledge of his Lord was extraordinary. From the brief record of the words that came from his lips, we may discover seven things that he learned under the teaching of the Holy Spirit.

First, he expresses his belief in a future life where retribution would be administered by a just God who punishes sin. “Dost not thou fear God?” demonstrates this. He rebukes his companion, as if saying: How dare you insult this innocent man? Remember that soon you must appear before God and face a tribunal infinitely more solemn than the one that sentenced you to the cross. God is to be feared; therefore, be silent.

Second, as we have already seen, he had a view of his own sin: “Thou art in the same condemnation. And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds” (Luke 23:40–41). He acknowledged that he was a transgressor. He saw that sin deserves punishment, that condemnation is just. He acknowledged that death was his due. This is something his companion neither confessed nor recognized.

Third, he bore testimony to the innocence of Christ: “This man hath done nothing amiss” (Luke 23:41). Here we see the care of God in preserving the spotless character of His Son. Judas said: “I have betrayed innocent blood.” Pilate testified: “I find no fault in Him.” Pilate’s wife said: “Have thou nothing to do with that just man.” And now, on the cross, God opens the eyes of this thief to see the perfection of Christ and opens his mouth to bear witness to His excellence.

Fourth, he not only bore testimony to the sinless humanity of Christ, but also confessed His deity: “Lord, remember me.” What a wonderful word! The Savior nailed to the tree, the object of hatred and mockery, and yet this thief, moved by faith and not by sight, recognizes and confesses His divinity.

Fifth, he believed in the saving power of the Lord Jesus. He had heard Christ’s prayer: “Father, forgive them…” and to a heart opened by God, that brief phrase was a saving sermon. His cry: “Lord, remember me” included “Lord, save me,” which implies his faith in Christ as Savior. Indeed, he must have believed that Jesus could save the worst of sinners, or else he would not have trusted that He would remember someone like him.

Sixth, he evidenced his faith in the kingship of Christ — “when thou comest into thy kingdom.” This also was a wonderful word. The outward circumstances seemed to completely contradict His kingship. Instead of being seated on a throne, He hung upon a cross. Instead of wearing a royal diadem, His brow was encircled with thorns. Instead of being served by a court of attendants, He was numbered with the transgressors. Yet He was a king — King of the Jews (Matthew 2:2).

Finally, he looked forward to the second coming of Christ — “when thou comest.” He turned his gaze from the present to the future. He saw beyond the “sufferings” to the “glory.” On the cross, the eye of faith discerned the crown. And in this he anticipated the apostles, for unbelief had blinded their eyes. Yes, he looked beyond the first advent in humiliation to the second advent in power and majesty.

And how can we explain the spiritual intelligence of this dying thief? Where did he obtain such understanding of the things of Christ? How is it that this newborn in the faith made such astonishing progress in the school of God? It can only be explained by divine influence. The Holy Spirit was his teacher! Flesh and blood did not reveal these things to him, but the Father who is in heaven. What an illustration that divine things are hidden from the “wise and prudent” and revealed unto “babes”!

5. Here we see the saving power of Christ.

“And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:42, 43).

The crosses were only a few feet apart, and it did not take long for the Savior to hear the cry of this repentant thief. What was His response? He might have said: You deserve your fate; you are a wicked thief and have earned death. Or He might have answered: You have left this too late; you should have sought Me earlier. Ah! Had He not promised: “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out”? So it was fulfilled here.

Of the reproaches directed at Him by the multitude, the Lord Jesus took no notice. To the provocation of the priests to come down from the cross, He gave no reply. But the prayer of this contrite and believing thief captured His attention. At that moment He was contending with the powers of darkness and bearing the dreadful burden of the guilt of His people, and we might think He would be excused from attending to individual requests. But a sinner never comes to Christ at an inconvenient time! He gave him a response of peace, and without delay.

The salvation of this repentant and believing thief illustrates not only Christ’s willingness, but also His power to save. The Lord Jesus is not a weak Savior. Blessed be God, He is able to “save to the uttermost” those who come unto God by Him. And never was this more clearly demonstrated than on the cross. This was the moment of the Redeemer’s “weakness” (2 Cor. 13:4).

When the thief cried: “Lord, remember me,” the Savior was in agony upon the accursed tree. And yet, at that very moment, He had power to redeem that soul from death and open to him the gates of Paradise. Never doubt, nor question the infinite sufficiency of the Savior! If a dying Savior could save, how much more He who rose in triumph and dies no more! In saving this thief, Christ displayed His power at the very moment when it seemed most hidden.

The salvation of the dying thief proves that the Lord is both willing and able to save all who come to Him. If Christ received this repentant and believing thief, none should despair of being received if they come to Christ. If this dying thief was not beyond the reach of divine mercy, then neither is anyone who responds to the invitation of grace. The Son of Man came “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10), and none can be more lost than that. The gospel of Christ is the power of God “unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Romans 1:16). Do not limit the grace of God! A Savior has been provided for the very “chief of sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15), if only he believes.

Personally, I believe that very few are saved on their deathbed, and it is great folly for any man to postpone his salvation until that moment, for no one is guaranteed a deathbed. Many are taken away suddenly, without opportunity to prepare. Yet even one on a deathbed is not beyond the reach of divine mercy. As one of the Puritans said: “There is one case recorded so that none might despair, but only one, so that none might presume.”

Yes, here we see the saving power of Christ. He came into this world to save sinners, and He left it for Paradise accompanied by a saved criminal — the very first trophy of His redeeming blood!

6. Here we see the destiny of the believer at death.

“And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:42, 43).

In his excellent book “The Seven Sayings of Christ on the Cross”, Dr. Anderson-Berry has pointed out that the word “today” is not correctly placed in the King James Version, and that the intentional correspondence between the thief’s request and Christ’s reply requires a different construction of the latter. The form of Christ’s reply is evidently designed to correspond in its order of thought with the thief’s request. This will be seen if we arrange both in parallel as follows:

And he said unto Jesus And Jesus said unto him Lord Verily I say unto thee Remember me Thou shalt be with me When thou comest Today. In thy kingdom In paradise.

By arranging the words in this way, we discover the proper emphasis. “Today” is the emphatic word. In our Lord’s gracious reply to the thief’s request, we have a striking illustration of how divine grace exceeds human expectations. The thief asked that the Lord would remember him in His coming kingdom, but Christ assures him that before that very day had ended, he would be with the Savior. The thief asked to be remembered in an earthly kingdom, but Christ assures him a place in Paradise. The thief simply asked to be “remembered”, but the Savior declares that he would be “with Him”. Thus God does exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.

Christ’s reply not only indicates the survival of the soul after the death of the body, but also tells us that the believer is with Him during the interval which separates death from the resurrection. To make this even clearer, Christ prefaced His promise with the solemn and comforting words: “Verily I say unto thee”. It was this hope of going to Christ at death that sustained the martyr Stephen in his final hour, and caused him to cry: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59). It was this blessed expectation that led the apostle Paul to say that he had the “desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better” (Phil. 1:23).

It is not unconsciousness in the grave, but being with Christ in Paradise that awaits every believer at death. Every believer, I say, for the souls of unbelievers, instead of going to Paradise, pass into the place of torment, as is clearly seen in our Lord’s teaching in Luke 16. Reader, where would your soul go if at this very moment you were to die?

How earnestly has Satan sought to hide this blessed truth from the saints of God! On the one hand, he has spread the sad doctrine of soul sleep, teaching that believers remain unconscious between death and the resurrection; and on the other hand, he has invented the terrible concept of purgatory, to instill fear in believers by making them think that at death they must pass through fire to be purified before entering heaven. How the word of Christ to the thief completely destroys these God-dishonoring ideas! The thief passed directly from the cross to Paradise!

The moment a sinner believes, at that very instant he is made fit to partake of the inheritance of the saints in light (Col. 1:12). “For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified” (Heb. 10:14). Our fitness for the presence of Christ, as well as our title to it, rests solely upon His shed blood.

7. Here we see the Savior’s longing for fellowship.

“And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:42, 43).

In fellowship we reach the summit of grace and the sum of Christian privilege. Beyond fellowship we cannot go. God has called us “unto the fellowship of His Son” (1 Cor. 1:9). We are often told that we are “saved to serve”, and this is true, but it is only part of the truth and by no means the most wonderful and blessed part. We are saved for fellowship. God had countless “servants” before Christ came to die — the angels continually do His will. Christ did not come primarily to obtain servants, but to have those who would enter into fellowship with Himself. :

What makes heaven supremely attractive to the heart of the believer is not that it is a place where we shall be freed from all pain and suffering, nor that there we shall see again those whom we have loved in the Lord, nor yet that it is a place of streets of gold, gates of pearl, and walls of jasper — no, though all these things are blessed, heaven without Christ would not be heaven. It is Christ whom the believer’s heart longs for and desires — “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee” (Ps. 73:25).

And most astonishing of all, heaven will not be heaven for Christ in its fullest sense until His redeemed are gathered around Him. It is His saints whom His heart longs for. To come again and “receive us unto Himself” is the joyful expectation set before Him. He will not be fully satisfied until He sees the fruit of the travail of His soul.

These are the thoughts suggested and confirmed by the words of the Lord Jesus to the dying thief. “Lord, remember me” had been his cry. And what was the response? Observe it carefully. If Christ had simply said, “Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be in paradise,” that would have quieted the fears of the thief. Yes, but that would not have satisfied the Savior. That upon which His heart was set was that on that very day a soul saved by His precious blood would be with Him in paradise.

We say again: this is the summit of grace and the sum of Christian blessing. Said the apostle: “I have a desire to depart, and to be with Christ” (Phil. 1:23). And again he wrote: “Absent from the body” — free from all pain and care? No. “Absent from the body” — translated to glory? No. “Absent from the body… present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8).

So also with Christ. He said: “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you; I go to prepare a place for you”; but when He adds: “I will come again,” He does not say “and take you to the Father’s house,” nor “take you to the place that I have prepared,” but: “I will come again and receive you unto myself” (John 14:2–3).

To be “ever with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:17) is the goal of all our hope; to have us forever with Him is that which He eagerly longs for. “Thou shalt be with me in paradise!”

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Editor’s Conclusion

The word of salvation spoken by our Lord on the cross reveals in a clear and glorious way the very essence of the gospel. In a single moment, a lost sinner, without works, without merits, without time to change his life, is justified solely by grace through faith in Christ. The thief did not come down from the cross to prove his faith by works; he had no opportunity to serve, nor to repair his past. And yet, he was saved. This teaches us that salvation is entirely the work of God, from beginning to end.

At the same time, this passage shows us the absolute necessity of repentance and faith. That man recognized his sin, judged himself, confessed the innocence and kingship of Christ, and trusted in Him in the midst of the greatest apparent weakness. His faith did not rest on what was visible, but on revealed truth. So also today, everyone who desires to be saved must come to Christ just as he is, recognizing his condition, abandoning all confidence in himself, and clinging only to the Savior.

Finally, this word directs us toward a glorious hope: the eternal destiny of every believer is to be with Christ. There is no greater promise, no greater comfort, no greater good than this. “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise” remains the assurance for all who believe. Therefore, reader, the question still stands: what will you do with Christ? Do not postpone this decision. Come to Him today, for in Him there is forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life.