Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” Luke 23: 42, 43, NKJV.
Holy God, what a privilege is ours to call You our Parent. In no other, could we find the love and acceptance that we have found in You. As we study Your Word today, may we hear anew, the promise that we will spend eternity with You. In the name of Jesus we humbly pray. Amen.
Keep in mind that these “words” are not necessarily being given in their chronological order. I am designating them by number, in keeping with the amount of Words that we have looked at so far. Yesterday, we followed Jesus up the hill known as the “Skull,” and heard Him pray the most incredible, love-laden prayer, ever uttered by a human being: His prayer for forgiveness, to a world that was not worthy. Today, we come to our “Second Word.” This is in response to a prayer by one of the malefactors, who is hanging on a cross beside the Savior. He suddenly realizes that He is in the presence of God. Isn’t it amazing, how, oftentimes, it is in our darkest moments, that we become aware that the Savior is, “only a prayer away?” If we take nothing else from this devotional, just remember, the Savior is never far away. “Jesus is always near!”
Scripture informs us that one of the malefactors, “blasphemed Him, saying, ‘If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.’ But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed, justly, for we receive the due rewards for our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong’ ” (39-41). Oh, the mercies of Almighty God; that, even on our deathbed; even after giving the best of our days to the Adversary; the God of compassion that we serve, will allow our eyes to be opened to behold Him, and address Him, as “Lord,” of our lives; even in the “eleventh hour! Hallelujah!
Even in death, and indeed, by choosing to die, Jesus made Himself available, to become the Savior of the world, and, in a personal way, of this criminal. You see my friends, as I have said so many times before, and will say again, “That is what He does – He saves! He’s the Savior!” The two are in pain – the sinner, and the Savior. They are both on the verge of death. Jesus is getting ready to “lay down His life, that [He] may take it up again,” yet He keeps the door of salvation open long enough, that one more sinner may enter! Praise the Lord!
What Jesus said to the malefactor that day, He says to all who come to Him seeking salvation: “Assuredly I say to you today, you will be with Me in Paradise.” You will notice that I changed the position of the comma. The original Greek did not have the punctuation marks. They were added later. The text actually reads more accurately this way, because Jesus did not return to heaven that day. He rested in the tomb on the Sabbath, and rose from the dead, early Sunday morning, the first day of the week. When Mary recognized Him and was about to hold on to Him, His words to her were: ” ‘Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren and say to them. ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God’ ” (John 20: 17, emphasis provided).
There is a great day coming, when all who have been faithful, by God’s grace, will be with Jesus in Paradise. The door is still open, with the hope than one more sinner will accept the Father’s invitation to, ” ‘Come to the marriage supper’ of His Son, for, ‘all things are ready’ ” (Matthew 22: 4). To those who have not yet given their lives to Jesus, today is a great day to do so! We praise God for the fact that He is always willing to save us. How wonderful it is to come to Him in the prime of our lives, with the possibility of dedicating our entire lives to Him. The Adversary is always seeking ways to cut us off before we can make it to the Savior. Today, Jesus is holding the gates of mercy open so that one more, may enter. Today can be your day. Do not let it go by!