Think on These Things
April 1999
"And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. 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."
We have heard arguments that "paradise" just means "a garden," which could apply to the grave, and thus perhaps the thief was not saved. However, we find little to support this argument since the Greek word for paradise here is used most often to apply to the heavenly realms (see 2 Cor. 12:4, Rev. 2:7). Further, it seems unlikely that Jesus would state the obvious. The statement that he did make is unquestionably sublime. Could anyone make up such a story?
The thief on the cross was saved based on his subjection to the authority of Jesus Christ. This is exactly the same type of subjection on our part that leads to our salvation. But can we be saved like the thief on the cross was? Was the thief saved by faith only? Let us examine this story to determine if God meant it to be the pattern for us today. If it is our pattern, then we should embrace it, practice it and teach it as doctrine. But if this is not a pattern for us, then we should recognize that the faith that saved the thief can only save us if it motivates us to do the Lord’s will for us today (Mt. 7:21).
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when the military actions taken result in the exact thing that they allegedly were trying to prevent — the expulsion of the vast majority of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo.
when three weeks ago the average American had not the first inkling that this military action was going to be taken; the average American does not even know where to place Kosovo on the map.
when Henry Kissenger, for the first time since he held high office, spoke out against this military action and predicted that it would result in our being drawn into a land war. Why don’t we listen to people who have knowledge of and experience in these matters?
when, according to Kissenger, the conditions placed before Molosovic were totally unreasonably for him to accept. Not exactly diplomacy.
when our highest ranking diplomat states: "why even have a military if you are not going to use it?" What she seems to miss is that the purpose of a strong military is to keep us out of war.
when our military experts state that we cannot be as successful in Yugoslavia as we were in Iraq because of the terrain and the mixture of troops and the population. Successful in Iraq? Hussein does whatever he pleases, no doubt contributing to Molosovic’s arrogance.
when the arguments made to justify and extend the action are almost purely emotional and anecdotal. We are inflicting tremendous pain on all of the people of this region. What is the justification?
when the timing of this action succeeded in taking the focus off of the problems of China gaining total access to our nuclear laboratories and a credible accusation of additional gross misconduct of our president.
when we have to go to war at all — it is an open admission that our diplomatic efforts have failed miserably.
Pray for peace. Pray for all the people there — most all of them are victims. There is no military solution; as long as ethnic hatred continues, so will the atrocities. Only God can bring peace there.
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Was the thief saved by faith only? Absolutely not! Clearly he demonstrated his faith by obeying Jesus in every way that he could. Granted, while hanging on a cross there is not much that you can do. But he did what he could. He buried his pride. He repented of his sins. He confessed his belief in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. This was not easy as we see the mocking of the religious leaders, the people, and the soldiers. Don’t think for a second that peer pressure is any less to a man being crucified. Witness the behavior of the other malefactor. Perhaps he wished to play to the onlookers, hoping that he might get their sympathy and somehow escape.
But the thief on the cross defied them all and placed his trust in Jesus Christ when it looked virtually impossible for this man Jesus to do anything for him at all. If you had faith like that, would you argue about the requirements of salvation, or would you do your best to find out what God requires and subject yourself to it?
The thief on the cross lived under the Old Testament law. We do not know to what extent he kept that law. We do know that when he found himself in the presence of Jesus, he sought forgiveness. Jesus, who had authority to forgive sins (Mt. 9:6), took mercy on him. With his sins forgiven, the thief was acceptable to God.
We do not have Jesus with us now, but we have his word that is able to save us to the uttermost (Jn. 5:24; 8:31). Let us not try to circumvent this word, but let us study it all (Mt. 4:4) and allow it to dominate our lives.
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but Jesus said (Matthew 7:21):
Not everyone that saith unto me Lord, Lord,
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven;
but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
It is impossible for you to be saved "just like the thief on the cross." To do so you would have to be crucified on a cross next to Jesus. You would have had to have been in the circumstances that the thief was in. This would have included being born under, and thus subject to, the Old Testament law. This is impossible today. It would be equally as reasonable to state that your pattern for salvation is going to be:
Noah. Could building an ark save you today?
Abraham. Could sacrificing your son save you today?
Moses. Could you lead the Israelites out of slavery?
Surely we all understand that we are not saved by the specific acts of obedience established by these Old Testament characters. Yet, Hebrews 11 tells us that they were men of faith who were acceptable to God because their faith motivated them to do what God commanded when he commanded it. God’s commands for us today are in the New Testament (Hebrews 1, 7, 9; Col. 2:14; Gal. 3, 4, 5; Rom. 3, 6). When we subject ourselves to these commands we demonstrate the same faith that the thief on the cross demonstrated.
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