GIBBETED! and only a few short hours to live. Well nigh had he run his course, and it had been a wicked one. He was no martyr, and he knew it. He richly deserved all he was getting. Well nigh had he filled his cup of iniquity. One act more, and he fills it to the brim. To the wickedness that made his presence unbearably obnoxious in man's kingdom, he adds the guilt of reviling God's King at the very moment that man was casting Him out of His kingdom. Iniquity could hardly go farther.
But listen! A change takes place; a veritable moral revolution is brought about; the hardened rebel is suddenly turned into a submissive subject. The criminal who has spent a lifetime in sin suddenly becomes a righteous judge, and the first person he judges is himself! Whatever could have wrought such a change? What could so quickly have moved the heart of such a hardened criminal to act and speak thus?
There is little doubt that it was the words that fell from the Savior's own lips that awakened the dying robber to the dawn of a new day. "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Can you not imagine him exclaiming to himself, "What does He say? 'Forgive them!"Father, forgive them!' Whom can He mean but those who are doing their utmost to get rid of Him, and cruelly taunting Him while they do it? Why, then, I must myself be included! I have joined with the mockers! Is it possible that there can be grace enough in Him to desire God's forgiveness for a wretch like me, and to use His dying breath in pleading for it? Yet it must be so, for He cries, 'Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.' Marvelous! Marvelous! Oh, how grace wins my confidence and draws my heart to Him! Never, never can I expect to deserve His favor, but here on the spot I cannot help desiring it";—and with the desire a hope springs up that He may grant it. "Such a sinner as I am can claim no merit, but even such a sinner as I am may venture to seek the mercy of such a Savior as He is, and I am resolved to do it."
We well know the kind of reception he got. If a dying malefactor, condemning himself, owned Jesus as Lord, that same blessed Lord over all will prove how rich He is to all that call upon Him. "Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise." Luke 23:4343And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:43).
One word, my reader. Is not this same blessed Person worthy of the confidence of your heart? Does not His position at Calvary plainly declare that He desires your forgiveness also? Besides this, He has authorized His servants to proclaim repentance and remission of sins in His name among all nations. You do not, you cannot deserve His forgiveness, but do you not desire it? G. C.
“There is no darkness,
nor shadow of death,
where the
workers of iniquity
may hide themselves."
"A Man
(the Lord Jesus Christ)
shall be ...
a hiding place."
O taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in Him."