‘You’re getting what you deserve.’ After a life of thieving and violence he was getting what he deserved. He’d always known the risk but the thrill of his actions had seemed worth it. Now he knew it wasn’t. It was all over and what lay before him was hours of agony and finally death.
The man hanging beside him was different. He was facing the same fate but He was a good man who had done no wrong but had got on the wrong side of the authorities. As the thief hung there he came to realise that this man was the Son of God as He had always professed to be. ‘Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.’ ‘Today You will be with me in paradise.’ If the thief had been hanging on any other crucifixion site, he would not have received the promise of heaven but it was no mistake that he was at Golgotha.
How wonderful it would be if our unsaved friends could hear the words, ‘Today you will be with me in paradise.’