Luke 23:39

Luke 23:39 says, And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.  One of the malefactors, or thieves as we know from another gospel account, mocked Jesus, telling Him if He were the Christ, to save Himself and them.  He did not understand that the only way for Jesus to offer salvation to everyone who would accept it was for Him to sacrifice Himself.   We need to understand that we cannot manipulate Jesus into doing our will.  Verse forty adds, But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?  The other thief asked the one mocking Jesus did he not fear God, since he himself was also dying on a cross.  When we are faced with certain death, there will never be any other time to make things between God and us right.  Verse forty-one continues, And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.  He then said that the other thief and he were guilty so their death was justified, but that Jesus was guilty of nothing.  We likewise are all guilty of sin, and the penalty of sin is death.  This does not just apply to some sins, but to all sins.  Verse forty-two continues, And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.  This thief then quit talking to his fellow thief and started talking to Jesus.  He did not ask Jesus to physically save him, but to remember him in paradise.  This is what we come to Jesus for, and that is everlasting life through our faith in Him.  Verse forty-three declares, And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.  Jesus told this guilty man because of his faith in Jesus that today he would be with Him in paradise.  The grave was not the end for Jesus, nor will it be for anyone.  Our decision about Jesus Christ and whether or not we accept Him as our personal Savior and Lord determines where we will spend eternity.  Verse forty-four states, And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.  For about three hours in the middle of the day there, there was darkness over all the earth.  There has never been a darker time than when Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, died on the cross for all the sins of all mankind.  The really sad thing about this is that many people, like the thief who mocked Jesus, will go away into everlasting punishment with the price of their sins already paid had they only accepted salvation by faith in Jesus Christ.  Verse forty-five adds, And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.  The sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in half.  The veil of the temple separated God from the people, except for the priests at certain times, and it was no longer needed.  There would now be nothing standing between anyone and God.  We no longer have to go to the priest to seek God's guidance as followers of Christ, but we are a part of the priesthood of believers.  Verse forty-six says, And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.  Jesus cried out to His heavenly Father and said He commended His spirit to Him, and then He gave up the ghost.  Those who hung Jesus on the cross did not kill Him, but He willingly sacrificed Himself for the sins of all mankind.  Verse forty-seven adds, Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man.  One of the soldiers, when he saw what had happened, pronounced Jesus to be a righteous man.  We still have to individually decide Who Jesus is.  Verse forty-eight states, And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned.  Beating their breasts was a sign of ridicule for Jesus and a lack of caring about His death.  This is still the attitude of far too many people today.   Verse forty-nine adds, And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things.  The followers of Jesus, including the women, stood far away watching what was happening.  As followers of Christ, we cannot stand far away from Him when things seem hopeless, but must spiritually draw even closer to Him.