Jesus Foretold: Crucified With Thieves (MP 83)

How ironic, the three dark silhouettes,
Hanging grotesquely between earth and sky—
Ladened crosses dance macarbe pirouettes,
On which the veiled sun refuses to spy!
Suspended betwixt a thief and a thief,
The innocent Maker of men, pierced by men,
Whose calloused hearts, void of love or belief.
Hope in vain His death will His gospel end!
Call Golgotha the “Revenge Of The Clay”;
Men, being shaped like God, made to be pots!
Pity the Potter, who formed men that way—
The “whats” that He made want to be “whatnots”!
Earth groaned for Jesus in His agony,
That men numbered Him in such company!

Scripture Quoted (NIV) [Brackets added]
Prophecy Made: Isaiah 53:12b—“…because he [Jesus of Nazareth] poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.” (Written in the 7th century B.C.)

Prophecy Fulfilled: Luke 23:32-33—“Twp other men, both criminals, were also led out with him [Jesus of Nazareth] to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull [Golgotha], there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right side and the other on his left.” (Written in the 1st century A.D.)

Matthew 27:45, 51—“From the sixth hour [noon] until the ninth hour [3 p.m.] darkness came over all the land. … At that moment [when Jesus died] the curtain in the temple was torn from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split.”

Commentary On: “Jesus Foretold: Crucified With Thieves”
It is not incredible to read that Jesus was crucified with thieves—after all, though falsely convicted, He was found guilty of heresy. Claiming to be the Messiah and the Son of God sent to Israel as prophesied in their Bible, they claimed He was making Himself equal with God; He was telling the truth, and I believe that most of the Sanhedrin had decided that He really was telling the truth, but they could not afford to let their inner feelings be known, lest their cushy jobs in the temple be done away with. When Pilate authorized His crucifixion, it is not surprising that other criminals were crucified with Him. What is incredible is that the prophet Isaiah prophesied 700 years before His birth that He would be “numbered among transgressors “ in His death. In the years before the birth of Jesus the promised Messiah was regarded with highest respect and anticipation, being regarded as a prophet like Moses, their greatest hero, and Israel’s deliverer. Isaiah’s prophesy that Israel’s Savior would be counted as a criminal is certain to have raised skepticism.

Being hung between two admitted thieves did not bother Jesus a bit. In fact He spent most of His ministry in the company of tax collectors, prostitutes, and what the Pharisees considered to be the “dregs” of society. Jesus was roundly criticized for it, too, for no Pharisee or religious leader would dare let his robe touch one of these “sinners”, lest it make him “unclean”. But Jesus answered the accusation that He fraternized with sinners by replying He did not come into the world to seek those that did not need a “physician” but those enslaved in sin. It was not a handicap to be crucified between two thieves but an opportunity. One of the robbers hurled insults at Jesus, saying if He was the Christ, He should save Himself and them with His supernatural power. The other defended Jesus, replying to his fellow criminal that the two of them deserved their punishment, but that Jesus was being punished unjustly. The most wonderful thing happened next. He turned to Jesus and asked to be remembered when Jesus came into His kingdom. Jesus answered,”This day you will be with me in Paradise.”

The fact that this convicted thief called for Jesus to remember him and was granted salvation should be enough to put an end to all those claims that a person must do some :good works” for the Lord—like baptism, church attendance, tithing, etc.—to be saved. A lost person is not required to “do” anything at all to be saved; he or she only has to believe in Jesus. Calling upon Jesus to save you, like the thief did, is enough for God in His mercy and grace to give you salvation. Since Jesus doesn’t walk around the earth today for you to ask Him personally, all you have to do is to ask Him in prayer from wherever you are; you can ask Him to save you mentally and mean it, and you will be saved.

Notice that nature responded to the humiliation and injustice those Jewish religious despots poured out on Jesus by various natural calamities in protest—the sun refused to shine for three hours, from 12:00 noon to 3 p.m.; and there was an earthquake that shook the earth, opened tombs of saved persons and restored them to life, and tore the huge and heavy curtain that hung in the temple guarding the Holiest Place from entry by any one but the chief priest (from top to bottom, signifying that God tore it from above, and that now anyone had access to God). How could the Sanhedrin not recognize the huge insult they hurled at their Creator?

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in his name shall not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Roman 10:9)