Heavenly Hope
Seven Last Words from the Cross Part 2 * Luke 23:32-33, 39-43
We are in week two of a Lenten series called, “Seven Last Words from the Cross.” We are paying attention to Jesus’ last statements, because last words matter. And as the Son of God, Jesus’ last words reflect the very heart of God.
Last week we saw Jesus begin with forgiveness. Today we capture an equally surprising line from Jesus. In the midst of suffering an excruciatingly painful death, he took time to assure a criminal of eternal life. That makes me wonder, “What is this thing called eternal life. How does one receive it? And why does one criminal get it and one doesn’t?” Talk about a last-minute conversion!
Think about the criminals on either side of Jesus. Different Bible versions describe them as thieves, malefactors, evildoers, law breakers. It’s the same word in the Greek that John used in his gospel for Barabbas. It implies part of the criminal element, a career criminal so to speak. These two criminals actually fulfilled scripture. Isaiah prophesied some 700 years earlier that the Messiah would be “numbered with the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12). Jesus had reminded his disciples about this verse the night before, just moments before his arrest, and had said to them, “I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me” (Luke 22:37).
So these criminals were there by God’s design. They highlight the disgrace of Jesus’ death, as the Son of God was treated as a common criminal, but they also contrast the difference between pride and humility, heaven and hell, eternal life and eternal damnation. You might look at these two criminals and think, “They’re exactly alike: trouble makers, law breakers, guilty as charged.” But if you look closer, they are as different as night and day. One criminal scoffs. One believes. One dies in lostness. One dies to live forever. The Apostle Paul would later write, in 1 Corinthians 1:18, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” I wonder if he had these two criminals in mind as he wrote those words.
Today I want to use the conversation between the repentant criminal and Jesus to illustrate a couple of things: first, how one comes into eternal life, and secondly, what we know about eternal life. The latter might give you some assurance for those who have gone ahead of us, as well as for when your time comes to cross over.
How one comes into eternal life:
First, how do you enter what Jesus calls “paradise?” We’ll use a simple acronym: A-B-C. The “A” stands for...
1. Admit your own sinfulness (vv. 40-41a)
Matthew and Mark record that both criminals ridiculed Jesus on the cross. Yet, only Luke captures the change of heart in one, perhaps as he watched Jesus’ prayer for forgiveness for his enemies. Listen again to verses 40-41: “But the other criminal rebuked him. ‘Don’t you fear God,’ he said, ‘since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve.’”
To gain eternal life, you must first die to pride. You must admit that you are one messed up person. You don’t just sin; you are a “sinner,” one in rebellion against the God who made you to fellowship with himself. Every sin originates in pride. Like Adam and Eve, we think we know better than God, until we know we don’t. So you must first humbly admit that you are lost.
It reminds me of those times when I’ve been physically lost. I was trying to find a doctor’s office, or a vacation destination, or an azimuth in basic training, and I was lost. Sometimes navigators and GPS’s and—in the old days—those paper road maps that never folded back up exactly right—sometimes those tools are not enough. In those occasions when I was lost, I had to come to a realization that I wasn’t going to be able to succeed alone. I had to swallow my pride and ask for help. So it is with eternal life. We must admit our own sinfulness. We need a Savior. We cannot get there alone. Secondly, we must...
2. Believe in Jesus’ sinlessness (v. 41b)
Now that you understand your own sinfulness, you need to understand Jesus’ sinlessness. He was numbered among the transgressors, but he did nothing wrong. Everyone in prison claims to be innocent; in Jesus’ case, it was really true! Jesus never sinned! He is the only human being that has never sinned. The repentant thief said it well, at the end of verse 41, when he said, “But this man has done nothing wrong.” Hebrews 4:15 declares the same about Jesus, our High Priest, “who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet he did not sin.”
It is Jesus’ sinlessness that makes him the perfect sacrifice for all of our sins. The Bible teaches that the Father’s righteous wrath over our sinfulness was appeased once and for all through the death of the unblemished lamb, the son of God. The word you’ll see in scripture is propitiation or atonement. As the gospel song says,
He paid a debt He did not owe
I owed a debt I could not pay
I needed someone to wash my sins away
And now I sing a brand new song
Amazing Grace
Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay
Once you are fully aware of your sinfulness and Jesus’ sinlessness, you must...
3. Commit your life to Christ (v. 42)
God doesn’t force this commitment; you make it voluntarily on your own. As J. C. Ryle put it: “One thief on the cross was saved, that none should despair; but only one, that none should presume.” Don’t presume your salvation unless you know you have committed your life as best you know how to Christ.
Luke 23:42 quotes the repentant criminal as saying, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He was placing himself under Jesus’ reign. He was saying, “I would like to be a citizen of your kingdom, Jesus. Remember me when it comes about.” Think about the faith he had, because Jesus didn’t look much like a King at this point. On the outside, he looked like one more lawbreaker being brutally executed by the state. Yet, this criminal saw through all that. Evidently, he had more faith than any of the disciples at this point, because he saw a Savior, and he placed his life in the hands of his Lord.
Note what the repentant criminal did NOT do to be saved: He did not come forward at the invitation time and profess his faith in Christ. He did not get baptized. He did not speak in tongues. He did not attend Catechism or a new member class. He did not join the church. He did not take Communion. He did not tithe. He did not go to Sunday School or a single church service. He did not get involved in any kind of ministry. As good as all of these things are, he did not do any of them. In fact, he DID NOT DO ANYTHING! Which tells us, salvation is a free gift for the asking. Eternal life is not dependent upon what we do, but on what Jesus has already done for us. All we do is receive it.
What we know about Jesus’ eternal life:
So what is this eternal life that Jesus gives? We know something about it based on Jesus’ response to the criminal. In verse 43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Based on this simple response, consider these three features of eternal life. First,
1. It is immediate (“today”)
There is no “soul sleep” mentioned here, the idea of some scholars that your soul falls asleep until Jesus comes again in so many years or decades or millennia. Jesus said, “TODAY you will be with me in paradise.” This guy would die on the cross and that very same day he would be with Jesus in glory. The Apostle Paul wrote that to be “absent from the body” was to be “present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). When you die, you fall asleep in this life and awake in the next. There will be no delay.
One father explained it to his child like this: “You know when we get home late from a trip, and you’ve fallen asleep in the car, and I carry you into your bedroom while you’re still sleeping? And when you wake up in the morning, you are home, safe and secure in your own bed. That’s the way heaven is going to be. We’ll go to sleep in this life, and wake up knowing we are home.” It is immediate. And...
2. It is intimate (“you will be with me”)
Jesus said to the crook next to him, “Today...you will be with ME.” Heaven is a very intimate setting, because we get to be with the lover of our soul. Heaven has a lot of good things going for it. You never get sick with the flu bug. There are no hospitals or insurance companies, no traffic jams, no gossip, no cockroaches or mosquitos, no country music. (OK, I took some liberty there!) And on the plus side, heaven has lots and lots of yummy food, but no calories. (I’m not sure how that will work, but it will be great!) We will be there, but our sin won’t. But you know what the very best thing about heaven is? Jesus will be there. We will get to be with our Lord and Savior. Wow!
It is immediate, it is intimate, and...
3. It is incredible (“in paradise”)
Jesus borrowed from the Persian word “paradise” to describe it. You know what’s super cool about that word? In the Greek version of the Old Testament, the Bible in Jesus’ time, it is the same word used to describe the Garden of Eden back in Genesis 2:8! Heaven brings us back home to that sinless tranquility of Adam and Eve. We return to the paradise first created for us. No more litter. No more climate change. No more hurricanes. No more school shootings. People will get along with people. Animals will get along with animals. (The lion will lay down with the lamb!) And the whole creation will be made right again. It is going to be incredible!
Maybe, when you get to heaven, you can search out the thief on the cross, and ask him, “What was it like? What was it like to somehow know in your gut that this guy dying next to you was the Savior of the world? What was it like to put your life in his? What was it like to receive his assurance that you would join him in Paradise even that day?” Wow! I want to hear it all firsthand. What about you? Let’s pray about it:
To the one who died for us, as best we know how, we put all of our life trust in you. We are sinful. You are not. We believe you died for our sins. And we trust ourselves to you, Jesus. Help us to live for you each day, empowered by the Spirit of God you place in us. Help us to long for our heavenly home, yet also to trust in your perfect timing to get there. We believe in you. Help us in our times of unbelief. And may our lives glorify you more and more. Amen.
