“ARE YOU NOT THE CHRIST?”

 Luke 23:39-43                   (ESV)

39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at HIM, saying, "ARE YOU NOT THE CHRIST?” Save YOURSELF and us!"

40 But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear GOD, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?

41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this MAN has done nothing wrong."

42 And he said, "JESUS, remember me when YOU come into YOUR kingdom."

43 And HE said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with ME in paradise." 

Seeing unjust deeds seemingly not immediately being dealt with can be frustrating to we in our instant gratification mentality.  We want to act as though we are more holy than those who we are judging when the only hope any of us has is the BLOOD OF JESUS that HE freely shed on our behalf!

The first criminal mentioned in the Scripture above had a preconceived idea of how/what JESUS would do for him, and I am pretty sure that it didn’t have to do with dying on a cross right before Passover?  I’m sure that he imagined himself living a life to the fullest, but his sins and criminal behavior cut short his plans.  He had NO IDEA that the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSES was next to him on a cross paying a debt that we were unable to o pay for the sins that we had committed!

The EYES of the second criminal were OPENED and he cried out “JESUS, remember me when YOU come into YOUR kingdom”!  He KNEW that JESUS was the SON OF GOD, so he simply asked HIM to remember him when HE got to Heaven.  He couldn’t be baptized.  He couldn’t offer tithes and offerings.  All he could do is ask to be remembered by the MAN WHO is GOD, and JESUS did! 

Do we deserve anything less than the first criminal got that day???  Were it not for the sacrifice of JESUS, my future would be just as bleak as the criminal already crucified!  KNOWING that JESUS is GOD can ONLY be revealed to us FROM ABOVE (Matthew 16:17), therefore we have NO REASON to be exalted.  Living in fear displays that we aren’t sure of what will be happening to us in the future.  Walking in FAITH paints a TOTALLY different picture.  Our lives should be a testament that we KNOW “ARE YOU NOT THE CHRIST”!