By: Scott Adkins, Sling ‘n Stone Ministry
Carter County Times
In 33 A.D., just outside Jerusalem, three men hung naked and nailed to three wooden crosses atop a hill called Golgotha – the place of the skull. (Matthew 27:33). Two of them – thieves and murderers – deserved it. (Luke 23:32). The man on the middle cross did not. Yet, before God laid the Earth’s foundations, and before time itself began, the man on the middle cross destined Himself to be there and to die that day. (I Peter 1:20). Why? So that He might rescue sinners – that’s us – from His Father’s wrath. (Mark 10:45).
One criminal hanging beside the man on the middle cross rightly told the other: “We receive the due reward for our deeds, but This Man has done nothing wrong.” (Luke 23:41). That criminal then pleaded with This Man dying next to him: “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” (Luke 23:42). Most men, suffering crucifixion would not, in their final moments, endure the pain necessary to breathe and answer the criminal. But This Man took the pain. He did so because This Man loved that criminal dying next to Him. (Romans 5:8). And so, This Man answered the criminal: “Surely, today you will be with Me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43).
Shortly thereafter, all three men breathed their last. The two criminals died silently, too weak to breathe. But not This Man. This Man finished strong, like no other man, and “cried with a loud voice, Father, into your hands I commend My spirit.” And then, This Man died too. (Luke 23:46). The two criminals, like all men who die, stayed dead. But not This Man. Three days after He died, This Man kept His promise, (Mark 9:31), got up and walked out of that grave, alive forevermore. (Revelation 1:18). Any other righteous man, rising from the dead, might race-off to heaven. But not This Man.
This Man stopped to show His friends that He’d kept His promise to rise from dead. (Luke 23:49). This Man stopped to show His friends that all This Man said, and that all This Man did… it’s all true. (John 14:6); (John 20:16-17); (I Corinthians 15:6). Only then did This Man go home to His Father. (Luke 24:51). Why did This Man do that? Because This Man is Faithful, and He is True. (Revelation 19:11).
Most men, having suffered all This Man suffered, would rest. But not This Man.
When He got home, This Man got busy building a place for all who follow Him. (John14:1-3). This Man’s angelic gatekeepers might’ve asked the criminal, “What are YOU doing here?” The criminal might’ve replied: “This Man, on that middle cross… He said I could come.” This Man extends to all that same invitation, saying: “Come Follow Me.” (Matthew 19:21). And This Man, He asks us all: “But Whom say ye that I AM.” (Mark 8:29). This Man…
