Two criminals, both guilty as charged and condemned to the horrible death of crucifixion, one on either side of Jesus. Angry, bitter, cynical, mocking everything good, even joining in with the crowd of their tormentors in a macho display of bravado as they railed at the Man in the middle.

“Ha, ha! So You’re the Messiah? The great ‘Liberator of Israel?’ Prove it! Save Yourself, and us!”

One of them was dying with this bitter mockery on his lips. His own hope of a political liberator was gone. He was helpless in the hands of the Roman Empire, and there was no escape. God had failed him.

But something clicked in the other one’s mind, as the lights came on for him, inside. This Jesus wasn’t like them; He was good, He was innocent, and He was dying willingly, not like himself. Suddenly he understood it! The Messiah had come to lead a revolution, not against Rome, but in his heart. This wasn’t the end. The Kingdom of God wasn’t what he had always thought; it was something very different. There was hope, after all!

He knew that in a few hours he knew he would stand before God to be judged all over again. Turning to his former cell mate, he asked, “Have you no fear of God, even now? Can’t you see what’s happening here?”

“Jesus, remember me, when You come into Your Kingdom!”

And then he heard the words, "Truly, I say to you, (what I’m about to say will seem too wonderful to believe, but it’s the truth): today you will be with Me in paradise."

When God’s Word seems too good to be true, unbelievable in the light of what’s happening, or unscientific according to the latest theories of how things are, remember that He always tells the truth. “Truly, I say to you…”

Lord Jesus, I know Your Word is true, but sometimes I have a hard time believing it. Sometimes I have a hard time accepting it, because it contradicts what I thought I knew.
But I know I can trust You. Give me a heart that responds to Your promises with a true and living faith, and with ready obedience to Your commands, even when I don’t fully understand them. Amen!

Pastor Dan Giles