The great faith of the criminal on the cross

One of the criminals crucified with Christ to me is one of the most admirable people I have never met. Why? Because of his character. I want to take a few moments to carefully analyze his words. 1. He rebuked the other criminal for his insolence of the Lord and admitted that they were guilty and justly condemned for their crimes

When the other criminal demanded that Jesus save him because he wanted a get-out-of-hell-free-card, the contrite rightly rebuked telling him, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Rarely do we hear people taking responsibility for their sins. This shows tremendous character on the part of this justly condemned. I used the word sins on purpose because our society looks at it as an antiquated word that it would love to totally dismiss from our vocabulary forever. The problem that most do not realize is that sin is an infectious disease of the soul that most of the world will die from - not only physically, but eternally. Sin is worse than any disease that man has ever suffered and died from. Fortunately there is an only cure. Believing in what Christ did for your sins when he died on the cross - that his blood washed them away forever. 2. The criminal knew Jesus would rise from the dead

The reason why we know this is because he asked Jesus to remember him when he comes into his kingdom (Luke 23:42). It would not have made any sense for him to ask Jesus about His kingdom unless He was going to rise from the dead. Dead men have no kingdoms! This was exhibiting tremendous faith by the criminal who knew he deserved to go straight to hell for his crimes. Jesus dying in agony having love and compassion for this man said, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). What this means is that Jesus saved this man on the spot. Why? 1) He knew he deserved to die for a life of rebellion against God and man. 2) He cried for mercy from the Lord which tells the writer that He knew Christ was the only one who could forgive him which is an acknowledgement of Jesus’ power to pardon his sins. 3) This evil man believed in the power of resurrection which demonstrates his great faith - something not even the disciples believed initially when the women declared to them that Jesus was alive on the third day (Luke 24:10-11). I praise God that this account appears in scripture. We learn how all people should respond when they face the Lord Jesus Christ. The lesson comes from the most unlikeliest of sources - a condemned penitent criminal. We must defend the Lord’s honor by those who disrespect Him. Admit that we are being justly condemned for our sins. Beg for mercy from the Lord to save us and remember us when He comes in His kingdom.

The Importance of Godly Repentance

Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And Jesus said to them, "Do you suppose these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will likewise perish. Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower of Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will likewise perish."    

                                  

                                                                                                                                    - Luke 13:1-6

Jesus was making the point that just because some die tragically and others do not, does not mean the deceased are worse than those who remain alive. The point Jesus is driving home is repentance. I brought this matter up because of the Coronavirus pandemic we are dealing with worldwide. As of this writing, 2,320,316 infected cases have been reported worldwide, 589,573 recoveries, and 158,781 deaths. 733,367 infected cases are in the US which make up 31.6% of all global cases provided the statistics are true.

Whether one is faithful church attendee, a volunteer at a homeless shelter or look after the sick and elderly in a nursing home, does not mean you go to heaven when you die. Many people believe their "righteous deeds" will earn them a trip to glory, no (Ephesians 2:8-9). While those things are humanly admirable and kind, unless one genuinely repents of their sins, they will perish (in hell). One CANNOT use their works as means to get right with God. It is an affront to God for one to assume that God must receive them into His heaven because they think they are good enough.

In Proverbs 15:8 we read,"the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the righteous is His delight." Proverbs 21:27 says, "the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, how much more when he brings it with evil intent?"

God is disgusted with the deeds of evil men because it does not proceed from a humble heart that is interested in giving God glory. Works righteousness are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).

Jesus was loving His audience (and by extension us in the present age) by warning them of the extreme importance of not having mis-perception about the death of others. In other words, no one is better than anyone else essentially. Why? Because we are all sinners and objects of God's holy wrath until we repent. We MUST feel the same way about our sin as God does - we must hate it! We should be guilty about it and sorrowful. We shouldn't just say, "Oh my bad!" As if our sin is no big deal since everyone sins. We need to understand that when we sin we offend the Lord Almighty which is the greatest offense of all (Psalm 51:4). That is why John said we are to confess our sins so that God can forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). 

In 2 Corinthians 2 Paul urged the members at the church of Corinth to repent. Paul had visited them and it did not go well. He in turn wrote them a letter which he had delivered to them by the hand of Titus (known historically as the severe letter) expressing his heart which caused the church sorrow. In the letter Paul was urging the Corinthians to repent which Titus reported that they did which was a joy to Titus and Paul (2 Corinthians 7:6-7). Although Paul was discouraged by the Corinthians, he had confidence that they would do the right thing - exhibit the the right attitude and receive Titus. Titus gave Paul the report that they had received him with love, and that they also expressed their love for Paul which no doubt invigorated Paul's heart (2 Corinthians 7:7). The aim of Paul was to produce godly sorrow in them for the purpose of repenting - not ungodly sorrow that leads only to ongoing impenitence and a hopeless death. Godly sorrow that leads to repentance and life is far better than the joy of the wicked which leads to death.

Genuine sorrow for sin will always result in a penitent, contrite heart that longs for God to forgive their wickedness and save them from His just wrath. That is the point that Jesus was addressing in Luke 13:1-6. All must repent or you will ultimately perish, forever separated from God.

Did Jesus preach the Gospel to the spirits in prison?

In 1 Peter 3:18-20 we read these words, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who were formerly disobedient, when once the Divine long suffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared in which a few, that is eight souls were saved through water” (NKJV).

The phrase He went and preached to the spirits in prison, is a subject of debate. Some, perhaps many that are aware of this account in the church believe this means Jesus between His death and resurrection went to an area in the underworld called paradise and preached the gospel to Old Testament saints like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Daniel, Isaiah, etc. Jesus had to reveal to them that He was the Messiah they must believe in order to receive salvation so they could be taken to heaven when he led captivity captive (Ephesians 4:8).

The word preached in 1 Peter 3:19 is the Greek word kerusso. It means to proclaim or herald. It seems strange to me that OT saints’ spirits would be in prison in the underworld for Jesus to have to release. Jesus proclaimed victory over the rulers of darkness when He died on the cross. The spirits that are bound in prison are evil angels and demonic spirits, not the spirits of OT saints. These are the evil spirits that scholars believe (and I) are those spirits that did not keep their estate or original abode (Gen 6:1-4; 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6). Remember there were angels in Genesis 6 that co-habited with women and produced a hybrid offspring – giants some believe. This was prohibited by God. As a result of their sin, God cast them down to Hell – (Greek word Tartarus) in chains and of darkness to await judgment (2 Peter 2:4).

What does the phrase He led captivity captive mean?

In Ephesians 4:8-9 we read the following, “When He ascended on high, He led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men. In saying He ascended, what does it mean but that He had also descended into the lower parts of the earth?”

A common interpretation of these two verses is that Jesus went into Hades or Hell – the non-tormented part and led the OT saints out of captivity from their “prisons” and took them to heaven. Since they had not heard the gospel and Jesus hadn’t died yet, in order for them to be released, they had to believe in Jesus first, then He would take their spirits to heaven. This of course they believed happened between His death and resurrection. I see no proof of that account in scripture.

Where many get tripped up is when reading the phrase, “He descended in the lower regions of the earth. The word lower is the Greek word katōteros. In context the apostle Paul is making reference to two things. 1) Jesus descended from heaven to earth in His incarnation. 2) Jesus death and His resurrection from the dead.  The second reason is most likely more accepted than the first.

Now, the meaning of He (Jesus) leading captivity captive is making reference to delivering all of us who were captives and prisoners of sin. Jesus has freed us from the sin slavery market. Jesus was victorious over His archenemy Satan and his demonic host. Jesus crushed the devil’s head (Genesis 3:15). If one insists on the more popular view, then you have to believe that only the OT saints were captive to sin which is of course is not true. The Bible declares to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. So as soon as a believer dies, they are in the presence of the Lord – that would include OT saints (2 Corinthians 5:8). We see a clear example of this when Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt 17:2; Mark 9:2).

So, the preaching mentioned in the 1 Peter 3:19 is not evangelism to OT saints.

When they died their spirits immediately went to heaven because they were already redeemed. Remember what Genesis 15:6 declares, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Meaning when Abraham took God at His word, the Lord justified him on the spot. His spirit did not have to go the underworld and wait 2,000 years later for Jesus as a spirit preach the gospel to him so he could believe. When Abraham walked the earth he already was a believer in God because the gospel had already been preached to him (Galatians 3:4).

Jesus’ preaching in 1 Peter 3:19 was a proclamation of victory over the forces of darkness bound in the blackness of hell for their sin. Colossians 2:15 declares that He defeated them openly, triumphing over them in it. Jesus publicly defeated and embarrassed them when He died on the cross. Jesus’ human humiliation was also His greatest triumph by crushing Satan and liberating all His captives.