The Message of the Three Crosses – (Luke 23:32-43)

Luke 23:32-43

On the day Jesus was crucified, two other death sentences were carried out alongside His own (Luke 23:32-33).

32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. (Luke 23:32-33)

On Golgotha, “the hill of the skull” (the place of execution), three crosses were raised. Besides Jesus, two other men were crucified there. Unlike Jesus, they were justly condemned criminals. Luke calls them evildoers. In this circumstance the prophetic words of Isaiah were fulfilled — that His grave would be “assigned… with the wicked” (Isaiah 53:9), and that He would be “numbered with the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12). If we look closely at the text and the situation, we can easily see that each of these three crosses carries its own meaning.

• The cross of the defiant criminal reveals human stubbornness, blindness, and rebellion against God.
• The cross of the Lamb of God speaks to us of God’s boundless love and of the redemption He secured for us through His self-sacrifice.
• The third cross — that of the humbled criminal — shows us the repentance of a man who was saved from death and sin on that very day.

I believe that each of these crosses carries a message the Holy Spirit longs to bring home to every one of us.

THE CROSS OF REBELLION

Let us picture the scene. Golgotha — the hill of executions — the place where death sentences were carried out. All three crosses are already raised. In the middle is Jesus. He is the victim. He is condemned unjustly. He has done nothing to deserve the unbearable suffering to which He is subjected. On either side of Him are the two criminals, bearing the just penalty for their crimes. We do not know their names, their ages, or the crimes they committed. But Luke makes it clear that they are guilty. They committed criminal offenses deserving the death penalty. Around the crosses stand the Roman soldiers guarding them. The crowd is there too, having come to witness the humiliation of the crucified. And they hang there in the agony of dying. Unimaginable pain pierces their bodies. Their time is running out. They groan in their torment as life leaves them. And yet, in these last moments of their lives, they find the strength to exchange a few words with one another.

The conversation is begun by one of the criminals. He throws a mocking remark at Jesus: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” (Luke 23:39). It was as though these words were Satan’s final attempt to shake Jesus from going all the way and completing our redemption. But they also testify to the character of the man who speaks them. In truth, this criminal does not want to be saved. He believes there is no alternative to death. In his words there is hopelessness and rebellion. He has decided not to give in to the pressure of the crowd or to the pain. Proud and defiant, he is firmly resolved to remain “strong” to the end. He acts “tough” — refusing to let himself be broken, crushed, or silenced by his torment. Many people in this world might admire his unyielding stance in the face of death. From a human point of view he behaved like a hero. Despite the pain, the humiliation, and the suffering, he kept his composure. He was even able to sneer at his fellow sufferer, crucified beside him.

But there is something beyond this life. And that is death. In a few hours this proud, self-assured, hardened man would breathe his last and sink into the icy embrace of death. His strength was temporary. Being tough could not help him. Neither could his proud and independent spirit. His stubbornness had made him live alone and die alone — without God. And now he was dying in his sins and going to hell.

The defiant criminal had squandered his days in wrongdoing. Life had embittered and hardened him. Now he would meet his final defeat — physical death, and then eternal death. Yet salvation was only an arm’s length away. Or perhaps, more precisely, one meter of humility away. If only he had believed, if only he had begged Jesus, he would have found salvation and eternal life. This prisoner was in the very presence of God. His cross stood next to the cross of the Son of God. But the rebellion in his heart had made him blind to spiritual truth. Although he was so close to the Savior, he died in his sin, in a terrible agony of spirit — full of hatred, malice, and hopelessness. His body was buried in a pauper’s grave, and his soul went to hell.

The condition of this self-assured rebel is truly wretched. But let us look at the next cross.

THE CROSS OF REDEMPTION

Jesus entered Jerusalem as God’s Anointed One, to die on a cross as the Lamb of God, and on the third day to rise as the Son of God. When He began His ministry, John the Baptist presented Him to his disciples with the words: “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29, 36). This title could be understood in only one way. Lambs were slaughtered as a sacrifice for sin. The sinner confessed his guilt before God and asked Him to accept the death of the lamb in place of his own death. Sin can be paid for only by death. And the death of an animal is not enough to cover it. Hebrews 10:4 says:

4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. (Hebrews 10:4)

That is why, in His love for us, God the Father sent His one and only Son to die in our place. He became the sacrifice, the Lamb of God, who died for the sins of the world.

The great prophet Isaiah wrote of how God would make the Anointed One a sacrifice for our sins. He would be burdened with our guilt. He would die in our place as our substitute, so that we might be set free from sin (Isaiah 53:3-12). This prophecy was fulfilled on the day Jesus was crucified between the two criminals (1 Peter 2:24; 1:18-20).

Some people ask: “Why did Jesus have to die? Couldn’t God have saved us some other way and avoided death?” The answer to this question lies in God’s nature. God is holy and just. His holiness cannot tolerate sin. His justice requires that sin be punished. That is why all people, all of us who are sinners, were condemned to death. If someone else, sinless and innocent, were to bear the punishment for our sins, we would be justified and set free. But no such person existed, because every human being born on this earth was sinful. What was needed was a second Adam — sinless and innocent — who would agree to die in place of the first Adam and all his descendants. And Jesus did it. On that terrible day He was dying on the cross in the middle for our sake. He was not dying in sin, for He was sinless. Nor was He dying to sin, for there is no sin in Him and He was free from sin. Jesus was dying because of sin — because of our sin, which He, as the Lamb of God, had borne in our place.

There was a great difference between the defiant criminal and Jesus. Jesus was also suffering, but He was not tense like him. He had inner peace and calm because of His innocence and His readiness to forgive. There was no violence in Him. As they crucified Him, He prayed for His executioners: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). When they provoked, mocked, and reviled Him, He was silent (Luke 23:35-37). When the stubborn robber fired off his mocking remarks at Him, Jesus said nothing to defend Himself. He knew that He was not suffering for His own sake, but for ours. Without complaint He drank all the bitterness that filled the cup of suffering. His love gave Him strength. Truly, what an astonishing love!

There is a short story by an anonymous author called “The Long Silence.”

THE LONG SILENCE

At the end of time, billions of people were seated on a great plain before God’s throne. Most of them shrank back from the bright light that streamed from it, but nearer the front were groups who spoke angrily — not cowering in servile shame, but defiantly. “How can God judge us? What does He know about suffering?” snapped a young brunette defiantly. She pulled back her sleeve to reveal a number tattooed on her arm from a Nazi concentration camp. “We endured terror… beatings… torture… death!” In another group a boy of African descent pulled down the collar of his shirt to reveal his neck. “What about this?” he said heatedly, showing an ugly scar from a hanging. “Lynched, not for any crime, but only because I was black!” In another group there was a pregnant schoolgirl with a sullen look: “Why did I have to suffer?” she protested. “It was not my fault.”

Farther off, on the other side of the plain, there were hundreds of such groups. Each of them had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering He had allowed in His world. “How lucky God is to live in heaven — where everything is a blend of goodness and beauty. There, where there is no weeping, or fear, nor hunger or hatred. What does God know about all that man is forced to bear in this world? For God leads a pleasant, peaceful life,” they said.

So each of these groups sent forward its own representative, chosen among them because he had suffered most. A Jew, a black man, a man from Hiroshima, someone crippled by arthritis with horribly twisted limbs, a child born deformed. In the middle of the vast plain they conferred with one another. At last they were ready to present their charge against God. It was quite well thought out.

For God to earn the right to judge them, He would have to endure everything they had endured. Their verdict was this:

• Let God be sentenced to live on earth as a man.
• Let Him be born a Jew.
• Let the legitimacy of His birth be called into question.
• Let Him be given work so difficult that even His family would think He had lost His mind.
• Let Him be betrayed by His closest friends.
• Let Him be unjustly accused.
• Let Him be tried by prejudiced jurors and condemned by a cowardly judge.
• Let Him be tortured.
• Finally, let Him see what it means to be utterly alone.
• Then let Him die in such a way that there could be no doubt He was dead. And let there be a great number of witnesses to confirm it.

As each of the representatives of the various groups pronounced his part of the sentence, loud shouts of approval rose from the crowd. When the last one had finished his part of the sentence, a long silence fell. No one uttered a word. No one moved. Suddenly they all realized that God had already borne this sentence.

THE CROSS OF REPENTANCE

Between the two criminals crucified with Jesus there was a fundamental difference. The other criminal was not as unscrupulous and venomous as the first. He was quiet. His gaze, too, was fixed on the Man in the middle. He watched Him, but in silence. Only after some time did he speak. First he tried to bring his fellow criminal, on the other side of Jesus’ cross, to his senses by making him see the obvious — that Jesus was innocent, while they deserved their punishment.

39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” (Luke 23:39-41)

A little later he made an extraordinary confession of faith (verse 42):

42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” (Luke 23:42)

He was watching Jesus. He noticed the inscription above His cross: “This is the King of the Jews.” He heard His prayer: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing!” And suddenly his spiritual eyes were opened, and he saw all the pieces of the mosaic fall into place.

• “Father” — God as the Father of Jesus — therefore the man beside him is the Son of God. And the inscription above His head confirmed that He is the Anointed One;
• “forgive them” — sin, mercy, forgiveness;
• “for they do not know what they are doing” — human ignorance and blindness.

Perhaps, understanding all this, the humbled criminal asked himself: “And what about me? What will become of me?” Perhaps the fear of God filled his heart, and when he heard the mocking remark of his fellow criminal, he became afraid of the consequences that such blasphemy might bring. He recognized his guilt and his sin, and he accepted his punishment as something deserved. Such an attitude is a mark of sincere repentance, and repentance is precisely the act by which we can turn our back on sin and die to it. And so, in this critical moment, the repentant criminal found only a few words to express what he felt: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” These words are a truly remarkable confession. They contain the faith that Jesus would live even after the cross — and not only live, but reign — that He would finish what He had begun as God’s Anointed One.

Jesus’ answer is impressive as well — words that every person would long to hear: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). This is a promise that would be fulfilled in only a moment.

This reply of Jesus gives us the answer to many of the questions we ask about death:

• Where will we go after we die? There are two possibilities — either paradise or hell.
• When will we go there? On the day of our death. There is no waiting, no purgatory, no reincarnation.
• Who can go to paradise? The one who is with Jesus — the one who repents of his sins and places his trust in the Lamb of God.

This promise of Jesus gives us a deep understanding of salvation. First, from it we understand that salvation is only and solely through Christ (1 Timothy 2:5). After Jesus’ words, the repentant criminal breathed a sigh of relief. The conversation was over. There was nothing more to add. The matter was settled, and settled forever. For the question of salvation is a question that only Jesus can settle. And He did. Unlike the rebel, the repentant criminal entered eternity with Jesus and is now with Him. And how will you enter eternity?

Second, from Jesus’ words we understand that salvation is by grace alone — “not by works” (Ephesians 2:8-9). He had no time to do any good deed. And yet he was saved. Salvation is by grace alone and through faith alone — “sola gratia” and “sola fide.”

Third, salvation is instantaneous. It is completed the moment a person believes. You believe with your heart, you make the good confession of faith, and you are saved. There is no waiting, no probationary period. Faith acts instantly. This is what Romans 10:9-10 says:

9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. (Romans 10:9-10)

THE CHOICE IS YOURS

The picture of the three crosses raised on the hill of Golgotha sets us before a choice. It shows us that every person determines his own eternal destiny by his attitude toward the Savior. The two robbers had one and the same opportunity — to die in sin or to die to sin. One remained loyal to his rebellion and hatred and mocked the very One who could have saved him. He chose to die in sin. The other repented and pleaded for mercy. He chose to die to sin. One went to hell — the place of eternal suffering. The other was welcomed into paradise — the place of eternal happiness and blessedness.

The question is: “Which of the two outer crosses expresses your own position toward God?” These men are a picture of us ourselves. We are all sinners and deserve to be crucified. Our eternal destiny, however, can be different. One was rebellious toward God and perished. The other repented, confessed his need of Jesus, and was saved. Which of the two examples will you follow? Imagine that you could stand in the place of one of them. Which place would you choose? That of the rebel or that of the humbled one? If tonight you too, like the repentant robber, place your trust in Jesus, you can have the same assurance he received — that on the day of your death you will pass into His presence and have eternal life.