In Luke 23:42-43 I read, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.’ And Jesus replied, ‘I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.'” (NLT)
God’s mercy is something I’ll need my entire life, especially when I’ve messed up and when I don’t have what I need. I need God’s mercy because of death. Death is inevitable. We all are going to die at some point. The mortality rate in the world is still 100 percent!
Many people fear death, but God doesn’t want me to. In fact, he shows me how to not be afraid of dying.
Luke 23 tells of a dying man who received God’s mercy. When Jesus went to the cross, he was hung between two criminals. The Bible says: “One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, ‘So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!’ But the other criminal protested, ‘Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong’” (Luke 23:39-41 NLT).
One criminal made fun of Jesus and acted as if death is the end of life, but he was wrong. Death is the start of eternity, either in heaven or hell.
The other criminal said, in effect, “Don’t you realize the seriousness of your situation? You are about to go face-to-face with God in a matter of seconds, and here you are, putting down Jesus.” Then he turned to Jesus and said, “Remember me when you come into your Kingdom” (Luke 23:42 NLT).
How did Jesus respond? “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43 NLT).
Now that’s last-minute mercy! The thief realized his greatest need was forgiveness for sins, not relief from pain. And he knew he couldn’t save himself. So he simply said, “Remember me.” And Jesus said, in effect, “That’s good enough.” Jesus’ response showed that he even had power over death.
When I accept the mercy of Jesus, I don’t need to fear death, all because of what Jesus did on the cross.
In summary, God’s mercy is something I’ll need my entire life, especially when I’ve messed up and when I don’t have what I need. I need God’s mercy because of death. Death is inevitable. We all are going to die at some point. Many fear death, but God doesn’t want me to. He shows me how to not be afraid of dying. Luke 23 tells of a dying man who received God’s mercy. When Jesus went to the cross, he was hung between two criminals. One of the criminals scoffed at Jesus, the other protested, ‘Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? We deserve to die, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong. One made fun of Jesus and acted as if death is the end of life, but he was wrong. Death is the start of eternity, either in heaven or hell. The other said, Don’t you realize the seriousness of your situation? “You are about to go face-to-face with God and here you are, putting down Jesus.” Then he turned to Jesus and said, “Remember me when you come into your Kingdom”. Jesus responded with “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise”. This was last-minute mercy! The thief realized his greatest need was forgiveness for sins, not relief from pain. He simply said, “Remember me.” And Jesus said, in effect, “That’s good enough. ”When I accept the mercy of Jesus, I don’t need to fear death, all because of what Jesus did on the cross.
The dying criminal had more faith than the rest of Jesus' followers put together. Although the disciples continued to love Jesus, their hopes for the Kingdom were shattered. Most of them had gone into hiding. As one of his followers sadly said two days later, "We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel". By contract, the criminal looked at the man who was dying next to him and said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom." By all appearances, the Kingdom was finished. How awe-inspiring is the faith of this man who alone saw beyond the present shame to the coming glory!
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