Do you know the feeling of relief you get when you get something important accomplished with barely a minute to spare?

Perhaps you realize at the eleventh hour that today is actually your wedding anniversary, and you haven’t yet bought a present for your spouse. But you race over to the store and manage to find the perfect gift just before they close. Crisis averted!

Or maybe you have to give a crucial presentation at work, but you’re stuck in traffic. So you take every shortcut you know and, lo and behold, you slide into the office as the clock strikes 9 AM. Your boss never knows how close you came to being late.

I imagine the thief on the cross knew this feeling.

When we speak of the “thief on the cross,” we’re referring to one of the two criminals between whom Jesus was crucified.

This is the one who said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). Jesus assured him that that very day he would be with Him in Paradise.

Talk about being in the nick of time!

The thief was dying an excruciating death. He probably only had a few hours left to live. Yet even at that late hour, he professed faith in Jesus and was accepted.

His story is often given as an example of how it’s never too late to turn to God, and that’s certainly true.

But I wonder if there’s more we can glean from the account of the thief on the cross?

There’s a question that’s always niggled at me: how did he know that Jesus was indeed Lord?

He apparently didn’t start out believing that. Two of the other gospels (Matthew 27:44 and Mark 15:32) indicate that both criminals mocked Jesus.

And yet for some reason one of the criminals came to see things differently in the hours he spent on his cross. The account of his story in Luke shows that he actually changed his mind and put his trust in Jesus.

Why did this thief go from mockery to belief?

Certainly, God could have simply opened his eyes to the truth about who Jesus really was.

Or maybe, the thief himself put two and two together.

This is speculation on my part, but I wonder if the events transpiring right in front of him brought to mind things he may have learned from the Old Testament as a boy.

Let’s imagine the scene from his vantage point:

He knew the accusation against Jesus: that He was claiming to be the Messiah. He will have seen the sign placed above Jesus: “This is the King of the Jews.” The thief might have been familiar with some of the prophecies concerning the Messiah.

He heard Jesus praying to the Father to forgive the very people who were crucifying Him. This might have given the thief pause and made him consider what kind of man was on the cross next to him.

The thief could also hear the people jeering at Jesus, “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” (Matt. 27:42-43)

Perhaps this reminded him of Psalm 22:

“All those who see Me ridicule Me;
They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
“He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him;
Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!” (v. 7-8)

Maybe the thief made further connections between Jesus’ crucifixion and what was foretold in this Messianic Psalm:

“The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.
They pierced My hands and My feet.” (v. 16)

Then the thief will have noticed what the soldiers were doing at the very foot of the cross: gambling for Jesus’ clothes. More verses from Psalm 22 could have come flooding back to his mind:

“They divide My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots.” (v. 18)

And maybe, despite the hot Judean sun, a chill went up his spine just then. He may have thought, “This IS the Messiah! The prophecies are being fulfilled right in front of my eyes!”

And so with just hours or minutes to spare before he died, the thief grabbed his chance.

He admitted publicly that he was a sinner but that Jesus was innocent. By asking Jesus to remember him when He came into His Kingdom, the thief was implicitly affirming his belief that Jesus was the Messiah, and that God would somehow raise Him from the dead.

And that was exactly enough to save him.

“If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

All of us have the opportunity to examine the Biblical prophecies about Jesus and see for ourselves whether He fulfilled them.

Perhaps you’ll look into them and realize that Jesus is indeed Lord and that you need to put your trust in Him. But none of us knows how much time we have left on this earth to do so.

You might just be in the nick of time!

© 2024 Lori J. Cartmell. All rights reserved.