The Dying Thief by G. W. White

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 5, 1911

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 38, No. 35.

The Dying Thief

By G. W. White

And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise. Luke 23:42, 43.

E was a hardened wretch. Some people are known by their good deeds; this thief was known by his crimes.

He was nailed to the cross, suffering the last measure of wo that this life could give. A few more hours and he would be dead and his body cast out into the dread Valley of Hinnom. So far as this world was concerned, he had nothing to fear.

Death should have appalled him, but it did not. The sufferings of another should have touched his heart, but they did not. So thoroly reckless and abandoned had he become, that on the cross he joins the other robber in mocking and reviling Jesus in His dying agonies.

They Crucified Two Thieves

At first both of them mocked, the people mocked, the Pharisees and priests mocked, the robbers mocked. O, what a picture! Men created to show forth the glory and goodness of God, cursing and swearing and jeering and mocking another sufferer as they gaze into their own graves and as eternity stares them in the face! Humanity could not sink lower than this. O, what wreck and ruin sin has wrought in this world!

No man is ever, in a moment, made a votary of sin and vice. This man had not always been a jeering, mocking robber and murderer. Once he was a sweet and prattling babe. There was a time when a fond Hebrew mother bent tenderly over his sleeping form, parted those dark locks with fingers of love, and kissed those soft red lips as she fondly dreamed of her boy’s future. But sin, with its blighting, blasting, withering touch, got hold of him. Little by little, by slow gradations, he sank into the mire, until, hanging on the cross, suffering a death of deepest shame, he could spend his time in mocking and deriding the sinless Sufferer. What a thing to be dreaded is sin! Yet, “pride, covetousness, and love of the world have lived in our hearts without fear of banishment or condemnation,” and we seem to be so unconcerned about getting rid of it! At last,

A Great Change Comes Over This Robber

He is brought to see his condition as a lost sinner, and he cries for mercy. He acknowledges his guilt. There was no concealment, no blaming of others or of circumstances, no excusing of himself. He made a clean breast of it all. (See verse 41.) His marvelous faith lays hold of Jesus Christ; and then what?

He Tries to Save His Brother Robber

Hear those marvelous words of rebuke as there is a lull in the jeering and mocking of the multitude: “Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?”

Ah, what a rebuke to the “indolence and slothfulness” of 1911! Here we are, on the verge of eternity, with the curtain about to be raised, comfortably installed in our homes, enjoying the innumerable blessings of God; and He calls upon us to warn our neighbors of the nearness of the end of all things. Have we done it? Are we doing it? Thousands must answer, No. And why not? — We have not the time. We are so deeply engrossed in the affairs of this life, that we haven’t the time. We have had a headache or some other indisposition. But here is a man suffering all the pangs of crucifixion, in the midst of a howling, jeering mob, that has the time and disposition to try at least to save his neighbor.

What Marvelous Faith He Had

Had he been converted at the tomb of Lazarus, or at the feeding of the five thousand, or on Galilee when Jesus stilled the storm-tossed waves with a word, or at the resurrection of Jesus, we would not marvel. But it was when the confidence of Christ’s disciples, who had witnessed wonders, was completely shattered; when all His followers had forsaken Him; when our Lord was actually dying, amid the curses of a world, betrayed, deserted, derided, and cursed — through all this he had faith. All hail, thou dying robber! Snatched from the very jaws of hell, washed from all sins, how bright the diadem that will glitter on thy brow when Jesus crowns His people! What wondrous, triumphant faith! Now note his prayer,

“Lord, Remember Me”

I tell you we would have hushed him at such a time as this. We would have said: You are too late. We are sorry for you, and wish we could help you; but you are too late. See the agony of the Saviour — see the blood trickling down over that blessed, sympathetic face, and dripping from those pierced hands and feet. See the agony that has settled upon His countenance. The earth itself is ready to shudder at the sight, and the skies to drape in mourning. O, no; trouble not the Master now. He can not pay attention to you when His soul is so full of trouble and wo.

But he, like blind Bartimeus, would not be hushed. If he must perish, he is resolved to perish pleading to be remembered by the Lord of heaven. Then, too,

His Prayer Was Brief

Like Peter sinking beneath the waves, he struck right at the heart of the Saviour.

Had some people whom I have heard pray, been in Peter’s place, they would have been many feet under the waves before they reached the words, “Lord, save me,” unless they dispensed with a lot of formal platitudes and vain repetitions; and had they been in the robber’s place, with “the whole head sick and the whole heart faint,” I fear they would have given up in despair. But his prayer was brief — humble; he asked only to be remembered. It was earnest, the cry of a lost soul on the verge of eternity: “Lord, remember me” — remember all my faults — all my swearing, jeering, mocking, and cursing — remember all my sins, if You will; but along with them all, Lord, remember ME.

Now, Note the Answer

During all that torture, Jesus had been silent. We read:

And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided Him, saying, He saved others; let Him save Himself, if He be Christ, the chosen of God. And the soldiers also mocked Him, coming to Him, and offering Him vinegar, and saying, If Thou be the King of the Jews, save Thyself. . . . And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on Him, saying, If Thou be Christ, save Thyself and us. Luke 23:35-37, 39.

But through it all He was silent. All the taunts and insults possible for Satan and his hosts to heap upon Him could not part those lips with a word of retaliation.

He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth. Isa. 53:7.

But now,

The Cry of a Penitent Soul Reaches His Ear

A gleam of joy passes through His soul. Renewed strength and courage seem to possess Him. His great heart, almost broken, melts into tenderness; and with a word the black, crime-stained past of the robber is swept away, and hope and the joy and peace of God flood his soul as these soul-stirring words of the Saviour fall upon his heavy ear:

“Verily I say unto thee to-day” — “to-day,” when the confidence of My disciples is completely shattered — “to-day,” when all My followers have forsaken Me — “to-day,” altho I am dying among the curses of a world, betrayed, deserted, derided, cursed — “to-day,” when all seems to be lost, and the powers of darkness seem to have gained a complete victory — yet, “to-day,” in spite of it all — “Verily I say unto thee to-day, Thou shalt be with Me in Paradise.” — Murdock’s Syriac Translation.

What a Wonderful Promise

to a sin-stained soul! Faith brought it. In that dark hour, faith brought the victory over every sin, and opened the flood-gates of heavenly assurance. It surmounted every obstacle, swept every barrier away, cleansed that soul from every stain, and clothed him with the righteousness of the Son of God.

This is the privilege of every soul to-day, and is the requirement which God makes of those who hope to share with Christ in the possession of the earth made new; for they are to be without “spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing” (Eph. 5:27); “without fault before the throne of God.” Rev. 14:5.