Which side are you on?
On this Good Friday, as on the first, Jesus divides the saved from the lost
And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left.
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Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.”
But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”
And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
In the crucifixion, God gave humanity the clearest depiction of its condition. As Jesus hung on the cross, he was flanked by two convicts — one on His right and the other on His left. Everything we know about these criminals leading up to that point is identical: both were men; both were thieves; and both were caught, convicted, and condemned to death by crucifixion.
What ultimately separated them was their reaction to Christ. One used his last hours on Earth to join with the crowd in blaspheming Jesus. The other, fearing God and acknowledging his own guilt and helplessness, turned to Jesus for salvation, which he immediately received.
Like those men, each of us is guilty and condemned to die. And just like them, our only hope is to turn to Jesus for salvation because, also like them, we will all one day find ourselves on Jesus’ right side or His left — one side destined for eternal life and the other for eternal death. The only thing dividing us will be what we did when confronted with Christ.