Lessons From the Conversion of the Thief on the Cross

In his book, The Office and Work of the Holy Spirit, James Buchanan has much to say about the work of the Holy Spirit in the conversion of sinners. After dealing at length with the necessity and nature of that work in the first section of the book, he includes a section devoted to what he calls “illustrative cases” or examples from the pages of Scripture of the Holy Spirit bringing various individuals to saving faith in Christ. Among these examples are the Philippian jailer, the Apostle Paul, Cornelius the Centurion, and others. All of these examples are instructive and encouraging in many ways, but of particular note is his treatment of the conversion of the thief on the cross.

I recently heard a great illustration about the thief on the cross given by Alistair Begg:

Think about the thief on the cross. What an immense… I can’t wait to find that fellow one day to ask him, “How did that shake out for you? Because you were cussing the guy out with your friend. You’d never been in a Bible study. You’d never got baptized. You didn’t know a thing about church membership. And yet—and yet, you made it! You made it! How did you make it?”

That’s what the angel must have said—you know, like, “What are you doing here?”

“Well, I don’t know.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know?”

“Well, ’cause I don’t know.”

“Well, you know… Excuse me. Let me get my supervisor.”

They go get the supervisor angel: “So, we’ve just a few questions for you. First of all, are you clear on the doctrine of justification by faith?”

The guy says, “I’ve never heard of it in my life.”

“And what about… Let’s just go to the doctrine of Scripture immediately.”

This guy’s just staring.

And eventually, in frustration, he says, “On what basis are you here?”

And he said, “The man on the middle cross said I can come.”

What is also shows is that salvation is a matter of the heart far more than the head. The so-called "good thief" (the word simply means malefactor/wrong doer) did not need to know much theology, but knew he was a guilty sinner, getting what he deserved, but that Christ was the innocent Messiah, thus wrongly crucified, and cast all his faith in the mercy of God in Christ. Thus - contrast to the railing, mocking thief, this contrite criminal would be with Christ that day.

For

The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. (Psalms 34:18)

Thanks be to God.

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