His Final Words: “Today You Will Be With Me In Paradise”

by David Chadwick

“Today you will be with me in paradise.” Some of Jesus’s famous last words found in Luke 23:43.

Did you know that when Jesus was crucified, he was placed on the cross in between two thieves? These two criminals were undeniably guilty of their crimes. According to Roman law, they were justifiably receiving their deserved death sentence. Their punishments fit their crimes.

Yet their responses to Jesus were entirely different. In the presence of the Savior of the world, they had two very different responses. One thief, in his human pride, never acknowledged the Lord of love and his forgiving grace. He remained obstinate and impertinent to Jesus. He died and headed straight toward hell.

The other thief, however, encountered the saving grace of Jesus in his dying breaths. He recognized who was in his midst and accepted the free gift of eternal life. His heart was softened, and he was repentant.

This story has a profound impact on the gospel of Jesus. The repentant criminal proved that anyone can receive Jesus’s gift of eternal life. Yes, even in his or her last breath.

Grace means grace! Nothing can be added to it and nothing can be taken away from it. It’s not based on works, so that no man can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). Rather, it is a free gift that Jesus gives because he is the Lord of love.

While crucified on the cross next to Jesus, the repentant thief humbly received the gift of grace. Jesus responded to him with these final words, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

When the thief died, he would immediately be with Jesus in paradise, where he would experience the restoration and perfection of heaven that will one day come to earth to restore everything back to its original intent.

May all of us realize that Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection is what allows us to be in his presence immediately after we die. There’s no purgatory. No intermediary state. No holding place. Simply to be absent from the body is to be present with Jesus, as Paul clearly stated in 2 Corinthians 5:7.

What good news from some of Jesus’s final words on the cross!

His Final Words: “Father, Forgive Them”

by David Chadwick

Jesus is the Word (John 1:14). Because of this, any words he spoke in Scripture are profoundly important. However, as we learned yesterday, the words leading up to someone’s death are often very rich, purposeful and profound.

I have found seven of Jesus’s “last words” in Scripture. Let’s look at the first one today.

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

If you were following along with us, we just completed a series in March on the madness of unforgiveness. We learned so many truths about how bitterness and resentment that take root in our hearts can actually perpetuate madness in our hearts!

I find it absolutely fascinating that Jesus’s first sentence from the cross dealt with forgiveness. As he hung naked on a cross in front of his enemies, after experiencing painstaking betrayal, and in the midst of the most excruciating physical pain, he chose to speak to the importance of forgiveness.

Jesus knew that the only ones truly hurt in unforgiveness are us.

Jesus’s plea to his Father to forgive those who put him on the cross was a statement of love, from the lips of the Lord of love, to remind us all that only love conquers hate. Only love opens the prison door of bitterness.

Dear friends, remember what I shared with you from R.T. Kendall’s teaching on forgiveness. He said that most people who have hurt us don’t even know how badly they have hurt us! In fact, some research estimates that only about 20% truly understand what they have done, thus implying that 80% are clueless of the pain they’ve induced.

Forgive them. Set them free. Let God do vengeance. He alone knows everything. He alone does perfect justice…and one day, justice will prevail!

And what about 20% who clearly knew what they were doing when they hurt you and chose to do it anyway? Yes, forgive them too.

Remember, it’s primarily for your benefit that you forgive. And it’s the heart of Jesus’s message to us all from the cross!

His Final Words: The Importance of Last Words

by David Chadwick

Over the next two weeks, I want to take you on an adventure to the cross. I want to look at the details, big and small, and help you understand the full meaning of Jesus’s journey from the cradle to the cross.

How are we going to do this? Each day, we will look at seven of Jesus’s “last word” phrases that he spoke on the cross. Every word he spoke was rich in meaning, intentional, and purposeful.

Words, in general, are powerful. But when you realize that John 1:14 says that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” and that Jesus IS the Word, the power of his words bear more weight than any human expression ever could.

Often, when someone is about to die, they will speak their most important words to those loved ones standing around them. It’s like the old joke says, “No one who is dying ever says, “I wish I would have spent more time in the office.”

Instead, someone nearing the end of life usually talks about his or her love for Jesus. And their spouse and kids. Their grandkids and sometimes even great grandkids. In Marilynn’s 97 year old dad’s case, if you were to spend even five minutes with him, he would gladly point out how proud he is of his kids, grandkids and GREAT grandkids!

Then, they may talk about what they want you to remember. They may share last pieces of advice, last memories, last insights.

The same thing was true of Jesus. His last words on the cross sought to give his followers great insights into his heart and to share the most important things with all of us before his death.

We will spend the next seven days looking at these seven truths that he left us in his final words on the cross.

Then, after hearing his final words on the cross, we will go back and relive his last words on the night before his death and then in the final hours on Friday leading up to his crucifixion and see what these hours may mean to us.

Join us on this journey for the next two weeks!