SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/12/2024 9:33 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
“The Knowing Wicked”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matthew 27:38
Message of the verse: “At that time two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and the one on the left.”
Yesterday morning I finished looking at the ninth
Spiritual Diary on “The Ignorant Wicked,” and now today I want to look at “The
Knowing Wicked.” This small group is
seen in this 38th verse of Matthew chapter 28 and they are composed
of as the two robbers. MacArthur writes “Robbers
translates lestes, which denotes a
brigand who plunders as he steals. These
men were not petty thieves or even common robbers, but cruel bandits who took
pleasure in tormenting, abusing, and often killing their victims. It is possible they were associates of
Barabbas, who had probably been destined for the middle cross between them
before he was released and Jesus took his place. They were not patriots who plundered the
Romans to help secure the freedom of their country but hardened criminals whose
only loyalty was to themselves. They
were as great a threat to their own countrymen as to the Romans.” Now that we have a better idea of who these
two men were, and as MacArthur stated it is possible that the third one could
have been Barabbas who would have been worse than these two were for he was to
occupy the middle cross where the worst of the worst was put there. We know that Jesus was in the middle, but
certainly not the worst of the worst, for He certainly was the best of the
best, and as He was going through great suffering and now being crucified in
the middle of these two robbers He was actually dying for them, but as we will
see only one of them will take advantage of that. Another thought I have about Jesus being on
the middle cross is that while there the Father would cause the earth around
that area to become totally dark so that no one would be able to see the
punishment that Jesus would go through as He took sin, all sin upon Him which
makes being in the middle appropriate.
We cannot know for sure but these two robbers were
probably Jewish or at least lived in the Jewish society of Palestine. By living there they would have at least had
some knowledge of Judaism and the Jewish Messiah. They likely would have known something about
who Jesus of Nazareth was and the fact that He and His followers claimed He was
the predicted Messiah. So therefore
their rejection of Jesus was more serious than that of the soldiers.
Like
those soldiers they must have hand knowing that the charges against Him were
groundless charges of the Jewish religious leaders and the numerous
exonerations by Pilate. Matthew shows
that these men were not content to ignore Jesus as Matthew points out in verse
44 “The robbers who had been crucified with Him were
also insulting Him with the same words.”
It
is not known why these robbers had great hatred of Jesus. They apparently were not driven by religious
concerns, and Jesus had certainly done them no harm. However their naturally wicked hearts somehow
recognized His life as a righteous judgment on their sinfulness, and they now
joined the jeering crowds and the religious leaders in their mocking of
Jesus. Now I have mentioned that one of
these robbers would realize that Jesus was His Savior and Lord as he puts his
trust in Him for salvation. Now I want
to look at the account from Luke’s gospel as he describes the following “39 One of the criminals who were hanged there was
hurling abuse at Him, saying, "Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and
us!" 40 But the other answered, and rebuking him said, "Do you not
even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 “And
we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for
our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong." 42 And he was saying,
"Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!" 43 And He said to
him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.’” I guess that this is one of the reasons that
we have four gospels in the Bible.
MacArthur
concludes this section by writing “Like those of many people today, the lives
of the two robbers resolved around material possessions and fleshly
satisfaction. They had as little concern
for religion, common morality, and justice as did the pagan Roman
soldiers. Having a greater love for the
things of the world than the things of God, they used their dying breath to
vent their pet-up anger on the only one who could give them hope.”
I
have to say that I like Luke’s writings describing these two robbers than
Matthews.
8/12/2024 10:10 AM
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