DR 7
December 7
John 19:31, 32. The death of the two thieves.
It was the custom among the Romans to allow crucified people to remain on their crosses long after they had expired. But the Jews had a law which forbade this practice. God had commanded, "If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but you shall in any wise bury him that day, (for he who is hanged is accursed of God,) that your land be not defiled." (Deut. 21:23.) If it was wrong to allow a person to remain on a cross, or tree, on a common day, it was of course more improper to allow him to remain there on the Sabbath. The Jews had a peculiar reverence for that Sabbath which occurred during the feast of the Passover. They regarded it as a high day, and they were very anxious that dead bodies should be removed before it began. As they began their Sabbath at six o'clock on Friday evening, it was necessary on this occasion to use great haste.
The Jews, supposing that none of the crucified people might be dead so soon, besought Pilate to hasten their death, in the usual, but cruel manner, by breaking their legs. They knew not that the object of their hatred had forever escaped from their hands, and that they would never have the opportunity of inflicting another pang upon his sacred person. How hateful to God was the worship of those men in his temple, on the approaching Sabbath! The words spoken by the prophet Isaiah applied to them—"When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; when you make many prayers I will not hear—your hands are full of blood." (Is. 50:15.) Their hands were imbrued in the blood of the Son of man. How could his Father bear them in his presence! Let us never imagine that we can please God by our services, while we are stained with unpardoned sins—sins not abhorred —not confessed —not forsaken. None can truly please him but those who are cleansed from guilt by faith in his Son.
When these wicked men commanded the legs of the malefactors to be broken, they accomplished the purpose of God. Jesus had said to the penitent thief, "Today shall you be with me in paradise." Had that poor sufferer been left to hang upon the cross, he might have lingered several days. The soldiers broke his legs, and that very day he was in paradise with the Savior, in whom he had believed. The other thief was killed at the same time, and in the same manner; but we have no reason to think that he went to the same place. We do not hear that he was moved by the rebuke his companion gave, or that he offered the prayer his companion offered. Death is no release to an unpardoned sinner. The agonies of a cross are not to be compared to the torments of hell, where the worm never dies, and where the fire is never quenched.
We know not in what manner we may die, by what painful disease, or dreadful accident. We will leave all these circumstances in the hand of God, trusting in his mercy to support us through every fiery trial. But let us often ask, "What will become of our souls when they leave these bodies?" The friends who stand around a dying bed cannot see the spirit as it leaves its earthly abode, nor trace its course as it is carried by angels into heaven, or plunged among devils in the abyss of perdition; but when the last struggle is over, then we ourselves shall know where we shall FOREVER abide.