Dying Declarations

A dying declaration is a statement made by a person about to die (or thinks they are about to die). It is admissible in court as an exception to the hearsay rule. A person’s last words. When Jesus went to the cross, he went there with two other men. All three had things to say. Luke 23 records this dialogue while they died by crucifixion.

“Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: ‘Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’ But the other criminal rebuked him. ‘Don’t you fear God,’ he said, ‘since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.’ Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’Jesus answered him, ‘’”

Some think this man lived a criminal life and made a last second plea for grace. Live now, cry later. The guy got away with murder! How could a man like THAT get into heaven? I think was more to this dying declaration than meets the eye.

It's likely that both of these condemned men spent time in jail before they hung on a cross next to Jesus. In fact, it would make sense that they heard about Jesus long before they got to Calvary. Consider that John the Baptist was arrested and tossed into the Fortress of Machaerus about 14 miles from Jerusalem by King Herod. John remained in custody from the time Jesus started calling his first disciples until he was executed. John started the first prison ministry.

I wonder if these men were in the same prison as John. One man listened to John's message, the other mocked it. John proclaimed the forgiveness of sin and salvation for all. He taught about the man called Jesus and offered a testimony about what happened when he baptized Jesus. Guilty of nothing other than making a king's wife angry, he was a voice calling in a wilderness of convicts.

The two criminals would eventually be brought to Jerusalem. Roman soldiers took them to a hill and carried out the death sentence. Where these men were accompanied by a detachment of soldiers, a crowd followed Jesus. Each man was nailed to a cross and lifted up to die. The hours passed and both men confessed that Jesus was the Messiah. One taunted the Savior, called on Him to join a conspiracy and save only him. The other admitted guilt and accepted his death sentence. He asked simply for Jesus to remember him. Jesus would do more than remember. "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise."

We will all make a dying declaration. What remains is which condemned man would we be?