God Gives Aid: The Savior Born for the Perishing

For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham

Hebrews 2:16 NKJV

The Need for Aid

What do you think about as the calendar moves closer to December 25th? Do you think of the lights, the manger, the angels, the birth of Christ? Do you think of gifts, wise men, shepherds, and barbaric kings? Do you think of your need for aid and that God gives aid? How often this month does the year 33 A.D. come to mind? Around that year two thieves and a King were nailed to crosses as they were crucified outside of Jerusalem. Why were they there?

2000 years ago the Roman Empire was in the Pax Romana (Roman Peace). There was economic prosperity as far as Roman legions could reach. There was expansion of roads, transportation, and communication. These things came at a high cost.

Caesar Augustus issued a decree that all the world should be taxed (Luke 2:1). If the taxes weren’t bad enough, corrupt tax collectors exacted more from the people (Luke 19:1-10). It was a time when Roman rulers could kill all the children within cities and kingdoms with impunity (Matthew 2:16-18). Violent uprisings took place (Matthew 27:16). Demon possession was rampant (Mark 9:17-29). Leprosy was common (Luke 17:11-19). The visible church was filled with unconverted leaders (John 3:1-21). The world in which those three men were dying on a hill was a world filled with sin, sorrow, sickness, and suffering. It was a world in need of aid.

God Gives Aid

Judea in the time of Christ was not the first time the world was covered in darkness. Since the earliest days of creation when the serpent beguiled Eve and she gave the fruit to Adam, darkness descended on earth. Adam lived for nearly a millennium but he died and his sons died. Beginning with Cain, people regularly shed innocent blood.

God saw the wickedness of man and every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Genesis 6:5). The Lord set himself to destroy man from off the face of the earth. But God spared Noah and his immediate family members from the destruction. He commanded Noah to make an ark and preach the Word. Noah did as the Lord commanded. While all the world perished including, in all likelihood, Noah’s own father (Genesis 5:31) and certainly his extended family, God spared eight souls alive in the ark. God gives aid.

Many years after Noah, in the capital of Assyria, every intention of the heart was once again only evil continually. 120,000 souls would be destroyed. God sent a reluctant prophet with a simple message – “yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4). The people of Nineveh repented and God forgave them. He spared them from the destruction that was coming. God gives aid.

On that afternoon dark as night, Jerusalem was part of a vast empire greater than any Caesar could imagine. In the global empire of sin and darkness citizens lay chained to the pit of hell, hope is lost, and destruction awaits. All are guilty, none are righteous. Two thieves from the kingdom of darkness were crucified for the crimes they committed. However, few focused on those thieves as they walked by mocking, laughing, and scorning. They were mocking the man in the middle who had this inscription over His head, “The King of the Jews.”

He was hanging there bleeding from wounds in His head, hands, and feet. He did not receive those wounds for anything He had done. The Roman governor, not known for mercy, could not find fault with Him. No two witnesses could corroborate each other’s story. He hung there innocent of any crime or any sin. Passersby failed to grasp what most fail to grasp today – Jesus Christ hung on the cursed tree because God gives aid.

To Whom Does God Give Aid?

The thieves on either side of the King were not quiet in their dying hours. One of the thieves joined with the mob and soldiers, “If you are the Christ, save yourself and us.” The other rebuked him telling him that he was on the cross for his crime while the sinless King was on the cross without any crime. Turning to Jesus the thief said, “Lord remember me when You come into Your Kingdom.”

One thief recognized the justice of his terrible plight. He was a guilty sinner receiving his just reward. His only hope was mercy from another – namely the King of the Jews. The other thief was in the same position but couldn’t care less about mercy. To his dying breath he breathed out curses and mockery and died in his sin. To the one who looked to Jesus for help, he was not ashamed. Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).

God gave aid to one thief. He did not give aid to both. His aid does not go to the seed of Adam generally but to the seed of Abraham specifically. It is not a universal aid. It is not even a hypothetically universal aid. Neither does he give aid to angels. Those that fell with the arch demon will never be redeemed nor can they be for God gives them no aid. God gives aid to a particular and limited people, the seed of Abraham (Hebrews 2:16). “For you are all the sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus…and if you are Christ’s then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:26, 29).

The thief believed in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, was numbered among the seed of Abraham, and received life. God gives aid!

How Does God Give Aid?

With soldiers all around, passersby mocking, women weeping, John nearby, the thief on the cross looked to Jesus for salvation knowing that in Him he could still have life. He knew there was aid in the One who was nearly naked, bloody, and bruised. How could aid come from such a one as He?

The King on the cross was not like any other king. He was born of a woman but she was a virgin. He was like man in every way – yet He had no sin. Jesus who died was Jesus who was in the beginning with God for He was God. Jesus, the King of the Jews is God incarnate – God with us – Emmanuel! True God and True Man. God in flesh – manifested to man! Here is how aid came to the thief on the tree – God became Man!

The prophets foretold His coming, angels sang of Him, the wise men came with vast presents for Him, the stars moved at His coming. The man on the tree was promised back in the garden, looked for by faithful kings and peasants, old and young, rich and poor. God gives aid to men –  and here is His aid – Christ Jesus born King of the Jews!

The mocking thief could not wrap his mind around the idea of a King dying in such a way. Most could not. If he were a king he would not be cursed on a cross. Still today many mock in a similar manner – “What kind of king is that?” They know not why Jesus came nor what work He set Himself to do. If they knew the Scriptures they would know that the King of the Jews came to give aid to men in this way – by dying in their place.

Christ crucified for sinners is the aid of God to man! There is life in no one else and in no other way than through the blood of Christ. On the cross Christ’s blood was shed to make an atonement, a propitiation, a satisfaction of the wrath of God for sinners. His blood was shed to reconcile God and man so that those in the empire of sin and darkness might have their chains broken, their yokes loosened, their souls freed, and be welcomed into the Kingdom of Light.

For What Purpose does God Give Aid?

What the scoffers and sinners failed to believe then and fail to believe today is that sin requires payment. Every sinner owes a debt to God for his sins. The debt is death. The soul that sins shall surely die. The thief on the right hand understood his debt – incurable, unpayable by himself. The only hope of salvation from the fire of hell for all eternity is if another paid his debt for him.

The King of the Jews alone was able to make a payment that would fully satisfy the glory and justice of God. It was a blood sacrifice so He shed His own blood. It was a life sacrifice so He gave His own life. It was a perfect sacrifice for He was without sin. It was an acceptable sacrifice for He was the beloved and begotten Son in whom the Father was well pleased. Jesus gives aid to the seed of Abraham by being faithful to God in life and in death.

The King of the Jews is the merciful high priest. Merciful toward man. All the thief’s sins were paid – satisfied – atoned for. The thief cried out to Him and he was delivered. The publican cried out to Him and He left justified. God gives aid!

Have You Received God’s Aid?

Today, one of those two thieves is in paradise, has been for 2,000 years, and will be for eternity. He did not buy paradise. He received it as the gift of God who gives His children aid and saves them by His grace. Have you received the aid of God? Have your sins been blotted out? Should you die today will you be in paradise? God still gives aid today through His Son. Therefore, repent of your sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Augustine was a notorious sinner. He was a dissipated fornicator and drunk. While sitting outside one day he heard the voice of a child say, “Pick it up and read.” He decided he should read the Bible and on reading God’s word and hearing the preaching of one of the early church fathers, God converted Augustine and used him for the converting of many others. Jesus Christ comes to us with aid through His Word! Do you know His Word?

The rich young ruler heard the Word of God and had no interest in it. He met the Lord but left most sorrowful. Do not come to the end of another year or even another day sorrowful and apart from God’s aid. Join with the saints triumphant – Rahab the harlot, Manasseh the child murderer, Naaman the Syrian general, the Philippian Jailor, Saul the kidnapper of Christians, the thief on the cross – these all looked to God for aid and received His aid through the life and blood of Jesus Christ the Son.

Christ was born of the virgin Mary. He lived perfectly, suffered, and died so that the seed of Abraham, might have aid. What wonder, love, and praise God shows to us in the Son!

About three hours after He was lifted up on the hill, the Savior died. He was the first to die among the three. The Romans ended up breaking the legs of the thieves to speed up their suffocation and death. What a reward for the thief in his dying moments – the work of His salvation accomplished before his very eyes. Moments away from facing his last enemy, it was defeated! He heard the Savior cry, “It is finished.” As he went into the valley of the shadow of death he could fear no evil for God gave him aid. When he closed his eyes in the anguish of death he opened them in the glory of paradise. If asked how he got to glory, he would simply point to the Lamb on the throne and say, “Because the man on the middle cross said I could come.”

Trials, sorrows, surprises of the worst kind are our portion in life. Tomorrow a doctors appointment may reveal terrible news for the future. A phone call might reveal the death of a loved one. Temptations will come fiercely. Through all of life’s trials and tribulations we have this promise – God does give aid!

To those that believe in Christ, I leave you with these words, “Comfort, yes, comfort My people!” Says your God. Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins (Isaiah 40:1-2).

Take heart Christian, God has given us aid!

.

.

.

.

Copyright ©, LikeTheGreatMountains.com, 2023