Luke 23:36-40

Luke 23:36 (KJB)
And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar,

Before they crucified Jesus, the soldiers had attempted to give Him some sour wine mixed with a bitter substance. It was a Jewish custom to give a condemned person a pain killing drug before sentence was carried out. Jesus had tasted it and it was bad so He refused to drink because He wanted to pay for the sins of His people fully conscious and not drugged up. “Gall” was normally used to indicate some type of unpleasant tasting substance. It is also believed to be some type of opiate which caused a deep sleep or numbed the pain of the execution.

Luke 23:37 (KJB)
And saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself.

(Mat 27:40 KJV) And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. These who passed by had also slandered Him by stating that if He was the Son of God, to come down from the cross. If Jesus did that, there would be no salvation. In the time of Nehemiah, he was doing a great work by rebuilding the wall and all of Jerusalem and when Sanballat and Geshem had sent to Nehemiah to leave the work and come meet with them, he refused because he knew that he was doing a great work. (Neh 6:3 KJV) And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you? When Jesus was on the cross He was doing a greater work by building the New Jerusalem, the body of believers, the city that Abraham looked for and if He would have come down off the cross, then the New Jerusalem would never have been built. There would be no body of believers because we would all still be in our sins. They had even derided Him by calling Him the king of the Jews and that He should save Himself.

Luke 23:38 (KJB)
And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Normally the crime of the condemned was placed somewhere on the cross or near it to warn others so they would not commit the same crimes. Since Jesus had not committed any crime, none could be placed there so instead, Pilate wrote down on a placard that “This is The King of the Jews.” It was the only thing that Pilate could write. He did this not to further the mocking of Jesus but was done more to ridicule the Jews. (John 19:20-21 KJV) This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. {21} Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews. They wanted Pilate to amend the sign but he refused and left it as is.

Luke 23:39 (KJB)
And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.

In the beginning of the crucifixion, even the two thieves had joined in with the others and mocked Him. Maybe they did that thinking they would get a reprieve if they did that. Ridicule and mockery had come from everyone who had walked by from the soldiers to the Sanhedrin and even the two thieves who were dying with Him had joined in the reviling. Then in a turn of events, one of the thieves had become saved right on the cross. He did no works, he did not get baptized, he did not do anything which the modern church makes their people do to gain a false salvation. The man was saved by the grace of God because He was predestined before the foundation of the world to be saved at that moment. (Eph 1:4 KJV) According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

Luke 23:40 (KJB)
But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?

Then the one thief who became saved rebuked the other one severely. He rebukes him by telling him that he should fear God because they are in the same condemnation, that is, they are both going to die pretty soon and will stand for Judgment. Instead of them mocking Jesus, they should be seeking God for forgiveness of their sins and crimes, which no doubt were many. The one who spoke this was definitely saved because he spoke with the idea of judgment in mind and that is something the world does not even give a second thought to.

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