Why were there 3 Crosses??? Part Three

The third man

This was none other than Jesus Himself. The first thief directed his mockery at Him, but He did not reply; the other thief replied for Him. Today, too, God has saved thieves who can answer all the world’s questions about Jesus and refute their arguments and turn aside their mockery. Jesus, however, does not answer them a single word. But He does answer the second thief with an oath: “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” Luke 23:43.
Jesus not only took our sins on His body up on the tree, He also bore sin in His body. He was made sin for us. God condemned sin in His flesh. (Romans 8:3) When this work was finished, He gave up His spirit. It was impossible for the law to judge sin in the flesh, because all the sin that is committed by a man is outside the body. However, now God did what was impossible for the law: He condemned sin in Christ’s flesh. Everyone who now wants to be saved from indwelling sin must take up his own cross daily. The thief was saved from his transgressions, but he did not become a partaker of divine nature. Jesus did not have the nature of angels; He was of the seed of Abraham. (Hebrews 2:14-18) This was so that He could destroy sin in the body and in its place plant the fullness of the Godhead, which now dwells in Him bodily.
There is no condemnation for the judgment that takes place in the body over sin in our nature, because it takes place within the body. However, Peter writes about this salvation, “If the righteous one is scarcely [with difficulty] saved…” 1 Peter 4:18. There is a growth of the body, a salvation of the body and a judgment of the body, so that everyone will be rewarded according to what he has done with his body.
God does everything double. He provides an outward salvation through Jesus Christ. He provides an outward and an inward salvation through the same Person. However, the enemies of the cross of Christ are opposed to this inner salvation, and like the thief, they are satisfied with the forgiveness of sins.
This is not so with the bride of Christ. She wants to be a partaker of His holiness and has counted the cost. She is flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone. She is willing not only to share the joy with her Bridegroom, but also to suffer and die with Him – not only die to the curse of the law, but die to the nature of Adam in the body.