Scripture: Luke 23:32-43 (NIV)

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. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews.

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, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Aboard the Death Star, Luke Skywalker had played the best card he had to get Han Solo and Chewbacca to head off to the detention center with him so he could rescue Princess Leia. He told Han that there would be a reward, because that’s what made sense. If the Rebellion didn’t pay for her return, likely Leia had some resources even with her planet destroyed. So when Han hesitated and questioned the possibility, Luke put on some bravado and told Han what he wanted to hear.

“You’ll get it.”

As we know, he does wind up with quite a reward. We see him stacking boxes in the Yavin base before the battle. He had enough to take care of the bounty on his head if he had actually left and gone to pay off Jabba the Hutt. He famously had a bit of a change of heart where the money fell out of the top slot in his priorities, but the fact remains that he received the promised reward.

The story of the two thieves beside Christ at the Crucifixion is one most Christians are well familiar with. One thief was completely unable to read the room, as it were, and spent some of his last breaths cursing someone in the same situation as he was. It’s not really clear what he thought he’d get out of it, besides maybe a distraction from his pain. No matter what he thought of the whole situation, hurling insults at Christ while hanging on a tree yourself seems a little weird.

The other thief, though, understood everything. He knew that Jesus was there not because He had done anything but because He was the Son of God. It seems likely that he had heard Jesus somewhere along the way or at least was familiar with His teaching. While it obviously didn’t impact his life choices, since he was in the position that he was in, there was definitely a seed of the gospel inside of him.

Coming to Jesus’s defense, he then asked for just one thing, to be with Christ when he came into His kingdom. Christ looked at this man, who had lived a sinful life, and told him one thing.

“You’ll get it.”

If Christ said it, it happened. That man started the day fearing his death. He ended it in a place he never would have believed he could have entered.

The Bible is full of promises. You can almost randomly open the book to any page and find something that is promised to the people of God. “Fear not, for I am with you.” (Isaiah 41:10) “I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) “By His wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24) So many different promises but they all have one thing in common. They come from the One that always delivers. If He promises something, it’s going to happen.

We sometimes feel discouraged, downtrodden, hopeless. We don’t know what’s coming and we’re afraid of what the future might hold. In those situations, we can turn to the Bible and see the promises that God has laid out for us. Sometimes, honestly, it sounds a little too good to be true. However, God whispers to us in the darkest times:

“You’ll get it.”