A Close Call
Have you seen the documentary I Missed Flight 93?
It’s about three different men who, through various twists of fate, missed the same flight—and not just any flight.
They were all a no show for United Flight 93, departing Newark for San Francisco on that ill-fated September day in 2001.
Had they boarded that plane that morning, they would never have arrived in the City by the Bay; instead, unspeakable terror.
Can you imagine their grief/relief when they heard that somehow, some way, they managed to escape something that, technically speaking, was very much in their future—they already had seat assignments.
But for whatever reason, they were spared.
Like the thief on the Cross.
Because of his own doing, he was ready to plunge headlong into a Christ-less eternity—it was just a few moments away.
Did you realize that both thieves were hurling insults at the Lord at the start of their ordeal (Matthew 27:44)?
Both men, condemned insurrectionists, had apparently committed armed robbery (where someone more than likely died), and they were sentenced to be crucified along with Jesus.
They had their bags packed, if you will, seats assigned, and tickets in hand.
They were on a collision course with the judgment of a holy God.
But one of them ends up missing “the flight.”
At the very last moment, he has a change of heart—and as a result, a change of destinies as well.
He made a mental U-turn—that’s what the word repentance means.
I wonder what it was exactly (besides the obvious work of the Holy Spirit) that finally got through to him.
No one knows for sure.
We can ask him when we see him.
Maybe it was the tender, loving way Jesus spoke while languishing.
Or was it the sun going dark at noonday that helped put the fear of God in him?
Somehow a spark of faith was ignited, and he begins rebuking his former partner in crime for his foolish insolence.
“Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your Kingdom” Luke 23:40-42.
Boom.
Tragedy averted.
Soul saved.
Sins forgiven.
Eternal life granted.
He became a Believer, and the evidence is all right there packed into three simple statements.
Faith.
Confession.
Repentance.
What a gracious God we serve!
He’s not willing anyone perish; He keeps the door open to the last possible second.
And if a thug-murderer can, at the last few moments of his wretched, wasted life, have a change of heart that prompts our Savior to tell him:
“Today, you will be with Me in Paradise…”
Then no one is a lost cause, my friends.
No one.
Can you imagine the inexpressible joy of that man when he opened his eyes in Paradise instead of Perdition (as it’s called)?
That joy he felt (and continues to feel today, some 2000 years later) will be ours as well.
As we marvel together, forever, at the grace of God that saved a wretch like…
