“And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.” And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God. And the soldiers also mocked him…” “And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.”
– Luke’s Gospel 23:34,35,36 & 42
Jesus crucified is the true touchstone revealing what the world is: “The people stood beholding” in stolid indifference; the rulers, who wanted religion, but without a divine Christ crucified for their sins, “reviled”; the brutal amongst them mocked or railed; the conscious sinner prayed; the covetous sat down before the cross and played their sordid game. The cross is the judgment of this world.
(Rev C I Scofield)
Concerning the other two crosses, either side of The Lord Jesus Christ, “one thief was saved that no sinner might despair, but only one, that no sinner might presume.”
(J C Ryle)