IN THE HOLE WITH JESUS

By Rick Mathes

The last 30 years I have actively spent preaching in jails and prisons has given me a diary of memories that few men have ever experienced. I have been before tens of thousands of mankind’s scum of humanity, diamond hunting for those that truly repented of their crimes and have become born again.as I did at age 38. It was then I put down the bottle and picked up the Bible. I threw away the drugs and grasped the Cross of Christ. I laid down my evil ways and lifted my holy hands to the King and determined to share that good news and devote the rest of my life turning lives from crime to Christ.

The most memorable times for me were walking the prison tiers and sounding the trumpet for the Lord’s return. But the highlight of even those times was preaching monthly to a chapel of death-row inmates or even more memorable was to go into the “hole” of solitary confinement with the worst of those about to be executed! The cells were dark, damp, humid and stifling.

With this in mind I can’t help but imagine Jesus and the three condemned prisoners together waiting for the brief moment before Pilate to have their fate determined. I remember standing before a booking-sergeant as a juvenile delinquent and giving him my ring, watch, belt and shoe laces. I can still feel the fear, cold sweat and downright terror of the unknown. My policeman step-father would always show up and bail me out so I literally could do any crime and I did!

The only way for Jesus to set me free was to die in my place on that bloody death-stake. With this in mind, I wish I had been a “fly on the wall” what the four of them were talking about. Three at least knew their fate was to be a barbarous death.. I have to ask, “What did they say to Jesus?”  and “What did He say to them?” What would you expect Him to say to you given the same circumstances? Interesting.

Knowing what I know now I would be begging His forgiveness for the sins I had committed that condemned Him. Oh how horrid I would feel!

But these three condemned killers didn’t have a clue and neither do countless millions on this little blue pearl called planet earth. We Christians know now that we are just passing through and will never again be in solitary confinement awaiting eternal death. We have stepped out in freedom with our special “death row partner.” He has provided for us eternal life in heaven and not death in the flames of hell. Only one in three made this choice. How about you or the loved one next to you? Choose today which gate you will walk through: the Lord’s Mission Gate or Satan’s gate to hell.