Matthew 27:43

He trusteth on God; let him deliver him now, if he desireth him: for he said, I am the Son of God. And the robbers also that were crucified with him cast upon him the same reproach.

This entire passage in Matthew is oriented to Psalms 22 (see more on this under Matthew 27:46). It was only natural that the robbers should have joined in the railing; but later, one of them rose to immortality by recognizing Jesus as Lord and asking his remembrance.

THE SECOND THREE HOURS

The first three hours on the cross had belonged to Jesus' enemies, but the last three, in a very wonderful sense, belonged to Christ. It was in this period that there began a most astounding series of wonders, called the Six Calvary Miracles. The sun's light failed, darkness descended upon the earth, and the remaining four words of the "Seven Utterances" were spoken by Jesus. The centurion in charge of the execution confessed him; there was an earthquake; the graves of the righteous were opened; the veil of the temple was rent in twain; and Christ died!

Matthew's account of the six miracles is by far the fullest, although he gave very slight notice of the undisturbed grave clothes. These six supporting wonders that clustered around the greater wonder of Christ's resurrection are not usually stressed by commentators, and yet they richly deserve the minutest and most reverential observance. They constitute, in fact, a strong supporting fabric woven around the greater miracle of the resurrection which they were designed to confirm. They are somewhat of a supernatural matrix in which there lies embedded the true jewel of the supernatural Christ. This writer views those secondary wonders as so important that a special section is devoted to them under the heading "Phenomena Attending the Crucifixion and Resurrection" (see under Matthew 27:51).