The Last Seven Words on the Cross 2. “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise”
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October 19, 2025 |
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One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!”
But the other responded, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?”
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And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:39?43)
Of the two criminals crucified on either side of Jesus, one mocked Him. But the other rebuked him, and pleaded with Jesus, saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” In response to that faith, the Lord gave a promise: “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” This word of the Lord carries many spiritual meanings.
First, the Lord revealed to us about a heavenly dwelling place called Paradise. The apostle Paul testified that he was “caught up to the third heaven?into Paradise?and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak” (2 Corinthians 12:2?4). Moreover, throughout the Bible we find expressions such as “heaven and the heaven of heavens” and “the heaven of heavens,” which show us that there are multiple heavens (Nehemiah 9:6). Beyond the visible, physical sky, there also exist heavens in the spiritual realm.
In the third heaven?the space where the kingdom of heaven exists?there are the Paradise where Paul was taken up and other dwelling places including the City of New Jerusalem. New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:10?11) is the highest dwelling place in all of heaven. Only those who have cast off all sin and evil and been faithful in all God’s house, taking after the Lord’s image can enter there.
The saved criminal on the cross accepted the Lord on the verge of his death. Thus, he had no time to cast off the evil in his heart, nor did he have a chance to be faithful. He barely received the qualification for salvation. Such people enter the Paradise, which is the lowest dwelling place in heaven.
This is why 1 Corinthians 15:41 says, “There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.” If we indeed have faith, we should long to enter a better heavenly dwelling place. As Matthew 11:12 declares, “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force,” as much as we cast off sins and resemble our Lord, we can take a better place in heaven by force.
We cannot take sins and evil to heaven. Only what has been cultivated in goodness and spirit can be carried there. Also, those who have cultivated to a similar measure in spirit dwell together in the same place. It gives us greater comfort and joy because people of a similar level of faith live together.
Next, when Jesus said, “Today you shall be with Me in Paradise,” it does not mean that He Himself would dwell together with the criminal in the Paradise. After His resurrection and ascension, the Lord dwells in New Jerusalem, where the throne of God is, as the Master of heaven. Yet because He reigns over the entire kingdom of heaven, He spoke in this way.
Also, the word “today” does not literally mean the very day when Jesus hung on the cross. Rather, it signifies that from the very moment of salvation, wherever the man might be, the Lord would be with him.
Where then did Jesus go after He breathed His last on the cross? The Bible says, “So will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40), and also, “in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison” (1 Peter 3:19). On the very day He died on the cross, Jesus did not go to the Paradise, but to the spirits in prison to preach the gospel. Here, the “spirits in prison” refer to the souls who had died before Jesus bore the cross and became the Savior and were able to receive salvation.
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