Luke 23:43, “And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, .”𝙏𝙤 𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪 𝙗𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙚.❞

Again, we state that the request of the Thief on the cross was based on the fact of what was commonly known and the expectations of the Jews that the Messiah would come and set up His Kngdom.

Further proof of this can be seen when John requested to know if Jesus was truly the expected Messiah that they have been waiting for having spoken about Him, and now he is imprisoned by Herod and Jesus seems not be doing anything about it. Listen to the conversation;

Luke 7:19, “And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?

20 When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?

21 And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight.

22 Then Jesus answering said unto them,”𝗚𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘆𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗱; 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗲, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗹𝗸, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗱, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗳 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱, 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗹 𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱.❞

Can you see that Jesus said nothing like ”yes I am the one” or “no?” What did He do? He went on to do signs, wonders and miracles, and asked them to tell John what they saw. Why? Simply because 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗠𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗵.

And so when He healed the one that was possessed by the devil and blind we read in Matt. 12: 22,

“Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw, ” fulfilling the prophecy of Isa. 35:4-6.

The next thing the people said was in verse 𝟮𝟯, ❞𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗲𝗱, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗱, ‘𝗜𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗱❞

By implication, is this not the true Messiah? Do not these miracles sufficiently prove it? Should we look for someone else as the expected Messiah?

So when the Thief said to Jesus, “…’𝘽𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙚, 𝙇𝙤𝙧𝙙, 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙗𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 ‘𝙔𝙊𝙐𝙍 𝙆𝙄𝙉𝙂𝘿𝙊𝙈.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Verily, to you am I saying, today, with Me you shall be in the PARADISE” (Concordant Literal Translation),

he spoke out of conviction of what he knew and what they all were expecting.

This was a request made out of faith, for faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Rom. 10:17). And so he was saved because he believed that Jesus was the expected Messiah; therefore, he was granted access into the Kingdom-Paradise.

For the reply or answer of Jesus to him was, “Verily, to you am I saying, ”𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗠𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗘.❞

Again, we established the fact from the above, therefore, that ❞𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗲❞ 𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗼 ❞𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗱𝗼𝗺 𝗼𝗳 𝗚𝗼𝗱.❞

And you don’t die to enter into the Kingdom rather you are Born Again from above to enter into it; John 3:3,

“Jesus answered him (Nicodemus), I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that unless a person is born again (anew, from above), he cannot ever see (know, be acquainted with, and experience) the kingdom of God,” AMP.

So friends, the teaching that “Paradise” is a place where you stay to await the Resurrection Day is not accurate. As we progress with this, we shall endeavour to explain to us what is meant by Lazarus being in ‘the Bosom of Abraham’ (Luke 16:22), which was only a parable.

You can also get the full details of that subject in Mp3 free download from the audio library of this website.

To be continued…