Luke 23:42, “And he said to Jesus, ‘Remember me, lord, when thou mayest come in thy reign;’ 43 and Jesus said to him, ‘Verily I say to thee, 𝗧𝗼-𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗹𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗲.❜ 𝗬𝗟𝗧

The Promise to the Thief was TO-DAY. So what was it really? 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗪𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗛𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗛𝗶𝗺 We believe that Jesus spent three days and three nights in the grave. So was He in Paradise with the Thief?

Is this why we believe that Paradise is in-between heaven and earth, a resting state before resurrection?

Again, let us look at the scriptures to locate the ‘TO-DAY’ emphasis.

Jesus speaking to the Jews who didn’t believe in Him said, John 8:56,

“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad,” KJV.

❞𝗛𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝘄 𝗠𝘆 𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗴𝗹𝗮𝗱.❞

What day was it and how did Abraham see His Day?

Certainly that’s past tense; and that speaks of the familiar intercourse which Abraham had with God, who is once and again in history called “the Angel of the Lord,” and whom Christ here identifies with Himself.

On those occasions, Abraham “saw ME” as seen even in Gen. 18:2, 17 and 33 (Gen 12:7; 22:18) which revealed to have been a manifestation of the Lord Jesus.

So in Gal. 3: 16 we are told, “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made… And to thy seed, which is Christ.”

So what will be the day of the Lord?

.𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁. 𝗔𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗵𝗮𝗺, 𝗯𝘆 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗵, 𝘀𝗮𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗵.

Jesus used that same word for Herod when He said in Luke 13:32,

“And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures 𝗧𝗢-𝗗𝗔𝗬 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄,and the third day I shall be perfected,” KJV.

So here we have three days, the

“𝗧𝗼-𝗱𝗮𝘆❞ speaks of the Days of His activities while alive, ❞𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄” speaks of His activities after the Cross, and the ❞𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗱 𝗗𝗮𝘆” speaks of the maturity of the glorifications of His Body, the Church.

Even Abraham saw the “Third Day” when he was to offer up Isaac, a type of Christ. Gen. 22: 4, “𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 ‘𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗱 𝗱𝗮𝘆’ 𝗔𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗵𝗮𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘂𝗽 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝘆𝗲𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗮𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 afar off and asked the servant to stay back (v. 5), and went up to the mountain with Isaac alone,”showing that the “Third Day” dimension is for sons alone who have come and are coming to maturity in God.

So the promise to the Thief was 𝗧𝗢-𝗗𝗔𝗬. What’s that? Meaning 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗜 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 ‘𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗮𝘆’ 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝘆 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗼𝗹𝘆 𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗶𝘁, 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝗻 𝗯𝘆 𝗮𝗱𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝘆 𝗕𝗼𝗱𝘆, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗵.

So like the same promise Jesus made to the Centurion in Matt. 8:11,

“And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven,”

Jesus was offering the same promise to the Thief having acted in faith.

Remember, the Patriarchs were long gone before His birth, but now in the kingdom, the Heavenly Jerusalem (Heb. 12:22-23) forming the cloud of witnesses (Heb. 12:1), the Heroes and Heroines of faith of both the celestial and terrestrial Saints, “with The spirits of Just men made perfect.”

This then was the promise of “To-Day” and certainly the Thief has joined the Cloud of witnesses, since after Christ’ resurrection all that were in the grave rose with Him.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟮𝟰 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘆. The Thief is in Paradise, the Kingdom of God, just like Abraham.

To be continued…