THREE MEN AND THREE CROSSES

     These three men are important because of whom they portray. Two of them were thieves, they depicted all humanity,   "All have sinned and come short of the glory of  God" (Rom. 3:23).  The third one was Jesus, he represented our Creator,  "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself " (II Cor. 5:19).
     One of the thieves joined in with the scoffers who had come to revile Jesus. He said,  "If you really are the Son of God, why don't you prove it by saving yourself and us?" (Luke 23:35-39).
     The other thief had some previous knowledge of Jesus and his teachings. He rebuked the scoffer, saying,  "Don't you fear God?  We deserve our punishment but this man has done nothing wrong".  Turning  to Jesus, he said this simple prayer, "Remember me when you enter your kingdom"  (Luke 23:40-42).
     Jesus answered,  "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43 NIV).
     Although this thief was dying,   he had hope;  he was given the promise of eternal life with Jesus.  There was no priest, no minister, no baptism, no anointing oil, no holy water, no consecrated wine, no church membership; only Jesus,  and that was enough.  Now his  future was secure!  The scoffer died alone, without hope, without any possibility of  a future beyond the grave.
     "Whoever believes on the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life,  for God's wrath remains on him" (John 3:36 NIV).
     I was six years old when I watched my mother die.  Four years later, I slipped out of bed in the middle of the night and asked Jesus to forgive my sins and to come into my heart.  And he did!  The entire transaction was between Jesus and me.  Now, sixty years later, Jesus is still with me;  I am never alone.  My destiny is secure; I, too, will be with Jesus in paradise!
          Jesus had said to the believing thief, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43 NIV).
     Did Jesus mean that both he and that thief would enter into paradise that very  day?  Jesus' words seem to indicate that because of the location of the comma.  Moving the comma changes the meaning.  For instance, "I tell you the truth today, you will be with me in paradise".   Do you see how this changes the meaning?
     Punctuation is interpretation. The position of the comma is very important. It reveals the translators' point of view.  Punctuation, as we know it today, came long after Jesus' words were spoken.  
     It would help us come to a reliable conclusion by determining where paradise is.  In John's vision of the future, we read, " To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life,  which is in the paradise of God"  (Rev. 2:7 NIV).
     In the beginning, the tree of life was in the garden of Eden,  but after Adam and Eve took of the forbidden fruit they were driven out of Eden and away from the tree of life, "lest they eat also of the tree of life and live forever." (Gen. 3:22-24).  Access to the tree of life will not be restored until after the resurrection of the dead, when the righteous will be ushered into the presence of God,  in a new heaven and earth. That is when the believer will be given the right to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God.
     Jesus did not return to his heavenly home until after he left this earth, which was over forty days after his resurrection. The day he left this earth the disciples saw him being taken up into the clouds. At that moment two angelic beings appeared who said  that Jesus will return someday just as they had seen him go! (Acts 1:3,9-11).
     Jesus' promise to the believing thief was true, and it will be honored when Jesus returns. That is when he will say to his loved ones, "Come...enter the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matt.25:31-34). That is the day  the believing thief will enter Paradise to be with Jesus.
      "Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep...For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.  But each in his own turn:  Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him" (I Cor. 15:20-23 NIV). That is when we will enter into the paradise of God!
     In preparing his disciples for his departure, Jesus said, "In my Father's house are many rooms...I am going there to prepare a place for you...I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am...I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me"  (John 14:2-6 NIV).
     Every believer will experience what David looked forward to,  He wrote, "As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness" (Psa.17:15 NKJV).
     David was not expecting a conscious existence until that day when he would wake up in the likeness of his Lord. Paul understood this. In his great resurrection chapter, he wrote,  "Just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven...I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed - in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet...the dead will be raised imperishable...for the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality" (I Cor. 15:49-53 NIV).
      That is when we will enter  the paradise of God. That is when we will eat of the tree of life  which is in the paradise of God.
     Our soul, our life, is clothed with an earthly body. That is the only way we can have a conscious existence in the earthly sphere. In order to have a conscious existence in the heavenly sphere we must be clothed with a heavenly body.
     Our Lord is called "the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who alone is immortal...whom no one has seen or can see" (I Tim. 6:15-16 NIV).
     Therefore, only those who are given heavenly bodies, can live in his presence. Jesus said, "The righteous will shine like the sun in their Father's kingdom" (Matt. 13:43).  He also said that in the resurrection we will be like the angels of God in heaven. (Matt. 22:30).  When?   In the resurrection!
     There are many who assume that there is conscious existence right after death. They cling to every tiny portion of the word of God that seems to teach that point of view.
      Careful study of the present translations of the Bible reveals a few minor defects and more than one misconception. For instance, in Mark 9:44,46, and 48 we find that all three verses are identical. Some translations omit verses 46 and 48. Those  which do, will probably have this footnote;  "Verses 44 and 46 are identical with verse 48 which are not found in the best ancient manuscripts". (See a footnote in The Amplified Bible page 64 of the New Testament).
     Also in those three verses, we read, "Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched".  Do worms have a soul?  Do they live forever? Does this teach us that our souls linger on in the fires of God's judgment?  In the Lamsa  translation of the Bible which comes from Aramaic rather than Greek manuscripts, we find the word "ember" instead of "worm". Did Jesus speak of "worms" remaining in the fires of God's judgment or "embers"  in the fires of God's judgment?  That embers remain alive supports the Scriptures which speak of the eternal nature of the fires of God's judgment. 
      Many have assumed that while Jesus' body lay in the tomb for three days, his Spirit went to preach to the people who had died in the flood.  Keep in mind why the flood occurred,  "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth,  and He was grieved  in His heart.  So the Lord said, 'I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth'...But Noah found grace in the eyes of God" (Gen.6:5-8 NKJV).
      Notice the word "destroy".  Would God change His mind and send Jesus to go to those who he had just destroyed to give them a second chance? Not according to Jesus. He used the flood as a warning to get right with God when they still had the chance. He spoke of those people living wicked lives as though there was no tomorrow,  but  suddenly the flood came and "destroyed them all" (Luke 17:27). 
     Noah was 500 years old when God told him to build the ark and he was 600 years old when the Ark was finished.  Noah's project took one hundred years to complete! (Gen. 5:32,  6:13-17,   7:6).  It must have created quite a scene!
     Peter called Noah "A preacher of righteousness" (II Peter 2:5). But his one hundred year sermon was ignored!  Only the animals came to the ark to join Noah and his family!  
     Peter taught that it was the same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead that was speaking through Noah to those who would soon die in the flood. This was God's way of giving them one last chance! But now they have become what Peter called  "the spirits in prison" .
      Peter wrote,  "Christ died for sins once for all...He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built".(I Peter 3:18-20 NIV).
    The Berkeley Version has this footnote, "Christ preaching to them through Noah". In other words,  they were still alive at that time!
              Peter also wrote, "The gospel was preached to those who are now dead" (I Peter 4:6 NIV). They are dead  "now",  but they were alive when God spoke to them through Noah. In The Amplified Bible, we read, "The good news (the gospel) was preached [in their life-time] even to the dead".  A footnote explains that the words found in the brackets are used by many commentators!  Obviously, many scholars believe that Peter was  referring to the people who died in the flood  but who had an opportunity to repent during their "life-time".
     Peter said of Paul's writings,  "His letters contain some things that are hard to understand" (II Peter 3;15-16 NIV). Much of what is hard to understand today is the result of bringing God's word from language to language and from translation to translation.  God gave us the right to use common sense and logic in our reading of the Scriptures because of all that has transpired through the ages.
     The idea that we can contact the dead or that they can contact us, is not a Biblical teaching.  There is no way that we can pray someone who is dead into a right relationship to the Lord.  And there is no way that one who is dead can pray for us and bring us into a right relationship to God.  
     No one, including the thief who died on cross,  is yet in paradise with Jesus. Jesus is waiting for us to approach him directly - now in our "life-time".
     Jesus told a story to explain this truth.  In his story there was a poor man named Lazarus who came to a rich man for help but did not receive it. Then they both died. The rich man ended up in hell, in torment, but the poor man was at peace in Abraham's Bosom.  The rich man wanted Abraham to send Lazarus to go tell his five brothers about the torments of  hell, in order to keep them from going there.  But Abraham told him, "They have Moses and the Prophets, let them hear them,  for even if one was raised from the dead they wouldn't listen". ( Luke 16:19-31).  
     Some consider this a true story. However, the expression  "Abraham's bosom"  occurred first in the Aggadah which included fairy tales and other stories.  According  to the Encyclopaedia Judaica, no objective truth should  be sought in the Aggadah. Jesus used the expression "Abraham's bosom" from Israel's past, to show that we must repent now or it is forever too  late.
      "Because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood.  Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God  through him, because he always lives to intercede for them" (Heb. 7:24-25 NIV).
     Jesus is our intercessor!  "Jesus...is at the right hand of God...interceding for us"  (Rom. 8:34 NIV).
     Jesus is our mediator!  "There is one God and one mediator between God and men,  the man Christ Jesus" (I Tim.2:5 NIV).
     Jesus is our Advocate!  "If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ" (I John 2:1 NKJV).   He is our Lawyer!
     Jesus has the power to give us eternal life,  He has said, "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me  I will by no means cast out...and this is the will of Him that sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes on Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:37-40 NKJV).
      Jesus is saying to us  "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28 NIV).
     "The Spirit and the bride  say, 'Come!'  And let him who hears say, 'Come!'. Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life" (Rev. 22:17 NIV).
     This is the message that comes to us from the throne of God,  "Come to me and listen to my words, hear me and you will have life: I shall make an everlasting covenant with you to love you faithfully as I have loved David" (Isaiah 55:3   REB).
      Today if you hear His voice,  respond now while, "It is still called - Today" (Heb. 3:13).  Tomorrow may never come!

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