What is Paradise?
I may have mentioned this a long time ago. Every week, God impresses a particular Scripture to me. This passage will appear multiple times: on the radio, in Sunday's sermon, other places. Last week it was Luke 23:43 where Jesus says to the thief on the cross "today you will be with me in Paradise." First of all, the thief exhibited all the requirements for salvation. He recognized Jesus was who He said he was - Messiah, he feared God, he recognized that what he did was wrong and he deserved punishment (repentance), he asked Jesus to remember him. He did not get baptized, nor did he need to. Now Paradise is in the Earth - it is the place of the righteous dead in Hebrew understanding. They would both be there immediately, not after Jesus was resurrected. Why? Because he was a Jew who was under the law of Moses - not a gentile being saved with his faith by grace through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Paul describes himself in 2 Cor. 12:2-4 as having been tak...