Note: This post is a response to a private question I received regarding the last post, “The When of Eternal Life: It Matters” (10/11/23). Basically, the question was, When Jesus told the criminal on the cross that he would see him in “paradise” (Luke 23:42 – 43), does that not mean that he would die and go to heaven?
Short answer:No. In this context, “paradise” does not mean heaven as we think of it today.
Background:
Among those at this time who believed in afterlife "holding places" of the dead, there were a couple of traditions about where the dead went:
1) The underworld, Hades, (this was complemented by the depths of seas that will also give up their dead at the resurrection). In Greek tradition, which got picked up by some Jews, there were different regions in the underworld, uncomfortable places for bad people and comfortable places for good people -- like the Elysian Fields for heroic souls.
2) In one of the levels of the heavens above -- generally the 3rd heaven, often of seven -- in which there were also different places that separated the virtuous and the wicked dead (2 Enoch). In 2Cor 12:2-4, Paul speaks about being taken to the 3rd heaven, in Paradise, which might be what we would call a near-death experience -- I don't know.
Answer: "Paradise,” then, was a term sometimes used for the place of the virtuous dead apparently in both underworld and heavenly after-death-place traditions. So, Jesus was saying that this virtuous place is where he and the thief would be upon their forthcoming deaths. (See comment, too, at NET Bible.)
Application: A couple of points strike me. The first is the reminder that we never know the state of another person’s heart and how and when it might soften and surrender to God. Today, it is almost unimaginable for me to pray for those in Hamas. (I do not even like writing this.) But, if Jesus could pray from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34), then that is the model I must follow – like it or not. The “evildoer” (kakourgos) heard Jesus, recognized Jesus for who he is, and he changed.
Second, I have the joyful reminder that the gates of Hades could not contain my Savior. His resurrection foreshadows that of all the dead in Christ. Hallelujah!
Lord, help me to pray for all of those for whom you suffered to redeem. And, praise to you that the gates of Hades could never contain you, my Hope, my Life, my Redeemer!
