Our Crucified Lord and the Dying Thief

The question is often asked, Did the dying thief go with Jesus to Paradise the very day in which they both died? And if so, does this prove that all in harmony with God go to Heaven when they die, whatever may be the condition of others in death?

No. We have made a misinterpretation of our Redeemer's dying words to the thief, and our interpretation has done an immense amount of harm. Thousands of people have been encouraged to continue a life of sin, trusting that with their dying breath they may have the opportunity of saying, "God be merciful to me," and then be immediately ushered into glory, honor, and immortality, as joint-heirs with the Savior, and in as honorable a station as those who have fought to win the prize enduring trials, persecutions, and self-denials.

Let us not be misunderstood. We would not discourage a death-bed repentance, or any other. We would, however, have all to recognize that there are fixed rules of Divine Justice which forbid us to think that there is a hell full of unfortunates who died suddenly, with no opportunity for repentance; that there is a Heaven full of lucky murderers, thieves, and dishonest people, who were carried to glory without any real change of heart or character, but merely as a reward for momentary prayer. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Whoever sows a life of sin and self-indulgence will not reap glory, honor, immortality, but a more depraved disposition than that with which he was born.

The difficulty has been with the wrong thought of the translators, and the misplacement of the comma. Punctuation is a modern convenience in all languages. There is none in the original Scriptures. The translators put the comma where they thought it should be, but in this verse they made a great mistake. It would be thoroughly inconsistent to say that Jesus went to Paradise, when He had not yet ascended to the Father, and when the promised Paradise is to be established in the earth after the Second Coming of Christ, as a result of His Millennial Reign. Revelation 21:3-5

Placing the comma where we have done below -- after the word today -- leaves the passage thoroughly in accord with all the Bible.

Jesus is saying, Truly I say unto you today, you shall be with me in paradise.

That verse, properly understood, leaves not a shadow of Scriptural support to the thought that a prayer a moment before death would change the eternal destiny of anybody.

The supposition that the dying thief asked to go to Heaven with Jesus as a reward for a few kindly words is a mistake. The supposition that Jesus promised that he would go to Heaven that same day is also a mistake. Jesus did not go to Heaven that day. Instead, He went to the Bible hell -- hades (Greek), sheol (Hebrew), the tomb. He remained dead, St. Peter tells us, until the third day, when God raised Him from the dead by Divine Power. It was after His resurrection on the third day that He appeared to Mary and said, "I have not yet ascended to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God." John 20:17

The Bible tells that Paradise on earth was lost through Adam's sin, over six thousand years ago; that it is to be restored as a result of Jesus' death; and the time of its restoration will be during the thousand years of Messiah's Kingdom. Since there was no earthly Paradise when Jesus died, He could not have meant that the thief would be there with Him that day. The claim made by Jesus was that He was to be a King. The thieves had heard Pilate's question, "Art Thou a King, then?" They had heard Jesus' reply, that to this end was He born. But He added, "My Kingdom is not of this World (Age)." His kingdom was of the world to come, “wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Pet. 3:13), where “there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain.” (Rev. 21:4)

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Last modified: 04/04/07