With Jesus in Paradise
‘And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”’ (Luke 23:43)
What comes to your mind when you hear the word paradise? A beautiful tropical beach resort? A cozy log cabin high up in the snowy mountains? If you’re not much of an outdoorsy person, perhaps paradise might evoke a day with friends within the safety, comforts, and conveniences of a highly urbanized city.
We all have different ideas of what paradise might be but I think the common denominator to all of our visions of paradise is that paradise is–or ought to be–a place of unbounded happiness. What is more, I suspect that for most of us, our ideas of paradise as a happy place are largely dependent on the kind of company that we imagine ourselves to be with. As relational beings, we humans instinctively understand that our enjoyment of the good things in life is multiplied by the good company that we get to enjoy them with.
When we turn our attention to the original paradise sanctuary that the Bible speaks about–the Garden of Eden that God himself planted at the beginning of creation–we realize that what made this garden special was not so much that it was filled with fruit bearing trees of every sort, or had the perfect climate and environment for life to thrive. Rather, what made this special garden a paradise was that it was a place where God was present. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, were placed in the Garden of Eden in order that they might enjoy unending fellowship and communion with God their heavenly Father. There in the garden paradise of Eden, they enjoyed the truly blessed life of holiness and happiness for which God had made them.
As we reflect on this garden paradise that God had planted in the region of Eden, we realize that the garden was actually situated on top of God’s original holy mountain. We can easily miss this but the great river that watered the garden cues us to this fact. In Genesis 2:10, we read that ‘a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers.’ The picture is that of a fountain of living water flowing downstream from the peak of the mountain top in order to irrigate and to enliven the rest of the land. Beginning from the top of the mountain, where the garden was, we could discern a threefold structure: the garden sanctuary at the top, the surrounding region of Eden that was watered by the downward flow of the river, and the rest of the earth.
We will remember, too, from Genesis 1:28 that when God had made man, he ‘blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”’ Adam and Eve’s original task was to populate not only the garden, not only the region of Eden, but the whole earth. As people who were made in the image of God and for his glory, the task of Adam, and of all of humanity in him, was to expand God’s garden paradise to include the whole region up to the ends of the earth. As the prophet Habakkuk would later declare, God’s desire was that ‘the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.’ (Habakkuk 2:14)
Unfortunately, Adam was neither able to remain long in God’s garden paradise, nor was he able to fulfill God’s charge to him to extend the limits of God’s garden paradise to the ends of the earth. Adam disobeyed God’s clear command not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. As a public man, his sin had mortal consequences not only for himself but for all of humanity in him. As an old New England alphabet textbook puts it, ‘In Adam’s fall, we sinned all.’
Consequently, Adam and Eve were banished from God’s garden paradise. And at the entrance to this holy sanctuary God placed angels called ‘cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.’ (Genesis 3:24) The message is clear: Adam will never again return to God’s garden paradise except by going under the sword.
The story of Adam and Eve would have ended in complete tragedy had it not been for God’s mercy and grace. In Genesis 3:15, in the context of God’s pronouncement of judgment against the serpent who tempted our first parents, God declared what Christians have long recognized as the first announcement of the gospel in all of the Bible: ‘I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.’ Here in this one pivotal verse in the story of humanity, God made the promise that one day a Son will come from the line of the woman in order to completely destroy the wicked serpent. In that cosmic contest between good and evil, the woman’s seed will suffer some damage, but in the end he will triumph. The promised seed of the woman will trample the serpent’s head underfoot.
This Genesis promise finds its ultimate fulfillment in the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we turn now to reflect on these words of the Lord as he hung on the cross, we need to bear in mind that all this was happening in fulfillment of God’s ancient promise of good news which was announced soon after man’s fall.
Luke 23:43 reads, ‘And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.’
The first thing that we must note here is to whom Jesus was speaking these words. We will remember that there were two other men, convicted criminals, who were being put to death along with Jesus. The contrast between Jesus and these two others could not have been more stark. Here was Jesus, he who knew no sin but whom God was making sin for our sakes (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21) flanked on either side by cursed criminals who were being justly executed because of their sins.
These two criminals had two very opposite ways of seeing Jesus. The first one, apparently emboldened by the mockery and insults hurled at the Lord by the local rulers and soldiers, chimed in with his own incredulity:
‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!’ (Luke 23:39)
But the other criminal, the one on Jesus’ other side, saw things very differently. It would seem that God’s grace had opened his spiritual eyes to see the reality that this man in the middle was not guilty like him and the other criminal. And so, he speaks out. The words that he utters flow from a heart that, in spite of his past sins and crimes, was beginning to recognize that the crucified man beside him was actually suffering unjustly for sins that he did not commit:
‘“Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. (Luke 23:40–42)
Whereas the first criminal mockingly challenged Jesus to save the three of them from temporal suffering, this second criminal saw and believed that Jesus was able to save him to the uttermost. He believed that Jesus was the conquering king who was establishing his people in his glorious kingdom through his decisive victory over their enemies. The salvation that Jesus brings is not one that merely delays physical death. The salvation that Jesus brings is one that saves sinners from the interruption of death and onwards to everlasting life in God’s paradise in glory. As the long promised serpent-crusher, Jesus had come as the second and last Adam to stamp out completely the terrors of sin, Satan, and secularism. As a public man, Jesus’ triumph extends, too, to all who would turn to him. With eyes of faith, the second criminal who hung beside him looked to Jesus hopingly.
And so, it is to this second criminal that Jesus spoke these words of promise: ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.’ (Luke 23:43)
What does this teach us? It teaches us that Jesus’ promise is for criminals, too. In the grand scheme of things, all of us who naturally descend from Adam share in his crime and sin. ‘In Adam’s fall, we sinned all.’ As sinners, we are all rebels and criminals in the sight of God. But the good news is this: if the second criminal could be saved through simple faith in the Lord Jesus, then you and I, too, could be saved. If grace were accessible even to this criminal at the very end of his life, then the promise of grace must also be for us. Indeed, it is for all who would repent of their sins and put their trust in Jesus alone to save them. The salvation that Jesus brings is for all sorts of sinners who would trust in his name.
The second thing that we could learn from Jesus’ words of assurance to this criminal is the promise of his comforting company. ‘Today,’ Jesus tells him, ‘you will be with me in paradise.’ As we have reflected earlier, what truly completes the idea of paradise is the kind of company that we have in our enjoyment of it. Jesus does not say to the criminal, ‘today you will be in paradise’ but ‘today you will be with me.’ And if Jesus says this to us, does the question of where really matter? It matters little where we find ourselves as long as Jesus promises to be with us. Wherever Jesus is, there is paradise. To be with Jesus is to be in paradise. It is enough to be with our beloved, the one who loves our soul. The place is irrelevant. Paradise is where we could be with our Lord forever.
But let’s pause for a little bit and think back again to the garden of Eden, that paradise sanctuary that Adam by his fall had forfeited. What is perhaps most remarkable about Adam and Eve’s banishment from God’s presence is that the entrance to the gate was not removed but only barred. At the entrance to the garden, God placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. There was still a way back in but entrance back into paradise will not be possible except through the fatal slash of the sword.
We have already mentioned that the original holy mountain of the Lord had a threefold structure: the garden at the top, the surrounding region of Eden, and the rest of the earth. Later, when God brought the people of Israel in their exodus from Egypt to Mount Sinai in the wilderness, we again see this same threefold structure. Only Moses was allowed to ascend to the very top of the mountain, the elders of the people were allowed only to the middle part, and the rest of the people of Israel were permitted to stay only in the region beyond the foot of the mountain. Later, still, when God gives instructions to Moses for the construction of the tabernacle tent, it appears that this threefold structure is again repeated: moving from the innermost section outwards, there was the Most Holy Place, the Holy Place, and the tabernacle court. It was as if the tabernacle in the wilderness was meant to serve as a portable mountain of the Lord. The whole structure was meant to be a visible and tangible representation of God’s presence with his tent dwelling people. In this way, the memory and longing for a paradise lost is signified to the believers in the Old Testament through the tabernacle. God was in their midst but it was not the same as it was for our first parents in the garden. It was possible to approach God but only by way of the very exact ritual of sacrifices and ceremonies for purification. Indeed, just as with Moses in Sinai, the Most Holy Place was only to be entered into once a year. On the annual Day of Atonement, the high priest, having purified himself and the people, appears before the presence of the Lord in the Most Holy Place in order to offer sacrifice. That the high priest, in venturing to doing this, is not consumed by the fire of God’s wrath is a testament to God’s abiding mercy and promise to one day make a full return to paradise garden possible.
Curiously, David the psalmist reflects this same memory and longing for God’s temple-mountain-garden-paradise in the twenty-fourth psalm when he writes,
‘The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. Who shall ascend the mountain of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.’ (Psalm 24:1–4)
Paradise was lost due the sin of the first Adam. Because of his fall, no sinner can now lay claim to the right to ascend the mountain of the Lord. Just as the garden of Eden was guarded by cherubim and a flaming sword, so, too, was the sanctuary of the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle closed off by a thick curtain, with cherubim skillfully worked into it. In Exodus 26:31, 33 we read,
‘And you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. It shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it. … And you shall hang the veil from the clasps, and bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy.’
We could easily miss the significance of all of this unless we realize what happens to this veil at the moment of Jesus’ death on the cross. Recording that very moment, Matthew the evangelist writes: ‘And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.’ (Matthew 27:50–51). This is very significant. Matthew reports that at the moment of Jesus’ death, the curtain of the temple — that same veil that was meant to separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy, that same curtain into which the cherubim was skillfully worked — was torn in two, from top to bottom. Tears usually start from the bottom up but this curtain was torn from top to bottom. It would almost seem as if someone had taken a sword to it and slashed it from top to bottom in one fell sweep.
What does this all mean? What does the death of Christ mean for sinners like us? It means that the way into the Most Holy Place is now opened up. The entrance to God’s paradise sanctuary is now once more open and able to welcome wayward sinners home. The river of life which flows from the top of God’s holy mountain is now unstopped and its cool springs can now refresh and enliven weary souls again through the saving work of Christ. Did not Jesus himself say this, shortly before his arrest? ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”’ (John 7:37–38)
Returning to Jesus’ words to the second criminal, we read, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.’
It is paradise enough to be with Jesus where he is. It is even more glorious that by his death he again opens the way back into God’s sanctuary. By his death, Jesus went under the sword of God’s wrath for sin, in order that he might bring all of his people home. This included this believing criminal. This also includes all who, along with him, come to Jesus with empty hands and believing hearts saying, ‘Jesus, remember me.’
The psalmists’ remembering and longing questions, ‘who shall ascend the mountain of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?’ — these find their decisive answer in the redemptive death of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who has clean hands and a pure heart. He is the one who has never lifted up his soul to what is false. He is the one who has never sworn deceitfully. He is the one, in whose presence and company, is paradise. He is the one who makes entrance back into paradise possible.
The last thing that we need to note about Jesus’ words to the second criminal is the enduring significance of his words, ‘today you will be with me in paradise.’ Jesus says to him, ‘today’. He does not say soon, or later, or next week, or at some indefinite time in the future. No, the promise of paradise is today. It is now, in this present moment. To believe in Jesus is to be forever and inseparably united to him by faith. The effect is immediate. The reality is instant. There is nothing more that the believing criminal needs to do to earn paradise. Indeed, there is nothing that he could have done. God alone must and can save. As the lyrics of an old hym rightly puts it,
‘Not the labor of my hands / Can fulfill Thy law’s demands; / Could my zeal no respite know, / Could my tears forever flow, / All could never sin erase, / Thou must save, and save by grace.’
Dear friends, this is grace; it is undeserved favor from God. And the good news is that for all who sincerely repent of their sins, who forsake all feeble human attempts to earn God’s favor, who humbly put their trust in Jesus alone to save them and to bring them into God’s paradise, today is the day of salvation.
Perhaps this is you. Perhaps you, too, yearn for the memory and longing of a lost paradise. Jesus’ words of promise are for you if you would put yourself in the place of the second criminal. If you repent of your sins and put your faith in Jesus alone, if you would see him and his presence as the paradise that you have been longing for in your heart of hearts, if you desire the forgiveness for sins that only he can give, then say to him even now, ‘Jesus, remember me.’
If this is the prayer of your heart, then know this: Jesus’ promise of his own presence as paradise is yours. Even now, to you, he addresses these words: ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.’ You may still have many days left to your life here on earth or you may already be at the sunset of your life, it doesn’t really matter. If you believe in Jesus, then today you already are with him in paradise. One day, when he returns, he will make all things new and then our experience of the paradise of his presence will be even more glorious. This is our blessed hope as followers of Jesus. By faith, this is the unending life of holiness and happiness to which we look.
