The Thief on the Cross

Some people have suggested that the dialog recorded in Luke 23:42, 43 indicates that the righteous go immediately to paradise when they die.

If so, in order for Christ to be true to His promise, both He and the thief would have to make it to heaven before the sun set that very day.

Let’s see if they actually did. First, did Jesus go to heaven that day? The Bible tells us that He did not. For when He was resurrected He said, “I am not yet ascended to my Father” (John 20:17).

So Jesus didn’t go to heaven that day. What about the thief, did he? The Bible tells us in John 19:31-34 that at the end of the day the soldiers went and found the two thieves still hanging there on the cross, both still alive. Then they broke their legs and let them down off the cross for the Sabbath. So the thief didn’t make it to heaven that day either.

Well then, did Jesus tell a lie? No. The problem is easily solved when we realize that when the Bible was written, there were no punctuation marks. Commas were added hundreds of years later when the Bible was translated into English. In Luke 23:43 the comma should have been placed after, rather than before, the word “today.” It actually reads, “Verily I say unto thee today, thou shalt be with me in paradise.”

Jesus promised him that day a promise He will not break. For “when the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him,...then shall the King say...Inherit the kingdom prepared for you” (Matthew 25:31-34). “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works” (Matthew 16:27).

And that’s all the thief was asking for anyway. He didn’t ask to go to heaven that day. He simply said, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom” (Luke 23:42).