Today You Will Be with Me in Paradise 

Thank you for another informative video and pray that life is beginning to seem more normal for you and your family. We've been through this same trial ourselves and know that the most well meaning of words and thoughts cannot diminish the grief that hangs over the loss of one's child.

You are one of the few that admits we are changed in the twinkle of an eye at our death and Jesus comes back to bring us to heaven. Because of the (today you will be with me in paradice)

Amen!

I learned a great deal from listening to your commentary. Thank you. I think that Jesus's quotation "daughters of Jerusalem" is worth commenting on given the content of the gospel where Luke appears to know aspects of Jesus early life that only his mother Mary would be aware of. Given it's exclusive use in the love poem "Song of Solomon", it's inclusion by Jesus suggests a particular concern for the plight of children and women in the destruction of Jerusalem. Here is the groom of the future church who knows that in two generations (40 years), the Days will come when the tree will truly be dry and their grandchildren and children will be completely given over to ashes.

Well done. Absolutely solid.

Jesus said that I can come. Praise Jesus.

Wonderful!

Thank you for Word.

Thank you and God bless.

That was so wonderful to listen.. thanks for sharing this best news.. God bless you dear brother

Thank you.

This is such great teaching!! I’m so glad you showed up in my feed 🙌🏼🙌🏼

I’m under the impression that paradise here was not heaven as it exists now, but was the upper portion of Sheol, also known as Abraham’s bosom. After all, Jesus went there before ascending to the father to “set captivity free”. I believe from that point Abraham’s bosom/paradise was emptied as the Old Testament saints received the gospel message and went with Jesus to heaven.

Thank you for this Chad Bird....I have a question though....if Jesus took the repent thief to Heaven, then it stands to reason that the righteous dead ascend to Heaven immediately. If that is the case, why does Jesus say in John 5:28-29 that when HE returns all the dead will be brought to life, some to eternal life and others to eternal condemnation? Again, if the dead have received their rewards as in the case of the thief, why did Jesus in Revelation 22:12 says " I am coming soon with my reward"? Hoping to hear from you. Thanks and God bless your Ministry.... Have always been blessed listening

It could not have been "today" as Jesus did not ascend to heaven for 40 days later. In many places he said: truly I tell you today.........

26:10 But remember if JESUS went to paradise as soon as he died. HE could not say to marry on resurrection morning don’t cling to me for I have not yet assented to my FATHER.

Where can I read up on the old Jewish tradition of the name of Golgotha?

Thanks so much brother Chad, I learn so much from you. Here are some comments: (26:25) I listened to Alistair Begg as you suggested (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GDl8euKhd3U.html) and the short comic piece is entertaining! And he said what you said he said, to wit, that accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior is not enough to get into heaven. And like you said at (26:45) "The only way the criminal got into paradise is because the man on the middle cross said he could come"; and as you said at (27:20) We get into heaven "not because or I did something, not even because I believed, no, but because the man on the middle cross said I could come". Rev. Begg got some laughs, but he cited no scripture for this, nor do any of the gospels support his statement. The gospels state the opposite. Amen brother Chad that we are saved because "the man on the middle cross" said we could come, but it is completely dependent upon "because I believed". Jesus' plain promise, which the gospels repeat plainly, is that we are entitled to entry into heaven for one reason and one reason only: That we believe that Jesus our Lord is the son of God. Luke 23:42-23 is about one thing: A dying sinner proclaimed that he believed the man on the middle cross was in fact God: "And he said unto Jesus, 'Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom'." In response to that clear profession of belief in the Son of Man, Jesus told him and he had told everyone during his ministry, that the belief in him alone and of itself was passage to paradise: "And Jesus said unto him, 'Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise'." But Jesus no more singled out the good thief for the promise of this message than He did anyone else when he preached His salvation promise. See, Romans 10: "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." John 11:25-26: "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." And John 3:18: "Whoever believes in him is not judged, and whoever does not believe is judged already, because he does not believe in The Name of The Only Begotten Son of God." Jesus says to any and all of us who with our hearts pledge to him our belief: "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom". Nothing other than that belief is required according to the gospels. Jesus is not somehow "putting a word for us" as the guy on the center cross. He is keeping a promise to all of us that mere belief in Him is enough.

How do you reconcile Jesus's words to the thief on the cross in Luke 23:43 with his words to Mary after His resurrection, when he says "Touch me not; for I have not yet ascended to my father..."? It would appear that Jesus lied to either the thief or Mary.

How could Jesus promise the thief he would be with Jesus in paradise that very day if Jesus didn't rise until the third day? And what does "today" mean to someone who has died? Jesus himself refers to death as being asleep, and even people who are merely asleep don't generally experience anything.

Did he say like dung buried in the ground??

I prefer the comma after "this day", because I like to believe Jesus' other words, like: "so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matt 12:40), "And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day" (Luke 24:46), and "I was dead" (Rev 1:18, ASV). I know that most Christians don't believe that Jesus actually died. And almost everyone else in the world don't believe that "the man Christ Jesus" was raised from the dead. However, I am unique, in that I believe that Jesus BOTH died, AND was raised "from the dead the third day". When Jesus comes back the truth will again be taught, but for now, people will continue to believe the words their pastors about their ghosts going to heaven and immortality of the soul, and ignore the scriptures that "thou shalt surely die", and cast God's words behind them, because being popular and avoiding mocking is more important than truth, in this the end of the age of the kingdom of men.

There is a fundamental error of many in the understanding when we consider what a human is and use this understanding to interpret what Jesus said to the thief. We are not immortal according to Genesis 2. We are of the ground and when we die we go to the ground, nowhere else. Jesus himself, being the Messiah, did not go to the Father at his death but after his resurrection when he became immortal. The idea that Jesus was going to be conscious and aware with the thief in some place called paradise is not biblical, it is more in line with the Greek understanding of death and the dead. Jesus in John 20:17 told Mary, “ do not touch me for I have not ascended to the Father.,..” furthermore, Jesus considered himself to have died and as he said before, he was going to be in the tomb for 3 days and 3 nights. So the understanding of Jesus and the thief going somewhere at death contradicts Old Testament scripture. First there is a problem in the translation from the Greek since as far as I understand, there was no punctuation, so a comma could have been placed wrongly which gave a totally different meaning to what Jesus said to the thief. Something else to consider is that the thief ask Jesus “remember me when you come in your kingdom”, when is this going to happen? At Jesus death? At his resurrection? No, his kingdom will start at his second coming since this is the time Jesus will be a king over the house of Jacob, therefore, the best understanding of this verse is Jesus promised the thief that when he would come back, the thief would be resurrected and be present in that kingdom which Jesus would inaugurate. Jesus was never a king the first time he came, he was murdered instead.

It’s funny the people who claim the “there was no punctuation” think their way of interpreting is correct…what makes them correct? Just because they think it doesn’t make it so…the way we should be looking at it is like this: when we die, we step into eternity, having chosen correctly, you will be in paradise…the other choice, is terrifying…

But Messiah descended into earth for 3 days and 3nights so how would the prisoner and Christ be in heaven ?

Pontious Pilate wrote the King of the Jews on the sign and he had washed his hands of the affair, finding Jesus innocent and unworthy of crucifixion, and he wanted to free Jesus. I believe God put it on Pilates heart to write 'King of the Jews' because it upset the Pharisees, who demanded the writing be changed to read, 'He claimed He was the King of the Jews'.

Didn’t Jesus descend into hell after his death? How then could he join him today?

Jesus went down to the dead Jesus told Mary do not touch me i have not risen to the Father yet. 3days and 3 nights dead in the ground not even his spirit went to God

Chad Bird, anyone who knows the Bible will know that neither Jesus or the repented malefacter went to Paradise the day they were crucified. Paradise, Greek Paradeisos is only mention 3 times in the New Testament and it's Heaven. nowhere does the Bible say Paradise is in the underworld. The repented malefacter went to Abraham's bosom and Jesus went to Hell as in Hades the place of torment, Acts 2: 27--31. The same Greek word and place as Lk 16: 22--25.