(Luke 23:4) Jesus answered him,”I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise”.

 Where was Jesus going?….  Paradise!!

Jesus gave this promise to the condemned criminal hanging beside Him on a cross, who repented and professed belief in Jesus, the Savior of mankind, and then asked Jesus to take him into His kingdom with Him……Belief – Faith – repentance – grace – eternal life –  Paradise!!

Paradise:  a place of bliss and rest between death and resurrection; heaven, a place of ideal beauty or loveliness, pleasure or delight; the abode of sanctified souls after death; a region of supreme felicity;

felicity? – the state of being happy or in extreme enjoyment, happiness,bliss;

The word Paradise is found 3 times in Scripture.

 (2 Corinthians 12:3-4) “And I know that this man – whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows – was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell”.

The apostle Paul was “caught up to paradise” (where believers who have died are “at home with the Lord”). This experience (glimpse of paradise)  gave Paul the strength and faith to continue through extreme suffering and persecution.

(Revelation 2:7) ..”.to him who overcomes I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the “paradise” of God”. ……PARADISE…..the final place where God and man are restored to that perfect relationship that existed before sin entered the world.

Paradise! What a promise! What a God! Thanks be to God who gave us that voictory through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ!   

.