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SUBJECT: Heaven and the Thief Crucified with Jesus
QUESTION: Where did the thieves go after they died?
ANSWER:
Regarding your questions about the thief. There is a
well-known and documented error in the translation. I took
this explanation from one of many Bible Contradiction sites
that explain supposed contradictions.
Punctuation Problems
Luke 23:43 has been erroneously used by some to claim
that Jesus went straight to heaven at His death. The
original Greek did not have punctuation marks as we do
today. The KJV states, "And Jesus said unto him, Verily I
say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise." The
comma should not be after "thee", but "today." The believing
malefactor would be with Christ in the paradise of the
redeemed when he was resurrected far into the future.
The idea of going to heaven when we die is not supported in
the scriptures.
One question you might ask is why would Christ tell the
malefactor that he would be in heaven that day when He was
going to be in the grave for three days?
Another question is why would dead people go to heaven if
Christ is coming back to the Earth to set up a 1000 year
Kingdom?
1Thessalonians 4:16-17
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump
of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the
air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (these
verses speaking to the firstfruits)
Note:
The dead (sleeping)
are resurrected to rise up to meet Christ in the air. If
there were dead in heaven, why is there not a description of
them coming down and why would there be some in heaven and
some still in the ground?
Jesus, Himself said that no man has ever gone to heaven...
John 3:13
And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down
from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
Here is another explanation I found at a Contradictions
Explained web sites:
Did the malefactor go into Paradise on the day of the
crucifixion?
Luke 23:43:
And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day
shalt thou be with me in paradise.
John 20:17:
Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet
ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto
them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my
God, and your God.
Acts 2:24, 31
Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death:
because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ,
that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did
see corruption.
The apparent contradiction between such sections of
Scripture is caused by (1) a wrong understanding of the
terms "Paradise", and (2) a wrong translation and
punctuation of Luke 23:43. For many, "Paradise" means the
same as "Heaven" and perhaps this is the reason for the
inclusion of John 20:17 in the above mentioned statement of
the problem. "Paradise" however is biblically not the same
as "heaven", and it must be noted that "heaven" takes on
different meanings in various contexts where it is used.
"Paradise" first of all describes the garden of Eden, the
original paradise where in the beginning Adam and Eve lived
and from where they were driven out after the fall of man (cp
Genesis 1 -- 3). It was a location on earth, not
a location in heaven. In the Bible "paradise" is mentioned
only in reference to the still future "paradise" after God
will have established a new heaven and a new earth (cp
Revelation 22), and then again it will be a place
on earth. In between these two poles there is no "paradise",
therefore it was and is not possible for anyone to go to
paradise until the future paradise has been established by
God.
Having this absolutely clear biblical background, it is now
possible to solve the problem with the statement in Luke
23:43. On that very day there was no paradise in existence
where Jesus and the believing malefactor could have gone.
Where did Jesus "go" that day? As Acts 2:24 and 31 state,
Jesus died that day and was buried in the grave where he
remained for 3 days and 3 nights. He was in gravedom, held
by death for this period of time. With the malefactor it was
the same in that he died that day and ended up in the grave
where he still is to this day. Did Jesus make a false
promise that day? Was he of the opinion that he would be in
paradise that very day even though he had declared at a
different time that he would be in the grave for 3 days and
3 nights? No!
Translators and those interpreting the Scriptures have
translated Jesus' words this way based on their own belief
and the traditional doctrine that believers go to heaven
immediately after death and that "heaven" and "paradise" are
the same. This way it is in accordance with their biased
opinion, but not with the rest of Scripture. One has to
recognize that there was no punctuation in the oldest
manuscripts of the Biblical texts and that punctuation
therefore is not part of the originally God inspired Word of
God. If one looks at the Greek text of Luke 23:43, one can
read (without punctuation):
and he said unto him verily to you I say today with me
will you be in paradise
The problem is immediately solved when the verse is
understood in light of the previously mentioned truths and
correctly punctuated:
and he said unto him: Verily to you I say today, »With
me will you be in paradise! «
The expression "I say to you today" is very typical for
semitic languages, such as Aramaic and Hebrew, in order to
put a special emphasis on what then follows as a statement.
It is found several places in the Old Testament already in
important places. One should also note that the malefactor
in his request to Jesus did not think of a paradise on that
day at all, but he spoke of "when thou comest into thy
kingdom". Jesus then in his response referred to this future
reality of his kingdom with the term "paradise". On that
very day of their death there was no paradise, but Jesus did
give this repenting malefactor on that very day a promise
that he would in the future be with him in paradise.!
---end---
Note: Christ was telling the malafactor that he
would be in the Kingdom of God, not heaven.
Now a word about "sleeping".
SLEEP
A natural period of rest during which consciousness is
suspended. In the Bible, sleep is a common metaphor for
death. In 1 and 2 Kings, especially, the phrase, "he rested
(slept, KJV) with his
fathers," occurs many times <1 Kings 2:10; 11:43>. The
Christian dead "sleep in Jesus" <1 Thessalonians 4:14>.
Sleep also can symbolize physical laziness, which brings
poverty <Proverbs 6:9-11>. In the New Testament sleep often
suggests spiritual or moral laziness <1 Thessalonians 5:6>.
On the other hand, sleep can be a symbol of living in safety
<Ezekiel 34:25>. God gives sleep to the righteous and to the
hard worker <Psalm 4:8; Ecclesiastes 5:12>.
~from Nelson's Illustrated Bible
Dictionary
SLEEP
SLEEP. The rendering of several Heb. and Gk. words, used in
the general sense of sleep or rest for the body <Psalms 4:8;
121:4; Jonah 1:5-6>. The manner of sleeping in warm Eastern
climates is different than that in colder countries. Their
beds are generally hard; feather beds are unknown. The poor
often sleep on mats or wrapped in their outer garment, for
which reason the latter was not allowed to be retained in
pledge overnight <Genesis 9:21,23; Exodus 22:26-27;
Deuteronomy 24:12-23>. The wealthy sleep on mattresses
stuffed with wool or cotton, being often only a thick quilt,
used singly or piled upon each other. In winter a similar
quilt of finer material forms the cover, whereas a thin
blanket suffices in summer; unless, indeed, the convenient
outer garment is used <1 Samuel 19:13>.
Figurative. Sleep is employed as a symbol of death (<Daniel
12:2; John 11:11>; etc.; KJV only: <Deuteronomy 31:16; 2
Samuel 7:12; Job 7:21>); of the moral slackness,
indolence, or stupid inactivity of the wicked <Romans
13:11-12; Ephesians 5:14; 1 Corinthians 11:30>.
~from New Unger's Bible Dictionary
1 Corinthians 15 is the Resurrection Chapter of the Bible.
It uses the word sleep in verse 51...
1 Corinthians 15:51
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed,
Here is the Strong Concordance meaning of the word.
2837 koimao (koy-mah'-o);
from 2749; to put to sleep, i.e. (passively
or reflexively) to slumber; figuratively, to
decease:
KJV-- (be a-, fall
a-, fall on) sleep, be dead.
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