“FROM FAITH TO HEAVEN”
SELECTED SCRIPTURES
I. Introduction
When Jesus was being crucified on Friday morning, He said something to the repentant
thief on the cross next to Him. He said, “…today you shall be with Me in paradise.” But
on Sunday morning, after His resurrection, He appeared to Mary Magdalene and said,
“…I have not yet ascended to the Father.”
What? How can both of those statements be true? How could Jesus go to heaven on Fri-
day, but still not have gone to heaven on Sunday? Someone must have made a mistake.
One of those statements must be an error. This is precisely the kind of thing that skep-
tics, cynics, unbelievers, and many liberal theologians take perverse pleasure in pointing
out. They say, “See, just another example of error and/or contradiction in the Bible.”
When I was a new Christian and came upon those verses, I was sure that those two state-
ments completely contradicted each other. But in my heart of hearts I was already con-
vinced that God’s Word contained no error or contradiction. I knew the problem was that
I didn’t understand – not that the Bible was wrong. Therefore, I made up my mind to fig-
ure it out. Maybe it would help if I looked at those verses in the context in which they
were found. So let’s do that.
*Luke 23:39-43
39
And one of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at
(Jesus), saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!”
40
But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear
God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?
41
“And we indeed justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our
deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”
42
And he was saying, Jesus, remember me when you come into your king-
dom!”
43
And (Jesus) said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in
paradise.”
What a wonderful passage of Scripture. The repentant thief went from faith right to hea-
ven on that Friday afternoon, didn’t he? Or did he?
The passage that seemed to contradict this whole scenario was in John. On Sunday mor-
ning Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene. When she realized it was He she threw her
arms around Him, but…
*John 20:17
17
Jesus said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the
Father…”
1

At first we say, “Well, that’s right. We know the ascension took place forty days after the
resurrection.” But then how could Jesus tell the repentant thief, “Today you shall be
with Me in paradise,” if Jesus didn’t go to heaven until forty-three days later? Putting
those two statements back into their immediate context didn’t help me solve the mystery.
It was at this time, very early in my Christian life, that my passion for Bible study began.
So I bought my first reference books, an English/Greek dictionary, a Bible encyclopedia,
and a NT commentary. I would try to figure out what it all meant.
For example, maybe the word “today” in Luke 23:43 (“…today you shall be with Me in para-
dise.”) is just a broadly general term that means something like soon or presently or short-
ly. But that didn’t work. The Greek is very specific indeed. “Today” is “sēmĕrŏn,” and
it literally means “this very day.” So that didn’t solve the problem.
It couldn’t be that the paradise Jesus was going to on the day of the crucifixion and the
place where the Father was were actually two different places, could it? But what other
explanation was there? I needed to find out if paradise was heaven, or if heaven was
paradise, or what.
Could it be that when an OT believer died they went somewhere other than heaven?
Could Roman Catholicism be right? Is there such a thing as what they call purgatory, a
place that is neither heaven nor hell? Every question seemed to raise two more.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
II. Text
Looking back over my Christian life I realize that this one incident, this single question,
gave me a hunger for Bible study, a sincere desire to truly understand the Word of God,
not just be familiar with it. There was so much I didn’t know. This “heaven vs. para-
dise” issue turned out to be the tip of the iceberg.
In the NT the word “paradise” is only used three times. The first is when Jesus uses it
with regard to the repentant thief. “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in
paradise (Luke 23:43).” The second time is when Paul uses it to with reference to the
vision God gave him.
2 Corinthians 12:2-4
2
I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago – whether in the body I do
not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows – such a man was
caught up to the third heaven.
3
And I know how such a man – whether in the body or apart from the body I
do not know, God knows –
4
was caught up into Paradise, and heard inexpressible words, which a man
is not permitted to speak.
The third and final time is when John uses the word in Revelation.
2

Speaking of the church at Ephesus John quotes Jesus as saying, “To him who overcomes,
I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God (Revelation 2:7).”
So while it’s clear the word is related to heaven, it’s not so clear that the word “para-
dise” is automatically interchangeable with the word “heaven.” Remember that Jesus
said He was going to paradise the day of His crucifixion, but He said He had not yet
ascended to His Father.
The word “paradise” is transliterated from the Greek “paradĕisŏs.” That comes from a
Persian word, “pardēs,” which means “park” or “forest” or “garden.” In the scriptures
the word can refer to heaven, the place where God dwells, the place from where He rules
His creation, the place from where Jesus came, and the place to where He returned forty
days after His bodily resurrection.
So the Bible sometimes calls heaven paradise. But…there are at least two other places
commonly referred to as paradise, that are not heaven.
 The first of these is the Garden of Eden itself. Remember that paradise means
“park,” “forest,” or “garden.”
Heaven will always be “a paradise” to those who enter in. But I also learned that para-
dise is not always heaven. “Paradise” is a generic term. Heaven is a specific term.
 There’s another place called “paradise.” It’s also known as “Abraham’s bosom.”
Whatever is Abraham’s bosom? It is a metaphor for “paradise.” In Luke 16 Jesus told
the story of two men who died and went to two different places. Our first response is,
“Sure, one went to heaven and one went to hell.” But it isn’t quite that simple. There’s a
problem, and most of our English translations only add to the confusion.
*Luke 16:19-31
19
“Now there was a certain rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple
and fine linen, gaily living in splendor every day.
20
“And a certain poor man named Lazarus was laid at his (the rich man’s)
gate, covered with sores,
21
and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich
man’s table; besides even the dogs were coming and licking his sores.
22
“Now it came about that the poor man died and he was carried away by
the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried.
23
“And in Hades he lifted up his eyes being in torment, and saw Abraham
far away, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24
“And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and
send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my
tongue; for I am in agony in this flame.’
25
“But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received
your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things;
3

but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony.
26
‘And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, in
order that those who wish to come over from here to you may not be able,
and that none may cross over from there to us.’
27
“And he (the rich man) said, ‘Then I beg you, Father, that you send him to
my father’s house –
28
for I have five brothers – that he may warn them, lest they also come to
this place of torment.’
29
“But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear
them.’
30
“But he (the rich man) said, ‘No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to
them from the dead, they will repent!”
31
“But he (Abraham) said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the
Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’”
There is a huge amount of theology and doctrine wrapped up in Jesus’ words in this pas-
sage. In the “Ryrie Study Bible” the author’s notes single out and address four of the
most obvious points. Ryrie says…
“In this saying the Lord taught: (1) conscious existence after death; (2) the reality
and torment of hell; (3) no second chanced after death; and (4) the impossibility of
the dead communicating with the living. The two men in this story illustrate two
different lives, two different deaths, and two different destinies.”
Back to Luke 16… Notice that Jesus didn’t call the places in which Lazarus and the rich
man found themselves heaven and hell. He called the place we think of as heaven “Ab-
raham’s bosom,” and He called the place we think of as hell, “Hades.”
The metaphor “Abraham’s bosom” is an OT term depicting the blessedness of the be-
liever in paradise following death. The OT taught that believers went to be with “their
fathers” when they died.
Genesis 15:15a (of Abraham)
15a
“And as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace…”
Genesis 47:30a (of Jacob)
30a
“…when I lie down with my fathers…”
Deuteronomy 31:16a (of Moses)
16a
“You are about to lie down with your fathers…”
God never told Abraham, Jacob, or Moses that they were coming to Him in His heaven
when they died. He told them they were going to their fathers. In Judges 2, reference is
made to all believing Israelites who had died as having been “gathered to their fathers.”
Since Abraham was the earthly father of the Jews, they went to where Abraham was.
Where was that? Where were their fathers?
4