What did Jesus mean when He said, "Today you will be with me in paradise"?

But I would say a few words on the condition of the other thief, and on the reply of Christ. We see every mark of conversion, and of the most remarkable faith. The fear of God, the beginning of wisdom, is there; conscience upright and vigorous. It is not "and justly" to his fellow, but "we indeed justly"; knowledge of the perfect sinless righteousness of Christ as man; the acknowledgment of Him as the Lord, when His own disciples had forsaken and denied Him, and when there was no sign of His glory or of the dignity of His Person. He was accounted by man as one like himself. His kingdom was but a subject of scorn to all. But the poor thief is taught of God; and all is plain. He is as sure that Christ will have the kingdom as if He was reigning in glory. All his desire is that Christ should remember him then; and what confidence in Christ is here shown through the knowledge of Him in spite of his acknowledged guilt! It shows how Christ filled his heart, and how his confiding in grace by its brightness shut out human shame, for who would like to be remembered in the shame of a gibbet! Divine teaching is singularly manifested here. Do not we know by divine teaching that Christ was sinless, and to be assured of His kingdom there was a faith above all circumstances? He alone is a comfort to Jesus upon the cross, and makes Him think (in answering his faith) of the Paradise that awaited Him when He should have finished the work that His Father had given Him to do. Observe the state of sanctification this poor man was in by faith. In all the agonies of the cross, and while believing Jesus to be the Lord, he seeks no relief at His hands, but asks that He will remember him in His kingdom. He is filled with one thought — to have his portion with Jesus. He believes that the Lord will return; he believes in the kingdom, while the King is rejected and crucified, and when, as to man, there was no longer any hope. But the reply of Jesus goes farther in the revelation of that proper to this Gospel, and adds that which brings in, not the kingdom, but everlasting life, the happiness of the soul. The thief had asked Jesus to remember him when He returned in His kingdom. The Lord replies that he should not wait for that day of manifested glory which would be visible to the world, but that this very day he should be with Him in Paradise. Precious testimony, and perfect grace! Jesus crucified was more than King — He was Saviour. The poor malefactor was a testimony to it, and the joy and consolation of the Lord's heart — the first-fruits of the love which had placed them side by side, where, if the poor thief bore the fruit of his sins from man, the Lord of glory at his side was bearing the fruit of them from God, treated as Himself a malefactor in the same condemnation. Through a work unknown to man save by faith the sins of His companion were for ever put away, they no longer existed, their remembrance was only that of the grace which had taken them away, and which had for ever cleansed his soul from them, making him that moment as fit to enter Paradise as Christ Himself his companion there!

180 And the Lord gave him more than his faith asked. There was the answer of present peace. It was not only the kingdom by-and-by, but "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." As if He said, You shall have the kingdom when it comes, but I am giving now soul-salvation; you are to be associated at once with Me in a way far better and more than the kingdom, blessed and true as it is. For indeed the work was accomplished on the cross, which could transport a soul into Paradise. If the Saviour had taken the sinner's place, the sinner is by grace entitled to take the place of the Saviour. The poor thief might know but little of Christ's work and its effect, but the Holy Spirit had fixed his heart on the person of Christ. The words of the Lord (v. 43) imply the atonement, by virtue of which we are made fit to be His companions in the presence of God. The work of Christ is as perfect now for us, as then for him; it is as much accomplished for us as if we were already caught up into Paradise. How distinct this is from anything like progress of the soul to fit it for heaven! And how wonderful that such a soul should be a comfort to the Saviour! He had come into the condemnation; yea, and wrath was on Him to the uttermost. And now the converted thief was a bright witness of perfect grace and eternal salvation through His blood.

184 It is not dispensational, like Matthew, but grace and present grace, and heavenly grace, by the gospel, the present state of things. It answers, as far as it goes, to the testimony of Paul and the Acts. Now the poor thief, while a most bright and eminent instance of the power of grace and faith, confessing Christ as Lord, when everything contradicted it, naturally did not go in knowledge beyond his countrymen. He was sure that He who hung upon the cross would come in (not into) His kingdom, and prayed that Christ might remember him then, in blessed confidence in Him. The Lord's answer was, according to the whole tenor of the gospel, You shall not wait for that. I bring salvation by grace; to-day, this selfsame day, you shall be with Me in paradise, the fit companion of Christ in blessedness. This, then, is the portion of the departed saint, to be with Christ in blessedness, absent from the body, and present with the Lord. I am aware of the miserable subterfuge, by which it is attempted to read it — verily, I say unto you this day, thou shalt be with Me in paradise. It not only destroys the whole characteristic point of the passage, according to the tenor of the Gospel it is found in, but it perverts the order of the passage, as it destroys its sense. "To-day" is at the beginning of the phrase, to give it emphasis in answer to when Thou comest. There is the solemn assertion, "Verily, I say unto thee." To add 'to-day' to this is simply puerile, destroying withal the allusion to the request of the thief, who only hopes to be remembered when Christ should come in His kingdom. No, says the Lord, with the solemn 'verily' which He used, you shall not wait till then, this day you shall be with Me. What is the sense of "Verily I say unto thee this day"? It destroys the solemnity of the assertion, but "Verily I say unto thee, this day shalt thou be with me in paradise" more than fulfilled the hopes of the thief, and revealed to us other than earthly joys, when we leave this world to depart and to be with Christ. The wickedness of the Jews, as an instrument, fulfilled the promise in breaking his legs, as it did that in which the work of redemption was accomplished, which gave the poor thief a title to be there. Such, too, was the expectation of Stephen, when death arrested his course here. He saw Christ, and looked to Him to receive His spirit. Did He receive it? And was it only to put an end to his service and joy alike, and put him to sleep?

Sometimes we hear it said we have a title to heaven by the blood of Christ, and that we remain here to be morally fitted for heaven. But we have not only a title to heaven, but fitness for heaven, the moment we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The thief is an example, not of extraordinary faith, nor of an unusual way of saving sinners, but of the only way. I believe God has singled him out in order that we may have an example, unencumbered by any subsequent details, to show us that the title to and fitness for heaven are both given the moment the sinner believes. Look at that familiar story a moment. Here is a man with his hands red with sin. He is rightly upon the cross, as he tells us himself; and he has really been blaspheming the Lord, as one of the Evangelists tells us, along with his companion; but a change comes over him. He begins to rebuke his companion for his sin and blasphemy; he confesses his own just condemnation, and then turns to the Lord and says, "Lord, remember me when Thou comest in Thy kingdom." You remember the Lord's answer, "Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise." There was no need for preparation for Paradise beyond the preparation which divine grace gave him. He was fit for it by the precious work of Christ, which gave him his title to it unquestionably. There was the new birth which had taken place to fit him for the enjoyment of the things of God, but it was all instantaneous, and all connected with the faith that laid hold upon Christ.

The story of the dying thief and his salvation is also characteristic to Luke. The great lesson of the three crosses is so familiar that it needs no lengthy annotations. The two classes, the saved and the unsaved, are represented by the two thieves. He, the Lamb of God paying the penalty of sinners, is in the midst. The way the penitent was saved is the only way in which man can be saved. He could do no good works; he could not get baptized or perform anything else. All he could do was to cast himself in faith as a lost sinner upon the Lord. Nor was his salvation a life-long, progressive work (as some teach on salvation); it was instantaneous. Nor was there any "purgatory" for him. He expected to be remembered in the Kingdom to come. Instead of that he hears, "Verily I say unto thee, today thou shalt be with me in paradise." The attempt by soul-sleepers, restorationists and others to put the comma after "today" is a deceptive invention to bring the Word of God into line with their evil doctrines.

The Lord could tell this poor thief TODAY, though he had asked Jesus to remember him when He returned in His kingdom. He believed in the kingdom when the King was rejected. Blessed faith! But the Lord was now showing the present place He was taking as man, and that he should not wait for that day of manifested glory, but that very day he should be with Him in paradise. Blessed compassion of the spirit of the man Christ Jesus.

And, now, let us note the divine response to the appeal of the penitent thief. He had said "Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." What is the answer? "To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise." It is as though the blessed Saviour had said to him, "You need not wait for the glory of the kingdom; this very day thou shalt taste the grace of the house — the love of My Father's home above; I shall have you with Me in that bright paradise, to enjoy full communion with Me long before the glories of the kingdom shall be unfolded." Most blessed Saviour, such was Thy matchless grace!

The common method of dealing with this text is by altering the punctuation. They would have us read the words, "Verily I say unto thee today: thou shalt be with me in Paradise." That is, "today, this day of my humiliation, I say to thee." But the order of the words in the sentence is all against them. With the emphasis they give it, "today" should precede the verb. As compare in the Greek, Matt. xvi. 3; Mark xiv. 30; Luke xix. 5, 9; Acts xiii 33; Heb. iii. 7, 15. But, beside this, the Lord is answering a prayer in which a time wherein the thief sought to be remembered was expressed. He had said, "Lord, remember me when Thou comest in Thy kingdom." The Lord says virtually, "You shall not wait for that: to-day you shall be with Me." This is the simple, intelligible reason for the specification of time: "Today," not when I come merely, "shalt thou be with me in Paradise ." Seeing this, others would render "in that day," or (as for instance Mr. Constable) more exactly," this day," but meaning, "the day of which you have spoken."

Thirty-eight examples are pointed out in the book of Deuteronomy to justify taking "today" with "Verily I say unto thee." Now not one of these has the smallest analogy with our verse. They are all due to the exceptional nature of Moses' pathetic charge "this day," and of Israel about to cross the Jordan which was forbidden him. What has that to do with the case before us? The resemblance is only in the word, not the least in the sense or context. It is not "a common Hebrew idiom used to emphasize and mark the solemnity of what was said," etc. It is the peculiarity of Deuteronomy and owing to the then circumstances. On the contrary the Lord is replying to the earnest prayer of the robber, then repentant and believing: Remember me, when Thou comest in Thy kingdom. The testimony of His enemies in derision had through our Lord's words and bearing penetrated; but he knew that he would have to wait for the coming in His kingdom. The whole force of the answer of grace and truth is that "Today thou shalt be with Me in Paradise"; and putting "today" in the first place gave it marked emphasis. What case in Deuteronomy ever approaches even a parallel? To talk of such dictionary or concordance work as this settling the question is more than ordinary illusion.

As to the other text cited in the same page (Luke 23:43) the authorised version gives the true sense. The rendering which connects "today" with "I say" is absurd. It was utterly needless to mention when the Lord was speaking, which could only be at that moment. The precious truth which He thus solemnly reveals was that the poor thief should be that very day with Himself in paradise, and not merely be remembered when He comes in His kingdom by and by.