If a man has lived a sinful life, committed murder and robbed the widows and orphans, etc., and then at the last moment, with his dying breath, confesses his sins and accepts Christ as his Savior, will he not go immediately to Heaven and be with the Lord in glory?

July 30th 2014 | 38271 views 

When we think of the vast numbers of vicious, depraved characters, hardened criminals, convicts, etc., who were urged by clergymen and religious people to "make their peace with God"  before electrocution or even a natural death, we wonder how any could think that all these had entered into Heaven? Is it possible that the saintly followers of Jesus, who walked the narrow way of self-sacrifice, suffering and death, and who developed characters of love and kindness and goodness--that these saintly few, for the saints are very few, when they reach Heaven, will find it crowded with hardened, undeveloped characters?

Much confusion has resulted from the misapplication of Jesus' words to the dying thief upon the cross. In the King James Bible, Luke 23:43 reads, "And Jesus said unto him (the thief), Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise." However, by placing the comma where it properly belongs after the word "today," the meaning of the Lord's words is clear. The thief did not go to heaven, or to Paradise that day but went into the tomb.  Remember Jesus, Himself, did not go to Heaven or paradise at His death. He was also dead in the tomb that day. The Rotherham Bible (an excellent and accurate Bible translation) translates this verse as follows, "And he said unto him - Verily I say unto thee this day: With me shalt thou be in Paradise."  

The dying thief will remain in the grave until the Kingdom of Christ is set up at the Lord's second advent, when Paradise will be restored. Not only this thief, but the other thief as well, may then receive eternal life on the terms of obedience to the Divine Laws of justice and love. Then all mankind will learn righteousness and walk up the highway of Holiness (Isaiah 35). God promises to teach everyone, "After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts...they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." Jeremiah 31:33,34.

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