To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

	Luk 23:42	And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
	Luk 23:43	And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

This is the conversation between one of the malefactors and Jesus.

The malefactor might have not known when God's kingdom would come and most likely did not believe that he deserved a special consideration at God's kingdom. So he said unto Jesus, "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom."

I have had a terrible back pain. Even now, as I sit in a chair with a rolled-up towel in the back, it hurts. Groans come out of my mouth automatically.

Maybe that is why I think I understand the malefactor a little better this moment. I pray the same to my Lord, but with confidence and conviction:

Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.

Jesus replied:

Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

I do not know whether Jesus wispered to the malefactor or yelled at him. I do not know how far they were apart nor how noisy the surrounding was. But Jesus said unto him:

Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

Jesus wanted the malefactor know that it was He who was saying this and so he said, "Verily I say unto thee."

Verily is Jesus saying to me this moment as well, "To day shalt thou be with me in paradise."

I looked up the meaning of the word paradise:

1

Strong's Number: 3857

Greek: paradeisos

is an Oriental word, first used by the historian Xenophon, denoting "the parks of Perisian kings and nobles." It is of Persian origin (Old Pers. pairidaeza, akin to Gk. peri, "around," and teichos, "a wall") whence it passed into Greek. See the Sept., e.g., in Neh 2:8; Ecc 2:5; Sgs 4:13. The Sept. translators used it of the garden of Eden, Gen 2:8, and in other respects, e.g., Num 24:6; Isa 1:30; Jer 29:5; Eze 31:8,9. In Luk 23:43, the promise of the Lord to the repentant robber was fulfilled the same day; Christ, at His death, having committed His spirit to the Father, went in spirit immediately into Heaven itself, the dwelling place of God (the Lord's mention of the place as "paradise" must have been a great comfort to the malefactor; to the oriental mind it expressed the sum total of blessedness). Thither the Apostle Paul was caught up, 2Cr 12:4, spoken of as "the third heaven" (ver. 3 does not introduce a different vision), beyond the heavens of the natural creation ( see Hbr 4:14, RV, with reference to the Ascension). The same region is mentioned in Rev 2:7, where the "tree of life," the figurative antitype of that in Eden, held out to the overcomer, is spoken of as being in "the Paradise of God" (RV), marg., "garden," as in Gen 2:8.

I say unto Jesus, "Lord, remember me" and my Lord wispers to me, "To day shalt thou be with me in paradise."