“Jesus answered him, ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.’” Luke 23:43

Pilate felt Jesus was innocent but gave orders to have him executed according to the wishes of the people. Crucifixion is a cruel form of death.

The soldiers had taken Jesus’ robe from him; they put a crown of thorns upon his head. They spat on him and mocked him unmercifully. His closest friends did not know what to do. Three times Peter denied that he even knew Jesus for he had lost his courage. Suddenly Peter heard a rooster crow and remembered that Jesus had told him that he would do this. He was so ashamed that he ran out and cried bitterly. Luke 22:54-62

Two thieves were crucified at the same time as Jesus, one on either side of him. Over the head of Jesus was a sign: “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.” It was written in three languages and told of his “crime.”

Jesus’ enemies had heard of his miracles so they taunted him to come down off the cross. But Jesus trusted God completely, and he knew his time to die had come in God’s plan. Jesus willingly accepted the cross, even though he knew he could save his own life. He knew that if he did not die, he would never be the Savior of all mankind, and that was why he came to earth!

One of the thieves scorned Jesus and said to him “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” The other thief scolded the first and said, “We are receiving what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” He then asked Jesus to remember him when he came into his kingdom.

Jesus answered him kindly, “I tell you the truth today, you will be with me in paradise” Notice that the comma in this text at the start of this lesson is in a different place. It comes before “today” but it should appear after “today.” One little comma makes a big difference in the meaning of the sentence.

The writers of the Bible used no punctuation. It was not invented until about four hundred years ago when Bibles were first printed and distributed to the people. We know it is not correct in this instance to put the comma before instead of after “today”, because Jesus did not go to paradise the day he died, and neither did the thief. Paradise means “garden.” The Garden of Eden was simply an illustration of what the earth will be like when it is perfect and beautiful in the Millennial age!

“This is the King of the Jews”
were the words over Jesus’ head on the cross.