Heavenly Father, we thank you for today. We thank you for giving us the opportunity to clear the roads and for providing those in our church family to clear what needed to be cleared off on the church property. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to come back together as a church family—something we missed last week.
We thank you that we were able to enjoy that once again this week. We thank you for who you are; we thank you for your sovereignty over our lives and that we can always trust you no matter what is going on in them, no matter how confusing, chaotic, or painful they may be. We can always trust you—that's something that those in the world simply don't have, and a tremendous treasure that we've been given as your children.
Lord, help us to always anchor our souls in that and never leave that by the wayside. We thank you for your word that gives us the truth of who you are, the plan of salvation you've given to us, what you expect of us as your children in the sanctification process, and all the promises that you give to us that we can rely on. We pray that your word would go forth today, change our hearts a little bit, and that we'd walk out of here a little bit different than when we came in.
We pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, I'm going to mess with you guys a little bit this morning—no way, right?
So, my apologies to the people here who aren't morning people or who haven't had your second cup of coffee yet. You might think, "Well, I dragged myself through the whatever ice was on my front stoop to get here, and this is how you repay me? " If you've already seen this or know what's going on, don't ruin it for everyone else.
Okay, everybody ready? No one likes that guy. Here we go: Which bar is darker, the one on the left or the one on the right?
It looks like the one on the left, just humor me, okay? You guys, that's what I said. If you know what's going on, don't ruin it.
Alright, it looks like it's the one on the left, right? Okay, they actually—and I know some of you already shouted it out—they're actually the same exact shade of gray. Does it look like the bar in the middle is a gradient from a lighter gray on the left to a darker gray on the right?
Does it look that way? Thank you for humoring me. Okay, it would be surprising if I told you it was actually the same shade of gray throughout the entire bar, though, right?
It would be a bit surprising! That is exactly what it is, though. But that's just weird, isn't it?
That it entirely looks like light gray to dark gray? This type of optical illusion, where our brains trick us into seeing different shades of color that aren't really there, was studied by a team of scientists at the University of Exeter in England and referenced by a BBC article published just a year and a half ago. They claim to have finally discovered why this is, the way our brains interpret these optical illusions, and it has to do with how quickly our eyes send off neurons to our brains and how the limitations of that speed affect how we see those illusions.
My point in bringing all of this up to start us off this morning is that this type of optical illusion is what's referred to as simultaneous contrast illusions. There’s another kind of simultaneous contrast in our passage this morning that I want to discuss before we get to our sermon text. When Jesus was crucified—and we read about that a couple of weeks ago in John 19:18—there was another reference made in that verse.
And what was that? That reference was this: "There they crucified him, and with him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between. " The three synoptic Gospels refer to them both as criminals and specifically robbers.
So we have two men, both of them robbers, but there's a glaring contrast happening simultaneously between them in their response to Jesus, being the one crucified in between them. One biblical scholar notes that even though Matthew and Mark refer to these men as robbers and Luke simply calls them criminals, they were most likely not just common petty thieves; for that would not warrant the worst form of execution in existence—in crucifixion. Most likely, these guys' robberies were part of a bigger uprising of insurrection, much like Barabbas, who was called a murderer, but those murders took place as part of an insurrection against Roman soldiers.
So, these two thieves were probably also participants in the same or a similar insurrection, but instead of murdering Roman soldiers, they stole equipment from them, which still would have been high treason against Roman authority. This explains why they were also crucified, a form of execution only reserved for the worst criminals and insurrectionists against Rome. We spent the majority of the message a couple of weeks ago talking about all the insults, taunting, and jeering that Pilate, as the Roman authority, the Roman soldiers, and Jesus's own Jewish people were hurling at him as he hung gasping for each breath on the cross.
Matthew extends that jeering even to the two robbing insurrectionists crucified on either side of Jesus. The robbers who had been crucified with him were also insulting him with the same words. No doubt these guys had also heard of Jesus somewhere along the way.
Way, and at least initially, both knew they had nothing to lose and so joined with everyone else mocking him. They may have also been bitter and resentful about the fact that Barabbas, who may have been joining them in prison at the time for the exact same insurrection, went free with Jesus taking his place, and they were still stuck being crucified. So, they took it out on Jesus.
As has been pointed out, their insults were in line with what Luke records for us: one of the criminals who were hanging there was hurling abuse at him, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us! " The first part of what they were yelling at Jesus was very similar to what everyone else was yelling at him; like we talked about a couple of weeks ago, we can see the personalization of it for the insurrectionists at the end.
In other words, "We thought you were supposed to be the prophesied Messiah. If you really are, which it's obvious you're not, stop messing around and save yourself, and while you're at it, throw us in as a packaged deal. " As one biblical scholar notes, however, at some point the Holy Spirit spoke to one of these criminals' hearts and softened it to something powerfully inexplicable by human understanding.
He actually had his spiritual eyes opened, and gasping for breath on the exact same type of cross Jesus was nailed to, ended up putting his faith in Jesus, as unrecognizable as a man as he was, for his salvation. Luke tells us what this criminal says to Jesus, even as the huge contrast of the other criminal continues to mock Jesus in complete lack of faith. Luke goes on to say, "But the other answered, and rebuking him said, 'Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?
And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong. '" And he was saying, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. " As has been pointed out, we see this criminal's faith in Jesus in the most basic form that gave him his salvation.
Firstly, he admits to his sin in Jesus's hearing, directing it at his fellow insurrectionist, but confessing it nonetheless. He doesn't run away from it; he doesn't try to justify it by claiming that the Romans had it coming. He doesn't claim that his sin wasn't really all that bad and it wasn't like he had actually killed anyone like Barabbas had.
He simply confessed that he was a sinner and that he was getting what he deserved for that sin: death on a cross, whereas Jesus was completely innocent. Then, as has been pointed out, that man turned to Jesus and made a simple declaration that had so much wrapped up in it. He simply declared to Jesus, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
" He knew his excruciatingly slow death was what he deserved for his sin, and so, as has been noted, he knew his only hope was in the man who is really the prophesied God-man, King of Israel, and cast himself completely on Jesus as that only hope for redemption from his sin. No doubt this man was taught the basics of the Jewish faith, including the prophecies of the coming Messiah. Could he have also been standing in one of the crowds listening to Jesus teach and then wrote it off, believing the only way his fellow Jewish people would be saved from Rome was by way of his participation in insurrection against them?
All of a sudden, in God's timing, taking all the pieces he had heard along the way of his entire life—from childhood through perhaps hearing Jesus's teaching—and passing, the Holy Spirit put it all together in his heart and mind, and the light bulb of spiritual understanding turned on in a blaze of fire within him. Suddenly it all made sense! Suddenly he fully understood who the man being crucified right along with him really was, and because of that, he knew that Messiah didn't deserve any of it and knew that that Messiah was dying for him—the prophesied root of Jesse, Son of God, Isaiah's suffering servant, who would redeem people from their sin; and the royal God incarnate, Daniel's eternal Son of Man and the ruler of an everlasting kingdom was all the same person, and he hung on the cross right next to him, dying for his sin.
All of that revelation coming together through the Holy Spirit all led this man to simply request that Jesus remember him when Jesus would fully claim his eternal throne. As has been noted, this simple faith was all that was required for him to be saved from his sin and be given eternal life, and we're going to see him someday. We see that confirmed in Jesus's statement back to this man.
He said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you shall be with me in Paradise. " Anybody who knows that word "shall" in a legal sense knows that that is guaranteed. That is what will happen.
As has been pointed out, there are four truths in Jesus's statement here: 1. That sinner would be in Paradise. 2.
That sinner would be with Jesus in Paradise. 3. That sinner would be with Jesus in Paradise that very day.
4. By Jesus using the phrase "truly," it is not that Jesus didn't always tell the truth, but it emphasizes the promise of assurance and confirmation that it would all come to pass; this is a sure thing. We're going to come back to all of this, including what this paradise was and why Jesus said that the criminal would be with him in that paradise, and that it.
. . Would all take place that very day, even within a short while from him uttering that statement.
At this point, I want to shift to another event that happens at the foot of Jesus's cross that also connects with that same place: Jesus's heart and mind was with the criminal crucified next to him. Right around the same time as Jesus's brief conversation with one of the insurrectionists crucified with him, He had another brief conversation, and that's our sermon text, the scripture reading from the Gospel of John this morning. So, if you brought your Bible with you, please turn to John chapter 19.
We're going to be reading verses 25-27. If you didn't bring your Bible with you, that's okay; there should be one located in the pew in front of you. Please also turn to John 19:25-27, or look this up on your favorite Bible app on your smartphone.
This is what we pick up with: "Therefore the soldiers did these things. " That's what connects with what we talked about a couple of weeks ago. But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
When Jesus then saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold your son," and this was a respectful greeting back in that day. And he said to the disciple, "Behold your mother. " From that hour, the disciple took her into his own household.
Okay, so let's set this scene here. We may have had this image in our minds that Jesus was completely alone on Golgotha, bereft of any supporters whatsoever, save the guy next to him at some point; but that simply wasn't the case. There were at least five of Jesus's supporters gathered below Jesus who were at least near enough to him to hear what he was saying to them.
Multiple biblical scholars point out that there were four women and then the disciple whom Jesus loved, who, as we take the Gospel of John as a whole, is clearly a reference to the very author of this book, the Apostle John, one of the two labeled "Sons of Thunder" or "Sons of Zebedee. " Who are these four women? We have Jesus's mother, Mary; Mary's sister, who would then be Jesus's earthly aunt; another Mary, who is the wife of a man named Clopas; and Mary Magdalene.
Apparently, it was a popular name back then. We're going to get more into who these women are as we get closer to Jesus's burial and resurrection. For now, we're just going to look at what happened specifically here.
Here, we can gather that at this point, when Jesus is about 33 years old, his earthly father, Joseph, was no longer with them on Earth and had already entered his eternal rest. His death could be attributed to anything, as life-threatening disease was always a possibility, as we know from Jairus's daughter, Peter's mother-in-law, and Lazarus. Robbers and bandits roamed the main roads between cities, as Jesus attests to in his parable of the Good Samaritan, and we already know Pilate was cruel and how he used the Roman soldiers at his disposal to keep order.
If Joseph was still alive, there would be no reason for the event that John records for us here. Jesus knows that he is going to die soon; it's the whole reason why he knew he was sent to Earth. But we can see where his heart was at that very moment.
Jesus knew that his earthly mother was already a widow, and we also know that at that point, none of Jesus's earthly brothers or sisters, or brothers-in-law married to his earthly sisters, believed in him as the Son of God. The only one in Jesus's immediate family who believed he was the Son of God was his mother. She was the only one out of everyone in his immediate family.
So, in not only wanting his mother to be physically cared for after his death, but spiritually cared for after his death, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus put her into the care of the Apostle John. Now, there's a possibility that Jesus did this because John had always had a strong belief in Jesus's deity and messiahship; therefore, being the one Jesus had a special place in his heart for. And let's not forget, John may have very well been the only one of the disciples risking his life even showing up to Golgotha to be anywhere near Jesus whatsoever.
But it's also entirely possible, and this is pretty cool, as pointed out by one biblical scholar in referencing Matthew's description of this in chapter 27:56—which I don't have the time to get all into—that the Mary's sister referenced in verse 25 in this morning's passage in John 19 was one and the same as John's mother. So, what does that tell us? Making Jesus's mother John's aunt makes Jesus and John earthly cousins.
If Jesus and John were earthly cousins, this would make for a very natural and very spiritual connection that would make John the clearest, best choice to entrust the care of his mother to. In any case, as I've been referencing similar to his exchange with a spiritually sensitive criminal on the cross next to him, we see what Jesus's heart is focused on at this moment. Even as he's suffering through indescribably excruciating pain on the cross in his absolutely destroyed state and at death's door while everyone and their brother is mocking and insulting him, Jesus is not thinking about his own predicament and own pain.
What is Jesus thinking about? Jesus is thinking about the physical and spiritual well-being of others: one, his own earthly mother, and the other, a complete stranger, and a criminal at that. Again, Jesus's heart state.
In this morning's passage is the exact same we talked about a couple of weeks ago: how Paul commands the Philippian believers to have the same heart and focus of humility that Jesus had, that is, thinking about the needs of others instead of yourself, as exemplified by Jesus as he hung on the cross. You can find that in Philippians 2. One other note before we come back to that whole Paradise topic: Jesus's earthly mother, Mary, contrary to other unbiblical so-called theology, was not sinless herself.
She, along with the Apostle John and everyone else across all of human history—both those before in looking towards this and all of us after—needed Jesus to die for their sins. Mary needed the exact same salvation from her sin, which Jesus was dying for on the cross above her. At this point, she needed the exact same salvation from her sin that everyone needs.
Now let's get back to Jesus's exchange with the repentant and believing criminal crucified right next to him and his statement, "Today you shall be with me in Paradise. " In the past, I've had the question posed to me: Where did this guy go? What was this paradise?
What and where is this paradise that Jesus refers to here? Why did Jesus say that he would be with him there? This directly affects where our souls go following our death.
We're going to get into a lot here; you may need to reference the transcript of this one afterwards. So, Dale, I hope this works out this week. Okay?
As has been pointed out, there are generally two interpretations or beliefs of what happened to the souls of those who died before Jesus came back to life/ascended back to heaven, and even now as we await the resurrection of our bodies. The first belief is the one on the left here, in which there are two versions of Sheol or Hades: a blessed side, or Abraham's bosom, that Jesus refers to in his parable of the rich man and Lazarus, and a torturous side, or Hades. In this first belief, even the souls of believers now go to Abraham's bosom or Paradise as a temporary place of blessing, or a second heaven, and when we are resurrected, we will enter the real heaven, with God's presence, to be with Jesus.
The second belief is this: 1. There is a Hades for all the souls of unbelievers—both Old Testament and New Testament—throughout until now, which is a temporary place of torment until the final great white throne judgment when they are ultimately condemned to the Lake of Fire, along with Hades itself, as found in Revelation 20:14-15. 2.
All the souls of the believers in the Messiah—both those in the Old Testament who awaited his arrival and those who put their faith in him after his death and resurrection, including all New Testament believers and us today—immediately went to and go to be in God's presence in heaven and not a temporary or second place of blessing. The main difference between the two beliefs is mostly based on the interpretation of Luke 16:19-31 and the description that Jesus gives of the fates of the rich man and the poor man named Lazarus in that parable. If you're not already familiar with it, please read it when you get home.
If one takes the description Jesus gives as an overly literal account of the physical locations of Hades and heaven, then you would have more of a belief in line with the first interpretation. However, what seems to fit the biblical evidence best is the second interpretation here, held by theologians Dr Wayne Grudem and Dr Kevin Zuber, a Bible professor I had at Moody. That is that Luke 16:19-31 has more indications of it being a parable of Jesus, with more emphasis placed on the spiritual effect of what is included, rather than a literal description of how Hades and heaven are physically in relation to each other.
This is why, in the context in which this parable is given in Luke 16 as a whole, Jesus has just finished up one obvious parable directed at the Pharisees, the one of the wicked steward. In response to them ridiculing him in their hearts for that parable, Luke 16:19-31, or the rich man and Lazarus, is a follow-up parable giving them the warning of where they will end up if they don't repent. Whenever the word Sheol is used in Scripture, it is to be best understood as a euphemism for the grave or death.
They would use the word Sheol instead of the word grave or death when it's mentioned in the Old Testament. Both the righteous and the wicked are said to go to Sheol, and that's why it's a euphemism that means grave or death: because both the righteous and wicked go to death. Both Jacob, the righteous Jacob in Genesis 37, and wicked Korah in Numbers 16, went to Sheol—both of them.
The problem with the first interpretation of there being two sides of Sheol—torment for the wicked and blessing for the righteous—is that there is never a distinction between two different parts of Sheol in the Old Testament. According to several biblical scholars, this led many early church fathers to invent an understanding that there were two different parts of Sheol; but there's no biblical evidence for that, other than the misinterpretation of Luke 16:19-31, or the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. On the other hand, all the evidence points to the best understanding that Sheol is a word that can be interchangeable with the words grave or death.
Every single one of us, unless Jesus comes back, will go to Sheol. In that case, it is true that the bodies stay with me. The bodies of both believers and unbelievers go to Sheol, the grave, or death; but Shaul is not referring to a place where the souls of believers or unbelievers go.
Everybody still with me? Okay, in the New Testament, I know I told you it's a lot of heavy stuff. It is revealed that there are two places that anyone who has ever existed will go: in Sheol, in death, or to the grave—places referred to as Hades and a place referred to by different terms: Abraham's bosom, Paradise, or Heaven.
Just because different terms are used for Heaven doesn't mean that these refer to different locations; they're all referring to the same place. Hades is a place of judgment and torment that Jesus refers to in a few different places: again, Luke 16:19-31, then again in Matthew 11:23 and Matthew 16:18. While Luke 16:19-31 is best understood as a parable, nevertheless, the spiritual ramifications are unmistakable.
The rich man, who lived an opulent earthly life, experienced torment in death and Hades, while Lazarus, who lived a painful life on Earth, experienced blessing in another location after death. The fact that Jesus told the parable as a warning to the Pharisees for where they would end up if they never repented makes it even more powerful. The place of judgment referred to as Hades is a place of torment.
In addition, for Jesus to refer to both of these places after death—Hades or Abraham's bosom—means that the Pharisees must have understood this concept to a certain extent already, that Sheol or physical death resulted in going to either one of two locations for the soul: Hades or Paradise. We find out in Revelation that Hades is a separate concept from Sheol, or death, or the grave, and is a temporary location of this torment and judgment that Jesus described in Luke 16. In Revelation 20:13-15, we read, "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.
Then death and Hades were thrown into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death, the Lake of Fire. " And if anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the Lake of Fire.
What is revealed to us is this: everyone who was not previously raptured and given glorified bodies would be resurrected at this point that it is referring to here— all the bodies that had decayed to nothing or the sea, and all the bodies in death, no matter the state of decay, and all the souls in Hades. The souls in Hades would be reunited with the resurrected bodies in death for one reason: to stand before God's throne in judgment and then be cast into the Lake of Fire. Everybody still with me?
Okay. The Lake of Fire is the eternal state of torment for all the wicked and unbelievers ever since the creation of humanity. Jesus refers to this location and eternal state of torment as hell in Matthew 10:28 and Gehenna in Matthew 5:29.
He also describes the Lake of Fire, or hell, or Gehenna as a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth in his parable of the wedding feast in Matthew 22—an illustration of future judgment and torment. Weeping and gnashing of teeth describes both emotional and physical torment. Now we come to the place of blessing for the righteous or the believer in Jesus.
The Old Testament teaches that the righteous, or those who trusted in God's revelation of the deliverer, were taken to Heaven to be with God. Elijah was taken up in a whirlwind to Heaven, and David knew that he would dwell in the house of the Lord, a euphemism for Heaven, forever in Psalm 23. Likewise, David was sure—he was 100% confident he would experience the presence of God immediately upon death in Psalm 17:15.
The place of blessing, both pre- and post-Jesus, is described as being in the presence of God. The author of Hebrews says this: "But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and the Church of the firstborn who are enrolled in Heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks better than the blood of Abel. " In this description of Heaven, we see the presence of several beings included here: we see the presence of God, Jesus, the angels, and then we see a distinction between the people who make up the Church of Jesus, both dead and alive; the general assembly and Church of the firstborn.
The firstborn is Jesus, of course, so that's the Church, both dead and alive, and the spirits of the righteous made perfect. There's a distinction between those two groups of people. If Hebrews makes a distinction between the current Church, both dead and alive, and these souls who are righteous, then the souls who are righteous is a description of those in the Old Testament who died in faith.
Does that all make sense? Okay, I know it's going to take some time to digest this. So, in this description of Heaven—in Hebrews—we have the presence of God, Jesus, the angels, the Church, the enrollment of everybody who God has chosen to be a part of the Church, and the spirits of the righteous—that would be the souls of those in the Old Testament.
Who died in faith? They were all in the same place. They’re all located in the same place, in direct connection with this morning's sermon.
Jesus tells the criminal on the cross next to Him, “Today you will be with me in Paradise. ” Paradise is obviously the same place as Abraham's bosom upon death for this criminal's faith in Jesus, even for those who believe in the first interpretation, since it occurs before Jesus's resurrection and well before His ascension. However, in 2 Corinthians 12:4, Paul refers to Paradise being the same place as heaven, where God's presence is, and John says the same in Revelation 2:7 and chapter 22, verse 2.
So, in summary, Abraham's bosom, Paradise, and heaven all refer to the same place that the souls of every righteous person and believer in Jesus since the beginning of humanity go to—a place where Father God’s and Jesus’s presence is. That's why Jesus tells the thief that they would both be in Paradise together that day. At the Rapture, the believer's soul will be brought back to Earth with Jesus, reunited with their bodies and brought back to the place their souls have been prior to that event.
At the end of all the judgments, God will create the new heavens and new earth, where all the righteous and believers in Jesus will enjoy God's presence for all of eternity. Lastly, I want to make a note of this: nowhere in scripture does it teach that our souls go to Purgatory or a limbo or a middle ground where people on Earth can communicate with us in death or where we can roam the Earth as ghosts. Nowhere in scripture does it teach any of that.
All of that—and I mean all of that—is demonic teaching entirely meant to lead us away from the truth of the Gospel. Once you die, that's it. We only go to one of two places: a place of torment called Hades, that transitions into an eternal place of torment in the Lake of Fire, or the blessed joy of the presence of our Savior, King, and Creator.
Which place are you going to when you die? We’ll also get into this more in the near future, but again, the Apostle Paul writes that when we—as believers in Jesus—leave our earthly bodies, our souls immediately go into the presence of Jesus in heaven, where He will care for and protect them until He reunites them with our bodies at the Rapture. Then we get to enjoy the millennial kingdom and new heavens and new earth for all of eternity.
That is the treasure. Even when we face the death of our loved ones and even when we face our own death, just like the criminal on the cross, if we’ve repented of our sin, recognized that sinless Jesus took our place on the cross to save us from our sin, and surrendered to Him in every way as King, we too can have the promise that when we take our last breath on Earth, truly, He says to us, “Today you shall be with me in Paradise. ” Please pray with me: Heavenly Father, we thank You for what You reveal to us in Your Word.
Sometimes it takes a little bit of digging, but You give us the truth; You reveal it to us. We thank You for giving us that treasure of truth that we can look forward to. When we face the death of our loved ones who are believers in You, when we face our own death, we can have the 100% full assurance that truly our souls will go to be with You in Your presence in heaven, where You will care for and keep our souls safe, and one day reunite them with our resurrected bodies for us to enjoy all of eternity with You.
Thank You. Thank You for loving us, even when we were once Your enemies, so much that You'd be willing to die on that cross to give all of that to us. May we always honor, glorify, and worship You for it.
In Jesus' name, amen.
