IN PARADISE

It was from a mountain, with thunder and lightning that God spoke to man. It was on a mountain that God’s son was tempted, and from a mountain he delivered the world’s greatest sermon. On a mountain he transfigured, and on a mountain, in a garden, he prayed. On a mountain he was murdered.

In a garden, God first lived with his family. In a garden, our savior was entombed after his death. It will be in a garden and on a mountain that Jesus will come again to live with his family.

When Jesus said to the thief on the cross, “today you will be with me in paradise,” the word paradise means ‘pleasure ground’ or ‘park’ or ‘king’s garden’ from the beginning it was the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8). It will be so in the end: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.” (Revelation 2:7). The mountain and the garden are ours forever.

“Truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in Paradise.” Jesus