What did Jesus mean when He said to the thief on the cross" Today you will be with Me in Paradise?
USEFUL TEXTS:
[sleep, slept, asleep, sleepeth] Genesis 2:21; Deuteronomy 31:16; 2 Samuel 7:12; Job 3:13, 7:21, 14:12; 1 Kings 1:21, 2:10, 11:21,43, 14:20,31, 15:8,24, 16:6,28, 22:40,50; 2 Kings 8:24, 10:35, 13:9,13, 14:16,22,29, 15:7,22,38, 16:20, 20:21, 21:18, 24:6; 2 Chronicles 9:31, 12:16, 14:1, 16:13, 21:1, 26:2,23, 27:9, 28:27, 32:33, 33:20; Job 14:12; Psalms 13:3; Matthew 27:52; John 11:11-13; Acts 7:60, 13:36; 1 Corinthians 15:6,18,20,51; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15; 2 Peter 3:4;
[awake] Job 14:12; Psalms 17:15; Isaiah 26:19; Daniel 12:2; John 11:11-13; [grave/bed] Job 17:13; Psalms 139:8; Luke 17:34;
[fathers and prophets are dead] John 6:49,58, 8:52,53; Acts 2:29,34, 13:36; Hebrews 11:4,13,16,40
[knowing nothing] Genesis 27:4, 45:28; Ruth 1:17; Job 3:17-19, 7:8-10, 14:21, 21:32; 2 Kings 22:20; 2 Chronicles 34:28; Psalms 6:5, 28:1, 31:17, 88:4,10,11, 115:17, 143:7, 146:4; Ecclesiastes 9:4,5,6,10; Isaiah 14:11, 38:18;
[reserved] 2 Peter 2:9;
[Jesus goes to prepare a place, so at 2nd Advent, He will raise us and receive us] John 14:2-3
[grave, sepulchre, tomb, pit, hell [Hb: sheol; Gr: hades; grave]] Genesis 23:6, 35:20, 37:35, 44:29,31, 50:5; Exodus 14:11; Numbers 16:30, 19:16,18; Deuteronomy 34:6; Judges 8:32, 1 Samuel 2:6, 10:2; 2 Samuel 3:32, 4:10, 17:23, 19:37, 21:14, 22:6; 1 Kings 2:6,9, 13:22,30,31, 14:13; 2 Kings 9:28, 13:21, 21:26, 22:20, 23:6,16,17,30; 2 Chronicles 16:14, 21:20, 24:25, 28:27, 32:33, 34:4,28, 35:24; Nehemiah 2:3,5, 3:16; Job 3:17-19,22, 5:26, 7:8-10, 10:19, 11:8, 14:12-14,21, 17:1,13,16, 21:13,23-32, 24:19, 26:6, 30:24, 33:22; Psalms 5:9, 6:5, 18:5, 28:1, 30:3, 31:17, 35:7, 49:14,15, 55:15, 86:13, 88:3,4,5-12, 89:48, 94:13, 115:17, 116:3, 139:8, 141:7, 143:7; Proverbs 1:12, 5:5, 7:27, 9:18, 15:11,24, 23:14, 27:20, 30:16; Ecclesiastes 6:6, 9:10; Song of Songs 8:6; Isaiah 5:14, 14:9,11,15,19, 22:16, 28:15,18, 38:10,18, 53:9, 57:9, 65:4; Jeremiah 5:16, 8:1, 26:23, 20:17; Ezekiel 26:20, 31:15-17, 32:18,21-27, 37:12,13, 39:11; Hosea 13:14; Amos 9:2; Jonah 2:2 [<- figurative, typological]; Nahum 1:14; Habakkuk 2:5; Matthew 8:8, 11:23, 23:27,29, 27:52,53,60,61,64,66, 28:8; Mark 5:2,3,5, 6:29, 15:46, 16:2,3,5,8; Luke 8:27, 10:15, 11:47,48, 23:53,55, 24:1,2,9,12,22,24; John 5:28, 11:31,38, 12:17, 19:41,42, 20:1-4,6,8,11; Acts 2:29,34, 7:16, 13:29,36; Romans 3:13; 1 Corinthians 15:55; Revelation 1:18, 11:9, 20:13,14
[all that breathed died, no breath, breath nostrils] Genesis 2:7, 7:22; Joshua 10:40; 1 Kings 15:29, 17:17; Job 27:3; Isaiah 2:22; Jeremiah 10:14, 51:17; Lamentations 4:20; Ezekiel 37:8; Habakkuk 2:19
[the ghost, last breath] Genesis 25:8,17, 35:29, 49:33; Job 3:11, 10:18, 11:20, 13:19, 14:10; Jeremiah 15:9; Lamentations 1:19; Matthew 27:50; Mark 15:37,39; Luke 23:46; John 19:30; Acts 5:5,6,9,10, 12:23
[slept with his fathers, sleep with] Deuteronomy 31:16; 2 Samuel 7:12; 1 Kings 1:21, 2:10, 11:21,43, 14:20,31, 15:8,24, 16:6,28, 22:40,50; 2 Kings 8:24, 10:35, 13:9,13, 14:16,22,29, 15:7,22,38, 16:20, 20:21, 21:18, 24:6; 2 Chronicles 9:31, 12:16, 14:1, 16:13, 21:1, 26:2,3, 27:9, 28:27, 32:33, 33:20; Acts 13:36
[gathered unto, laid unto] Genesis 25:17, 35:29, 49:29,33; Numbers 20:24,26, 27:13, 31:2; Deuteronomy 32:40; Judges 2:10; Acts 13:36
[no life without God/Jesus] John 6:53
[no blood, no life] Leviticus 17:14
[life is the opposite of death] Genesis 43:8; Deuteronomy 33:6; Proverbs 12:28; Philippians 1:21
[life can be laid down] John 15:13
[murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them] 1 John 3:15
[2nd-3rd Advent/Coming in Power and Glory] Zechariah 14:1-7; Daniel 2:35,44,45, 7:14,22,27, 8:25, 12:1-3; Matthew 19:28, 24:30, 25:31; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27; 1 Corinthians 15:43; 2 Thessalonians 1:9
[[second great] resurrection [of the wicked, unjust, damnation, at the end/close of the 1000 years, when Christ Jesus and all of the Saints [then immortal] descend to Earth in New Jerusalem upon the Mount of Olives, and the Great White Throne Judgment takes place; Zechariah 14; Revelation 20]] John 5:29b; Acts 17:31, 24:15b; Revelation 20:5a
[resurrection of unjust/damnation takes place on earth] Revelation 20:5,7-15
[2nd death - annihilation] Psalms 9:17; Matthew 5:22,29,30, 10:28, 18:9, 23:15,33; Mark 9:43,45,47; Luke 12:5; 2 Thessalonians 1:9; James 3:6; Revelation 2:11, 20:6,14, 21:8
[the serpent/devil/satan/dragon said, “Ye shall not surely die...”] Genesis 3:4; and
[God said “Ye shall surely die...”] Genesis 2:17, 27:4; Proverbs 19:16; Ezekiel 3:19, 18:4,20, 33:9; James 5:20; Revelation 16:3; and
[God strictly warned and forbade necromancy, communication with the ‘dead’, even spiritually, ‘old man of sin’] Exodus 22:18, Deuteronomy 18:9-12; Isaiah 8:19; Luke 24:5;
[Episode of Saul and the woman of Endor] 1 Samuel 28:7-25, 31:1-12; 2 Samuel 1:1-24; 1 Chronicles 10:1-13
[Jesus is the resurrection and the life] John 11:25
[man is mortal, mortality] Genesis 2:17; Job 4:17; Romans 6:12, 8:11; 1 Corinthians 15:53,54; 2 Corinthians 4:11, 5:4
[dust, clay] Genesis 1:24,25, 2:7,19, 3:14,19, 18:27; Job 4:19, 7:21, 10:9, 13:12, 17:16, 20:11, 21:26, 30:19, 33:6, 34:15, 40:13; Psalms 22:15,29, 30:9, 103:14, 104:29; Ecclesiastes 3:20, 12:7; Isaiah 26:19, 29:16, 41:25, 45:9, 64:8; Jeremiah 18:4,6; Lamentations 4:2; Daniel 12:2; Malachi 4:3; John 9:6,11,14,15; Romans 9:21; 2 Corinthians 4:7; 2 Peter 2:6
[God alone is inherently immortal] 1 Timothy 1:17, 6:14-16
[God alone has inherent unborrowed life, original, eternal] John 1:4
[mankind is created as “dust” + “breath of life” of God, neither of which we own, and is no different in that respect than the beasts, thus in the first death; returning to dust which we are, “breath of life” of God returns to God, for it is His, not ours] Genesis 2:7, 6:17; Job 34:14,15; Psalms 104:29; Ecclesiastes 8:8, 12:7; Acts 17:25
[Jesus, Himself says that the first death = “sleepeth”] Matthew 9:24; Mark 5:39; Luke 8:52; John 11:11
[God raises the dead] John 2:19, 6:39,44,54; Acts 26:8; 1 Corinthians 6:14; 2 Corinthians 4:14; Hebrews 11:19