December 5

At Home with the Lord

And Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” — Luke 23:43 BSB

This was the second word on the cross. Something stirred the heart of one of the robbers—perhaps it was the Savior’s prayer for His executioners—and in his final moments, he turned to Jesus, asking for mercy: “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” Without hesitation, the dying Redeemer answered him, “Today you will be with Me in paradise.” These words are profound, revealing the grace and love that flows from the cross.

Even in the midst of His own agony, Jesus had the power to grant life to a dying soul. Though He was enduring the full weight of human sin and suffering, He still extended grace to this penitent man. His hands may have been nailed to the cross, but they held the key to paradise, and He opened the gates to allow the repentant thief to enter. It was truly a royal moment in the life of our King.

This promise also tells us what death means for the believer. “Today you will be with Me.” There is no long, dark journey to traverse before entering heaven. There is no purgatory where one must wait to be prepared for glory. At the moment of death, the believer’s soul enters directly into the presence of Christ. Paul affirms this when he writes that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. This very day, Jesus said, the thief would be in paradise with Him. We need not fear death if we belong to Christ.

Jesus’ words also reveal the essence of heavenly blessedness. “You will be with Me.” Being with Christ is heaven. We may not know all the details of what heaven looks like, but this much we do know: we will be with Christ, and that is enough.