(Gk. paradeisos) Strong’s #3857 Luke 23:43, “And He answered him, Truly I tell you, today you shall be with Me in PARADISE.” (AMPC)

This word literally means ‘garden’ or ‘park.’ It was used with such a meaning in the Greek Old Testament in Ecclesiastes 2:5, “I made for myself GARDENS and orchards and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.” (AMPC); Song of Solomon 4:13, “Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates or a PARADISE with precious fruits, henna with spikenard plants,” AMPC).

The Septuagint also used ‘paradeisos’ for the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8, “And the Lord God planted a GARDEN toward the east, in EDEN [delight]; and there He put the man whom He had formed (framed, constituted).” AMPC).

In later Jewish thought, Paradise is the place of the righteous dead in Sheol. Jesus perhaps alluded to this idea in His story of Lazarus going to Abraham in Luke 16:19-31, “There was a certain rich man who [habitually] clothed himself in purple and fine linen and reveled and feasted and made merry in splendor every day.And at his gate there was [carelessly] dropped down and left a certain utterly destitute man named LAZARUS, [reduced to begging alms and] covered with [ulcerated] sores.He [eagerly] desired to be satisfied with what fell from the rich man’s table; moreover, the dogs even came and licked his sores.And it occurred that the man [reduced to] begging died and was carried by the angels to ABRAHAM’S bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.And in Hades (the realm of the dead), being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw ABRAHAM far away, and LAZARUS in his bosom.And he cried out and said, Father ABRAHAM, have pity and mercy on me and send LAZARUS to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.But ABRAHAM said, Child, remember that you in your lifetime fully received [what is due you in] comforts and delights, and LAZARUS in like manner the discomforts and distresses; but now he is comforted here and you are in anguish.And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who want to pass from this [place] to you may not be able, and no one may pass from there to us.And [the man] said, Then, father, I beseech you to send him to my father’s house—For I have five brothers—so that he may give [solemn] testimony and warn them, lest they too come into this place of torment.But ABRAHAM said, They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear and listen to them.But he answered, No, father ABRAHAM, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent (change their minds for the better and heartily amend their ways, with abhorrence of their past sins).He said to him, If they do not hear and listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded and convinced and believe [even] if someone should rise from the dead.” AMPC).

And when Jesus spoke to the thief on the cross, He promised him that he would that day be with Him in Paradise (Luke 23:43, “He said, “Don’t worry, I will. Today you will join me in PARADISE.” MSG). This again seems to indicate a pleasant place for the righteous among the dead.

The promise of Paradise in Revelation 2:7 (“He who is able to hear, let him listen to and give heed to what the Spirit says to the assemblies (churches). To him who overcomes (is victorious), I will grant to eat [of the fruit] of the tree of life, which is in the PARADISE of God.” AMPC) speaks of the restitution of an Edenic Paradise, an everlasting home for believers (compare Genesis 2; Revelation 22).

MAIN INGREDIENT: Thank God For His Promise to the Overcomers That We Will Inherit the Paradise of God!

2 Corinthians 12:4, “Was caught up into PARADISE, and he heard utterances beyond the power of man to put into words, which man is not permitted to utter.” (AMPC)

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Love, Chef Shermaine