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Seven Last Words Daily Devotional -10

by David Joynt on February 26, 2021


LUKE 23:43 | 43 He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

 Paradise is a Persian word for garden or park. It was taken into Greek, Hebrew, and now English. Within Judaism, it was used to translate the phrase “Garden of Eden” from Genesis’ early chapter. It came, over time, to become a symbol of the future home of the righteous, which was envisioned as a return to primeval bliss. Some Jews did not believe in a resurrection of the dead, like the Sadducees. Others did, and many anticipated a period in Sheol, which was a kind of universal graveyard, followed by a general resurrection and judgement. 

Jesus here, indicates an immediate movement from death into new life. New life itself is inseparable from, and dependent on, being “with Him.”

How bright are your visions of the next life?

 

Tags: paradise, future home

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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