Milford chronicle., 1936-12-11
PARADISE / WHEREBIT!
By 4. A. Hall


shall not waste a lot of words try
ing to show that it is; and I certainly
shall not depart one iota from the
word Of God to prove my stated inti-
nation. Let it be clearly noticed
first Of all that the word Paradise is
not mentioned in the Old Testament,
part of Gods Bible, and the first
place in the New Testament the word
is mentioned is in Luke 23:43, where
Jesus answered the dying thief's re-
quest that he be remembered in his
kingdom. believe it is an accepted
fact by most all scholars of all ages
that all those who knew our Lord
best during His lifetime on earth
fully believed He would set up a
| temporal kingdom on this earth,
but here is man suffering physical
| ly as our Lord was suffering and
dying as he knew our Lord was dy-
ing, surely by virtue of his very re-
/ quest had no such a pFeconceived
/ idea, and, whether the dying thief
previous to this time had a better
concept of where Paradise was than
many folks living today or not. he
surely was given to know that he
was going to get to go there that
very day-for the comforting fact
was made known to him by the i'm
mediate answer of our Lord saying
This day thou shalt be with me in
Paradise" and we believe He meant
that day, that very day, and not age
as so many contend. After about
three hours of suffering and agony
our Lords very next recorded words
were found in the 46th verse as He
cOmmends his spirit to the keeping
of the Father. He went to the Father
where the Father was-so did the
thief, for Jesus had promised, and
we know He never fails.
We will now leave this thought
and consider briefly the next place
the word Paradise is found which is
in 2 Cor. 1924. Paul is telling d
strange story of being caught up to
the third Heaven and while he was
there he heard words that were un-
speakable and not lawful for a man
to utter, and he didn't utter them, |
but he said the place was Paradise
doesn't sound much like an inter- |
mediate place as many contend. |
find the Bible to be a very plain /
book because it is its own dictionary |
if we will learn to read it canonical-
ly and contexually and would pause
right here and warn the Indifferent
that it cannot be really understood
We will go on now to the next
and last place that the word Para
disc is found which brings us to Rev
81 which is really where we will
start to prove where it is, for that
is the purpose of this article and we
are not going to disappOint you,
reader. Let me call your attention
to the first reference given above:
Luke 23:43. Jesus is promising this
dying man that on this same day,
the day of their departure from this
earthly life, he should be with Him
in Paradise. Yes. they were going
to be there together, Now, notice in
this reference of Rev. 81 this same
Jesus is making the same promise
to all overcOmers. Wait. who are
the overcomers? Jer 5:4 says for
is born of God over
cometh the world and this is the vic
tory that OvereOmeth the world, even
)ur faith. Note also the fifth verse.
Who is he that overcometh the world
put he that believeth that Jesus is
he Son of God. Now, it is to these
)Vercomers that we find in this ref
srence of Rev. 2:7 that Jesus is
He will give to eat of the
rec of life. Where is the Tree of
life? Why, this verse says it is in
11N r,f Do dfua nf n1
will ask again, Where is the Tree of
life? Come with me to Rev. 22-1:2,
lere is where we start in on our
lome run for we've got on our sand
es and we're buckling up our armor.
Read with me of this pure river of
water of life proceeding from the
4amb and the Throne of God. In 7
he midst of the street of it and on
.ither side of the river was there
he Tree of Life; the same Tree of
life Jesus promised to all Overcom- .
RS. In the same Paradise Paul was
aught up in 2 Cor. 1874, the same
Jesus promised the dying
hief He would take him to the same
ay he died. All of which, according
D Rev. 22:1-2 is where God and the
,amb are and where the Throne
nd the River of Life are. and if that /
5n't Heaven, what is it?
These simple and plain statements l
lay not be very impressive to one
rho gives them but a passing
lought but the one who wants the
ruth about this much controverted
uestion and gives it the thought
nd consideration due it ! believe Il
ill appreciate its full content. and ~
le reason l believe so is because l =
ave given every statement have
ade all the Bible backing there is
! the Bible and there is no other
)urce of knowledge concerning the
lestion at issue.
There is something about the word
aFadise that seems to stir the very
epths of our souls till seemingly :,
'ery dormant instinct of our very -
ltuTes is aroused and quickened
an Unsuitable longing for that
ON eOur Lord at His going away :
'omised He would prepare for us
Id when the days of our sojourn
re are ended we will go where God,
II Savior. is; for He has promised,
d am sure we will go by the same
ute the thief went. Not that we Al
III be hung on a cross and die -
ere, but there is truth in the song
} all love to sing so well; the way
the cross leads hOme-and there
another one of the old songs we
ould love if we are going to find
+ way home to our Fathers House
d it's this ,. 8
In the Grown of Christ l glory 10
DER the wrecks of time
II The linrhf Of nnnr.nd ninn..r Il