1950 This Means Everlasting Life - A2Z.org

THE PARADISE OF LIFE RENEWED 283
9 By these comforting words of Jesus the dying
evildoer had an earthly hope raised in him, of
Paradise restored to earth and of himself in it by
a resurrection from the dead under the kingdom
of this innocent Jesus who was dying under the
misapplied charge of being the Messiah, the Christ
of God . He had not asked Jesus to take him to
heaven, and Jesus knew that by the unalterable
requirements of the heavenly kingdom the dying
evildoer could not get there . Jesus knew from
Psalm 16 :10 that his life as a perfect soul would
go that day to Sheol, Hades, or mankind's common
grave, but would not be left there. He was
faithful as the Christ, the Seed of God's "woman" ;
and on the third day God would repair his heelwound,
by resurrecting him from the grave . Forty
days later he would ascend to heaven, sit down
at his Father's right hand, and in due time receive
the promised kingdom . Then he would crush the
Serpent's head, deliver mankind, and restore paradise
to the earth . Also as King and Ransomer he
would resurrect that sympathetic evildoer from
the grave to which he went with Jesus that Passover
day. So Jesus raised no false hope in him but
truthfully said : "You will be with me in Paradise ."
19
When the "great crowd" of other sheep, who
survive the end of this world with the remnant of
Kingdom heirs, come forth from their hidden condition
under God's protection after Armageddon,
what a hope they will have! The hope of seeing
the earth, then scarred with the marks of that
universal war, transformed under the Kingdom's
9 . How and when would he be with Jesus in Paradise?
10, 11 . a What hope as to earth will the great crowd
surviving Armageddon have? b On this what does
Isaiah 11 :1-10 show?