Jesus Promises His Kingdom to the Believing Thief
Luke 23.39-43
One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
It is possible that the thief being crucified next to Jesus was able to grasp the concept that life was not ending for Jesus, but that He was transcending the physical world into eternal promise from which He came to provide for humanity. The thief would become one of the first to enter paradise by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). Jesus told the thief that he would be in paradise that day with Him because he accepted and believed in the Son of God. Clearly, this is an example that a person is saved by grace through faith rather than by works, as those who persecuted and condemned Jesus would have the people believe.