I have written over six hundred posts.  I have always written about something that I know for sure--concerning the Biblical accounts.

But yesterday, I wrote about Paradise.  There are some things that aren't spelled out for us, and this is one of those things.  It is a place, but is is heaven?  Or as the Old Testament seems to suggest, is it the place where the faithful went when they died.  They had to wait for the Messiah to come, to die, to be resurrected, and pay the price for sin.  Permanently.  Up to then, their sacrifices lasted a year, then had to be paid again.  Over and over.

When Jesus rose from the dead, he said to Mary, "Don't touch me.  I've not yet ascended (to heaven) to the Father." John 20:17.  Where had he been for the last three days after he died???!!!  I think it was in Paradise.  He told the thief on the cross, "This day shall you be with me in Paradise."  Three days later, he ascended to heaven to make the blood payment for our sin.

When he died, the temple veil was torn in two, signifying that now, we can come into the "Holy of Holies where God is."  The sacrifice was made.

I have always contended that He told Mary not to touch him because he had yet to spread his sacrificial blood on the mercy seat.  The Old Testament is replete with references to the mercy seat and the temple had a mercy seat.  But after the price for our sins was paid, he returned to earth and appeared to many.  And He told Thomas, "Put your hand in the hole in my side, put your finger in the hole in my hand."  In other words, touch me.  It was finished.

Deep.  Maybe I will go back to writing about something that I know for sure.