When I posted yesterday, I knew what I was saying--but I didn't say it.  I was even looking at the scripture.  But my friend Carolyn is my super-editor, and caught it.  I said the rich man spoke to Lazarus--he didn't, he spoke to Abraham.  I hope I didn't confuse anyone.

What I was a talking about was paradise.  And there is another scripture that should be noted on that subject.  When He was on the cross, and one of the men on another cross defended Jesus, Jesus said, "This day will you be with me in paradise."

Christ didn't say, "This day you will be with me in heaven."  I think that was because Jesus hadn't yet conquered death.  And He hadn't yet risen three days later to ascend to heaven.

That's just my opinion.  I think scripture supports that thought, but it isn't spelled out for us in the Bible.  So others may have different ideas, and it isn't going to affect a person's salvation. We are going to heaven to be with Jesus.

There are a lot of interesting things in the Bible that aren't crystal clear to us. We shouldn't get hung up obsessing on things that make no ultimate difference to salvation.  But they are interesting to look at.

Some people get hung up on when Jesus is coming again.  And that's all they want to talk about.  The main thing needs to be the main thing.  And that is that Christ came to pay the penalty for a person's sin.  If you give him your life, and repent (which doesn't just mean that you are sorry) then Christ promises to come live in your soul.  We call that the indwelling Christ, "The Holy Spirit."  After God takes up residence in your soul, you will be miserable when you do wrong, and you will stop it. You don't have to have a list of rules you have to follow.  But you will want to follow what the Bible says because you love God.