As Jesus is hanging on the cross, He is not the only one being crucified that day. Two other men — Matthew and Mark call them thieves; Luke just refers to them as malefactors or criminals — are also being crucified that day, one on the right side of Jesus and the other on His left side. (See Matthew 27:38, Mark 15:27, Luke 23:33, John 19:18.)

As the crucifixion progresses, one of the thieves urges Jesus (if He really is the Christ) to go ahead and save Himself and, while He’s at it, how about saving them too? But the other thief rebukes him, pointing out that the two of them deserve to die, but Jesus has done nothing to deserve this punishment. He then turns to Jesus and says, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom” (Luke 23:42). Jesus assures the man:

“Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43)

Occasionally, people wonder how a criminal who was being executed could have received salvation at the very last moments of his life, just by uttering one sentence. Well, Jesus was obviously right there, so He must have recognized that the man’s faith in Christ was sufficient to warrant salvation, so He granted it. Of course, it’s not up to any of us to try to say who gets saved and who doesn’t — our primary focus should be working out our own soul salvation.

However, note the use of the word “paradise” in the above verse, as the place where the thief will be going that day. This is the only time that Jesus uses this word, and it shouldn’t be confused with the word “heaven.” Paradise is actually the first stop for the souls of the righteous when they depart from this life. It’s a resting place for those souls as they await their resurrection and final consignment to Heaven.

This information — and more — is found in Alma Chapter 40, the chapter that tells us what happens right after we pass from this life. An angel shared this information with Alma, so we can benefit from knowing what he was told. We all know that we’re going to die someday — so here’s an outline of what happens next:

“The spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body…whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life.” (Alma 40:11)

It’s important to recognize that the soul is an actual entity — it exists. As such, it does not disappear when life on earth ends. It leaves the body at that time, and then it needs to go somewhere. Where it goes is back to God, who then determines for each individual soul where it will reside until its resurrection day. See Step 2A and 2B below for the two possibilities.

“The spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow.” (Alma 40:12)

As stated earlier, paradise is not heaven. It’s a resting place for the souls of the righteous as they await their resurrection and final consignment to heaven.

“The spirits of the wicked, yea, who are evil — for behold, they have no part nor portion of the Spirit of the Lord…shall be cast out into outer darkness, there shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.” (Alma 40:13)

As with paradise, outer darkness is not the final home for the souls of the wicked — it’s a place where they await their resurrection. However, it’s not really a restful place — these souls are in “a state of awful, fearful looking for the fiery indignation of the wrath of God upon them” (Alma 40:14). Thus, the weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth.

There was an occasion when Jesus recognized the faith of a centurion (a Gentile) and healed his servant of a serious illness. He remarked that many Gentiles would eventually enter the kingdom of heaven but that many Israelites would be “cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12). Similar references to outer darkness can be found in Matthew 22:13 and 25:30.

“There is a space between death and the resurrection of the body, and a state of the soul in happiness or misery until the time which is appointed of God that the dead shall come forth.” (Alma 40:21)

The first resurrection occurred about 2,000 years ago when Christ resurrected, along with all who had died prior to that time. Everyone who has died since that time is waiting for one of the future resurrections (see Alma 40:5). When that time arrives, each soul will be united with a spiritual version of their body. Any missing body parts will be restored to this body — even if you’ve lost your hair, it will be restored. Each person then stands before God to be assigned to their final home. 

Presumably, each of us wants to follow the paradise/heaven path described above. Let’s make sure we’re on the right path now and that we continue on that path until the end of our lives. Then we’ll know where we’re going next, and we can look forward to being numbered among “the righteous [who] shine forth in the kingdom of God” (Alma 40:25) for all eternity.