Luke 23:39-46 Thief enters into Paradise

³⁹And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.

 ⁴⁰But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?

 ⁴¹And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.

 ⁴²And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.

 ⁴³And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.

 ⁴⁴And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.

 ⁴⁵And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.

 ⁴⁶And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. -Luke 23:39-46 Bible, King James Version

In verse 43 Jesus points out to the man dying on the cross near Him that after his death his spirit body would travel with Him to Paradise in the Spirit World. In verse 46 Jesus dies and gives up the ghost or in other words at the death of Jesus' physical body His ghost or spirit body is released into the Spirit World. In 1918 the Mormon prophet President Joseph F. Smith received this vision concerning the Savior’s visit to the spirits of the dead while His body was in the tomb:

The Doctrine and Covenants (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)

Section 138

A vision given to President Joseph F. Smith in Salt Lake City, Utah, on 3 October 1918. 

 1 On the third of October, in the year nineteen hundred and eighteen, I sat in my room pondering over the scriptures...

 6 I opened the Bible and read the third and fourth chapters of the first epistle of Peter, and as I read I was greatly impressed, more than I had ever been before, with the following passages:

 7 “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

 8 “By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;

 9 “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.” (1 Peter 3:18–20.)

 10 “For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” (1 Peter 4:6.)

 11 As I pondered over these things which are written, the eyes of my understanding were opened, and the Spirit of the Lord rested upon me, and I saw the hosts of the dead, both small and great.

 12 And there were gathered together in one place an innumerable company of the spirits of the just, who had been faithful in the testimony of Jesus while they lived in mortality...

 16 They were assembled awaiting the advent of the Son of God into the spirit world...

 18 While this vast multitude waited and conversed... the Son of God appeared...

 19 And there he preached to them the everlasting gospel...

 20 But unto the wicked he did not go, and among the ungodly and the unrepentant who had defiled themselves while in the flesh, his voice was not raised;

 21 Neither did the rebellious who rejected the testimonies and the warnings of the ancient prophets behold his presence, nor look upon his face...

 24 Their countenances shone, and the radiance from the presence of the Lord rested upon them...

 25 I marveled, for...

 27...his ministry among those who were dead was limited to the brief time intervening between the crucifixion and his resurrection;

 28 And I wondered at the words of Peter—wherein he said that the Son of God preached unto the spirits in prison, who sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah—and how it was possible for him to preach to those spirits and perform the necessary labor among them in so short a time.

 29 And as I wondered, my eyes were opened, and my understanding quickened, and I perceived that the Lord went not in person among the wicked and the disobedient who had rejected the truth, to teach them;

 30 But behold, from among the righteous, he organized his forces and appointed messengers, clothed with power and authority, and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in darkness, even to all the spirits of men; and thus was the gospel preached to the dead.

 31 And the chosen messengers went forth to... proclaim liberty to the captives who were bound, even unto all who would repent of their sins and receive the gospel.

 32 Thus was the gospel preached to those who had died in their sins, without a knowledge of the truth, or in transgression, having rejected the prophets...

 33 These were taught faith in God...

 34 And all other principles of the gospel that were necessary for them to know in order to qualify themselves that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit...

 36 Thus was it made known that our Redeemer spent his time during his sojourn in the world of spirits, instructing and preparing the faithful spirits of the prophets who had testified of him in the flesh;

 37 That they might carry the message of redemption unto all the dead, unto whom he could not go personally, because of their rebellion and transgression, that they through the ministration of his servants might also hear his words...

 38...the great and mighty ones who were assembled in this vast congregation of the righteous...

 56 Even before they were born, they, with many others, received their first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord to labor in his vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men.

The Spirit World consists of many Planes of a higher or lower frequency. The highest spiritual levels in the inner worlds are referred to as Heaven and Paradise. The lower levels are referred to as hell. The levels in between are referred to as Purgatory. Emanuel Swedenborg, who was shown by angels the Spirit World, has this to say:

Heaven and its Wonders and Hell From Things Heard and Seen. Heaven and Hell is the common English title of the book written by Emanuel Swedenborg in Latin, published in 1758.

421. XLIV. WHAT THE WORLD OF SPIRITS IS.

The world of spirits is not heaven, nor is it hell, but it is the intermediate place or state between the two; for it is the place that man first enters after death; and from which after a suitable time he is either raised up into heaven or cast down into hell in accord with his life in the world.

422. The world of spirits is an intermediate place between heaven and hell and also an intermediate state of the man after death. It has been shown to me not only that it is an intermediate place, having the hells below it and the heavens above it, but also that it is in an intermediate state... The state of heaven in man is the conjunction of good and truth in him; and the state of hell is the conjunction of evil and falsity in him. Whenever [there is] good in a man− [his] spirit is conjoined to truth [and] he comes into heaven, because that conjunction, as just said, is heaven in him; but whenever evil [is] in a man− [his] spirit is conjoined with falsity [and] he comes into hell, because that conjunction is hell in him...

425  Neither in heaven nor in hell is any one permitted to have a divided mind, that is, to understand one thing and to will another...

426. In the world of spirits there are vast numbers, because the first meeting of all is there, and all are there explored and prepared. The time of their stay in that world is not fixed; some merely enter it, and are soon either taken into heaven or are cast down into hell; some remain only a few weeks, some several years, but not more than thirty. These differences in the time they remain depend on the correspondence or lack of correspondence of man's interiors with his exteriors...

427. As soon as men after death enter the world of spirits the Lord clearly discriminates between them; and the evil are at once attached to the infernal society in which they were, as to their ruling love while in the world; and the good are at once attached to the heavenly society in which they were as to their love, charity and faith while in the world. But although they are thus divided, all that have been friends and acquaintances in the life of the body, especially wives and husbands, and also brothers and sisters, meet and converse together whenever they so desire. I have seen a father talking with six sons, whom he recognized, and have seen many others with their relatives and friends; but having from their life in the world diverse dispositions, after a short time they separate. But those who have passed from the world of spirits into heaven or into hell, unless they have a like disposition from a like love, no longer see or know each other. The reason that they see each other in the world of spirits, but not in heaven or in hell, is that... then similarity joins and dissimilarity disjoins.

428. As the world of spirits is an intermediate state between heaven and hell with man, so it is an intermediate place with the hells below and the heavens above. All the hells are shut towards that world, being open only through holes and clefts like those in rocks and through wide openings that are so guarded that no one can come out except by permission... Heaven, too, is enclosed on all sides; and there is no passage open to any heavenly society except by a narrow way, the entrance to which is also guarded. These outlets and entrances are what are called in the Word the gates and doors of hell and of heaven.

429. The world of spirits appears like a valley between mountains and rocks, with windings and elevations here and there. The gates and doors of the heavenly societies are visible to those only who are prepared for heaven; others cannot find them. There is one entrance from the world of spirits to each heavenly society, opening through a single path which branches out in its ascent into several. The gates and doors of the hells also are visible only to those who are about to enter, to whom they are then opened. When these are opened gloomy and seemingly sooty caverns are seen tending obliquely downwards to the abyss, where again there are many doors. Through these caverns nauseous and fetid stenches exhale, which good spirits flee from because they abominate them, but evil spirits seek for them because they delight in them. For as everyone in the world has been delighted with his own evil, so after death he is delighted with the stench to which his evil corresponds...  

430. With every man there are two gates; one that leads to hell and that is open to evils and their falsities; while the other leads to heaven and is open to goods and their truths. Those that are in evil and its falsity have the gate to hell opened in them...


I believe the two gates referred to here are the two main chakras within the human body. The lower Solar-plexus chakra, which is where we feel  human emotions, is the gateway to the Astral Plane where some of the hells are located. The higher Heart chakra, which is where we feel Divine Love, is the gateway to Heaven on the Soul Plane.