Paradise is not heaven, or the place where God dwells, but a place of departed spirits. Why the belief should be so general that the thief went to heaven with the Savior is rather strange, since Jesus did not go there until after his resurrection. This fact he disclosed to Mary at the tomb. From the time his spirit left his body until he arose from the tomb, Jesus was with the thief in paradise, according to his promise.
There the Savior opened the door for the salvation of the dead. Before that time the unworthy dead were shut up in prison and were not visited. (Moses 7:38-39; Isaiah 24:22.)
We have good reason to believe that the righteous spirits in paradise did not mingle with the unrighteous spirits before the visit of our Lord to the spirit world. He declared that there was a gulf fixed that could not be crossed which separated the righteous from the unrighteous, therefore there was no sound of the voice of prophets and the Gospel was not declared among the wicked until Christ went into that world before his resurrection.
He it was who opened the prison doors. (Isaiah 42:6-7; 61:1).
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