Jesus said in John 1:18 NO ONE has seen God at anytime, the only begotten Son Who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him 3;13 says NO ONE HAS ASCENDED into heaven EXCEPT HE WHO CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN the Son of man Who is in heaven. That’s very clear. People don’t take into account that the thief never asked for forgiveness, nor repented. He explicitly asked Jesus to REMEMBER him in His coming kingdom. Thats all. Jesus coming kingdom is in the future. Another thing is Jesus said He would be in the tomb 3 days and 3 nights so where was the thief? John says in 20:17 that He told Mary not to touch Him because He had not yet ascended to the Father.
