Portraits of the Kingdom: Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus

Notes:

First Request: Send Lazarus to Cool My Tongue (vv.24-26

James Edwards: “Second Temple Judaism believed that the blessed and damned were able to view one another from their respective outposts, and that their views increased both the joy of the one and the torment of the other (4 Ezra 7:85, 93).”

“Following physical death, but prior to final judgment, souls of the departed were believed to inhabit an interim state in Hades that included a separation of the unjust from the blessed, along with their initial punishments and rewards.” Edwards

Answer:

Compassionate/pity

Table have been Turned:

“Your lifetime=good things/comfort”

NOW, anguish.

What this is saying, and what this is NOT saying?

Not about the rich going to hell.

Not about the preferential option for the poor.

This is about faith!

Great Chasm can’t be crossed

Great Banquet: “Neglect of an invitation” (14:16-23)

Great chasm: “fixed and unbridgeable, separates the righteous from the damned.” Edwards

Second Request: Send Lazarus to Warn my Brothers (vv.27-28)

“I beg you”

Moses and the Prophets are NOT enough!

Old Testament is not enough!

Our system of religion is not enough!

Do you hear the desperation!?

Ebenezer Scrooge: “Go back and see what you’ve chosen.” Ghost of Christmas past.

PushBack: They will believe if a resurrected person tells them

Moses and the Prophets are still Enough

Call to repentance! Faith!

Even in death, he doesn’t repent! He wants Lazarus to still serve him. Or still serve others!

Even in death, he doesn’t get it! He can’t… because he doesn’t have a repentant heart!

Edwards: “What he wants from religion, for himself and his brothers, is not a religion that changes his actions, but one that spares him from the consequences of his actions.”

Isaiah 55:13 “13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.””

Isaiah 60:17 “Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver; instead of wood, bronze, instead of stones, iron. I will make your overseers peace and your taskmasters righteousness.”

Ezekiel 17:24 “And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord; I bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.””

Hammer Sentence:

31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”

Examples of resurrection in the Old Testament.

Moses, the Prophets and the resurrection

Change your perspective:

Repeat HSVP Bank Advertising. Words and what we see matter.

The unrepentant NO is offset by the Angels YES!

Facebook Response:

Random person asked for money, and after we said that we couldn’t do that, they told us where to go, and it wasn’t safely in Abraham’s arms!

Never seen a hurse carry a uhaul.

Deuteronomy 14:28–29; 15:1–3; 7:12; 22:1–2; 23:19; 24:7; 25:13–14; Isaiah 3:14–15; 5:7–8; 10:1–3; 32:6–7; 58:3, 6–7, 10; Jeremiah 5:26–28; 7:5–6; Ezekiel 18:12–18; 33:15; Amos 2:6–8; 5:11–12; 8:4–6; Micah 2:1–2; 3:1–3; 6:10–11; Zechariah 7:9–10; Malachi 3:5.

Not just “mere” story: There is truth to it.

Hell exists. Heaven exists.

Themes:

Not merely a story

Not about works, but about repentance.

Resurrection will not

“These images are among the most tragic and serious warnings in the Bible.” Darryl Bock

Story of the Great Reversal

Reversal of Fortunes?

An Unrepentant Heart Self-Justifies

14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. 15 And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

We are justified by FAITH!

Filthy rich!

Bill Gate rich

Lavish clothing was his “play clothes.”

Edwards: “He thought the old order would be the eternal order.”

Lazarus:

Nothing physical to justify his existence. Filthy poor!

Lazarus: Third most common name in the 1st Century

Hebrew for Eleazar: “The one God helps”

At rich man’s gate: “Court of Justice.” Judged in life.

“Was laid” at the gate: “to throw or cast.”

Squatter Ushered to Judgment

James Edwards: Ballein: “brush to fire (3:9; 12:28), people to prison (12:58; 23:19, 25), manure to refuse (13:8; 14:35). In the passive form here, ballein is often a demeaning reference to the afflicted, crippled, and outcast. Lazarus is a “squatter” at the gate.”

Sores are licked by they dogs.

But if we were to be truly honest, we are that poor man!

We bring nothing to the table!

ONLY NAMED PERSON IN ALL THE PARABLES!

Insert your proper name!

2. An Unrepentant Heart Judges

19 “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.

Lovers of Money loves the things that money provides.

James Edwards: Ballein: “brush to fire (3:9; 12:28), people to prison (12:58; 23:19, 25), manure to refuse (13:8; 14:35). In the passive form here, ballein is often a demeaning reference to the afflicted, crippled, and outcast. Lazarus is a “squatter” at the gate.”

3. Repentance can’t happen After Death

He doesn’t get it! Even in death!

Get Lazarus to do this and that for me!

No second chances!

What happens to Lazarus?

Carried to Salvation!

v. 22: “Carried by the angels”

Carried away to Abraham’s side

4. The Resurrection is Not Enough to Convince Someone to Repent

31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”

Key verse:

Look at what happened with Jesus: He resurrected from the dead, but still people did not believe.

Granted: Before everyone had a camera in their pocket!

People who don’t believe we landed on the moon!

What does? Listening and heeding to God’s Word!

16 “The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it. 17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.

27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’

“I beg you”

Moses and the Prophets are NOT enough!

Old Testament is not enough!

Our system of religion is not enough!

Do you hear the desperation!?

Ebenezer Scrooge: “Go back and see what you’ve chosen.” Ghost of Christmas past.

PushBack: They will believe if a resurrected person tells them

Moses and the Prophets are still Enough

Call to repentance! Faith!

Even in death, he doesn’t repent! He wants Lazarus to still serve him. Or still serve others!

Even in death, he doesn’t get it! He can’t… because he doesn’t have a repentant heart!

Edwards: “What he wants from religion, for himself and his brothers, is not a religion that changes his actions, but one that spares him from the consequences of his actions.”

Isaiah 55:13 “13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.””

Isaiah 60:17 “Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver; instead of wood, bronze, instead of stones, iron. I will make your overseers peace and your taskmasters righteousness.”

Ezekiel 17:24 “And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord; I bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.””

Repent today!

Edwards: “Like many of Luke’s teachings in the central section of the Gospel, the decisive eschatological issue is not wickedness but neglect.”

Great chasm: “fixed and unbridgeable, separates the righteous from the damned.” Edwards

Hammer Sentence:

31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”

Examples of resurrection in the Old Testament.

Moses, the Prophets and the resurrection

Change your perspective:

Repeat HSVP Bank Advertising. Words and what we see matter.

The unrepentant NO is offset by the Angels YES!

Facebook Response:

Random person asked for money, and after we said that we couldn’t do that, they told us where to go, and it wasn’t safely in Abraham’s arms!

Never seen a hurse carry a uhaul.

Deuteronomy 14:28–29; 15:1–3; 7:12; 22:1–2; 23:19; 24:7; 25:13–14; Isaiah 3:14–15; 5:7–8; 10:1–3; 32:6–7; 58:3, 6–7, 10; Jeremiah 5:26–28; 7:5–6; Ezekiel 18:12–18; 33:15; Amos 2:6–8; 5:11–12; 8:4–6; Micah 2:1–2; 3:1–3; 6:10–11; Zechariah 7:9–10; Malachi 3:5.