Heaven or Hell? | Luke 16:19–31

The color of his clothes is significant for the purple clothing was the most expensive and highly esteemed of the time. Purple or Blue cloth, produced from dye secreted by sea snails (Murex trunculus) and was the enviable insignia of the ruling caste (1 Macc 8:14; Mark 15:17, 20; John 19:2, 5). A rabbinic prayer shawl (tallit) needed to have at least one blue thread in its ritual fringe (Num 15:38–41), but the rich man has an entire garment made of the costly stuff. His robe covered an undergarment of high-quality linen, also costly, the finest of which in first-century Palestine was produced in Beth-shan, just south of Galilee. The Greek describes his garments as “sumptuous” and “resplendent.” Most remarkable, perhaps, they were not exceptional, reserved for special occasions. The rich man’s lavish clothes were his “every day” apparel (v. 19)!

Lazarus

Poor and yet faithful to God.

Form of Eleazar which means "The one God helps."

Third most common name in Israel.

He was simply just a guy. To put it into context, the third most used name in the U. S. is the name John.

Not only that, Lazarus was poor. In the ancient world, there were basically two classes. The patricians, or the ruling class, and the plebians, the poor. Thus society was broken up into the rich and the poor, the free and the slaves, the haves and the have-nots. Lazarus is described as destitute. So poor that he cannot even afford food to eat, nor medicine for the sores on his body.

He longed to eat off the left-overs of the fabulously wealthy man.

Not only that, Luke notes that “even dogs came and licked his sores.” Not only was him misery, and unable to keep the dogs away from him, but Lazarus was ceremonially unclean. Dogs were considered unclean animals, and so Lazarus would have been unable to worship in the temple. To those listening to the story, they would immediately seen Lazarus as one out of favor with God, unable to receive forgiveness from his sins, and probably getting what he deserved.

Lazarus was a nobody.

The Inward Condition Led to their ETERNAL REWARD

But then Jesus throws them a curve ball. The expected outcome in ancient thought would have been to think of the rich man as having been blessed by God. But instead it was Lazarus' relationship with God that led him to his eternal reward.

Jesus did give some hint of this. Lazarus' name means "The one God helps" and though on earth he had little, he finds himself "carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom” (Abraham's side). Lazarus, callously ignored in this life is taken into the presence of Abraham. This is key, because death is most often described as being "gathered to one's fathers", but the angels escort Lazarus to the presence of Abraham, the poor man enjoys close fellowship with Abraham at the messianic banquet.

The rich man is not described as a bad man. He is not described as a cheat, nor one who defrauds. He is not cruel to Lazarus. Lazarus lived off of the "crumbs from the rich man's table" though the man wasn't described as overly generous. To the man Lazarus wasn't something to be abused or provided for, Lazarus was merely something to ignore and avoid. Lazarus wasn't a person. He was a thing.

IN his day, the rich man wouldn't have been seen as the villain but as one who followed the adage, "living according to his means." In his understanding of the gods, he was blessed by the gods above the poor man, favored, and so why should he tempt the gods by giving to the poor man.

"The main point is clear: the rich man and his associates did nothing to help the beggar, beyond possibly throwing him some scraps."

Marshall, I. H. (1978). The Gospel of Luke: a commentary on the Greek text (p. 636). Exeter: Paternoster Press.

The rich man's love for this world led to his eternal condition.

In a recent article in Business Insider states that "a growing number of tech moguls are trying to solve their biggest problem yet: Aging. From reprogramming DNA to printing organs, some of Silicon Valley's most successful and wealthy leaders are investing in biomedical research and technologies with the hopes of discovering the secret to living longer." Amazon's Jeff Bazos, Facebook's Mark Zuckerburg, Oracle's Larry Ellison and Palantir's Peter Thiel have all donated millions into companies to help them live 100, 200, or even 300 years.

Why? Because when this world is all we're living for then we better live every day for ourselves and seek to make it last forever.

This is the problem of making ourselves the gods of our lives, one day the gods we worship die.

The FINALITY of Heaven and Hell

In a gut-wrenching display, the rich man finds himself in Hades, the place of the dead. He is described as being in torment, in "anguish in this flame." The rich man is in torment, in hell. As R. C. Sproul notes:

“He shut his eyes in death and opened them again in torment, and part of his torment was that he saw Abraham afar off…not only did he see Abraham, but there in Abraham’s bosom he saw the same person that he had seen every day when he walked out his gates. No doubt when he left the opulence of his palace, he would turn his eyes aside, not wanting to look at the miserable beggar…now here he is waking up in Hades, and there in the distance is Abraham with Lazarus.” - R. C. Sproul

There are no do-overs. and the rich man finds himself in hell in torment.

The torment of hell is very real.

Isaiah 66:22–24 ESV

“For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your offspring and your name remain. From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord. “And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”

Daniel 12:1–2 ESV

“At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

2 Thessalonians 1:5–10 ESV

This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.

The decisions we make in this world have eternal consequences.

a Decision for Christ has the consequence of Eternal life. A decision to reject Christ leads to death and damnation.

The truth is that Regardless of their earthly allegiance, all men bow to Christ in eternity.

The rich man's desire on earth was for his own welfare on earth, but all men are Evangelists in hell.

Philippians 2:10–11 ESV

so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The man immediately begs Abraham to send Lazarus to his brothers. I have done several funerals, and in all of them, whether the person was redeemed by Christ, or rejected him I say this: If your friend or father could be here today, he would beg for you to repent of your sins and trust in Christ.

Every man is an evangelist in Hell. Every man if they could come back would proclaim the glory of God to their friends, families, total strangers.

But there is no coming back. There are no second chances. There are no do overs.

Each of us will one day stand before God and give an account, not of the good or bad we’ve done, but rather what we did with Jesus. If we rejected him on earth, he will reject us in heaven. But if we repent of our sins and put our faith and trust in him, he will redeem us and give us eternal life.

What about you?

Today, is it heaven or hell?

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