DEFINING HEAVEN AND HELL in biblical context is difficult. Though the bible speaks frequently of both, it develops the description and meaning of each progressively over time. In God’s mind the issues regarding both are clear, but we are not fully privy to his thoughts. For us, each ‘place’ has a certain fluid sense of this depending upon where we make entrance to the biblical historical timeline. A simplistic juxtaposition of the accounts found in O.T. and N.T. is enough to give a sense of how the indeterminate inferences of the earlier scriptures have morphed into more comprehensive doctrine by the end of the later ones. If we attempt to position ourselves outside linear time, say past the Book of Revelation, and see redeemed man forever glorified and condemned man vilified eternally, we arrive fairly close to the classical Christian understanding of what has come to be considered doctrine.
In Jesus’ time, the story of the rich man and Lazarus challenged the concept of God’s favor—Jews then commonly believed that wealth was a sign of blessing from God. Note the disciple’s response to a separate but informative teaching by Jesus: “‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’ The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, ‘Who then can be saved?’” (Mark 10:25-26) Nowhere else in scripture so clearly depicts in one scene the vast differences between heaven and hell than this passage in Luke. Jesus’ teaching comes to life in an extended pairing of opposites: “rich man beggar; luxury crumbs; hell Abraham’s bosom; agony comfort; good things bad things.” (cf. Luke 16:19-31)
This teaching rivets our attention now, as it has all who have encountered it over time. There is an incredible distance between the lifestyle of the rich man and that of the beggar. Lazarus is a beggar, so poor that he sits outside the gate of this luxurious home, probably with an alms bowl next to him, hoping guests or passers-by will throw him some small offering. Meanwhile, he dreams of having even some crumbs that may drop off the rich man’s dining table to eat. As he daydreams, he doesn’t notice or react when “the dogs come and licked his sores.” ( Luke 16:21b) Jesus makes the disturbing graphic point that the beggar was so worthless in the rich man’s world, so beneath any consideration, that he has essentially become dog food for the roaming strays of the city.
Inside the gate, “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.” ( Luke 16:19) For the rich man, luxury is a daily way of life—this is his normal world. The fact that he can afford linen, very finely woven, is another indication of his wealth; most telling, however, is the fact that he dresses in purple; he is of the highest social order. Purple was a costly dye. Only one drop could be extracted from each murex shell harvested from the Mediterranean Sea; it was reserved for the use of royalty. The differences between him and the beggar, in and of every manner, could not be more clearly illustrated.
The story shifts now. All of us wonder what happens after we die, though many choose to push such thoughts out of consciousness when they surface. Jesus is never controversial for the sake of being controversial; here, he openly speaks about a subject matter that is more often than not considered taboo. He does this as an object lesson for his listeners. He answers their unspoken question by saying, in effect, “This is what really happens!” First, the rich are not necessarily blessed, nor the poor condemned, for the station they occupy in life. “The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.” ( Luke 16:21)
We also learn some important things about hell. The rich man is “in agony in this fire, and a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.” ( Luke 16:26) There are consequences for our actions, or lack thereof, in our former life. The rich man’s agony in his current condition may be predicated to some degree on his treatment of Lazarus previously. His plea to “send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue” ( Luke 16:14b), is clearly juxtaposed against the earlier image of the beggar sitting at his gate and just wanting some crumbs from the table. Overall, this story asks the question, “What sins consign us to hell?” We know of no overt act of the rich man that separates him from God’s favor and sends him to hell. On close examination, all that surfaces is that he has ignored Lazarus’s plight. Is this sin of omission sufficient for condemnation and God’s eternal wrath? Perhaps the next scene holds an answer.
The story shifts again, but this time it shifts into mystery and prophecy. The rich man, now a beggar himself, pleads with Abraham for his brothers, “warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.” ( Luke 16:28b) When Abraham reminds him that they have the counsel of the Torah, the once-rich man says, “if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.” ( Luke 16:19-31) Abraham responds, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” ( Luke 16:31)
The layers are complex. On the surface, this story is a warning about the finality of our actions during this life. Jesus appears on one hand to be saying that the Torah should be sufficient warning for the rich man’s five brothers—therefore, to all who read it. By extension, we are convinced that the rich man should have considered his ways in that light during his time in his first life.
But Jesus is adding something else, a mystery greater than what awaits us after death. He is speaking prophetically about his own substitutionary and atoning death on the cross, and his and our resurrection life that will follow. This is a mystery that cannot be solved if we only enter into the bible’s historical timeline at Lazarus’ story without considering later developments. What happens just beyond this point in the timeline is going to change everything that happened before and everything that will happen after. Hell and heaven both are about to be changed. This is not true in the mind of God, for he exists outside of time and has always known all outcomes. But now he is going to make it known to mankind. No longer is it “Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord.” (Lev. 18:5) Instead, the amazing new covenant of Grace is being progressively revealed. “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except by me.” (John 14:6)
Q. How do I know that my eternal position is fixed in the upper realm?
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