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The Rich Man and Lazarus (3)

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The Rich Man and Lazarus (3)

8 minuten leestijd Arcering uitzetten

"And in heil he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip ofhisfinger in water, and cool my tongue;for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence" (Luke 16:23-26).

We read in Revelation 14:13, "Blessed are the dead." It also says in the Bible that death is the result of sin. Is this contradictory? In Paradise God spoke, saying, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." There in Paradise we, in Adam, have eaten of that forbidden fruit and have plunged ourselves into everlasting death. There we have made the punishment ours, and the punishment is death. The death is not only a temporal death, but a threefold death. And yet John says, "Blessed are the dead." But that is not all he says, because he says, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord." He means to say, "Blessed are they who in dying may look unto Him. Blessed are they who in dying may lay claim on the mediatorial work, the mediatorial suffering and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed are they who by faith may look unto the blood of Christ." It is true that here below there can be times when there is so much strife, and when so much comes up against the work of God in the heart. But on the other hand, it is also true that there are times that we have a glimpse of the future, that it will be well with our soul when we come to die.

Last month we saw how the beggar died and was carried by the angels unto the bosom of Abraham. That was heaven for the beggar. And now the Lord Jesus continues with His instruction. He speaks of a death where there is no Savior. The rich man died without a Savior. There came a time that the Lord said unto him, "Thus far, and no further." There was nothing that could help him anymore. His money and his goods could not stop death from coming. His loved ones could not hold death back, because it was God's time for him. What if it becomes God's time for you very soon? If a minister has to come and stand by your bedside, will you be able to say, "It is well for my soul"? Or for you will it be just like for this rich man, who had to leave everything behind, and who had no Jesus for his soul?

Jesus says that the rich man lifted up his eyes in heil. There he saw what he had never seen before. He saw the place of the damned. Sometimes people say, "I went through heil." My friends, we should be very careful about saying these things. We will only see and feel what heil is if we die without Jesus Christ. Then we will know what heil is. The rich man lifted up his eyes in heil, and he feit what he had never feit before. He feit the hellish torment. His eyes were no longer looking upon the glitter of the world. That was all past. No longer were his eyes blinded by unconcern. When he had walked past the beggar lying at his gate everyday, then his eyes were blinded by unconcern. He saw the purple and fine linen, but he never had a desire to sit next to God's child and hear the sighing that came out of his mouth. Oh, my friends, it is very precious for a man to sit next to God's child and to listen to him speak of the wonders of the Lord, and to hear him say, "It is well for my soul." It crumbles his heart and lays him low in the dust, saying, "Lord, can it also be for me?"

Being in torment, the rich man saw heaven. Notice that he saw Abraham, and he saw Lazarus lying in his bosom. You could say that this man looked into heaven and saw everything that he had neglected when he was upon the earth. He saw how Christ had been there, and how a way had been opened for a sinner to be saved. He saw that there was mercy for lost sinners with a righteous God. But when he saw it, it was too late. I believe that one of the greatest torments in heil will be that it is too late. Salvation can never take place anymore, because we wasted our time here below, and it is too late. This is what he saw in heil. In heil the rich man spoke about a thirst for water. Perhaps he saw the pure river of water of life coming out of the throne of God. He might have seen the saints in heaven drinking freely of that river, but he knew that the river would never run to the place where he was. That was why he said, "Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame." He knew that through the Lamb of God the water of life has flowed down to the earth. How often did it flow past him? "Come ye to the waters…whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." He never needed anything that came from that river when he lived upon this earth. Oh, have you ever truly prayed unto the Lord? Have you ever thirsted for the waters of life in that blessed Word?

What a solemn message for us today! We are travelers to eternity. We all have our own difficulties and trials here below. One struggles with this, and the other struggles with that. But we are still in the land of the living. Next week it might not be possible to go to church and hear the Word of God. By nature we neglect and despise the way of salvation. Instead we say, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we are going to die." We live this way by nature and fare sumptuously every day, some in the world and some in religion. It is all the same when there is no Savior for our soul. You can have much in the way of religion, but if you have no Jesus, then there is no bridge across the great gulf that is fixed.

The rich man prayed in heil, saying, "Father Abraham." If the rich man had prayed unto Abraham during his lifetime on earth, he would not have been able to give him the waters of life. It is the same when he makes his request from the bottom of heil unto Abraham. On earth the rich man never came to the right place, and in heil he cannot come to that place either. When he addresses Abraham from heil, then we can see that the old enmity still lives in his heart. That old enmity still burns in heil against Christ, who is that only Way, and therefore he addresses Father Abraham. Father Abraham addresses him in a kind way, saying, "Son, remember…." You might say, "A son of Abraham in heil? How is that possible that a son of Abraham is forever lost?" My friends, the rich man was a son of Abraham after the flesh. He was a son of Abraham after the flesh, but not a son of God.

"And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed." Abraham points to the gulf that is fixed, saying that it separates them. "They which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence." Remember those words. There will come a time that the gulf is fixed, and you will be either on this side or you will be on that side. But it will be fixed. It will no longer be possible to go from the one place to the other. He said unto the rich man, "It is fixed, and you missed the bridge in your lifetime. You never came to know the bridge across this gulf." What an eternal blessing when in this life your eyes may be opened for the gulf, because the gulf is there whether we see it or not. When you sit in church unconverted, that gulf is there. That separation is there. But what a blessing it is when God opens your eyes for it, and when here below in this lifetime you may come upon your knees and pray to the Lord that there may be a way to come across that great gulf. May you come to know Him who is the way across the great gulf for His people.

The world does not offer much, does it? Sometimes it blinds your eyes. It is all coming to an end. If you have to die with the world, I promise you it cannot be good, because you have never yet had a drink from the waters of life that flow freely for God's people. May you come upon your knees, saying, "Lord, may I be brought to that river and taste of that water of life freely, for Jesus' sake?"

— to be continued —

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Bekijk de hele uitgave van zondag 1 september 2002

The Banner of Truth | 28 Pagina's

The Rich Man and Lazarus (3)

Bekijk de hele uitgave van zondag 1 september 2002

The Banner of Truth | 28 Pagina's