The Vision (2.7.25): Four Lessons on Life After Life from the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31)

 

Image: The Rich Man and Lazarus, Drawing by John Everett Millais, 19th century, Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum.

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Luke 16:19-31:

“There was a certain rich man,… And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus….” (Luke 16:19-20).

In our Lord’s Day afternoon services, we are currently doing a sermon series on eschatology (the doctrine of last things). At present we are examining topics related to personal eschatology (What happens when we die?), and later we will look at topics related to cosmic eschatology (How will the world and all history end?).

Last Sunday we looked at Christ’s account (not a parable) of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31).

I offered these four simple points from the text:

First Lesson: There are two ways or two outcomes at death: the way of the rich man or the way of Lazarus (vv. 19-21).

Second Lesson: There are two destinations: Either hell (Hades), or the bosom of Abraham, Paradise, the heavenly rest (vv. 22-23).

Third Lesson: There are two very different experiences: “torment” or “comfort” (vv. 24-25).

Fourth Lesson: There are no second chances after death, no purgatory, no post-mortem evangelism, no moving from one place to another, but “a great gulf fixed” (vv. 26-31).

In this life we either confess Christ before men and are confessed by him before the Father, or we deny him before men and are denied by him before the Father (see Matthew 10:32-33).

We ought soberly and seriously to consider these four lessons.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle