(Based on a message preached at New Hope Baptist Church, Fulton, MO on 9-24-2023. This is not an exact transcription.)
Introduction: The closer we get to the Lord’s coming, the less, I think, we hear about Hell. You might be surprised to hear what some people have to say about Hell: some think Hell doesn’t exist; others, that sinners will be destroyed or “burned up” and not face everlasting punishment. Still others believe that they get a pass because of their ancestors or heritage. Seems pretty clear to me they must not have been paying attention to Jesus and what He had to say about Hell.
Our text this morning comes from Luke’s gospel, chapter 16; beginning with verse 19:
Luke 16:19-31, NASV: 19“Now there was a certain rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, gaily living in splendor every day. 20 And a certain poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, 21 and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores.
22 “Now it came about that the poor man died and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. 23 And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue; for I am in agony in this flame.’
25 “But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, in order that those who wish to come over from here to you may not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’”
27 “And he said, ‘Then I beg you, Father, that you send him to my father’s house—28 for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’
29 “But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 “But he said, ‘No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ 31 “But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’”
<Opening prayer>
1 The comparison between the two men
In the context, the previous couple of chapters, Jesus has been discussing a number of items with the disciples and with the religious leaders of the day. This last group didn’t seem to think very much of what Jesus said and they let him know it. That didn’t stop Jesus from telling them what they needed to hear, though.
And what they needed to hear was something that they probably didn’t expect. Jesus was about to tell them, and us by extension, some of the clearest explanation of life after this life that anybody had ever heard. Of course, before this, there was some information known in the Old Testament, such as David knowing he would meet his and Bathsheba’s child after he died (2 Samuel 12:21-23). Job knew that one day he, in his flesh or body, would see God (Job 19:25-27) and the writer of Psalm 71 also knew that God would raise him “from the depths of the earth (Psalm 71:20)” at a future time (implied).
Even so, there was not much revealed in the Old Testament about the everlasting punishment waiting for those who died in their sins. Isaiah had mentioned something about this at the end of his book (Isaiah 66:24). Some people, of course, had heard Jesus preach about Hell (Mark 9, for example) but that may have been before this episode took place. At any rate, the listeners were about to hear something for the first time.
That something was a story that had to speak to everyone listening to Jesus. He jumped right in, as it were, and mentioned something that most people of that day were familiar with: death. Jesus told them about two men, representatives of all humanity, one might say, and first gave a comparison and/or contrast between these two men.
He first mentioned a rich man who “habitually” or regularly wore purple and fine linen. Now, I’m wearing a purple shirt today, but that doesn’t mean much except that purple is an affordable color of fabric these days! In those days, though, purple was some of the most expensive stuff available. Somewhere I read that the color “purple” ranged from true violet to deep blue to a very deep red” but no matter the hue or color itself, there was only one way to get it. That was to find a certain, specific shellfish and crush the shell to get a purple-ish dye. Then the fabric would be dyed, later sold, and a few people would be very happy indeed!
And the fine linen—linen comes from flax, a plant that grows near water. There was plenty of water in Israel, except that most of it was many miles away from Jerusalem: unless, of course, there was flax growing near the Jordan River. Some commentators believe that this “fine linen” came from Egypt and only the very rich could afford it.
As if that wasn’t enough, this rich man lived in splendor. The King James Version says he “fared sumptuously” every day. Whatever that means, we can guess that this rich man felt like he had the very best of everything and, we might guess, he felt he’d have it for a long, long time.
I’m pretty sure most of those listening either knew someone who was that rich, or maybe hoped they could be as rich as he was. After all, one of the Old Testament promises was prosperity for those who followed the Law. Deuteronomy 28:1-14 has a list of promises, so at first glance, those who were rich, and had a lot of stuff, seemed to be in God’s favor or good graces.
But there’s another person in this story, and he wasn’t nearly so well off as the rich man. About all we know about this poor man (“beggar”, King James Version) is his name and his physical condition. His name is Lazarus, the New Testament spelling of Eleazar or Eliezer (both meaning “God is my help”) and his physical condition, in a word, was horrible.
You see, Lazarus had some kind of awful disease. He may have had the same skin disease as Job had suffered, many years before. Whatever it was, he had ulcers all over his skin and according to several commentators, these sores or ulcers were running. Lazarus had some kind of awful fluid oozing all over his body.
And, no doubt, the smell was horrible. Lazarus was in such a bad way that he was carried and literally dropped off at the rich man’s gate. There’s no record anyone picked him up and took him anywhere else. He had nobody to bring him food—Jesus said he longed to be fed with the scraps falling from the table. When we remember that people lay on their sides to eat, the food that did fall fell on the surface where there could have been dust, dirt, or anything else.
Jesus added another detail which has a couple of different angles. He said the dogs came and licked the sores on Lazarus’ body. If Lazarus was outside the rich man’s house, estate, whatever you want to call it, those weren’t house dogs and weren’t pets, either. These were wild dogs, or scavengers. They found leftover food, such as it was, then made it disappear. Some question if the dogs were genuinely concerned for Lazarus or were waiting for him to die.
And die they did, each man leaving this life and going to his own eternal destiny. Each man had a different destiny, as we’ll see in a moment.
2 The conversation with Abraham
Jesus said, briefly, that Lazarus died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s bosom, another name for Heaven or Paradise in those days. We don’t know much about it except that the righteous, the saved, went there when they died. Since Jesus died and rose again from the dead, all saints go to be with Him (2 Corinthians 5). That’s all Jesus said about it at this time.
But He went into more detail regarding the rich man. By the way, some of us may have seen literature of several kinds calling the rich man “Dives”, which is the Latin word for “rich”. Nobody knows or remembers him today, but he’s still in Hades, and still suffering. More about that in a moment.
Now, there’s one thing that has left me shaking my head every time I read or think about this passage. The rich man is in Hades, in flames, in torment, and knows he’ll never get out of there. He enters into a conversation with Abraham!
The rich man cried out, “Father Abraham” which, normally speaking, any Jew had the privilege of doing. Every Jew has been either a direct descendant of Abraham, through Isaac, Jacob, and one of Jacob’s twelve sons; or, a Gentile who converted to the faith of Abraham, like Rahab, Ruth, and who knows how many others.
Years later, Paul would say, paraphrasing, it wasn’t enough to simply be a physical or linear descendant of Abraham; the person had to share the faith of Abraham. Romans chapter 4 has a lot of information about this. For the rich man, it wasn’t enough that he was one of Abraham’s descendants. He clearly didn’t share or hold to the faith of Abraham.
That didn’t stop him from trying to negotiate with Abraham, though! Notice the rich man didn’t say, “Please get me out of here” or anything like that. No, if anyone goes to hell (and, sadly, the vast majority of people born on this earth will), he or she will know exactly why once they get there. The sad thing is, just like this rich man, each one will open his or her eyes, see the flames, feel the torment, and realize “I’m stuck here forever”.
Two of my nieces work in healthcare and they told my sister of some experiences when they found one of their patients had died. Both nieces say that those who were saved had such a peaceful, joyful expression on their faces that wouldn’t go away. They also told her of some others, who had a look of terror or struggle on their faces. These are the ones who probably died lost without God.
And, incredibly, Abraham replies to the rich man! The rich man—get this—tried to negotiate with Abraham to have, of all people, Lazarus (!) come from Paradise to Hades just to give the rich man one drop of water for his tongue. Does this mean the rich man knew Lazarus while he still lived on this earth? Had Lazarus been one of his servants? Why would he want Lazarus to do this? We’ll never know down here but listen again to the rich man: “I am in agony in this flame” and the only thing he asked for, at first, was one drop of water.
Abraham’s reply is one of the saddest in Scripture. He said, first, “Child, remember . . .” and that had to pierce the rich man to the heart. The rich man will have forever to remember his days as a child, as a youth, his trips to Jerusalem to worship at the Temple, and perhaps his weekly attendance at the synagogue. He will remember forever every word of the Law and the Prophets that he ever heard or studied. And he’ll remember the decision point when he decided he did not need to repent of his sins and accept the gift of salvation. “Child, remember.”
Abraham wasn’t finished. He went on to say, “You received your good things (and if purple and fine linen weren’t good things, then what else could be?) during the time you lived on earth and Lazarus got bad things. Now Lazarus is comforted and you are in agony.” This tells me that even though the rich man had his stuff, his goods, his possessions, in reality his stuff had him and kept him from realizing his need for a Savior!
And if that wasn’t serious enough, Abraham explains something the rich man may not have seen. Abraham told him there was a great gulf (also “chasm” and other words in other translations) fixed or established between Hades and Paradise. This was to make sure nobody—nobody—could cross from one side to the other for any reason. Period.
But would you believe, the rich man is still negotiating with Abraham! He might have thought, “Okay, I can’t get any water, so the least I can do is ask for a witness to my brothers.” Realizing he wouldn’t get even a drop of water from Lazarus or anyone else, he at least shows some concern for his family.
He asks Abraham to send Lazarus to, basically, preach to his five brothers! It’s good that the rich man shows concern for his family, and that he doesn’t want them to spend forever in Hell either. But why he wants Lazarus to do this is beyond me. Again I wonder if he or all of his brothers knew or at least knew about Lazarus.
Once again, let’s give credit where due, the rich man was more concerned about his brothers than, probably, anybody else was. Are we concerned about those whom we know are lost, without God, and headed to Hell? Here, we can at least pray for them, witness as the Lord gives opportunities, and just do what we can. If people flat-out reject the message, that’s on them, but we can still pray for the Lord to open their hearts and save their souls. None of that will be possible once we cross over from this life to the next.
But Abraham put a stop to this when he told the rich man, “They have Moses and the Prophets (the Law and the Prophets); let them hear them.” If these Jews went to the synagogue, they couldn’t have helped hearing the Law and the Prophets. The question is, for them and for others, what are those who hear going to do with what they’ve heard?
The rich man seemed to be surprised at Abraham’s reply! He said, “Now, if someone rose from the dead, they’ll repent!” And Abraham said, “if they don’t listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’ He was right: think of the people Jesus raised from the dead: Jairus’ daughter; there is no record anyone repented when that happened, and ditto for the time when Jesus raised the son of the widow on Nain.
Some did believe when Jesus would raise Lazarus from the dead (this happened later) but what else happened then? Some of the religious leaders wanted to kill Lazarus! See John 11 for that incredible story.
The conversation stops there, but the story itself doesn’t necessarily end there. Jesus stopped but not before giving those who heard Him something to think about.
3 The conclusion of this story
There are a few things we can take away from this story. I believe it to be a true story, not just a parable, about two real men who died and faced two very different destinies. Every one of us is heading for one of these two destinies, according to Jesus: Hell, or Heaven.
We shouldn’t be surprised at this. Every one of us knows we have this problem, the sin problem, which will keep us separated from God forever unless we repent and take His gift of salvation. Lest anyone think otherwise, remember these scriptures: “sin entered into the world by one man and death came on all men because all have sinned (paraphrasing Romans 5:12’, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)” and “The wages of sin is death (being separated from God forever) but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23)”. There are other Scriptures but that should be enough to prove we’re all sinners and need salvation.
May I share with you a couple of personal examples? Back when I was about six or seven years of age, we didn’t have trash trucks—we burned our trash! We, like just about everyone where we lived, had a burning barrel and when the paper sack was full of trash, place the bag in the trash, light it, and the fire did the rest. Now, one time I slipped and touched a VERY hot barrel and I still feel it all these years later.
Then at 16 I worked at a fast-food restaurant. One day I had the job of cleaning the grill where the cook fired the hamburger patties. There was a stainless steel splash guard or something and I touched it, accidentally of course, Ouch. I can still feel that to this day.
But the closest thing I’ve ever seen to Hell happened when I was about 14. Our school took a trip to the local water works for a field trip. We saw pipes, valves, and so much stuff I was amazed! Then the guide told us about the storm sewers, where rainwater and various trash items like leaves and branches are washed down into the sewers, Briefly, the water is routed for treatment and purification but the trash is somehow taken to a burning pit or area. We saw a door bigger and thicker than the door to a bank vault. We could look through a small window, sort of, but saw nothing except darkness and occasionally the red where flame was on the edge of a sheet of paper or something like that. One of us asked the guide how hot it was in there. He told us, after a brief pause, “Over 800 degrees Fahrenheit”. I remember feeling the heat on that metal door just like I was there all those years ago. Hell, however, will probably be worse than that, even.
Don’t be like the rich man and reject the gift—accept our Lord’s gift of salvation and never worry about going to Hell ever again!
Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Version of the Bible (NASV).
