| The Rich Man and Lazarus Luke 16:19-31 9-28-08 A small boy was impressed with two things; how hard it was to tell the truth from something that was lie and how many he wondered were telling him the truth when really they were telling a lie. He had been told that to tell a lie was a sin. And so he decided to investigate the situation. He started with his father. “Dad,” he asked, “Have you ever told a lie?” “Well, it wouldn’t be true to say I have never lied,” he said. “Well,” asked his son, “how about Mom?” “Yes, I’m sure she has felt the need not to tell the truth when she felt that it might hurt someone.” “Well,” said his son, “how about grandma and grand-daddy?” “I guess they are like the rest of us,” said his dad. “Oh,” said his son, “it’s going to be awful lonesome up in heaven with nobody there but God and me. The truth, of course, is we all have lied at one time or another and we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We can be so thankful, in spite of ourselves; we have been given the gift of eternal life. As a Minister of the Gospel, I have always attempted to share God’s Word according to what I believe is recorded in the scripture. I was asked to speak this morning on the Rich Man and Lazarus. You know, some sermons are given to entertain. Those are the ones that people seem to enjoy the most. Some are given to cause people to make a decision. Those may or may not be enjoyable. And then there are those sermons that are given for purpose of informing. The sermon this morning is given for that purpose; to inform why we as Advent Christians and I as Pastor, believe that this story of the Rich man and Lazarus is a parable and not one to be taken literally. What I will be sharing with you this morning is my personal beliefs. I’m not here to convince anyone if you have a different opinion, but simply to share with you what I believe the text is saying to us. One of the most common mistakes made in interpreting a teaching found in the Word of God is to attempt to make the Word of God mean something that favors one’s own personal beliefs. And we all must be careful not to do that. A sound rule of interpretation is to find the meaning of one passage in light of the entire revelation of God’s Word. In other words, we are to compare scripture with scripture. The account of the rich man and Lazarus, taught by our Lord in the Gospel of Luke, is generally understood or perhaps misunderstood to be a historical event, from which we can know the state of man at death. However, to believe that death to some is the beginning of eternal bliss, while to others it is the beginning of eternal punishment or torment, is in contradiction to so many other passages found in the Bible. In the 15th Chapter of I Corinthians, the Apostle Paul, under divine inspiration, clearly teaches that unless there is a resurrection, then “they who have fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” This can only mean that if the resurrection does not take place then Christians will never see their sleeping loved ones again. But we know based upon the Word of God that those who have fallen asleep in the Lord will arise first at His coming. The dead in Christ shall arise first we read in II Thessalonians Chapter 4. We are told that at death the rich man in this story was immediately confined to conscious torment. In other words, if one was to take this literally, he judgment of Gehenna (hell) fire begins for the lost immediately at death. In looking at the teachings of the entire Bible we find that judgment for the sinner takes place at the return of Christ, at the end of time and not before. Jesus speaks plainly about this in John 5:28-29 when He said, “Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in which all those that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they have done good unto the resurrection of life and those that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” If we try to force a literal interpretation of this parable we must admit that the dead can talk with each other. This is also contrary to the teaching of God’s Word where we read that the dead know not anything and where David said in Psalm, “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth, and in that very day his thoughts perish.” We are told more than once that those who have fallen asleep are in an unconscious state. It has been said that the rich man descended into torment and Lazarus into heaven or place of bliss. However, you will notice that the parable says nothing about the wicked or the righteous, nor does it say anything about heaven. It merely says that the favored man was rich and the beggar was poor. It is certainly no proof that the righteous go to heaven when they die. Furthermore, the word “hell” is Hades in the original, which merely means the abiding place of the dead. If one insists on forcing this to mean a place of conscious torment for the sinner, then how we can explain Acts 2:27 which says, “Because thou will not leave my soul in hell (Hades or the grave), neither will thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption.” If we say that Hades (hell) is a place of conscious torment then we are putting our Lord in hell at the time of His death for the same word is used. But when we see Hades as being the grave, we see that Christ was in the grave for three days. The New Testament word translated hell which refers to the place of judgment for the sinner is the word “Gehenna” and is found in Matthew 23:33 -- the words of Jesus to the Pharisees, “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” The word used in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus does not mean a place of torment. We are told that the majority who accept this parable of Jesus as being literal believes that dead men live on in an immaterial existence, as disembodied beings. This position cannot be sustained, for in this account we find mention of a bosom, finger, tongue, and eyes. Does a spirit have flesh and bones? Does not our Lord say that flesh and blood cannot enter into the Kingdom of God? If this is a historical event then consistency demands that one also believes that the dead can pray (talk) to the dead, for the dead rich man prayed (talked) to the dead Abraham, to send the dead Lazarus to relieve him of his sufferings. If the dead pray to the dead, if this account is to be taken literally, then we cannot blame the Catholic Church for praying to the dead saints. What then is the teaching of this text? And I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but if we examine the context we will find that Jesus was addressing the Pharisees, who had rejected Him and His teachings. I believe that Father Abraham was intended to teach a truth about Israel. If we have the rich man to represent Israel, a Jewish Nation in royal standing and the poor beggar representing the Gentiles at the time of Christ’s coming into the world, the text takes on a whole new meaning, but a meaning which is in complete accord with the rest of God’s Word. If the Gentiles wanted spiritual blessings, they would have to obtain it by accepting the leftovers. Later the Jews rejected our Lord and delivered Him to the Romans to be crucified, and as a nation they were cast off from Divine Favor. They are in a sense in a place of spiritual death. The Gentiles on the other hand believed that Christ was the Messiah, and thus His Divine Favor was extended to them. They were carried to Abraham’s bosom, that is, they became heirs of the promise made through Abraham. In verse 26 we read of a great gulf between God and Israel. It is a gulf that is fixed. To the Jews, Christ became a stumbling block, but to the Gentiles, a Savior and a Redeemer. There is also a solemn warning to the unbeliever here. There is a lesson here for each one of us. The Christian can say “no” to the leading of the Spirit, to the teaching of God’s Word to the point that it can build a barrier between himself and God. I’m sure that there is much, much more that our Lord would have us to know from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. One of the things that stand out in this parable is that the rich man waited until it was too late. Friends, do NOT wait until it’s too late. How we interpret this text is not essential to our salvation. But whether or we accept Christ as Lord and Savior is essential. And, as the Hymn writer wrote, “If you love Him, why not serve Him.” |
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