If They Hear Not the Prophets: A Meditation on Luke 16 for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost

There was a certain rich man,

which was clothed in purple and fine linen,

and fared sumptuously every day:

And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus,

which was laid at his gate, full of sores,

And desiring to be fed with the crumbs

 which fell from the rich man's table:

 moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.

And it came to pass, that the beggar died,

and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom:

the rich man also died, and was buried;

 

And in hell he lift 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 of his finger 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.

 

Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father,

 that thou wouldest send him to my father's house:

 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them,

lest they also come into this place of torment.

Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses

and the prophets; let them hear them.

And he said, Nay, father Abraham:

but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.

And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets,

 neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

 

The reality of hell is something Jesus spoke about a lot, with His story of Lazarus and the Rich Man a particularly poignant example.  It is also worth noting that those to whom He spoke did not resist the idea of hell, indicating that they were well aware of it from the witness of the Prophets who penned the Hebrew Scriptures.  What seemed to require correction is how one ended up in either heaven or hell after death, and Jesus made it clear that being rich and well regarded by the world was by no means a ticket to paradise.  From the last half of the story, where the Rich Man conversed with Abraham across the vast chasm that separated them in the afterlife, we learn that it is not the relative wealth or poverty of men that sends them to their eternal fate, but whether they have had faith and repentance before the Word of God.  Lazarus lived a life full of misery on earth, and at the end, hoped to avoid starvation and disease by begging for scraps at the gates of a wealthy man’s home.  It is not Lazarus’ poverty which sends him to Abraham’s Bosom (a Hebrew turn of phrase for heaven, or the place where those who die in God’s grace enjoy His loving presence forever) just as it is not the wealth of the Rich Man which sends him off to the torments of hades; but rather, whether they have heard the Words of Moses and the Prophets, abiding in that Word by faith and repentance.  The Rich Man specifically and intentionally disregarded the needs of his neighbor while he had the means to nourish him, and thus he had violated the Law of God’s love for neighbor, which sent him to hell in unbelief.  He had no faith before God wherewith to receive grace, and thus the perfect Law of Love which he violated, condemned him.

 

While Jesus’ story makes clear that human travel between heaven and hell is precluded by design, there does seem to be some aspect of travel between heaven and earth which is possible, though perhaps not common (consider Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration).  The Rich Man eventually begged Abraham to send Lazarus back from the dead to preach to his family so that they might avoid his hellish torments, and rather than telling him the request was impossible, Abraham instead noted that all people have the witness of God’s Word given to them as the means by which they could escape.  Abraham’s words at the end of the story foreshadow what Jesus would later prove by His own resurrection, that a heart which refuses to hear the Word of God proclaimed by His Prophets, will continue to reject it regardless of the preacher who brings it.  So it has proved true across the centuries, that those who would disregard the Word of God through the Hebrew Prophets would also disregard the Word of God Incarnate in Jesus Christ, and the Apostles He sent after His resurrection to declare His saving Gospel to every ensuing generation.  It is the Word of God which established the Law by which we are accountable in our every thought, word, and deed—things done, and things left undone—and the Gospel which declares our sins forgiven for Jesus’ sake.  The Word of God sets the terms of all existence for all time throughout the whole cosmos, so that by it all creatures will either be judged in unbelief according to the Law, or absolved by grace through faith in Jesus’ Gospel.  These alone are the paths to heaven and hell, and every mortal shall walk one or the other of them.

 

Jesus’ Word gives a firm rebuke and correction to our age, where so many people have decided that hell is too horrible to believe, as is the potential of God’s eternal judgement on those who rebel against Him.  Yet like the Rich Man in Jesus’ story, awareness of eternal realities does not alter their existence, and we entertain such unbelief or willful ignorance at our own great peril.  Do we really think that by ignoring Jesus’ Words about heaven and hell, we can change their eternal reality, or the terms He has established by which men shall enter forever either one or the other?  Do we really think that if enough feckless theologians, bishops, pastors, popular authors, or convention delegates get together and agree to ignore God’s Word, that the unfaithfulness of men can make God unfaithful to His Word?  And do we really think that we do anyone a moral good by hiding the true Word of God from them, so that the eternal reality of hell is obscured while catering to their momentary sensibilities?  Could the devil have devised any greater draw for the human race into infernal perdition, than that the people to whom the Word of God has been entrusted, might hide it from those it could save?  That the Church of the West has grown too weak kneed to speak clearly regarding God’s Word of judgment and hell, reveals either a lack of faith on the part of preachers to abide in the Word of Jesus, or a profound lack of love for a dying world that could be saved by that Word. While we feast sumptuously at the Lord’s table there are beggars lying at our gates, starving and suffering with diseases of spiritual malnutrition; all while we have the means to feed them as freely as the Lord has fed us, by the same Word that is Life to us all.  It is no more an act of love to withhold warning a sinful person of their potential fate in hell, than it is to withhold warning from a teenager playing on the freeway of their potential fate in the morgue.  True love can never be parted from Truth, just as saving Faith can never be parted from Love—and Faith, Truth, and Love all come to us by the Word of God’s Law and Gospel.

 

And we know by that same Word that God desires no one to go to that place of eternal, fiery torment, but rather to come to a saving knowledge of the Truth.  Hell is real, and the horrors of mankind’s just fate in the judgment of those flames is what moved our God of Love to send His only begotten Son into our flesh, that He might suffer and die and rise again for us all.  It is the Vicarious Atonement of Jesus alone that both satisfies God’s Justice toward mankind for our rebellion against His Law, and provides for us the saving grace which is our forgiveness, eternal life, and salvation.  No man can avoid hell on his own, anymore than he can lead a perfect life in body, soul, and mind for every second of every day he is alive in this world, nor be perfect as God is perfect.  Like all fallen men, everyone has fallen short of the glory and righteousness of God, and everyone is in need of the Gospel Grace of Jesus to avoid the fate we have earned.  Hell is real, but the Gospel of Jesus Christ is greater because the Love of God is stronger than His Judgment, giving new life and hope to everyone who will hear His Word, repent, and believe in Him.

 

The time to worry about hell is not after one leaves this world, because by then, Jesus tells us the eternal fate of all people is already cast.  And while the reality of hell should be sobering, even terrifying to the people of the world who willfully reject the Word of their Creator, it should hold no terror or fear for the people of God who abide in His Word.  For the Incarnate Word comes to seek and to save the lost, for He did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.  Jesus’ mission from the manger to the Cross to the empty tomb was a rescue mission born of infinite, divine love for every soul that has ever been, and ever shall be.  That mission of divine Love has come to you this day in the Word of His Everlasting Gospel, promising to everyone who will believe and follow Him, eternal life.  By the Cross of Christ there is no condemnation for those who abide in Jesus, because it is by His stripes we have been healed.  Rest your conscience in the sure promises of God’s Word to you, and carry that Word forth into a suffering world which so desperately needs it.  Hell is real, but your Almighty Savior is greater, and His saving love abides on all those who abide in Him and His Word.  Amen.