He’s begging, him, this rich man. He knows it’s too late for him, but he is begging in this passage for an opportunity – some way or another – to warn those headed in his footsteps. What happens next? This figure he sees as Abraham answers, and he says what? He says they have the Scriptures, let them read them!
Continue reading “Hell & the Rich Man, Part 10”
You have a choice to make, friend. Do you live for the flesh? Do you choose to fill your belly with all the good things of this world, and all the delicious sins it has to offer? Or, do you acknowledge the God of creation, the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, the Author of Salvation! Don’t waste your life…
The rich man found himself in Hell. He looked up and saw Lazarus, the man who in life was not worthy of his attention and his mercy. Now though, as he writhes in agony in the darkness – where the worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched – he cries out to the figure of Abraham as he sees it, calling to him louder than we can imagine Lazarus ever cried out at his gate!
What of the rich man? After his life of self-indulgence, where do we find him? What does the Word say of him? In life, he enjoyed the best there was, but where do we find him in death?
Let me tell you something, friends, death comes to us all! Great, small, rich, poor, we all will one day step into eternity, no matter what our standing or circumstances are in this life. As someone once said:
“Death blends the sceptre with the spade
With equal pace, impartial fate
Knocks at the palace, as the cottage gate
Nor crown nor coin can halt time’s flight
Or stay the armies of the night
King and villain, lad and lass,
All answer to the hourglass…”
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Turning back to the Scripture here, we aren’t told specifically of the relationship between the rich man and Lazarus. We don’t know if the rich man mistreated the beggar, or if he simply ignored his presence outside the gate. What we do know though is that he knew of Lazarus, and that he apparently had no concern for his state of being…
It truly is better to give than receive. This was a great truth missed by the rich man here in Luke. As he enjoyed the opulence of his life, he did nothing to help those suffering, even the one just outside his own gate! This man’s sin wasn’t his diet or clothes, it was his self-indulgence while he overlooked “the least of these!”
Continue reading “Hell & the Rich Man, Part 4”
Sometimes the niceties of this life – the accoutrements of wealth and prosperity – are more of a distraction than anything else. Sometimes they simply get in the way of what’s important. In the case of the rich man – if he saw his wealth as God’s favor – what then was he to think of the miserable beggar outside the gate? Continue reading “Hell & the Rich Man, Part 3”
I want to point something interesting out to you for your consideration. As we look at this famous Scripture, you may notice that the characters are given names. Right? We have the figures of Lazarus and Abraham clearly named, and that’s important to notice. Why? Well… Continue reading “Hell & the Rich Man, Part 2”
