Jump Start # 620
Luke 16 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.”
We continue our look at the great lessons found in the story of the rich man and Lazarus. There are so many wonderful thoughts and lessons found in these verses. This is given to us like a postcard. It shows us what it is like on the other side. What we find is so different than what many of us believed and especially the way Hollywood portrays it. But before we get there, we must talk about the subject of death.
We don’t like that subject. Possibly, we feel, that if we don’t think about it, maybe it will just go away. It won’t. It never does. What is it like to die? Have you ever thought about that? In the movies, at least the action thrillers that I watch, someone dies all the time. There is a blast of weapons and someone falls. He doesn’t get up. The movie moves on. We can become insensitive to death. I have seen several people actually die. It’s not like the movies. No music is playing in the background. There is no great final speech. What I have seen is that a person just quietly stops breathing. That’s it. No grand trumpets blowing. No profound “this is it” moment. They simply pass to the other side.
The Bible is the place to turn to in order to understand the subject of death. There are no experts who can tell us what it is like. There are no movies that can accurately prepare us for what death will be like. One fact is true, everyone that we know, other than Jesus, who has died remained dead. No one dies over the weekend and then comes back to work again on Monday. There are books on the market that makes the claim that the author died, went to Heaven and then somehow came back. Don Piper’s best selling book, “90 minutes in Heaven,” details what he saw and even names the songs that he heard when he spent his 90 minutes in Heaven. There is another book, telling the story of a boy who died and went to Heaven. He was told things and met people that he never knew on earth. He then came back. People get caught up in those kinds of stories and put more faith in what those books say than what the Bible teaches. Now I might get some of my readers upset with me, but I can assuredly say that those things did not happen. They fly in the face of Scripture. I take my stand with what the Bible says.
1. In our look at Luke 16, the rich man wanted word to be sent back to his brothers. It was not allowed. Of all the people who died in the Bible, no one ever sent word back. There are 10 resurrections in the Bible. Not one of them told of what they saw, felt or heard. Nothing. Paul was allowed to go to the “third Heaven” in 2 Cor 12:4. He said it was unlawful for him to repeat what he heard. How is it that an inspired apostle could not tell, yet a truck driver can? More than that, a person is allowed to write a book and make tons of money on this? Does this not seem odd to you? The Scriptures do not tell of lights at the end of tunnels or bright lights or floating sensations or all the other stuff that is popular today. I’ve heard folks say that if you find a penny on the ground that is face up, the date of the penny is the date of someone that you know who died that year. It is a message from them. Really? What’s the message? A face up penny? A person who gets into those kinds of superstitions will likely believe in ghosts, zombies, and leprechauns.
It’s amazing also, that everyone who claimed to have died and came back, all went to Heaven. They are of different faiths, different doctrinal attitudes, different concepts about Jesus –yet they all went to Heaven. That’s not what the Bible teaches. How is it that a Baptist, a Catholic, a Hindu and an atheist all have the same experience? That’s odd in my book. How come no one comes back with stories about Hell? Jesus said more would be lost than saved. Odd isn’t it?
2. In the Bible, a person came back from the dead as a result of a miracle, mostly, by a man of God bringing him back on purpose. Elijah did that. Jesus did that. Paul did that. There was a resurrection of righteous people at the death of Jesus. This was in connection with many miracles by God—the sun was dark, there was an earthquake, the veil of the temple was torn into. Did anyone in the Bible, other than Jesus, come back from the dead on their own? I don’t know of any. I’m to believe that a truck driver is killed in a car accident and goes to Heaven for an hour and a half and for some unknown reason, he is sent back? No apostle bring him back? It just happened? Strange you don’t read about those things in the Bible.
3. Death is the separation of the body and spirit (James 2:26). It is something known by God. Death is a process, just the opposite of birth. No one stays in the state of birth. It’s merely a doorway to take us from one world into this world. Death is just the opposite. It takes us from this world into the next. We don’t stay in the state of death. We live. We exist. The road doesn’t end at the cemetery. Both the rich man and Lazarus were “alive” after they died. They both knew, felt, remembered and recognized. They lived after they died. Death was simply switching rooms.
4. God is with the righteous, even in death. When Lazarus died, the angels carried him to Abraham’s bosom. What a contrast to being dumped by the rich man’s gate. He is carried by angels. Did that really happen? Yes. Does it still happen? For the righteous, certainly. There is nothing to think otherwise. What comfort to know that the righteous do not die alone. God cares for them. What about the wicked? How do they get to the other side? Demons? Don’t guess. Don’t speculate. Don’t park your car at a place we do not know. God doesn’t say. That’s the answer. I don’t know, and neither do you. Forget the movie, Ghost. It was just a movie.
5. God uses wonderful words to describe the death of his children. Paul said it was a gain (Phi 1:21). The Psalmist said it was precious (Ps 116:15). The Corinthians were told that it is a victory (1 Cor 15:54). The Thessalonians were told it was hope (1 Thes 4:13). The sting and fear of death are removed by Jesus Christ. The world uses words like “gone,” “departed,” “kicked the bucket,” “bought the farm,” and “tragedy.” God sees death differently. It’s the door we go through to get where God is. He’s on the other side. All the blessings and joys await us. We must go through the doorway marked “Death.” For the child of God, death is not so bad. In fact, they long to be on the other side. The other side is much better than this side.
Learn to develop the right attitude about death. See it as God sees it. Walk with Jesus and you have nothing to fear. Shelve all those modern books about Heaven and coming back from the dead, and read what God says. God’s word is where our faith needs to be.
It will be just as God said. You can count on that!
Roger