#DailyDevotion All God Is Going To Give You To Be Saved Is His Word.

Luke 16:27-31 ²⁷” “Then I ask you, father,’ he said, ‘send him to my father’s home — ²⁸I have five brothers — to warn them not to get into this place of torture.’ ²⁹“ “They have Moses and the prophets,’ Abraham said. “They should listen to them.’ ³⁰No, Father Abraham, he said, “but if someone comes to them from the dead, they’ll repent.’ ³¹“ ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets,’ he answered him, ‘they won’t be convinced even if someone rose from the dead.’”

So we get finally to the point of the parable in this small section. I guess one should a little better of the rich man that at least he doesn’t want his five brothers to end up where he is being tortured. However, one of the rich man’s problems is he thinks he is better that Lazarus even while he is in torment and Lazarus is being comforted in Abraham’s bosom. What do I mean by that? Well first he wants Abraham to send Lazarus to dip his finger and water and put it on his tongue like Lazarus is his servant (which didn’t even do while he was living). Now he want Lazarus to be raised from the dead to go warn his brothers. Just who does this guy think he is?

Secondly, he thinks his brothers would repent if someone rose from the dead and warned them. Perhaps this is Charles Dickens’ thought in A Christmas Carol. You know, where several spirits come to Ebeneezer Scrooge who show him is past, present and future. I got bad news for Ebeneezer, the LORD God isn’t doing that. If you are waiting for some spectacular miracle to happen before you repent, you might as well settle yourself in to be tormented in the fires of hell forever. It isn’t going to happen.

Listen to what Abraham tells the rich man, “ ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets,’ he answered him, ‘they won’t be convinced even if someone rose from the dead.’” Moses and the prophets is the Bible. If people won’t be convinced to repent of their sins and believe in Jesus Christ to be saved by hearing what the Bible says, no miracle is going to convince them. Just consider Jesus’ friend Lazarus and himself. Jesus rose Lazarus from the dead after 4 days in the tomb. The Pharisees, the Scribes and the Priest did not repent of their unbelief in Jesus as the Messiah. No, they wanted to kill both Lazarus and Jesus. The succeeded in killing Jesus and when he rose from the dead, instead of repenting of their sin, they went after the disciples who proclaimed the resurrection. As Jesus said, if they believed Moses and the Prophets, they would have believed in him.

All you will get is someone preaching to you the Word of God. Peter writes in 1 Peter 1, “¹⁸We heard that voice speak to Him from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. ¹⁹And we have, as something more sure, the prophetic Word. Please look to it as to a light shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the Morning Star rises in your hearts.” Imaging that, seeing Jesus transfigured in his glory with Moses and Elijah and hearing the Father’s voice, and Peter saying the prophetic Word is something more sure and certain. The Scriptures say all people have sinned and are in need of salvation. They say Jesus won salvation for you on the cross by his death. If you are repentant of you sins and believe Jesus did this for you, this faith God will count as righteousness on the day of judgment. Are you going to wait for a sign and perish or will you believe the Word of God and live in Abraham’s bosom?

Merciful God and Father, you proclaimed Jesus as the Savior of the world in the sacred scriptures, call us to repent and believe in him. Give us your Word and your Holy Spirit so we may truly be repentant and put our faith in Jesus. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.