#DailyDevotion Are You Going To Suffer Or Live Well In The Afterlife?
Luke 16:24-25 24‘Father Abraham,’ he called, ‘have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, because I’m suffering in this fire.’ 25“But Abraham said, ‘Remember, son, you had your good things in your life, while Lazarus had his misery. Now he is comforted here, while you’re suffering. 26And besides all these things, there’s a wide chasm fixed between us and you, so that those who might want to cross from here over to you can’t do it, nor do any from there come over to us.’
Well, what is Jesus saying here? Is Jesus teaching us that if we do well in this world we will suffer in the next, while if we suffer in this world we will be comforted? I don’t think that is taught anywhere else in Scripture. The second part is true, if you have faith in Jesus. He is not teaching all rich people go to hell and all beggars go to heaven. What of the rest of us that fall somewhere in between? Jesus does promise us, “Blessed are those who mourn, they will be comforted.”
What I think we are safe to assume here is both the rich man and Lazarus were circumcised on the eighth day. Both were taught the Torah of the LORD. How did both respond to that Torah? It would appear the rich man loved and trusted his riches more than he loved and trusted the LORD. If he did not do this he would have opened his hand more to Lazarus who laid at his gate every day until he was taken up to Abraham’s bosom. Since Lazarus when he died he was carried by the angels to be comforted in Abraham’s bosom, we can assume he lived his life trusting in the LORD.
It would appear there is a great chasm between those who die in the faith and those who do not. Those who do not die in the faith are tormented in the underworld (Greek Hades). Jesus would call the place of torment elsewhere Gehenna (the dump where trash was burned). It’s not a pleasant place. You don’t want to go there. There is no partying with Satan in Hell. There is just eternal torment and suffering. There is no one there to comfort you. There is no one there to help. It’s just endless suffering where the fire never goes out and the worm never dies.
Abraham’s bosom is I guess another description of Paradise. It is a place of great comfort and peace. There is no more crying, no more pain, no more suffering and no more death. After the resurrection the state of those who have faith in Christ will even be better because we will be whole human beings seeing God with our own eyes in our own flesh. As much as we may want to, we cannot cross from Abraham’s bosom to comfort those in hell. It’s just those people’s tough luck (Though not luck at all. It’s just a saying.). They’ve earned every bit of it. Those who with Lazarus are there purely by God’s grace. Those in hell cannot cross over to those in Abraham’s bosom to be comforted.
Listen to Jesus. Trust Jesus and his word. He was warned and promised us in Matt. 6, 19“Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy them and thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where no moth or rust destroys them and no thieves break in and steal.” What are you going to do with all the good things he has blessed you with? Are you going open you hand to the poor trusting God will still take care of you if you no longer have the riches you have given away?
Heavenly Father, give us faith to trust in you so we don’t trust in wealth so we may open our hands to the poor like you have opened your hands to us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.