2013 9-15 ‘A Glimpse Behind the Vail’ Luke 16 19-31

“A GLIMPSE BEHIND THE VEIL”
LUKE 16:19-31

I. Introduction
Some of us here are old enough to remember when it was quite fashionable for a well-dressed woman to wear a veil. Now I’m not talking about the kind of veils that some Muslim women are often required to wear. I’m talking about “fashionable” veils that were a part of women’s hats, back when women actually wore hats.

They were popular from the 1940’s through ‘50’s, and even into the early ‘60’s. And according to one prominent New York City milliner, it seems that hats with veils are making a comeback, at least among the “chic” New Yorkers. The reason, they say, is that there is a certain fascination and a hint of mystery that accompanies the woman who wears a veil.

In fact, and I never knew this, certain styles of veils are called “fascinators.” I guess it has to do with our curious natures. We just want to see what’s behind the veil.

The Bible tells us of instances where God has allowed one of His saints to see behind the veil and enter into God’s presence. Consider the Prophet Isaiah and the Apostle Paul. They were both blessed with a look into heaven itself.
Isaiah 6:1-5
1 In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the LORD sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.
2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
3 And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.”
4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.
5 Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips; and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

2 Corinthians 12:2-4 (Paul speaking of his own experience)
2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago – whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows – such a man was caught up to the third heaven.
3 And I know how such a man – whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows –
4 was caught up into Paradise, and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.
Peter, John, and James were also privileged to get a glimpse of Jesus in His glory at the Lord’s transfiguration. Isaiah, Paul, Peter, John, and James were all allowed to see behind the veil, as it were. Isaiah was in the throne room of God. Paul was taken to the third (the highest) heaven. Peter, John, and James saw just a bit of Jesus’ glory.

And in Revelation 4-5 we’re all given a look into the throne room where God is being worshipped by of the holy angels and by all of those who have believed and been washed and made clean by the blood of Christ.

This morning another veil will be pulled back. As it is we will see something we haven’t seen before. We won’t be in the throne room with Isaiah. We won’t be taken into the third heaven, with Paul. Neither will we be getting a look at Jesus’ glory with Peter, John, and James. This morning we’ll take a moment to see beyond the grave. We’ll pull back the veil that hides the afterlife from us, and we’ll see what’s there.
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II. Review
As we read the text we’ll want to keep in mind that it is part of an ongoing confrontation between Jesus, and the scribes and Pharisees. It started back at the beginning of Luke 15 with the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. It continued in Luke 16 where Jesus taught the parable of the unjust steward.

In all of these Jesus was exposing and condemning the religious leaders’ lack of love and concern for the people God had placed under their spiritual leadership and authority. Rather than caring for God’s sheep, they were concerned about their power, their posi-tion, their authority, and their wealth. And compared to the vast majority of the people they were called to shepherd, the scribes and Pharisees were very wealthy indeed.

As is so often the case among the religious elite, they were far too busy “feathering their own nests” to have time or concern for the lost and dying all around them.
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III. Text
There’s the story of the rich and powerful politician who awoke in the recovery room after surgery and found the curtains closed. He asked his nurse if it was already night time. She answered and said, “Oh no, but there is a fire across the street and we didn’t want you to wake up and think your operation was unsuccessful.”

What is it really like on the “other side?” What really happens the moment our hearts stop beating and we leave these bodies wherever they happen to be at the time? I doubt that there’s anyone alive who hasn’t wondered about that…maybe even obsessed over it. As Christians we often find comfort in the words of Paul. He says he would prefer…
2 Corinthians 5:8
8 …to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
Philippians 1:23
23 …I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better…

What do these verses say? They say that when we die we will be with Jesus, and that is a whole lot better than being here. As to most of the specifics, we’ll just have to wait, but one thing is sure – being in the presence of our Lord and Savior will truly be glorious.

In this morning text Jesus answers some questions about heaven and hell. He won’t answer them all, but He’ll answer enough to settle our hearts, at least about those first moments when we leave this world.
*Luke 16:19-31 (Please stand with me in honor of reading God’s Word.)
19 “Now there was a certain rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, gaily living in splendor every day.
20 “And a certain poor man named Lazarus was laid at his (the rich man’s) gate, covered with sores,
21 and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores.
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.
23 “And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 “And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue; for I am in agony in this flame.’
25 “But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being com-
forted here, and you are in agony.
26 “And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, in order that those who wish to come over from here to you may not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’
27 “And he (the rich man) said, ‘Then I beg you, Father, that you send him to my father’s house –
28 for I have five brothers – that he may warn them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’
29 “But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets (OT Scriptures); let them hear them.’
30 “But he (the rich man) said, ‘No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, (then) they will repent!’
31 “But he (Abraham) said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Pro-phets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’”
C. S. Lewis, in his book, “The Weight of Glory,” said…
“The dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a hor-ror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare… There are no ordinary people… It is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit – (They are all) immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”

Lewis was saying that all the roads we walk in this life will finally converge into only two at death. Everyone will walk down one of those two roads and become either a beautiful and glorious being in heaven or a horrific and wretched being in hell. Of course, C.S. Lewis was right, but it’s amazing how many theologians, preachers, and laymen, who say they are Bible-believing Christians, cheer and rally around the biblical definition of hea-ven, while at the same time, they minimize or even ignore the truth of hell.

I think this is why the purveyors of the so-called modern gospel so often say little or nothing about hell. They don’t really believe it exists. But Jesus said more about hell than did anyone else in Scripture. Time and time again our Lord spoke of it as a place to be avoided, a place of everlasting conscious misery and torment.

But no problem! Most people don’t think they’ll ever go there. In fact, a 2007 Gallup poll found that virtually everyone who believes in heaven expects to go heaven. Can you imagine the shock when many of them find themselves imprisoned in hell with no way out, no second chance, and no appeal to a higher court?

The Jewish religious leaders of Jesus’ day were wealthy men. They believed their wealth was proof of God’s blessing. So they trusted in their wealth. That sounds an awful lot like today’s health, wealth, and prosperity preachers, doesn’t it?

The scribes and Pharisees had their faith in their own righteousness, their own power, their own authority, and their own wealth to guarantee heaven. So Jesus ends this long confrontation with these self-important and prideful people by illustrating something He has said before… “How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God (Mark 10:23)!”

Jesus wasn’t teaching that one’s wealth was the problem. He was teaching that trusting in one’s wealth was the problem. 1 Timothy 6:10 does not say that money is the root of all evil. It says THE LOVE of money is a root of all sorts of evil.

In the parable that follows it will be obvious that Jesus’ target is the scribes and the Phar-isees yet one more time.
*Luke 16:19-21
19 “Now there was a certain rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, gaily living in splendor every day.
20 “And a certain poor man named Lazarus was laid at his (the rich man’s) gate, covered with sores,
21 and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores.

The contrast between these two men could not be any more stark. In v. 19 we meet the rich man. He was able to avail himself of anything and everything this world has to offer. “…dressed in purple and fine linen,” and “…living in splendor” meant that he lived and moved in the very highest circles of his society and culture. His clothing and lifestyle were proof of his importance and wealth. You might picture him as a strutting peacock, and why not? Didn’t everyone want to be seen with him and be counted among his friends? At least until he ran out of money and influence? But now he is dead.

In vv. 20-21 we meet Lazarus. Lazarus is the polar opposite of the rich man. Where the rich man had everything, Lazarus had nothing. The word poor here is the Greek word “ptōchŏs,” meaning abject poverty. Not only is Lazarus homeless, and without food and decent clothing, but he is also diseased, sick, and apparently unable to walk. It seems that he has been laid at the rich man’s gate so that he might at least be fed some table scraps.

To make matters even worse, wild dogs come and lick his sores. In this deplorable con-dition Lazarus presents the rich man with a golden opportunity to display pity and at least care for some of Lazarus’ most basic needs. But there is no indication that the rich man does anything to assist Lazarus. By the way, “Lazarus” is the Latin derivation of the Hebrew name, “Eleazar,” which means “God has helped.” It’s a good thing too, since the rich man won’t help him.
*Luke 16:22
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.

God, in His mercy, takes Lazarus to be with Him in heaven. How does he get there? He is carried there by the angels. In this Jesus answers a question that many of us have won-dered about. When we die how do we get to heaven and where is it? We will be carried there by God’s holy angels. And not to worry, since they already know where it is!

If Lazarus had a funeral or even what we would consider “a decent burial,” it isn’t men-tioned. Whether or not anyone took the time to honor his life is not mentioned either. But so what? Please understand that I am no way denigrating funerals, proper and respectful burials, or memorial services where the memory of the departed is honored.

Those things are all fine and we do them all the time. But none of them are for the one who has died. They’re all for us – the ones who are still here. In Luke 16:22 Jesus tells us what is truly and eternally important: Lazarus, a believer, died, and was immediately escorted to heaven by angels!

The text doesn’t say “heaven,” and so there has been much controversy over what it means to be in “Abraham’s bosom,” or at Abraham’s side. Some have taken the position that Abraham was in “Paradise,” not in the heaven where God dwells. They believe that no one – not even those OT saints who had been made righteous by faith – no one could enter into God’s presence until Jesus had shed His blood and died to pay the debt for their sin.

Those who hold to that argument say that the term “Hades” was, until Jesus died, the abode of all the dead, believer and unbeliever alike. Since Jesus death for sin, only the lost remain in Hades while they await the Great White Throne judgment after which, we are told in Revelation 20:14, that Hades will be thrown into the final hell, the lake of fire.

So whether they OT saints went to heaven immediately upon death or went somewhere else (call it Paradise, Hades, or Abraham’s bosom) awaiting Jesus’ payment for the sin almost becomes a moot point. The important thing is that they’re in heaven now. And in Luke 16 Lazarus is being comforted in “Abraham’s bosom.”

And here the great contrast between Lazarus’ life and the life of the rich man continues. One is carried to heaven and one is buried. The one who was buried probably had an extravagant funeral, burial, and memorial, but that was that last honor he would ever get.
*Luke 16:23-24
23 “And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 “And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue; for I am in agony in this flame.’

While we do know that Hades is not the final hell, I can’t help but wonder why it matters.
It doesn’t seem to matter for the rich man because the place he describes sounds like hell to me. He says he is, “…in agony in this flame.” So it is immediately obvious that he is conscious of what is going on around him and he is fully aware of physical pain. Soon he will learn that there can be no communication with the living.

So the one who suffered in this life is now being comforted, and the one who led a life of ease with himself at the center is now being tormented. Yet the rich man still seems to think as he always has. His character is unchanged. He still thinks he can demand and receive whatever he wants. In this case it is water. The rich man still thinks that Lazarus is somehow beneath him, and should bring him some water. He pleads for mercy, but there will be no mercy. Why should there be? Did he ever have mercy on Lazarus?

So this is the rich man’s first taste of righteous judgment and what he will come to learn is eternal justice. And Abraham will drive the truth home to him.
*Luke 16:25-26
25 “But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being com-
forted here, and you are in agony.
26 “And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, in order that those who wish to come over from here to you may not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’

There is no hope. Abraham tells the rich man there is a vast chasm. Some have called it a yawning gorge over which no bridge can ever be built. It’s impossible to cross from one side to the other. The point is that God has seen to it that no one in hell will ever cross over to heaven. Likewise, no one in heaven will ever be able to cross over to hell.

It is here where we should take a moment and consider just how the Bible describes hell. Again, even though the place where the rich man finds himself, Hades, in not the final lake of fire, it is a preview of what those who die without Christ must certainly face.
• “their worm shall not die” (Isaiah 66:24)
• “disgrace and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2)
• “outer darkness” (Matthew 8:12, 22:13, 25:30)
• “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:42, 50; 24:51; Luke 13:28)
• “no rest” (Revelation 14:11)
• “unquenchable fire that will never cease to burn” (Matthew 3:12; Mark 9:43)

The destruction that awaits the unbeliever is without end. The Bible never teaches anni-hilationism. No one will simply cease to exist. The soul of man is immortal. Whether believer or unbeliever, just as C. S. Lewis said, we are all immortal. Those who know Christ will receive a body fit for eternal life in heaven with Him. Those who do not know Him will receive a body fit for eternal death in hell with Satan and his demons.

We will all live forever in conscious joy, bliss, and glory, or we will all live in conscious torment, pain, and misery forever. When time, as we now know it, ceases to exist, both heaven and hell will just be beginning, and neither will have an end. This what the Bible teaches. It is what Jesus taught. And in this parable of Lazarus and the rich man, Jesus makes it clear that His Word is true.

Well, does this horrendous experience begin to change the rich man? Does it humble him even a little?
*Luke 16:27-28
27 “And he (the rich man) said, ‘Then I beg you, Father, that you send him (Lazarus) to my father’s house –
28 for I have five brothers – that he may warn them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’
Reality has yet to sink in for this man. He still thinks he is superior to Lazarus. The rich man wants the beggar to act as his messenger boy to warn his brothers who are still alive. He wants those who have not yet come to where he is to be warned. Now he wants a warning! What irony! Isn’t that warning part and parcel of the gospel?

The rich man doesn’t merely want his brothers told that “God has a wonderful plan for their lives.” He doesn’t want them urged to “Make a decision for Christ,” or “Just ask Jesus into their hearts,” or “Just believe in Jesus.” Where is the urgency in any of that? Where is the warning in any of that?

Listen, the rich man wants his brothers warned. He wants them to know that if they refuse to humble themselves before God, if they refuse to confess their sin, if they refuse to repent, if they refuse to ask Christ to forgive their sins, and receive the salvation that He alone offers, they will have no hope. There is a place of torment!

And now the great irony continues – The beggar has become rich, and in v. 27, the rich man has become the beggar. He pleads, “…send (Lazarus) to my father’s house – that he may warn them…”
*Luke 16:29
29 “But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets (OT Scriptures); let them hear them.’

Abraham replies that they have God’s Word and God’s Word is sufficient. If the rich man had read and believed the Scriptures that were available to him, he would not be where he is now. If he had received the truth and placed his faith in God rather than him-self and his religion, he would not be where he is now. And Abraham’s reply is that if the rich man’s living brothers would do the same, they would hear God’s warning and they would not join him in his misery and torment.

But the rich man remains blind to the truth.
*Luke 16:30-31
30 “But he (the rich man) said, ‘No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, (then) they will repent!’
31 “But he (Abraham) said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Pro-phets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’”

The rich man is saying, “No, no, no! They’re not going to read the Bible. They’re not going to believe all of the myths and all of that nonsense. But do a miracle. That’ll do it. They all know Lazarus is dead. Send him back alive and they’ll believe that.”

But ask yourself this. How many miracles did Jesus do in the presence of unbelief? Did those miracles change unbelief? No, they didn’t. Unbelief merely turned on Jesus and accused Him of being in league with Satan. Listen carefully please.
Unbelief is a moral issue, not an intellectual issue. No amount of evidence will convince a sinner to repent. That’s why you can’t argue someone into the kingdom. Only God’s Word can save a soul, because only God’s Word has the power to save a soul.

1 Peter 1:23 says, “…you have been born again…through the living and abiding Word of God.” All the miracles and fantastic experiences in the world will not break through a hard heart.

Finally, in v. 31, Abraham tells the rich man that that if they don’t believe the Scriptures they won’t believe even if someone came back from the dead. You and I know that’s true, don’t we? Jesus came back from the dead and unbelief still pollutes this world.
People aren’t lost because they don’t have enough information. They’re lost because they reject the truth of God and His Word.
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IV. Conclusion
There is so much in this passage that we could spend three Sundays looking at all the details. But here are a few important and relevant things you can take with you today.
First, money and wealth isn’t going to send anyone to hell. But if someone loves money and wealth more than God and others, they will.
Second, only God’s Word, only the gospel, can save anyone. You and I can only tell them. It is God who does the saving.
Third, just as sure as there is an eternal heaven for all who have received Christ, so too is there an eternal hell for all those who refuse to receive Him. Don’t stop praying for them.

I know this has been a heavy subject, and I know how much some of you grieve for loved ones who have not yet come to saving faith. So let me close on a lighter note.

The story goes that one day, when Vice-President Calvin Coolidge was presiding over the Senate, one Senator angrily told another to go “straight to hell.” The offended Senator complained to Coolidge as presiding officer, and Coolidge looked up from the book he had been leafing through while listening to the debate. He said, “I’ve been looking through the Senate rule book. You don’t have to go.”

God’s “Rule Book” is the Bible. It teaches that anyone who doesn’t want to go to hell doesn’t have to. All anyone has to do is stop trusting in their own goodness and the riches of this world, humble themselves before God, confess their sins, be willing to turn from them in genuine repentance, and ask Christ to forgive them. He will, and at that very moment they will receive the salvation that is found only in the Lord Jesus Christ.
~ Pray ~

Jim Timms – Pastor/Teacher
Lighthouse Bible Church – Lake Geneva, Wisconsin 53147
www.lighhousebiblechurch.net