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WHO SURVIVED HEAVEN'S
GATE? #10
CONVERSATIONS WITH THE OTHER LAZARUS
There's a certain kind of anecdote — well, let's be
frank; it's actually a type of joke — that preachers of every denomination
on earth seem to tell. I don't know where these come from, but my dad
has told them from the pulpit, I have, my brothers have, and you can hear
them just about anyplace that believers get together.
And they always start like this: "A guy died and went up to heaven,
and there St. Peter met him at the gate, and then such-and-such happened"
. . . and it goes on from there. I don't remember details about very many
of these, but they usually involve something about Billy Graham and the
Pope and who gets a Rolls-Royce and who gets only a skateboard, and so
on. Well, you get the idea.
Here's my question, though. Actually, several questions. Would it be wise
or prudent to assume that the details of these little Reader's Digest
jokes explain clear Bible truth? Would it be equally wise to surmise that
the teller of that joke even believed all the details of his own story?
Do we who are Christian ministers believe that Peter, the disciple from
the New Testament, is now up in heaven guarding the gate and deciding
on his own authority who gets in?
I mentioned here on this program a year or so ago a certain television
commercial where people who ate the wrong kind of fatty, buttery popcorn
— not the healthy, Orville Redenbacher kind — were accosted by a St. Peter
kind of guy in heaven. "You can't come in here," he scowls at
the person. "Go away." Listen, is that Bible truth? Is heaven
earned by eating the right kind of low-fat popcorn, or by trusting in
the blood of Jesus Christ for salvation? You get my point, I'm sure.
But here's another question? Would even Jesus Himself, the greatest preacher
this planet has ever seen, ever tell a kind of parable or anecdote or
St. Peter-at-the-gate kind of story to make a spiritual point? And if
He did, should we then take all the details of that story, the pope and
the skateboard and all the rest, the close proximity of heaven and hell,
and make them Christian doctrine?
For two weeks now you and I have tried to study together in our Bibles
about what happens when a person dies. And if you've been with us all
the way here, I hope you've had the opportunity to consider the teachings
of Scripture that death is a sleep, an unconscious state, while God's
saints wait for that great resurrection morning, the Second Coming of
Jesus.
But day by day as you've listened and taken notes, maybe you've been saying
to yourself the entire way: "Yeah, but what about Luke chapter 16?
What about the Rich Man and Lazarus?"
Now Jesus, who told many parables, doesn't say that this story is one,
but let's take a look. Again, this is Luke chapter 16, and it's part of
a long stretch of teachings and sermons that run for quite a few chapters.
And here's the story Jesus tells right at the end.
A poor beggar named Lazarus spent his whole life trying to collect the
crumbs off the table of a rich man who wore luxurious purple robes. Then
they both died — and lo and behold, the beggar went straight to heaven,
"to Abraham's bosom," says the King James Version. The rich
man, on the other hand, went directly to hell without passing GO or collecting
$200. So this was a major role reversal, and as Jesus Himself tells the
story, the rich man down in hell could look up and see Lazarus resting
in rapturous delight in Abraham's bosom.
And he calls out from the flames:
"Father Abraham, have pity on me and send
Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because
I am in agony in this fire."
Well, the answer from Abraham is no. "We can't
get from here to there," the reply comes back from Paradise, even
though today's preacher jokes all have hell just right down the street
with all sorts of traffic going both directions. And then the roasting
rich man says, "Well, at least send Lazarus back down to earth to
warn my five brothers so they don't end up in here with me." And
Abraham replies:
"They have Moses and the Prophets; let them
listen to them."
But the rich man shakes his head. "No, they don't
ever read their Bibles. But if someone came back from the dead to warn
them, they'd really be impressed. That would get through to them for sure."
And the story ends with Abraham telling the rich man: "No, if they
refuse to accept truth from the Bible, they wouldn't even listen if someone
miraculously came back from the dead."
And that's it! That's the story, coming right from the lips of Jesus Christ.
And so here on a Friday, after two weeks of careful study where the Bible
seems to very clearly teach that those who die are unconscious in their
graves without thoughts or speech or emotions, we now have to deal with
this story. We've also studied where the Bible teaches that judgment and
a man's heaven-or-hell reward comes at the end of time, at the Second
Coming. And then we have this story where Paradise or punishment instead
come immediately. The Word of God says in a number of Bible passages that
hell is a consuming fire, that it completely burns up the wicked, that
it destroys them "root and branch." And then we have this story,
this anecdote, where a person in the flames is not consumed, is not burned
up, and in fact is able to converse at quite some length with former acquaintances
in heaven.
Some good Bible scholars have asked what I think is a very fair question.
What are the implications for the Christian faith if we take at face value
this entire story? What dilemmas do we come up with?
Here are a few for starters. Do we as Christians really believe that all
of the saved throughout eternity can dwell "(quote) in Abraham's
bosom"? Is that a literal statement or is it a metaphor? Do we think
heaven and hell are so close to each other that conversations can go back
and forth? Will we be able to enjoy being with Christ in heaven when we
can look right over the edge and see our lost friends, our lost relatives
in the flames of hell — and even visit and dialogue with them?
Here's another question. Is hell so mild, just a few degrees above normal
room temperature, so that even a drop of water, a single drop on someone's
tongue, would provide relief? And will you and I be put in the awful situation
of saying no for endless centuries to such requests? How does that square
with the rest of the Bible's teachings on this topic, the destructive
and completely cleansing power of the flames?
Friend, let me ask you. Isn't it more reasonable to accept that Jesus,
just as any creative preacher would do, simply told a popular story, an
anecdote, if you will, in order to make some important spiritual points?
And very clearly here, Jesus is not teaching about the state of man in
death or the specifics of hellfire, because this story flatly contradicts
everything Jesus and His apostles taught on all the other pages of the
Bible. Instead, I would suggest to you that the two lessons of Luke 16
are these:
First of all, there will be role reversals in eternity. Riches and wealth
and success here on earth don't guarantee mansions in heaven. "The
first will be last and the last will be first." I'm sure you've heard
that one before.
Secondly, Jesus very plainly warns us that there's a time to prepare for
eternity and a method for doing so. The time is now, and the Bible is
the way. Miracles and signs and wonders are not the source of truth; the
Word of God is. We shouldn't wait for a miracle to happen or for an apparition
to come out of the cemetery to warn us about hell . . . not when our own
Bibles are gathering dust on a shelf. In other words, friend, we shouldn't
expect a second chance when we've carelessly passed up the first one.
We mentioned a couple of times the outstanding book Death and the Soul,
by Bible scholar George Wisbrock. Here's his comment on Luke 16:
"Far too many contemporary Christians do
not believe this story is only a parable. For reasons which are Biblically
unsupported, they insist that the details herein described by Jesus are
a factual description of what they believe to be the only two destinations
for the so-called ‘separated souls' of those who die: either ‘instant
heaven' or ‘instant hell.'"
Well, it's food for thought, isn't it? And I hope you
pray for us as we surely pray for each of you as you reflect on our discussion.
Let me leave you with one final thought.
Our title for these two weeks has been this: WHO SURVIVED HEAVEN'S GATE?
Where did these 39 people go? Did they go straight to heaven? Or straight
to hell? And is communication back to Planet Earth possible from either
of those two destinations?
Can you imagine the media buzz, the seismic impact, if network television
offered us next week a communiqué, a live October TV message from
"Do," Mr. Marshall Herff Applewhite? What if he could send us
a message from wherever he went to with his 38 suicidal followers? But
you know, there's not going to be any such message, is there? Because
the dead "know not anything," says the Bible. The cult leader
of Heaven's Gate is not in heaven today, and neither is he in hell today
. . . yet. He's sleeping in a San Diego grave, waiting for the judgment
of God which is yet to come.
And I'll tell you this. The Lord isn't joking about what happens then.
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