Luke 16:19-31

Extract from Peter Jeffery’s book You Cant Fool God

This parable of Jesus is the only place in the Bible where we are shown a glimpse of the thoughts and emotions of a soul in hell. It is sometimes asked, ‘What does a man have to do to go to hell? What terrible sin would have to be committed before a soul is damned for all eternity?’ The simple answer of the Bible is that a person does not have to do anything to go to hell. We are born in sin and under the judgement of God and if we continue through life like that, then death will most surely usher us into hell.
In the matter of sin, both the rich man and Lazarus had the same start in life. Economically and socially their start in life could not have been more different, but spiritually and in terms of their relationship to God, their start was exactly the same. All men and women, whether rich or poor, clever or dull, black or white, are born with a sinful nature. It doesn’t matter what a person’s background is or what nation he or she comes from, every single one of us is born in a state of rebellion against God and under his This was not the reason, however, why the rich man was in hell. Lazarus had the same spiritual start but he was in heaven. The rich man’s problem was that he was content to live without God. He never sought God, or wanted to know God. There are millions like this today. Their appetites and view of life never rise above the material and temporal.

Religious blindness

A Christian who had just come out of hospital was lamenting that the only thing the men in his ward talked about and lived for was to get out of hospital in order to go to the pub. Literally men were dying in that ward but the chief concern of most of them was that they were missing their pub.
Even worse than that is the fact that the average church attender is no different. Many are content with an outward form of religion and no real experience of God. It is not unusual to hear religious people declare that the ‘God’ they believe in would never send anyone to hell. They say that their ‘God’ is not the angry God of the Old Testament, but the loving, forgiving God whom Jesus talked about. He is the Father of all mankind and we are all his children; therefore there is no such place as hell, and everyone, irrespective of their beliefs and actions, will go to heaven.
Such a concept of a harmless, affable ‘God’ would be a great comfort to any unrepentant sinner, but unfortunately for them this ‘God’ is not real. He is not the God of the Bible. He is not the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is merely the creation of the mind of man and is far removed from the true God whom Jesus revealed to us. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Jesus himself shows us the reality of hell and the condition of a soul in that awful place.

Torment

This is a parable, so we have to be careful not to interpret everything literally. The purpose of a parable is usually to teach us a few basic truths. Christ would not have us interpret every detail here literally, but there are certain clear pictures that emerge from this parable. First of all, note the words Jesus uses. He says the soul in hell was in torment, in agony and in fire. This tells us that hell is not some cosy place where men can enjoy their sin unhindered. It is amazing how many people think this, but there is no freedom to sin without impunity in hell.
Sin there is forever being justly punished. God deals with man’s sin and the devil’s sin there. The devil is not the lord of hell; God is. The devil is cast there in the same way that the rich man and all unrepentant sinners are cast there. Hell is not the domain of Satan. It is the place where Satan is judged. There his sin, and all sin, faces the wrath of God in all its fierceness.
Therefore, words like ‘torment’ and ‘agony’ are inevitable in order to describe hell, but is it just, is it right, that this should be the case? Sin deserves hell, and sinners deserve hell because in their lifetime they have gone on rejecting the love and grace and mercy of God. The word ‘fire’ is in fact an inadequate picture to describe the torments and horrors of hell. None of the words the Bible uses could adequately describe the torment of this place where men face the wrath of God.
In the parable we are told of something which added to the agony endured by the rich man in hell. From hell he saw Lazarus in heaven. He saw something that he had never seen before. He was experiencing something now in hell that he had never experienced in life – he could see into heaven. His torment was, therefore, not merely physical but emotional and spiritual. He was given a glimpse of what might have been, what could have been for him.
Will that be your experience? Will you look from hell into heaven and lament over all the gospel sermons you heard and rejected? Will you regret so glibly dismissing the truth of the love of God which alone could have got you into heaven? Will you remember a time when perhaps God spoke to your heart and conscience and showed you your sin, but you refused to listen?

No hope in hell

Why should Jesus tell us such a terrible story? It must be in order to warn us of the reality of that which so many easily dismiss. Obviously Jesus took no pleasure in picturing this soul in hell, but he was showing us that there is no hope in hell. The words of the rich man are full of anguish: ‘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.’
But nothing can be done for a soul in hell. Not even God, not even the blood of Christ, can do anything, because hell is final. There is no second chance. There is no gospel preaching in hell, no opportunities to join in worship, no prayers offered by others on your behalf. There are no hymns, no sacraments; there is no hope in hell only torment and anguish. There is no bridge from hell to heaven. There is a great chasm that has been fixed and no one can cross (Luke 16:26).

Hope in Christ

There is no bridge from hell to heaven, but there is a bridge from sin to God. The chasm that separates a sinner from God is enormous, but the grace and mercy and love of God in Christ have spanned it. For centuries men have tried to build bridges of religion and morality from their depraved condition into the presence of the holy God. They all fall short, but God himself has built a bridge, not from hell to heaven but from sin to God. Christ himself is that bridge because he dealt with our sin, took its condemnation and guilt and faced the wrath of God instead of us. Salvation is when a sinner is lifted by the grace of God out of his sin and placed in a new and living relationship with God for all eternity. It is the Lord Jesus Christ alone who can do this. There is hope in Christ, but thee is no hope after death.