By thomasrcoffeePosted on Posted in UncategorizedNo Comments on A Personal Guided TOUR OF THE NETHERWORLD Part 3
A Personal Guided TOUR OF THE NETHERWORLD
Part 3
Luke 16:19-31
19There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
20And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
21And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
22And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
23And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
25But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
26And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
27Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house:
28For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
29Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
30And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
31And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
Well this man the only sin we can see up through verse 21 about the rich man is
that the rich man was so captivated by his riches, his pleasures and his Pursuits he
seems to have never even noticed Lazarus. So if we could say he had one sin it was
he didn’t even notice anybody that had a need around him because he was so caught up
in his own life.
Continue reading look at verse 22 so it was the beggar died and was carried by the Angels into Abraham’s
bosom and the rich man also died and was buried and being in torments in Hades verse 23. He lifted up his
eyes and he saw Abraham a far off and Lazarus in his bosom.
He cried and said Father Abraham have mercy on me. Send
Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this
flame but Abraham said Son remember that in your lifetime you received your good things.
So likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and you
are tormented and beside all this between us and you there’s a great Gulf fixed so that
those who want to pass from here to you cannot. Those from there pass to us.
Well the first thing we learn from this little section is Hades, the grave and the pit.
The Nether world has two parts here Jesus explains another truth about the spiritual world to us before Christ’s
finished work of Redemption on the cross the Old Testament.
Believers like Abraham, Moses and Daniel and etc did not go directly to
Heaven. They went somewhere else. It’s to this place. They went to the place which the
the man the beggar Lazarus finds himself and that’s in this place of comfort,
of pleasure, of joy, of warmth and light called Abraham’s bosom.
That’s Luke 16:23.
And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.”
Or as Jesus told the thief on the cross in Luke 23:43.
“And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”
He was going with him to Paradise so prior to the finished work of Christ on the cross all the
righteous Believers went to this place of waiting. It’s the waiting room for
Heaven up until Christ’s Resurrection.
The grave was divided in these two parts.
One a place of comfort Abraham’s bosom. The other place of Torment but both located physically in the grave or
hell as it’s called in many places.
Note that the rich man can see Lazarus in the distance and as Abraham explains
the division of Hades and and explains that Lazarus
can’t come to him. So there’s a proximity and they’re seeing each other in some form.
So that’s the content of this story that Jesus tells.
There’s more if you step back and ask yourself. What made the rich man so
bad? Why did he go there?
I mean just not noticing Lazarus is bad enough to go to. This fire. Did he harm Lazarus did he commit
gross moral sin? Was he a murderer, a liar or anything like that?
If we look carefully at these verses Jesus pulls out by phrases. He puts in some wonderful Communications
that give us a depth. Maybe a warning first of all. Jesus contrasts the two characters.
First there’s the rich man the commentators call him Dives. Which is
Latin for Rich. First of all he’s Rich. Every phrase builds a picture of this man. Jesus
makes a point about the luxury he lived in. He says he’s clothed if you notice in purple and fine
linen.
To us purple fine linen you know, yeah it’s just nice clothes.
I mean to us you know it everything comes so easily. It’s so you know you can find anything
at Walmart but in ancient days. Robes that were purple dyed with Mur shells and surrounded by fine linen
would cost in that time the equivalent of $5 to $100,000.
Now that money communicates to us. You think about that a normal
person would never be able to afford a wardrobe in which every outfit would require the
average person to spend their entire earnings from 6 to 8 years of full-time labor that’s
equivalent. So in other words this man wore every day clothing that would cost an average
worker 6 to 8 years of full-time work to buy. So obviously he’s Rich.
Secondly he lives in luxury Jesus describes his eating habits. He says the rich man ate a luxury Feast
every day. In fact the Greek word Luh takes here denotes it says that he fared
sumptuously in the Old King James. It was a gourmet feeding on exotic and costly
dishes is what the word means. In other words he didn’t just eat bread.
He ate exotic food. That had to be brought to him from far away.
Jesus emphasizes that he did this every day. So every day he’s clothed in this 6 to 8 years worth of Labor
clothing.
Every day he’s eating at a level that no one else but the Ultra luxurious Rich could eat.
Think of Bible times when normal people felt it very fortunate to get to eat meat once a week.
They only could eat meat after laboring the other six days but the rich man not only
didn’t have to work. It seems but he was feasting every day.
So what Jesus pictures is a person living in indolence.
He’s not working.
He is totally self centered living. So you know, he’s kind of got misplaced values on his
clothes.
He’s indolent and self-indulgent but something else he
lived above the Common people. If you notice what it says about Lazarus. Remember Lazarus waited
for the crumbs from his table. To us Crumbs from his table was Lazarus under the table and waiting
for him to go like this and flick it what is he talking about? Well again when Lazarus waited for
the crumbs that fell from the Rich man’s table.
It’s another insight into the biblical World in Christ time most people had no knives, Forks or napkins.
They usually ate food with their hands but in very wealthy houses. The rich would clean their hands
by wiping them on chunks of fresh warm bread.
Can you imagine how that would feel? Tear open a a freshly baked Loaf and just clean your hands off
with that. Then pitch it that’s the crumbs that Lazarus was waiting for he
would be the one who took the discarded hand wipes that the servants would put
out in the trash.
So again Lazarus was sitting out there by the dump waiting for what the man would wipe his face.
Wipe his hands and clean himself off with with fresh warm bread.
Now meet Lazarus. It says Lazarus is sitting out there by the trash. He’s helpless.
He’s thankfully getting any chunk of used hand cleaner bread that’s possible but he was so helpless.
Notice that Jesus says he was unable to keep away dogs. They came to lick him. I mean he
couldn’t even keep a dog way from himself.
Could have medic effect. A lot of commentators say that
it was good that those dogs were licking him but he was still weak and couldn’t keep
off the roaming dogs.
Lazarus also had a beautiful name Lazarus is just the latinization of the Hebrew name Eleazar.
You ever remember that Eleazar and Ithamar in the Old Testament. That’s Eleazar is Lazarus in
the New Testament.
It means God is my helper is laying by the trash can. Unable to even fend off dogs eating the bread that
were used as hand wipes.
The rich man is not even aware of him. So again these are just the details of the story.
One more detail. Lazarus was very sick. Eleazar or Lazarus not only was totally helpless but he was
sick. He was a starving beggar. Jesus said he was covered with ulcerated sores
but God would help anyway whether Lazarus was poor or helpless because God would never
change so God was always his helper.
God wasn’t his helper just because he had ulcerated sores and because he was
poor and a beggar because the most important thing. His greatest need.
God had already met. His time was very short. Jesus didn’t tell the story. He didn’t
say if he was a beggar all his life or if he just you know got in a chariot accident or
just got laid off.
I don’t know how he got to where he was but he had the most important details
covered. As we see by him entering in the presence of the Lord. So life passes for both.
The scene in the afterlife shows a drastic switch in their conditions. Now I want you to
think about this because Jesus is explaining this to
us to get our attention.
What he could have said is there’s torment in hell. There’s Bliss in
heaven but he actually build this picture. Think about the nameless, faceless and aloneness of verse
27. If you look at the account it says the rich man is crying out in verse 27
then he said I beg you therefore father that you would send him to my father’s house for
I have had five brothers that he may testify to them lest they also come to this place of
Torment.
Now stop for a minute the rich man is remembering his life on Earth.
Part 4 Next
“Only one life to live and soon is past
Only what’s done for Christ will last!”
Hoping to make the time I have left count for the glory of God.
Sent with Proton Mail secure email.
A Personal Guided TOUR OF THE NETHERWORLD Part 3
Post Views: 27