Luke 17:22

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Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. ~ Luke 17:22

Those who have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus long for His return. We are not just waiting, we are looking and anticipating every day. We live in expectation everyday. We anticipate of His physical return and presence. We live looking forward to a realm without sin. This is the effect of His spiritual kingdom come to our hearts.

Today's text begins with, "The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man." God's kingdom is only for those who have experienced His spiritual kingdom. At the end of the seven year tribulation, the Lord Jesus will return to earth with all the Old Testament Saints and those who were raptured to Him before the Tribulation. At that time He will set up His reign on earth for a thousand years. This time is known as the Millennium described in Revelation 20.

There will be people born during His millennial kingdom. And, even though the world will be dominated by righteousness and peace and blessing and joy, there will still be those who will not believe. They will, at the end of that 1,000 years, be led by Satan who will be released from being bound for that 1,000 years. He will lead a final rebellion against the Lord Jesus who will prevail over Satan and those who oppose Him. The universe will melt with fervent heat and then the Lord will create a new heaven and the new earth.

But the kingdom to come will only be for those who are in His spiritual kingdom. In our text the Lord Jesus describes the nature of that kingdom which is here and is yet to come. Here is a description of the nature of His kingdom which is to win the human heart from the inside out.

Now, a brief overview of the book of the Revelation reveals the presence of the church in Revelation 1-3. Then, in Revelation 4-5, the church is in heaven gathered around the throne. How did the church get in heaven? The Rapture which is different than the Second Coming. In Revelation 6 the scene shifts back to earth and all hell breaks out on earth in a series of judgments. Seven seals are broken and out of them come seven judgments. Out of the seventh seal, toward the end of the seven-year period comes seven trumpet blasts, further judgments, which are more intense. Out of the seventh trumpet comes seven bowl judgments. Out of these bowls, judgement is dumped out onto the earth in rapid fire til the very end.

Revelation 6-19 describes the judgment of God being poured out onto the earth. And then in Revelation 19:11, the Lord appears in the heavens, and then in Revelation 20, He comes to earth and sets up His Kingdom. His millennial kingdom lasts for 1,000 years after which He puts down the rebellion by Satan and those born in the kingdom who rejected the Lord Jesus. God will destroy the whole universe and creates the new heaven and the new earth.

There's a weariness in this world and the longer we live in it, the more we long for His coming. But, as the Lord Jesus says in v.22, "you will not see it," it's delayed. The delay is in concert with His will and it creates anticipation in the hearts of believers. This is the inner working nature of His kingdom. Whether we are waiting for the Rapture or the Second Coming, we long for His appearing. This is revealing.

I find it quite instructive that God is always the one initiating relationship with man. In Acts 17:26-27 we read, "From one man God made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us." 

Then in John 3:17 we read, "God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him." God has always been intent upon giving man a chance to respond to His initiation to relate, be it Adam, Abraham, Jacob or you and me, His heart seeks us out.

The essence of our relationship with God must come from the heart. Our faith is not meant to be built on our works or our understanding, but rather on God’s relentless pursuit of us. We have relationship with our Creator not because we sought him out, but because He is always pursuing us. Any elements of Christian spirituality at work in our lives are the result of His constant grace drawing us deeper and deeper into the abundant life the Lord Jesus died to give us. Faith built on anything else but God’s pursuit is faith built on our own strength which will always produce an unsure and consistently failing foundation.

God is after our hearts right now. He daily knocks on the door of our hearts. This is the nature of His kingdom, and will be the nature of His kingdom for eternity. More important to Him than anything we can do for Him is His desire to show us how much His heart is for us. This type of love and intimacy has a profound effect on our hearts. We find ourselves responding to His pursuit of us by giving to Him our hearts. Sadly, there will those who will never see His heart for them and they will reject Him and they will spend eternity separated from Him.

Luke 17:20-21

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20 Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, 21 nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.” ~ Luke 17:20-21

The kingdom of God is the theme in the remainder of Luke 17. In the first coming of the Lord Jesus, He came to establish His internal, spiritual kingdom. At His Second Coming, He will consummate His internal work in His millennial kingdom which will come after the seven years of tribulation yet to come. After that this universe will be destroyed and He will create a new heaven and earth in which eternally and for the first time since the Fall both kingdoms are merged into one.

God is sovereign over the physical and the spiritual realms. When He created this world, He made mankind unique, He made us both material and spiritual. Everything He created is under His sovereign control, yet, the kingdom of this world is in a state of rebellion. 

As a result, this world has been infected by sin and has been stunted from seeing the spiritual realm. In addition, this universe, which is also fallen, is winding down. The second law of thermodynamics, the law of entropy, has been unleashed by man's rebellion. And, as a result, all of creation is in the process of disintegrating. It is headed toward a disastrous conclusion where the universe will melt with fervent heat.

Due to mankind's rebellion, doubt has been assigned to the sovereignty of God. Yet, He has been known to allow it to appear that His sovereignty should be questioned, as before. Remember the cross? It appeared the enemy won and then it became clear on the third day, God is still sovereign.

The teaching of the Lord Jesus in Luke 17 is about a kingdom that exists within a kingdom. God is King universally by creation and He is King personally by revelation. He is King universally through what we could call natural revelation. He is King personally through special revelation, the revelation of Scripture, aided by the Holy Spirit.

Now, the Lord Jesus came into this world not to establish a universal kingdom, He already had established that. He has controlled over the sea, death and disease. No, He came into this world, our world, in order to establish his Kingdom in our hearts. The kingdom of God begins in the believing heart of those who come to the end of themselves. 

In v.20 we read, "Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed."  

This word translated “observed” means “to observe the future by signs.” It includes the idea of spying, and even scientific investigation. The Lord Jesus points out the kingdom of God would not come with great “outward show” so that people could predict its arrival and plot its progress.

The Pharisees’ question was tragic, for the Lord Jesus had been ministering among them for some three years, and these men were still in spiritual darkness. They did not want to understand who Jesus was or what He was seeking to accomplish. Their views of the kingdom were political, not spiritual; Jewish, not universal. 

In v.21 we read, “the kingdom of God is in your midst.” The kingdom of God comes when it is welcomed into our hearts! The Greek preposition used in this word can mean “within,” “among,” or “in the midst of.”  We are not to look for the kingdom "out there," it is discovered within our broken hearts.

I've discovered the enemy tries to distract us from what is most essential by tempting us to think God is not aware of us, nor is He involved in our lives in a specific way. It is essential for God to be involved in our lives for His kingdom to come to and in us. 

With that said, we must have a healthy divine imagination when it comes to our fellowship with God. Some say we are arrogant to think God speaks to us. But to this I say, didn't He promise to speak to us? Didn't He promise to sup with us and lead us? We must have faith to believe that He is involved deeply in our lives and that He is leading us as we follow Him.

The sooner we yield to His sovereign will, the better off we will be. It is foolish of us to think that we can run our lives better than He can. God's kingdom is only experienced through a cross-centered approach to life. We must be wise to embrace a theology which is very counterintuitive to even most in the Church. It is a theology which informs us that God is ever-present in our lives, including in our weaknesses. The key is to die to self daily and to yield to the leadership of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And, when we do this we discover God’s tool to set us free is the cross of Christ.

The cross of Christ will not only lead us to death to self, but is leads us to be transparent about our own suffering for the sake of others. We live in a broken world. And, we are a broken people living in a world with other broken people, and we must have God's intervention in our lives in order to make it. 

The Lord Jesus came to tell us the Christian life is not so much our movement toward Him as it is His movement toward us. We will never outgrow our need for God’s daily distribution of His grace into our lives. And, the distribution of His grace comes through the most unusual and unexpected means. 

Luke 17:11-19

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11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” 14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. 15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. 17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”  Luke 17:11-19

While the Lord Jesus was traveling along the border of Samaria and Judea ten lepers cried out to Him for healing. Due to the contagiousness of leprosy, Lepers were avoided the most. This is why we are told in v.12 they stood at a distance. The Lord Jesus was their only hope and there was no other solution.

Leprosy is caused by a certain bacteria which attacks the nerves and skin. It anesthetizes the body's limbs so that feeling is lost. It starts with a pink patch of skin usually on the face. The patch spreads in all directions, causing the eyebrows to disappear. Then tumorous swellings grow all over the face and then begin to spread all over the body as the disease becomes systemic. Eventually, the body is eaten alive by the bacteria and the Leper dies.

The Jews and Samaritans would not normally live together, but misery loves company and all ten of these Lepers were outcasts. It is amazing how death frames up reality for us. In the face of death, we entertain the most important questions. These ten men cried out to the Lord Jesus for mercy. They knew He was totally in command of even disease and death, and they trusted Him to help them.

The word translated “master” in the Greek is epistats and is only used by Luke and only here is it used to refer to Christ. It was a word of honor. In fact, it is a word that speaks of someone who has notable authority and power.  

Today's text continues in v.14 with the Lord Jesus commanding the men to go show themselves to the priest, which in itself was an act of faith, for they had not yet been cured. When they turned to obey, they were completely healed. 

After their healing one would expect all ten men to run to the Lord Jesus with great gratitude, but only one did. And, he was not even a Jew. Perhaps the triple whammy of being an outcast Samaritan Leper was enough to produce the great outflow of praise from his heart for the Lord. Perhaps the others had not fallen far enough to see reality of their desperate need for the Lord as this Samaritan did. We really lack the understanding of how great a teacher our pain truly is.

After being healed the nine had no more interest in the Lord Jesus anymore. They got what they wanted out of Him and  now, they had no desire to worship Him. They did not see Him as God. They were declared clean by the priests, but this Samaritan man was declared saved by the Son of God! 

While it is wonderful to experience the miracle of physical healing, it is even more wonderful to experience the miracle of eternal salvation. These ungrateful nine illustrate the attitude of the Jews who wanted the miracles, but not the worship. 

The Samaritan man came back “praising God in a loud voice.” It would have been logical for him to have followed the other men and gone to the temple, but he first came to the Lord Jesus with his heart full of gratitude. 

In v.16 we read, "He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him and he was a Samaritan." By coming to the Lord Jesus, the man received something greater than physical healing: he also received forgiveness of his sins, and a personal relationship with God, and an eternity in heaven. 

In v.19 we read, “Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” These were the same words the Lord Jesus spoke to the repentant woman who anointed His feet in Luke 7:50. 

When we truly encounter the Lord Jesus for ourselves, we will be His worshipers. When we do not encounter Him, we will walk away from Him right into an eternity in hell. And then, it will be too late to decide to be a worshiper of God. This is one of the authentic signs of the saved, a heart which longs to worship the Savior.

Luke 17:7-10

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7 “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? 8 Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? 9 Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’” Luke 17:7-10 

The Lord Jesus, in today's text, illustrates why the Pharisees were so resistant to the Gospel. The Pharisees loved to be worshipped. The Pharisees loved the applause of people. They dressed a certain way and behaved a certain way to gain the slap on the back from others. I believe it was Max Lucado who said, "A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd."

In Luke 20:46-47 we read, "Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely."

When God gives us position and influence and He uses us in the lives of others in a positive way, we run the risk of thinking more of ourselves than we ought. It's easy to think we are the impetus behind our success and we become arrogant about any spiritual progress we may experience.

So, the Lord Jesus addresses this with a story of a boss and his employee. The word used here is doulos, meaning a slave, which was the equivalent to an employee. But, in reality, this is an illustration of the believer and God. 

Now, this employee understood exactly what his job required. And he understood that more was not being asked of him than what was required by the job. So, no one would say to him, "Come along now and sit down to eat." Of course, He was on the job to perform certain duties and he was not to sit down and eat.

In v.8 we read, "Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink?’” There was an agreed upon contract for pay from the employer for certain services rendered by the employee.

Then in v.9 we read, "Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?" It is understood that the employer is paying this employee for the job he agreed to do. And, no employee would expect special honor after fulfilling his normal and agreed upon duties. What was expected of him was the normal and agreed upon pay for the normal and agreed upon work for the day.

In v.10 we read, "So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty." The religious leaders expected to be treated special by God and people. They lacked a proper biblical theology. They were in the habit of patting themselves on the back and thinking that God was really impressed with them. In fact, they thought God owed them some special favor when they had merely done what was expected of them.  

If we are honest and biblically informed, we instinctively know that we are unworthy servants. These religious leaders had allowed their self-centeredness to cloud their theology. When we lose sight of the Lord and we do not walk with Him daily, we lose sight of how wretched we truly are. 

Humble people reject honor. We know we're not in God's debt.  We know it is only by God's grace that we have been forgiven and we subsequently have a personal relationship with Him.  Never will we earn anything He gives us. We can not be that good, even when forgiven.

There are two extremes to avoid: obeying God because we have to, or obeying God to gain reward. Both extremes are seen in the attitude of the Prodigal's older brother who was miserably obedient, hoping his father would let him have a party with his friends.

We love God because He loved us first. And, He loved us while we were His enemies, while we were dead in our sins and trespasses. In response, serving Him is a delight, not a duty. We obey God because we love Him. And never do we imagine that we have served Him so well as to somehow have impressed Him and obligated Him to give us some special honor, as if He is in our debt.

The religious leaders did not understand total depravity which asserts that mankind, as a result of the fall, is not inclined or even able to love God as we ought. Rather, mankind is inclined to serve our own will and desires and reject God's rule in our lives. 

This explains why the religious leaders were so hard-hearted and unchanged. The greatest change agent in this world is God's grace, and this distorted understanding of our condition is what causes us to believe that we deserve. 

Of course, we know we do not deserve anything good from God. We do not deserve His kindness. It is through His kindness that He sent to us His Son. And, when we accessed that favor through His Son, He lavished upon us His grace. This is not in response to anything we have done or will ever do. No, it is all based upon the performance of the Lord Jesus on our behalf.

Luke 17:5-6

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5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. ~ Luke 17:5-6

The Lord Jesus, previous to today's text, had honed in on the greatest need and expression in the lives of all of mankind: LOVE. And, love is the key element in forgiveness. We would have expected the disciples to respond to the Lord Jesus teaching on forgiveness with the prayer, “Increase our love!” But they ask in v.5, "Lord, “Increase our faith."

The disciples asked Him to increase their faith because they knew it takes living faith to forgive. They naturally struggled with this new take on forgiveness and they were having a rough time processing it. Their request for more faith is their admission they did not think they could live that way.

The disciples were feeling the weight of this responsibility and they were honest about their weakness. They were not denying that they had faith, they were not sure they had what it took to be more forgiving.

True forgiveness always involves pain because somebody has been hurt and there is a price to pay in healing the wound. Love motivates us to forgive, but faith activates that forgiveness so that God can use it to work blessing in the lives of His people.

In v.6 we read, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you."

The mustard seed includes the idea of life and growth. The mustard seed is very small, but it has life in it and, therefore, it can grow and produce fruit. If our faith is a living faith, it will grow and enable us to realize God’s presence and power in our lives today. Forgiveness is a test of both our faith and our love.

Human nature, being what it is, will always be offensive. And, sin festers in such soil. God’s people must get into the habit of facing these offenses honestly and lovingly, and forgiving those who offend. George Herbert once wrote, “He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass.”

Now, on other occasions, the Lord Jesus used the mustard seed and the mountain illustration. In today's text, there was no mountain nearby. Here, the Lord Jesus is standing by a mulberry tree, so He uses it. He affirms the fact the disciples needed a stronger type of faith. But, even a small amount of faith in the God of the Bible is enough to live a life that is different than anything we have ever known before. The key is not the amount but the object of said faith.

The mustard seed is an herb and it's been used in the ancient Middle East for centuries. And, it was the smallest seed in the land of Israel, at that time. And, as tiny as it was, it grew disproportionately.

A typical mustard bush or tree grew to be be twelve to fifteen feet in height and in width.  And that's a lot coming from a tiny little seed. And so, the Lord Jesus is simply saying, "If you have mustard-seed kind of faith, growing faith, you could realize amazing things in your life." And, since the mulberry tree had roots that would survive for 600 years, to uproot it would be absolutely supernatural.

The point is simply this: When we trust the Lord Jesus, we will witness God doing things in and through us that is otherwise humanly impossible. 

In 2 Corinthians 12:10 we read, "When I'm weak then He is strong." We discover the inertia to live the type of life the Lord Jesus died to give us when we tap into His strength. What prevents us from doing this is it is through our weakness that we access God's strength. Who values our weaknesses? Our weaknesses are precious because they alert us that we desperately need Him and this is the best place for us to live.

Notice the Lord Jesus does not tell the disciples how to get more faith. He doesn’t give the disciples a discipleship plan, or even assign them a faith journey partner. They didn’t need more faith, they had all the faith they needed. What they needed was to be more convinced they needed more of God. When we come to the end of us, we truly discover the depths of God.

Luke 17:1-4

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1 Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. 2 It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. 3 So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. 4 Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” ~ Luke 17:1-4

After the Lord Jesus warned the religious leaders about the sin of loving money, He now turns to His disciples to teach us about loving people. This is the father's nature, to love those who have accessed His love through His Son.

Now, pride inaugurated sin. Pride was the sin that got Satan thrown out of heaven. Pride was the sin that got Adam and Eve thrown out of Eden. Pride is always the dominant force behind sin because every sin we commit is an act of personal rebellion against God.  

The answer for pride is humility. And, at the heart of the Lord Jesus' teaching ministry is the idea of humility overcoming our pride. Soren Kierkegaard once said, “The proud person always wants to do the right thing, the great thing. But because he wants to do it in his own strength, he is fighting not with man, but with God.” 

In v.1 we read, "Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come." The Greek word translated "stumble" produced the English word “scandal.” Originally it meant a bait stick in a trap. When the animal grabs the bait, the stick is released, the trap is closed, the animal is caught. We live in a world of traps, a world where people are going to be offended.

In this context, the Lord Jesus is warning his disciples that it is inevitable that some would be caused to stumble by some expression of pride in our lives. “These little ones” in v.2 are young believers who are learning how to follow the Lord. 

In v.2 we read, "It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble." 

A "millstone" was used to grind wheat into flour. These stones weighed anywhere between a couple hundred pounds to nearly 3,000 pounds. It would take one to the bottom of the sea fast. The rabbis taught that drowning was for Gentiles, not for Jews. It would be better for you to be drowned, instantly, than to hinder the faith of a young believer. 

In v.3 we read, "So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them.” We must teach God's standard, but we don't want to cause others to sin. And, if our brother sins, we must gently rebuke them. The word "rebuke" means to reprimand with a strong warning. The warning is a reminder that sin is out to destroy us. This is most effectively done as we show the one being rebuked that we are for him.

In Matthew 18, we are given the process for this. If your brother sins you go to him. If he turns away from the sin, forgive him. If he doesn't repent, you take two or three with you. If he still doesn't repent, you tell the church and the whole church lovingly holds this one accountable. 

In Galatians 6, the Apostle Paul gives us four characteristics of the Spiritual man. The first characteristic of the spiritual man is he mends the broken. The picture of the broken here is of one who is trying to get away from sin unsuccessfully. Paul writes, "if someone is caught in a sin..." The picture that Paul is painting here is of one who is too slow for sin. The sin is faster and the one caught is being dragged down from behind. This one who is caught by sin is broken, bloody, and suffering greatly by the destruction of sin.

Now, the word the Apostle uses to describe the actions of the spiritual man is quite instructive. Paul uses the word "restore". The Greek word is to reset very carefully as a doctor would reset a compound broken bone. This word is also used of a fisherman who carefully mend a torn fishing net.

In Galatians 6:1, the Apostle describes how the restoration should take place: "Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted."

This restoration is to be motivated by the Spirit, and done gently, watchfully, and humbly. Again, Paul uses the word "restore" carefully. It should come from one who realizes he is yet to conquer sin himself.

In Luke 16:4 we read, "Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them." The Lord Jesus issues this command because He understands the fact that even though we are born again, we still struggle with sin. Therefore, we will find that we and others do not overcome certain sins over night. There is a process involved in overcoming sin.

Also, our forgiveness must be complete. He uses the word seven here twice to illustrate there is to be no lack in our forgiveness of another, no matter how many times they sin against us. Our ability to forgive another has to do less with them and everything to do with how we understand God's forgiveness of us. 

When we choose to forgive, we choose to live. All forms of sin, especially bitterness, are destructive. When we forgive another, we free ourselves from the bondage that someone’s wrong has created in us. When we refuse to forgive, we’re living resentful, bitter, and angry lives. We rob ourselves of the full life that God intended for us to live. Refusing to forgive leads us into walking in the flesh, rather than walking by the Spirit. 

I close with an appropriate quote from Mark Twain. “Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.”

Luke 16:19-31

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19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘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.’ 25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ 27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ 30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ 31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”~ Luke 16:19-31

The Jewish religious leaders taught that if someone was poor he was cursed by God and if someone was rich they were blessed by God. But, their theology had no basis in the word of God.

In response, the Lord Jesus tells a story of a rich man who ends up in hell and a poor man who ended up in heaven.

According to v.14, the Lord Jesus is addressing the religious leaders who loved money. Their theology accommodated their wealth prosperity view. They rationalized having more money by teaching they were blessed by God. 

In v.19 we read, "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day." This man dressed in luxurious purple  and fine linen clothes. The Tyrian purple came from a shellfish which was the most expensive at that time. This fine linen robe was made of the finest Egyptian cotton which was also the most expensive and the best. He also lived a luxurious life. 

In contrast, in v.20-21 we read, "At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores." 

The beggar, Lazarus, did not just have a little, he had nothing. He was destitute. And, he laid at the opulent gate of this rich man, covered with sores. He was probably paralyzed, and couldn't move. The sores may well have come from his inability to move. Even the dogs licked his sores.

This man had a longing in him due to his condition. The only attention he got was from the dogs!  And, these dogs were scavengers, and not domesticated. They roamed the cities, eating whatever they could to stay alive. And, the poor man was more desperate than the dogs. Yet, he had a longing within.

This is where our search for God begins, with these internal longings. And, if we get desperate enough, we will turn to Him. That is my story! My mom died when I was five and my dad when I was one month away from turning eighteen. And, my loss was the impetus to my search for God.

In v.22-23 we read, "22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side."

The poor man in the story had no dignity in this life, becomes dignified in death. And, the rich man who had dignity in this life becomes undignified in death. The rich man goes to hell, and the poor man goes to heaven. 

For the religious leaders who were listening to the Lord Jesus, this story was a complete stunner. This is the absolute opposite result of what they taught and believed. The rich man was illustrative of the religious leaders and the poor man was illustrative of those who cried out to God.  

The rich man was in “torment.” This is the same word that is used for the doom feared by the evil spirits in Mark 5:7 and the judgments God will send on an unrepentant world. If hell is the permanent prison of the damned, then hades is the temporary jail, and the suffering in both is very real. 

The Lord Jesus described this torment as darkness and fire and weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. The believer who dies is immediately in the conscious fellowship and joys of the heavenly experience. The damned are immediately in the conscious experience of torture.

People ask, “How can a loving God even permit such a place as hell to exist, let alone send people there?” But in asking that question, they reveal that they do not understand either the love of God or the wickedness of sin. God’s love is a holy love, not a shallow sentiment, and sin is rebellion against a holy and loving God. God does not “send people to hell.” They send themselves there by refusing to believe on His Son. 

The tormented rich man is, in the story, allowed to look out of hell into heaven, across that impassable gulf for the sake of the point. Though in reality, souls in hell have no access to heaven; souls in heaven have no intrusion from the eyes of those in hell. 

For the sake of illustration, to help us understand that he understands what he’s going through, and he’s allowed in the story to understand what Lazarus is experiencing, and he cried out in v.24 and said, “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.”

In his mind, this rich man is so superior to Lazarus that even though he’s in hell and Lazarus is in heaven, he thinks Lazarus is still his servant. He requests mercy to be brought to him by the very one to whom he refused to show mercy. He still thinks lowlifes like Lazarus are supposed to serve him, even in hell. 

He pleads for a drop of water in hell, giving us a picture of how bad hell is. It is so bad, those there beg for one tiny drop of water for relief. But it never comes. The water of this world can’t soothe an eternally tortured soul. But this is the terrifying image of hell. No relief and the sinner forever and ever and ever, never pleading for one tiny drop of relief, wants no crumbs for the poor man and now no drops for the rich man.

In v.25-26 we read, "But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us."

The contrast could not be made clearer. Instead of going from abundance to faith in God, the rich man went from abundance to self-indulgence. On the other hand, as the Lord Jesus pointed out in the Beatitudes, the beginning of our story with God is that of poverty of spirit. The poor man is assumed to have turned to God, placed his faith in Him for help and that is why he is in heaven.

In v.27-28 we read, “Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment. The rich man desires that his brothers not end up in hell, so he requests for more information to be delivered to them. 

In v.29-31 we read, “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ 30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ 31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”

The rich man essentially states the Scripture is not enough for salvation. But, if we do not hear the Scripture with our hearts, we will not be saved. Faith in the God of the Bible comes by hearing the spoken word of God (Romans 10:17). We can’t avoid hell just because we do not want to go there. We avoid hell by following the path of salvation revealed by Moses and the Prophets. And that path is the Lord Jesus Christ who fulfilled the Law and the Prophets and overcame sin and death by rising from the dead.