Heaven and hell and who goes there

Sermon for Trinity 1

1 John 4:16-21  +  Luke 16:19-31

We talk quite a bit in the Church about heaven and hell. They’re important topics. But the truth is, the Bible doesn’t describe either place in much detail. We’re left mostly with little pictures or references to each place that rightly cause us to long for heaven and to fear hell. Today’s Gospel, the parable of the rich man and poor Lazarus, gives us one of those pictures. As is often the case, Jesus has two groups of people in front of Him—believers and unbelievers—and the unbelievers, we’re told a few verses earlier, are a group of Pharisees who were “lovers of money.” So let’s walk through the parable together this morning and ponder what Jesus has to say about heaven and hell and who goes there.

We’re told first about the rich man, to whom Jesus doesn’t give a name. He was clothed in purple and fine linen, and he feasted lavishly day after day. We’re not told that he was a violent man, or that he was hateful or mean or arrogant or any kind of lawbreaker. All we’re told, so far, is that he had a really good, comfortable life, and that he enjoyed it to the full. And we’re given to understand one other thing. It becomes clear that he knew Lazarus, the poor man lying at his gate every day, by name, and that he never offered him even a crumb of what fell from his table.

Then we’re told about the poor man, whose name Jesus does give us: Lazarus. Lazarus was poor. He was full of sores. He apparently couldn’t walk, because other people had to lay him every day at the gate of the rich man. He longed for those crumbs from the rich man’s table which he never received. The only kindness he received was from the dogs who came and licked his sores.

Finally, the poor man died. And his soul was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. Abraham’s bosom is a fitting way to describe heaven in the context of the Old Testament religion of the Jews. Abraham was the original recipient of the Old Testament. He was promised descendants as numerous as the stars in the heavens. And he was promised that through his seed, that is, through the Christ who would one day be born of Abraham’s descendants, all the families of the earth would be blessed. Every one of the Jews believed that Abraham’s soul was resting comfortably in Paradise with the God in whom he had believed. Every one of the Jews longed to join him after this life, to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, as Jesus once put it. And Lazarus, the poor man, was there.

The rich man also died. But his soul was not carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. His soul was sent to hell, where in the midst of his torments, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus lying in Abraham’s bosom. He longed for just a drop of water from Lazarus to cool his tongue in the midst of the flames, much like Lazarus had longed for just a crumb from the rich man’s table. But, whereas the rich man could have shared those crumbs during his earthly life, there was nothing Lazarus could do for the rich man. Abraham explains: Son, remember that you received your good things during your lifetime, while Lazarus received bad. But now he is comforted here, and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who wish to cross over from here to you cannot, nor can they cross from there to us.

Can the souls in heaven and hell really see each other and communicate with each other as it happens in this parable? Probably not. But the point of this parable isn’t to answer that question. It’s to highlight some other important things. For one, the good things we have in this life can be shared, while the good things in the next life can’t be. For another thing, having good things in this life is no guarantee of God’s favor, or of good things to come in the next life, just as having a bad life here on earth is no guarantee of God’s disfavor, or of bad things to come in the next life. On the contrary, many of the rich (though certainly not all) are rejected by God, and many of the poor (though certainly not all) are accepted by Him. And since the things of the next life are eternal and unchangeable, the most sensible thing to do is to seek God’s favor in this life, so that you aren’t left longing for a drop of water in the next.

And that gets into the more important question: Whom does God accept and whom does He reject? Who goes to heaven and who goes to hell? The rest of the parable reveals a little of the answer.

Accepting his own fate, the rich man’s thoughts turn to his brothers who are still alive. Then I ask you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house. For I have five brothers—that he may warn them, lest they also come to this place of torment. The rich man isn’t completely devoid of love, as one might expect from a soul in hell. He has some love for his brothers. He doesn’t want to see them end up with him in torment.

Abraham replies, They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them! And that’s the answer, at least in general terms. Whom does God accept and whom does He reject? Who goes to heaven and who goes to hell? The answer is to be found in Moses and the prophets, that is, in the Old Testament Scriptures. And what do they say?

In the first book of Moses, we hear of humanity’s fall into sin and the resulting condemnation of death. In the first, second, third, and fourth books of Moses, we hear how God began to carry out His plan to redeem fallen mankind, a plan that focused on Abraham, and the people of Israel, and the covenant God made with them. In the second book of Moses, the Ten Commandments are listed. In the fifth book of Moses, he commands: You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength… The poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.’ Clearly the rich man in Jesus’ parable hadn’t opened his hand wide to his poor brother Lazarus. Why not? Because he clearly didn’t love the LORD his God with all his heart, or else he would have cared what God had to say. In other words, he had no faith in the God of Israel, and was, therefore, unconcerned with love for his neighbor, which flows from faith. He was an Israelite, a son of Abraham. But his was an empty religion, a dead religion.

Not that he could have been saved if he had shown enough charity. As it says in the Psalms: In Your sight, O Lord, no one living is righteous. There is no one who does good, no, not one. And in the prophets: We all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each one has turned to his own way. No, Moses and the prophets reveal the great problem of mankind: All have sinned, and no one does enough or can do enough good things to make up for his sins, to earn God’s forgiveness for the evil he has done and for the good he has still failed to do.

But Moses and the prophets reveal other things, too, don’t they? In the first book of Moses, God provided a solution to man’s sin. He said to the demonic serpent: The Seed of the woman (the Christ) will crush your head, and you will bruise His heel. When it came to the rich man Abraham, it wasn’t his generosity with his riches that brought him into God’s favor. On the contrary, it says that Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Abraham was righteous in God’s sight by faith in God’s promises. But because Abraham believed God, he was also ready to obey God. Throughout Moses and the prophets, the Christ is foreshadowed and foretold as the One who would bear our sins in His own body, suffer and die for them, and make atonement for them, for the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all… No one who believes in Him will ever be put to shame. And then, to those who believe in the Lord God, the prophets say, Hate evil, love good; establish justice in the gate.

That’s all the rich man’s brothers needed to hear. The whole plan of salvation is laid out in the Old Testament Scriptures. Who goes to heaven? Who goes to hell? In summary, all men, as sinners, deserve to go to hell and are already on the path to the flames. But God would send a Savior, Jesus Christ, to suffer for our sins, so that all who believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Those who believe in Him receive the forgiveness of their sins and are gifted a place in heaven. Those who believe in Him will live each day in repentance and faith and will seek to do good to their neighbor, being sanctified in love by the power of the Holy Spirit. But those who don’t believe will be condemned. And the lack of love in their lives and their lack of obedience to God’s commandments will betray the lack of faith in their hearts.

Now, as an unbeliever, the rich man was unconvinced by Abraham’s answer about listening to Moses and the Prophets. He said, No, father Abraham. No, Moses and prophets aren’t enough. My brothers will never listen to them. But if someone were to go to them from the dead, they would repent. But Abraham knows better. If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, then they will not be persuaded, even if someone were to rise from the dead. And, sure enough, within a very short period of time, possibly only a couple of months, Jesus would raise a man named Lazarus from the dead. And he would tell people about Jesus being the Christ. But most of the Jews would still refuse to believe. Why? Because they hadn’t listened to Moses and the prophets, who all foretold Jesus’ coming and the truth of justification by faith alone in Christ Jesus. And because they didn’t believe in Jesus, their love of money and their lack of love for their neighbor were also evident, as we see in the Gospels time and time again.

The Pharisees failed to learn from the parable of the rich man and poor Lazarus. But you—you can still learn from this parable. If you’re poor, don’t despair! Repent of your sins and disobedience and trust in the Lord Jesus! Then, be satisfied with the very little you have, and be careful not to covet the things you don’t have. And know that, even if your circumstances never improve in this life, they will improve immensely in the next life, when the angels carry you to Paradise. If you’re rich (and most of us are, by Biblical standards) don’t despair! There’s still hope for you! Repent of your sins and disobedience and believe in the Lord Jesus! And then, be very careful not to become absorbed in the enjoyment of your riches, so that you neglect all the opportunities the Lord lays before your gate to spend your money on things that will last, on helping your neighbor, and especially your brother or sister in Christ.

Heaven and hell are real places, and your stay in one or the other will be permanent. So don’t let yourself get caught up in the things of this world, whether good or bad. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. Whoever does not believe will be condemned. Faith and unbelief can’t be seen, but the works that flow from each can. The one who believes will also love his brother, as the Lord has commanded. The one who doesn’t believe won’t care what the Lord has commanded. When your last hour comes, may you be found among those who believe, among those who have listened to Moses, and the prophets, and the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom alone is eternal salvation and entrance into the kingdom of heaven. Amen.