Wed.’s Devo - Rich Man, Poor Man

Read Luke 16:19-31 In an effort to make them become heavenly minded, Jesus gave the Pharisees this parable. There were two men: an opulently rich man and a poor man who begged at the rich man’s gate. They both died. The poor man was carried by angels to Abraham’s bosom which was under the earth. The rich man woke up in the place of torment in hell. They were separated by an impassable chasm. I have touched on this before but I’ll repeat it. Before Jesus, those who died went to the place of the dead, Gehenna, Sheol, hell, or the grave. All names for the same place. Within that terrestrial land under the earth there were cities where the dead lived. The ones who lived their lives for the devil lived in a place of torment where the people who lived according to the law and honored God went to cities like the cities of refuge on the earth. Like the cities of refuge, they stayed there till the death of the high priest, who was Jesus. Jesus came down and preached captivity captive and led the saints to heaven. Jesus was the first to rise from the dead, the first fruit. With him he took those who loved God. Back to the story. The rich man is hot and tormented and cried out to Abraham to have mercy on him. Abraham reminds him how he was blessed in life and Lazareth was not, but now Lazareth is comforted and he is not. The rich man realizes he blew his chance by living so selfishly on earth but thinks of his 5 brothers. He does not want them to have the same fate he has so he asks if Abraham would send Lazaret to them. Surely they would believe if they saw someone who had risen from death. But Abraham tells him that if they didn’t believe Moses or the prophets then they wouldn’t believe if someone rose from the dead. He of course is alluding to the fact that Jesus died and rose from the dead and still people didn’t believe. But there was another Lazareth who rose from the dead and we don’t hear that his resurrection caused the world to repent either. Lord, thank you for reminding us daily what is important and what is not. Help us to live for eternity.