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In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Dear saints, if you want to learn how to live, you have lots of options. In fact, there are lots of people who will tell you just what you’re supposed to do, how you’re to live, how you’re to organize your days, how you’re supposed to eat, how you’re supposed to exercise, the books that you’re supposed to read, the calendar that you’re supposed to keep, the things that you’re supposed to want to do and not want to do. There’s lots of gurus, lots of teachers, lots of instructors who will give you everything you know about how to live.
But the Lord Jesus wants to teach us how to die, how to be ready to breathe our last breath, how to be ready to pass from this life to the life to come. It’s a wisdom that only he can give to us. And I think that this wisdom that the Lord Jesus gives to us about how to die also teaches us how to live.
And there’s no other place in Scripture—well, maybe there are a few—but there are hardly places better in Scripture to learn how we are to die than this story that the Lord Jesus tells about Lazarus and the rich man. It’s a beautiful text that tells us, maybe more than any other place in the Scripture, what happens when we die, what’s on the other side of death, and what the theologians call the intermediate state, that time between our death and the resurrection; what’s going on there. So we want to learn what’s happening.
It also is the text that teaches us in a profound way how we come to faith, how it is that we actually believe—not by miracles, but through the word. And then, with this wisdom put together, the Lord teaches us how to die.
So first, the wisdom of Jesus about what happens when we die. It’s quite a parallel that Jesus is building here. It’s an interesting question, just as an aside, whether this text is a parable or not. Jesus doesn’t introduce it like he normally introduces the parables when he says, “the kingdom of heaven is like.” In fact, it’s unique in this way, that none of the parables of Jesus has anybody ever been given a name. But here we’re told about this account of the rich man and Lazarus, who has his name. It is certainly parabolic, but it might be historical as well. In fact, I think we’re meant to take it that way.
Now Jesus draws this parallel between these two men and how it was with them in life and how it was with them in death. First, the rich man. He’s not named; he’s clothed in purple and fine linen. Can you imagine? He’s dressed like a king. He’s just some rich guy, but he wears robes like he’s royalty. He feasts sumptuously every day—not just on the weekends. I mean, every day it’s a party at his house.
It’s like the— I mean, I think this description of the people who are living at ease that we heard in the prophet Amos, and Amos is blasting away at them. He says, “You’re lounging on couches engraved with ivory, and you’re not content to drink wine out of a cup. You’re drinking the wine out of a bowl.” That’s the description of this rich man. He feasts sumptuously every day. He has everything and more. In fact, it’s wasteful so that outside—and here’s the contrast—there’s Lazarus, a poor man, and he sees all the scraps falling from the table and he wants to eat those, but no one will give him anything. He’s covered head to foot in sores. The only comfort he has—and this is a fine comfort—the dogs come along and lick his sores. Yes, you can hardly imagine a more miserable life than Lazarus.
So here, it’s as good as it gets, and it’s as bad as it gets. But then comes death to both of them, and their fates are completely reversed. First, we hear about the death of Lazarus. It says that the angels came and carried him to Abraham’s bosom, Abraham’s side. This is the one text in the scripture that tells us that when we die, when our bodies and souls are separated from one another, the Lord sends his holy angels to carry our souls to be with himself in heaven. It’s an absolutely beautiful picture.
And we know that this death, this separation—the unnatural separation of body and soul—that for the Christian, it’s a great blessing because now our souls go to be with the Lord Jesus in heaven and to rest in paradise. Like St. Paul says, to be apart from the body is to be present with Christ. And I long for that day because for me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
The rich man also dies. No mention of the angels there. He’s buried and goes to Hades. It’s hell. Hell. And he’s there in torment. Now look at this great reversal. I mean, the rich man, who’s got everything in life, now has nothing in death. In fact, he’s so miserable that he’s looking around for any help and he sees way off in the distance; he sees Abraham and Lazarus, and he yells across the gulf to Abraham.
And I think it’s amazing that he still wants to kind of boss Lazarus around even after he’s dead. “Hey, send Lazarus with just a drop of water on his tongue.” I mean, here this guy feasting some… just a drop to ease the pain and agony that I’m experiencing now. “To cool my tongue. I’m in anguish in this flame.” This is… and that’s a hard doctrine.
But this is the consistent teaching of Scripture. That we live and we die, and then comes the judgment. And for those who are found in Christ, death comes as a great and marvelous gift and release, full of treasures and joys and blessings. But for those who do not know Christ, apart from him, they die and go to judgment and condemnation, to hell, to torment.
Abraham is there in this place, and both of them are waiting, by the way, to just kind of fill out the biblical doctrine of death and the resurrection. Both those who are with the Lord in heaven and also those who are in torment in hell are waiting for the last day when they’ll be raised. Remember, on the last day, all people are raised. Everyone who ever has existed is raised from the dead and given their bodies back. And there’s a resurrection to life, and then there’s a resurrection to death—the judgment, where Jesus says to those on his left, “Depart from me, go into the place prepared for the devil and the fallen angels.”
So Jesus tells us that there is life after death, and that that life after death has two distinct states: a life of blessedness or a life of torment. And Jesus tells us how to come into that blessed life. This has to do with the last part of the parable. Abraham says to the rich man, “There’s a gulf fixed between here and there, to where if anyone wants to come from here to there—” which you can hardly imagine anyone who would want to—but if anyone wants to come from here to there, they can’t, and no one can come from there to here.
So then the rich man cries out to Abraham; he’s got a different idea. He says, “Well, why don’t you send Lazarus back to my brothers? You’ll find them drinking my wine and wearing my clothes at my house, right? Send Lazarus back to my brothers and warn them so that they would repent and they don’t come to this place of torment.” And Abraham says, “No, they’ve got all that they need already. They don’t need Lazarus back from the dead. They’ve got Moses. They’ve got the prophets. Let him believe them.” But he says, “No, if someone would rise from the dead, then they’ll believe.”
And Abraham says explicitly, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.” Now, this is confirmed for us in the Gospel of John, because remember, in John’s Gospel, there was a Lazarus who came back from the dead. I mean, remember he was the brother of Mary and Martha, and he lived there in Bethany. He was a dear friend of Jesus.
And Jesus was in Galilee, and news reached him of Lazarus’ death. So four days later, he went down to Bethany. The disciples were afraid that Jesus was going to be arrested, but he goes anyways. And he goes to the tomb. And remember, he says, “Take away the stone,” and they say, “Lord, he’s been in there for four days. He’s going to smell.” “Take away the stone,” and they take it away, and then Jesus calls to Lazarus. “Lazarus, come forth!” And here comes Lazarus, dead for four days, walking out of the grave, taking off the grave clothes, standing there before him, alive. It’s incredible.
And what happens? Do all the people there who see Lazarus raised from the dead believe in Jesus? In fact, it’s from that moment on that the unbelieving Jews, especially the Sanhedrin there in Jerusalem, plot to kill Jesus. When they see Lazarus raised from the dead, they know that they’ve got to put a stop to Jesus and his ministry.
So that not only does the raising of Lazarus not create faith, it creates rebellion and unbelief. Abraham is 100% right: if you don’t believe Moses and the prophets, if you don’t believe the Scriptures, you won’t be convinced even if you see somebody raised from the dead right in front of you. You know, sometimes people want a sign, right? Or they want a miracle, or they want something to convince them that the Scriptures are true, or that God exists, or something like this.
And we think that seeing is believing, but it’s just not true. Faith comes not from seeing; faith comes from hearing. Paul says it like this in Romans chapter 10: “Faith comes through hearing and hearing through the word of God.” So that the Holy Spirit is pleased to create faith in your heart and in mine—not through our eyes, but through our ears and our hearts—through His word, not by signs and miracles, but through His commands and especially through His promises.
So that when we believe the Lord Jesus Christ, when we trust in His promises, when we treasure the gifts of Moses and the prophets, then we have all that we need. And in this, Jesus is teaching us how to die. The contrast, dear saints, is not between the riches of the rich man and the poverty of Lazarus. The contrast is between the unbelief of the rich man and the faith of Lazarus.
It turns out that the rich man has everything that you could want except for Moses and the prophets—everything that one could dream of except for faith in Christ, everything that we might pursue in this life except for the promise of the forgiveness of sins. And Lazarus has nothing—absolutely nothing except Moses and the prophets and a faith in the Lord’s promise.
And this is what matters. And in this way, the Lord Jesus prepares us to breathe our last and to face the day of our own death. He says that when you have my promise, you have everything that you need. There’s nothing more you lack, dear saints. You lack nothing. You are ready to die. There might be things that you want to do still. I mean, you might have a bucket list that you haven’t checked off before you kick it.
But we learn this wisdom here from our Lord Jesus that when we trust in His promises, there’s nothing more. In fact, there’s some wisdom in the church. We were talking about it the last couple of days at the worship conference. Wisdom in the church that teaches us to sing after we come to the Lord’s Supper. We all sing together this song of Simeon: “Lord, now let your servant depart in peace.”
And what he means by that is not, “Lord, now let your servant leave church and hustle over to Kentucky Fried Chicken” or whatever. He means, “Lord, now I’m ready to die. There’s nothing more that you could give. There’s nothing more that I need. I’ve seen there, the body and the blood. I’ve tasted your promise. I’ve held in my own hands and taken into my own mouth your Son given unto death for my salvation. And now I’m ready. I’m ready for whatever comes. I’m ready for life, and I’m ready for death.”
So the Lord Jesus gives us this wisdom, and it’s pretty amazing that we can leave here Sunday after Sunday and say, “I’m ready to die.” The Lord has me; I’m His in life and in death. I’m His in riches and in poverty. I’m His in sickness and in health. I’m His now and into eternity. May God grant us this confidence that we join with our brother Lazarus, treasuring the prophets and Moses and all the promises of God. May God grant it for Christ’s sake. Amen.
And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord.