“The
time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to
Abraham's side.”(22).
What
an amazing thing this must have been for Lazarus. His last moments,
no doubt, were filled with pain. Covered with sores, surrounded
by dogs, alienated from the world, considered nothing, he breathes
his last and then, suddenly, the next instant, he finds himself
in the arms of angels being carried away from pain and misery
and heartbreak to Abraham's side in heaven where he'll never
again suffer or go hungry or thirsty or be forgotten.
Believers
tend, and this is a modern tendency, to hyper focus on what
God is doing in their lives right now. We get worked up about
whether God is giving us this or giving us that, providing for
us here or providing for us there. The joy and happiness of
many believers depends on what they get or don't get in this
60 to 90 year period.
Don't
get me wrong; what happens here and now is infinitely important
in the sight of God. The problem is that the things that we
think are crucial; the things we think God must do for us now
and that we must have here are usually not the things that God
thinks are crucial and important and not the things God thinks
we must have here and now.
I
think I know what I need in order to function and be happy and
satisfied in this life. But often God looks down and says, “No,
you don't need that.” And I'll say, “oh yes I do” and he'll
say, “Oh no you don't...Here, let me show you…” and he'll take
it away. And I'll learn that, really, I didn't need it. He does
that all the time because ultimately what he thinks is crucial
is teaching you and teaching me that when it comes down to it,
Jesus Christ is all we need. Everything else on top of that
is blessing; fine and good to have, but not necessary.
Don't
be fooled by a gospel of wealth and health that tells you that
when you come to faith in Jesus Christ all of your problems
will be over; no more unpaid bills, no more sickness, no broken
relationships, no more tragedy.
That's
a lie. What did Jesus pray for in the Garden of Gethsemane?
He prayed that his Father would take away the cup of suffering.
And what did his Father say? He said no. Sometimes God will
deliver you out of trial and crisis. But sometimes it's his
will that you endure it and suffer so that you'll not to lean
or depend or hope on anything else in this world but Jesus Christ.
That
seems to be the sort of life that God willed for Lazarus. Lazarus
had nothing, nothing that the world would see as valuable. He
was the kind of guy that people pass by and shake their heads
and say, “How could a loving God let someone live like that?”
We're
given a "God's-eye view" of Lazarus' death. We see
the glory and the angels and the ascent to Abraham's side.
But
he died on the street covered in sores, surrounded by dogs.
The world did not see angels. The world saw a dead beggar. His
body was probably dumped into an open pit somewhere and covered
with dirt.
Think,
for a moment, about people you know, people who believe in Jesus
Christ, but who've had to endure terrible heartbreak or physical
pain and you pray for them and they pray for themselves and
they ask God to take it away, or at least to make it more bearable,
and he doesn't. He lets the suffering continue. Maybe God even
lets them die like Lazarus; in pain and alone. Those are the
times when we question the justice of God; question the goodness
of God.
But
the reason we're so quick to do this is because our perspective
has become so circumscribed, so limited to this life that we've
lost sight of heaven.
Despite
what the world saw in Lazarus, Jesus tells us his spirit was
carried to Abraham's side. His suffering, however long, however
painful, was at that moment, over. We've lost sight of the fact
that this world is not our home. There's nothing anywhere in
scripture that promises believers a painless life in this world.
Rather, We're promised the opposite. “In this world,” says Jesus
in John 16:33, “you'll have trouble” That is a promise. “But”
he says, “take heart! I have overcome the world.”
That's
our hope. Those in Christ, those who trust in him and believe
in him, might suffer the loss of all things in this world, but
Jesus has overcome the world, gained victory over the power
of sin, over the power of darkness, over the power of death.
So while it may be God's will for you to lose all things, it
is the promise of Christ that whatever we lose here and now
is nothing, rubbish, compared to knowing Christ and being with
him forever in heaven.
Lazarus'
60 or so years of misery and pain is nothing, a moment, compared
to the infinite, eternal, never ending surpassing glory of Heaven.
And
that, turning back to verse 22, is precisely where Lazarus was
taken. Don't be confused by the mention of Abraham's side. Paul,
in Romans 4, calls Abraham the father of all who have faith
in the Promise of God who is Jesus Christ. Those who lived before
Jesus Christ were justified through faith in Jesus Christ just
as we are but since they couldn't know him as we do they were
saved by virtue of their faith in the promise of his coming
that was given by God to Abraham. All who believed or trusted
in God's promise of salvation given to Abraham believed or trusted
in Jesus Christ who was and is the fulfillment of that promise.
And, like Abraham, as we are told in Genesis 15, they were credited
with righteousness. Lazarus, if he was a real person, was a
believer in the coming Promise and as such he was a child of
Abraham. You and I also trust the Promise. All believers who
live after the coming of Christ, are also children of Abraham
in the sense that we share in the faith of Abraham and so when
we die, like Lazarus, we will go to be where Abraham is, by
his side, in the presence of Christ.
Now,
notice in this text, that we're speaking here specifically of
Lazarus' spirit. We're not speaking about his body. In verse
23, we are told that the rich man died and was buried. So all
of the action that takes place after that does not occur "in
the body". The language of agony and fire and water then
is metaphorical language pointing to spiritual realities. Jesus
gives us insight, here, into what happens to our spirits after
death. He's revealing what takes place in that space of time
between the death of our bodies and the resurrection of the
dead. This story answers the question: Where do our spirits
go to wait for the last day? What we are told is that like Lazarus,
at the moment of death, if you're a believer, your spirit goes
to be with Abraham in the presence of Christ. There's no ghost-time,
no pause, no sleep. You go directly into the personal presence
of Christ. Paul says in Philippians 1:21-24: “For me to live
is Christ and to die is gain…what shall I choose? I do not know!
I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ
which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that
I remain in the body.” There are, Paul says, only two conditions
for believers. You are either in the body, living for Christ
wandering about in old houses haunting things, no sleep time
where you wait for the resurrection. You die, you leave the
body and you're with Christ.
But
this spiritual state is not your final condition. I've been
referring to this as heaven and we do that, but that's not quite
accurate. Heaven comes fully at the resurrection when at Christ's
command you return to your resurrected body and walk again in
a new heaven and a new earth. So while this spiritual experience
of being with Christ is going to be beyond your ability to imagine,
at the resurrection it'll get better. You'll live in your body
again, you'll see, taste, smell and touch the new heaven and
the new earth and there will be no illness, death, weariness,
hunger, sorrow or pain, nothing to ruin your enjoyment of Jesus
Christ and the world that he created.
Do
you see why God, sometimes, doesn't seem act with regard to
your earthly suffering as you think he ought? He is concerned,
infinitely, but He sees your suffering here in light of the
treasure he has stored up for you in Christ and there's no comparison.
The world sees in Lazarus, the death of a poor beggar who was
despised and rejected by men. The Father sees his child carried
to Christ with whom and in whom he will live forever in comfort
and in luxury far exceeding anything the rich man could ever
buy.
You
see the end of a relationship, the loss of a job, a sudden death,
a long, lingering painful death, poverty, suffering continuing
and sometimes even getting worse despite your prayers and despite
your tears and you think to yourself how could God let this
happen? And you begin to doubt God and his promises and you
forget, I forget, that the greatest promise you are given in
Christ is that at the end of your life you'll be carried through
the gates of heaven into his presence and that will be your
place for eternity. Both the pain and the provision of this
life is passing and transient and of no account when compared
with what you'll do and see and touch and feel and know forever
in the presence of Christ. And I have no doubt that if we're
permitted look back from heaven on the days spent here and the
fact that we were so intensely anxious and worried about things
like cars and homes and bills and succeeding in our careers
or in school and so little concerned with Christ; we'll think,
what a waste! I can't believe I spent all that time worrying
about my girl friend in high school breaking up with me. I can't
believe that I spent all that time worried about whether I would
do well on that test or get that job or keep that position because
ten thousand years down the road we'll see that the only thing
that we really needed in this life is Christ.
Lazarus
was not carried by angels because he was good or because he
was poor. He deserved hell just like the rich man. Lazarus was
carried by angels because despite his loss, despite his suffering,
his treasure, his possession, was the unbreakable irrevocable
Promise of God in Jesus Christ; that all those who surrender
to him will be forgiven of all their sins, be credited with
Christ's righteousness, and live forever with him in heaven.
Christ was Lazarus' treasure. And if you, like Lazarus, have
that treasure there's nothing, neither height nor depth; neither
death nor life; neither angels nor demons; nothing in all creation
that can keep you from being where he is. Even if you die on
the street, even if you're buried in pit, even if you die forgotten
in a nursing home, even if you are hated and despised or just
plain forgotten by your family or your friends, if you have
Jesus Christ, you will be carried by angels to Abraham's side
where sorrow and pain are no more.
