Matters of Life and Death VII

Larry Siegle
10/06/24 - Sun AM

Link to sermon video: Matters of Life and Death VII - L Siegle

Matters of Life and Death VII

“BUT What about THIS…?”

(Matt. 13:13-16)

Series:  Matters of Life and Death

Thesis:  Learning to understand and appreciate what God has set before each of us.

INTRODUCTION

1.    The title of this series is Matters of Life and Death

2.    This is the seventh installment in the series, the title of this specific message is, “BUT What about THIS…?”

        a.     We are exploring what happens to a person when he dies?

        b.    What does the Bible teach about life after death?

        c.     What does the Bible teach about Hell?

        d.    What about the immortality of the human soul?

JESUS, THE GREAT ‘STORYTELLER’

1.    What quality is it that makes a good teacher into being a great teacher?

        a.     There are various styles of teaching used, because all of us tend to learn in a variety of ways.

        b.    When training new employees, a good instructor would use as many methods as possible to engage the person in

               helping them to better understand the various aspects of their responsibility.

               1)    Some learn more effectively through verbal instruction—listening carefully.

               2)    Others learn through the use of visual illustrations (what can be seen).

               3)    There are those who better understand through reading or taking notes.

               4)    And lastly, some learn through what is called ‘kinesthetics’ (hand-on) approach.

        c.     Knowledge and understanding increases when more than one of these methods are used in training.

2.    Jesus is seen as the ‘great’ storyteller because of His use of the common things the crowds following Him would have

        been familiar with in order to illustrate for them, ‘paint a vivid picture’ of what the Kingdom of God is like…

3.    More than 30 times in the gospel accounts are recorded parables (a compound word that means to ‘place alongside

        for the sake of comparison’).

        a.     Each of the parables has one primary lesson that is being taught…(it is a mistaken notion to take every aspect of a

               particular parable and make it symbolic of something).  Origen, one of the “church fathers” with his imagination

               gave this allegorical interpretation of the parable of the Good Samaritan:

               “The man who was going down is Adam. Jerusalem is paradise, and Jericho is the world. The robbers are hostile

               powers. The priest is the Law, the Levite is the prophets, and the Samaritan is Christ. The wounds are

               disobedience, the beast is the Lord’s body, the [inn], which accepts all who wish to enter, is the Church.…The

               manager of the [inn] is the head of the Church, to whom its care has been entrusted. And the fact that the

               Samaritan promises he will return represents the Savior’s second coming.”

        b.    A creative interpretation that has absolutely nothing to do with the whole point of the parable!

THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS (Luke 16:19-31)

1.    When people are trying to ‘prove’ a doctrine of Hell they often land on this section of Scripture and even our brethren

        have developed a whole construct of theology of an ‘intermediate’ state of the dead based solely on this text.

        a.     The ‘realm of the dead’ (Sheol/Hades) is mentioned in the story.

        b.    Some consider this ‘story’ as an actual description of what Hades was like—righteous dead on one side, the

               wicked dead on the other side—a “great gulf” separating to two sides.

2.    The historical evidence suggests that various elements of this story were already common and that Jesus used this story to illustrate an important truth---not as the basis of for theology of an ‘intermediate state of the dead’

        a.     Here is a quote from the book, Immortality or Resurrection:  A Biblical Study on Human Nature and Destiny:

               “Hades in Greek Mythology is the underworld where the conscious souls of the dead are divided in two major

               regions, one a place of torment, the other of blessedness.  The Greek conception of Hades influenced Hellenistic

               Jews during the intertestamental period, to adopt the belief in the immortality of the soul and the idea of a spatial

               separation in the underworld between the righteous and the godless” (p. 170)

        b.    The Interpreters Bible Commentary states:

               “Nowhere in the Old Testament is the abode of the dead regarded as a place of punishment or torment.  The

               concept of an infernal “Hell” developed in Israel only during the Hellenistic period” (p. 788).

3.    Jesus was taking a story that was known, that had originated from Egyptian and other pagan sources, and using it to

        illustrate an important lesson for the religious leaders—the Pharisees (Luke 16:14, 15).

        a.     It was greed and selfishness that was at the very heart of what Jesus was teaching (Luke 16:13).

        b.    The two people being described in the story are divided by social class—riches and poverty.

4.    The status of the Rich Man is described in the story—wearing clothing that was the ‘best of the best’ that only the most wealthy or royalty could afford (v. 19)

        a.     The purple robe was made from the secretion of the “murex” which is a predatory poisonous sea snail.

        b.    Some have estimated that it would have taken approximately 40,000 of these to create enough “purple” color to

                make just one garment.

        c.     The Rich Man even clothed himself in “fine linen” undergarments.  Thayer writes:

               “linen made from byssus, very costly, delicate, soft, white and also of a yellow color” (upscale).

        d.    “feasted sumptuously” (celebrated, ‘partied’ lavishly).  The verb indicates it was his continuous lifestyle.

5.    This is contrasted with the terrible condition of the poor man whose name is Lazarus (and the meaning of his name

        we will talk about shortly). (v 20, 21)

        a.     He was in bad health—sores—ulcers (painful condition)

        b.    He was “laid”—the greek word means “tossed” or “thrown” ballo at the “gate” of the Rich Man.

        c.     Lazarus was hungry and just wanted the scraps from what fell from the table of this Rich Man who obviously had

               plenty.

6.    Lazarus dies and is “carried by angels” to the bosom of Abraham (a concept never described anywhere in the OT) but

        Jesus uses this concept to demonstrate separation from what is described when the Rich Man also died…no angels, no

        placement in this bosom of Abraham idea…just “buried” (v. 23).

        a.     The Pharisees placed a great amount of pride and importance on the attainment of wealth, but in their minds

               they would have gone to the place of comfort (Abraham’s bosom), not some lowly beggar like Lazarus.

        b.    Lazarus is mentioned by name in this story because of what his name means:  “God has helped” since there was

               no help coming from this Rich Man.

7.    The “torment” here simply describes the natural consequences of greed and selfishness (v. 23).

8.    The Rich Man is still demanding some means of comfort (v. 24)

IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF THE STORY THAT MUST BE CONSIDERED

1.    This is a Jewish oriented story—(Father Abraham, Moses and the Prophets etc).

        a.     The Great White throne judgment is interesting in this regard (Rev. 20:11-15)

        b.    “the death” (as determined by Adam (Rom. 5:12).

        c.     “the hades” (place of the dead ones)

        d.    “the sea” (those from among the “nations”) their dead came to stand before God.

        e.     Brother King in the first edition of The Spirit of Prophecy made a brief notation of the distinction between the

               ‘place of the dead ones’ of the Old Covenant and the ‘place of the dead ones’ outside the Old Covenant (gentiles)

               “sea”.

        f.      The text says, “the sea is no more” (Rev. 21:1) is simply a statement about the wall of separation that had existed

               between Israel and the “nations” no longer existing (Eph. 2:11-16).

2.    There are no references to this story or a doctrine arising from it anywhere in the NT.

3.    There is nothing in the OT that relates these concepts to the ‘state of the dead’

4.    No reference to “Abraham’s bosom” in the OT.

5.    Nothing in the OT that describes a “great gulf” existing between the righteous and the wicked

6.    There is nothing in the OT that describes “endless torment” at the state of the dead.

7.    No conversations between the dead are ever seen in the OT.

8.    No praying to ‘Father Abraham’ is ever seen in the OT.

9.    Nowhere do we see God or Father Abraham receiving prayer in the OT

10.  Nowhere in the story is Lazarus said to be “righteous”

11.  Nowhere is the Rich Man said to be “wicked”

12.  Neither the “soul” or “spirit” of either the Rich Man or Lazarus is mentioned in the text.

THE CONCLUSIONS DRAWN FROM THIS STORY

1.    Although some has developed a whole theology around this single story in the gospel account of Luke about the

        ‘state’ or condition of what happens in the ‘afterlife’—the central message of Jesus somehow becomes lost in the

        process.

2.    The Pharisees could clearly see the focus of attention was upon them (Luke 16:14, 15).

3.    When we are trying to understand what happens when we die, using the story we just considered in a mistake.

4.    God wants us to examine our own hearts and minds and not to allow the things of the world to become our focus