Believing in Invisible Things
Do you believe in the invisible? In things you can’t see? Of course you do if you believe in feelings like anger or sadness. You see the effects of them but you can’t see the emotion itself. Or what about the wind? Can you see it or its effects? Jesus compares the wind to people who’re “born of the Spirit” (Jn. 3:8). You can see that it’s happened, but you’re not sure how.
We believe in many things that are invisible. But for some reason the existence of an invisible world beyond this one is hard for our modern minds to accept. We only accept what we can see, or what we can explain.
An Invisible World Worth Studying
Today we’re beginning a seven-week series on heaven. This series is built on the premise that there’s a world, a dimension, a reality that exists that’s invisible to us now. To be a Chrisian you have to believe in things you can’t see, in things science can’t measure or explain. “Faith is…the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1).
In this series, we’ll look at things we can’t see. Here’s where we’re going:
- We Die, Then What?, from Luke 16
- Heaven is Real, But You Already Knew That, from Ecclesiastes 3:11
- Heaven is Not Our Final Destination?: The Intermediate State, the Second Coming of Jesus, and the Resurrection, from 2 Corinthains 5, 1 Thess. 4, and 1 Cor. 15
- Heaven on Earth: The New Heaven and the New Earth, from Revelation 21-22 (two weeks)
- Heaven’s Glory: Rewards and Remembering, from 2 Corinthians 5, Revelation 20
- What Do We Do While We Wait for Heaven?: Go to Work, Go to Church, and Go to the Nations, from Luke 12, Hebrews 10, and Matthew 24.
Why are we doing this series? One reason is that my heart has been longing for heaven more this year than ever before. Another is that it seems wise to study what the Bible says about the place believers will spend the vast majority of their existence. Another is that many of us have false conceptions of what heaven is and isn’t. Another is that I’ve never taught on this for any length.
Another is that living in light of heaven is what Jesus saved us to: Colossians 3:1-3, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:1-3).
Thinking about heaven is also how we make it through our days on earth: “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:16-18).
The Finality of Death
We’ll start this series in Luke 16 by looking at the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (vv. 19-31). I want us to start here because as we begin talking about the afterlife, we need to understand the finality of death. The main point of this passage is that there’s life after death in either heaven or hell and that the time to choose between these two destinies is now.
Jesus is teaching us many things here, but one of the main things he’s saying is that death is final. When we die, our fate is sealed. There are no do-overs, mulligans, get-out-of-jail-free cards, second chances, or changes of address. When we die, we either go to heaven or to hell.
Two Men
This is a story of two men, a rich man and a poor man. The rich man is wearing purple cloth made from a dye extracted from snails (an expensive and difficult process) and “fine linen” undergarments. He was never hungry, “feasting sumptuously every day” (v. 19).
This isn’t a story condemning wealth. Abraham and Job were very wealthy and very godly men. Lydia, the first Christian in Europe, was “a seller of purple goods” and had a house large enough to host the church Paul planted in Philippi (Acts 16:11-15).
But wealth always comes with responsibility and temptation, which is why Jesus says that it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God (Lk. 18:25). This parable illustrates that principle perfectly. The rich man has no concern for the basic needs of the poor man at his doorstep. He uses his wealth on himself every day, seeing Lazarus but ignoring him, not offering him food or clothing or basic medical care, and he dies and goes to hell.
Jesus intentionally doesn’t give the rich man a name. He may be rich and successful, but in this story, he has no honor. Jesus is saying that those who don’t show mercy to those in need don’t deserve a name.
Isn’t it sad if all that can be said of us is, “She was wealthy,” or “He was well-off and successful.” If all we’re known for is what we have and not what we are or what we do, then we’re like this rich man, not worthy of a name.
Then there’s Lazarus, the poor man. This isn’t the Lazarus who was Jesus’ friend. Lazarus was a common name then. Jesus says he was poor, sick, and hungry. These things often go together, which is why the best mercy ministries take a holistic approach.
Every day someone “lays,” or “drops,” Lazarus at the rich man’s house, and every day the rich man passes by him without seeming to notice. His only companions were dogs, a detail emphasizing his dehumanization (v. 21). Isn’t it true that dogs are more likely to draw near to poor people than we wealthy people are?
Lazarus is just hanging on, surviving day by day. But he has something the rich man doesn’t. He has a name! His name is from the Hebrew “Eleazar,” which means “God has helped.” And indeed, God does help this man even though the rich man didn’t.
These men lived on opposite sides of the tracks in life. But when they died, there was a great reversal (vv. 22-23). Jesus isn’t teaching that the poor go to heaven and the rich go to hell. He is teaching that what we have in this life doesn’t determine where we go in the next life. As New Testament scholar Darrell Bock says, “Callous indulgence in this life will be met with an absence of blessing from God in the next. One reaps what one sows.”[1]
Two Places
When they die, Lazarus goes to “Abraham’s side,” which is another way of saying heaven, and the rich man goes to “Hades,” a place of “torment.” These places aren’t the final destination for believers or unbelievers, that is, “Abraham’s side” is not the same as the New Heaven and New Earth (Rev. 21), and “Hades” is not the same as the lake of fire, or hell (Rev. 20:15). More on that in a couple weeks.
Jesus’ story means that there is conscious existence after we die, both for the lost and the saved. This rules out the notion of soul-sleep, or the view that the soul is unconscious at the time of death, or annihilationism, or the view that unbelievers cease to exist after death.
Secular materialists don’t believe in any existence at all after death. But even some Christians believe that the soul sleeps or is annihilated upon death. Jesus’ story undermines all these views. His point is that we’ll be very much alive after we die.
The rich man ends up in Hades, which is the Greek work for the Hebrew “sheol,” a word usually used as a synonym for conscious existence after death, for unbelievers and believers. Here Jesus uses it to refer to where the unbelieving rich man goes when he dies. It’s not the final destination for unbelievers, or hell. But it’s nonetheless a place of torment, anguish, and loneliness. Hades is the gateway to hell for unbelievers.
Hades, like hell, is a place of conscious torment and anguish. The rich man is very much aware and very much in pain. The only thing about hell that’s different is that it’s eternal. It’s a place of eternal, conscious, torment for all who reject God’s Son Jesus and the forgiveness that he offers. “The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night” (Rev. 14:11). “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12:2).
Part of the torment of Hades and Hell is that those who’re there will be all alone. There’s a “great chasm” separating the rich man from Lazarus in heaven (v. 26). There are no visitors or visitation hours for those imprisoned in hell.
In hell, the common grace of God is removed, including the common grace of relationships and conversation. You are stuck forever in solitary confinement. T. S. Elliot wrote about this in his play The Cocktail Party: “What is hell? Hell is oneself. Hell is alone, the other figures in it merely projections. There is nothing to escape from and nothing to escape to. One is always alone.”[2]
When we’re lonely now we can call a friend, go to church, join a book club, or go hang out with people. But in hell all your options for connection are removed. You’re stuck with yourself forever. You can’t go get coffee and mingle with people in the breakroom of hell.
Jesus’ teaching here means that there’s no such thing as purgatory, or a temporary habitation from which it’s possible to leave. There’s no highway from hell to heaven. Verse 26, “Those who would pass from here to you may not be able” means that there’s no evangelism in hell after death. And, “None may cross from there to us” means there’s no escape from hell. As Derek Thomas says, “Where we find ourselves after death is where we will be forever.”[3]
Not Caring for the Poor Means You Don’t Know God
The rich man didn’t end up in Hades because he was rich, but because he had no faith. How do we know that? Because he had no deeds that flowed from faith. If he truly knew God, he would’ve done what he could to help the poor. The consistent teaching of the Bible is that God’s people care about the poor. As John said, “If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” (1 Jn. 3:17)
If we love our money and possessions more than we love God and the people God made, we may be headed to the same place as this rich man. Again Thomas puts it bluntly: “If money matters more than people, it shows you have an unregenerate heart.”[4]
More Selfishness
In verses 27-31, the rich man seems to accept his fate, but he still has one more request. He wants Abraham to send Lazarus to his family to warn them about hell. This is an understandable request, a request our loved ones who’ve died without Christ and went to hell would send to us.
But it’s also more selfishness. Even in hell, the rich man thinks Lazarus should serve him. He’s still only thinking about himself and doesn’t care about the poor. Yes, he wants to warn his family, but only after he pleads for himself (v. 24). As one commentator says, “Sinners remain selfish in hell.”[5]
The Most Convincing Evidence
Notice what Abraham’s response is in verses 29-31. Jesus is saying that it’s better to send lost people a Bible than a resurrected person. He says if they don’t believe the word of God, they won’t believe a miracle.
What would you think is more convincing, someone coming to you who has already died, or someone bringing you a Bible? If we’re honest, we’d say seeing the resurrected person.
But Jesus, and later Peter, say that God’s word is more convincing than signs and wonders. In one of his letters, Peter is talking about the time he, James, and John saw Jesus transfigured so that they saw his glory and they heard the voice of God saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Then Peter says, “And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention” (2 Pet. 1:16-19). He says that a Bible is more convincing than hearing the voice of God!
The point Jesus and Peter are making is that unbelief and a refusal to repent aren’t the result of the lack of evidence but due to a stony heart.[6] The only way to see the world of heaven is with the eyes of faith in the word of God.
What About You?
What about you? Where will you be five minutes after you die? Will you go to Abraham’s side or to Hades? How much money you have is irrelevant. Whether you put your faith in Jesus, who you can’t see with your eyes, will be all that matters.
You have to decide what you’ll do with the good news of Jesus Christ. There is life after death in either heaven or hell and the time to choose between these two destinies is now. The gospel is only good news if you accept it before you die.
[1]Darrell L. Bock, Luke, Volume 2: 9:51-24:53, in Baker Exegetical Commentary of the New Testament, ed. Moises Silva (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1996), 1360.
[2]Quoted in Derek W. H. Thomas, Heaven on Earth: What the Bible Teaches about Life to Come (Ross-Shire, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2018), 24.
[3]Thomas, 25.
[4]Ibid.
[5]Thabiti Anyabwile, Exalting Jesus in Luke, in Christ-Centered Exposition (Nashville: Holman, 2018), 250.
[6]Robert H. Stein, Luke, in The New American Commentary, vol. 24 (Nashville: B&H Publishing, 1992), 422.