Focus: Should we die today, we go to heaven, which is a step on the way to the new heavens and earth.
Function: To encourage the people in their daily walk with God to draw direction, strength, and encouragement from the Bible’s roadmap to the new heavens and earth.
Text: Luke 16:19-31
I remember her as Willie Klok. She lived in the neighborhood where I grew up. She seemed a perfectly normal human being: a model wife and mother of two children. Then, one day, Willie disappeared. No one knew where she was. They found her roaming around in the countryside—disoriented and confused. She was diagnosed with dementia. For years, Willie did not respond to any treatments. She kept on living lost in her own world. Not until the early nineties did doctors find the right medicine for Willie. Today, she lives again a reasonably normal life.
There are many people like Willie, who go through life not knowing what life is about, lacking purpose, and having no clue as to the significance of their life’s journey. They are like driftwood, floating on the sea. Are you one of them?
Oh to be sure, there may be days in our lives when we struggle with purpose and meaning, perhaps. Certainly, doubts and uncertainty in our pilgrimage of faith and daily walk with God are part of life. But this much I can say with clarity: Christ takes us by the hand and leads us to the promised land. Therefore, we are not clueless when it comes to our identity and destiny.
In fact, should we die today, Christians can say with certainty that we go to heaven, which is a step on the way to the new heavens and earth. Tonight, I wish to encourage each one of us in our daily walk with God to draw direction, strength and encouragement from the Bible’s roadmap to the new heavens and earth.
As we begin our reflections on the new heavens and earth, I want to address your skepticism first. Many in our community of faith are reluctant to pay attention to the Bible’s teachings on “the last things,” because they say, “No one really knows about life after death; you can’t know with any certainty. So why bother?” Such skepticism, however, is a huge mistake for Christians to make.
Here’s why: The Lord Jesus himself is very keen on us being informed and prepared for his final coming; Jesus is eager for us to live out of the power of his resurrection. Jesus wants us to live as citizens of his rule or kingdom. He wants us to know that there is eternal life; that there is a new heaven and earth; that life after death is life with him in heaven.
Jesus wants us to go through life with the knowledge that he has conquered death (our last enemy); that Jesus is the firstborn from the dead; that Jesus is the first fruit of the harvest of the resurrection that is to come. Jesus wants us to live with the realization that he will raise our bodies from the grave on the last day; that he will glorify our bodies; that he will judge all of humanity; that he will bring justice; and that he will make all things new.
For Christians NOT to pay attention to the Bible’s teachings on life and death, on heaven, and on the restored, renewed heavens and earth—is foolish. We are pilgrims; we are on the way to a renewed creation. God has given us a roadmap for our journey of life—that roadmap comes with many clues that give us direction, stability, and encouragement each day. But we need to pay attention to the roadmap. We must resist any skepticism when it comes to the Bible’s teachings about our future. For our future has bearing on our life today. And that’s why I read from Luke 16:19-31.
The parable of Lazarus and the rich man functions in at least three ways: (1) The parable comes to us with a warning. By telling this parable, the Lord Jesus warns the people of his day (and us today) that we must take seriously the Scriptures’ teaching on living a righteous, faith-filled life before God.
The rich man begged father Abraham to send Lazarus from the dead to warn the rich man’s brothers who are still alive. But Abraham responds: “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets (the sacred scriptures), they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” Clearly, through this parable, the Lord Jesus issues a warning.
(2) The parable calls its hearers to live a righteous life, which includes reaching out to our neighbors with mercy and compassion. The rich man ends up in the wrong corner of Hades or heaven, because in his life time on earth, the rich man failed to show compassion and mercy to poor Lazarus. A righteous man—who responds to God’s Law or Word with faith, will demonstrate mercy and compassion. The rich man failed to do so; his punishment came when he died. Through this parable, Jesus calls us to live righteously, with mercy and compassion.
(3) The parable, however, also functions as a call to pay attention to what may happen after we die. I know that there are many questions about how far can we press the images and pictures of this parable? How literal should we take this parable? But this much we can say with confidence: through this parable, the Lord Jesus informs us of the “step on the way.” Yes, you heard it correctly. This parable gives us some insights about the intermediate heaven—“another step on the way.”
Let me explain by painting the big picture of the Bible’s teaching. I’ll use the paintbrush of “Creation,” “Fall,” “Redemption,” and “New Creation.” I’ll focus on redemption and new creation. Jesus is our Redeemer; he sets us free from the bondage of sin and death; and Jesus ushers into our lives his Lordship, his kingdom which will lead us all to the new creation. Anyone who comes to Jesus, the Redeemer, by faith finds herself on the way to the new creation. That’s our ultimate destiny where we may live with God in our midst forever and ever.
Today, it’s 2007---------when Christ comes again, he will make all things new. That will be the day when heaven and earth unite, and when God lives in our midst. (Review such Scripture passages as Romans 8:18-24; II Peter 3:10-13; Hebrews 11:16; Rev. 21:1-5)
Christians are pilgrims on the way to inherit our salvation—the restored, renewed heavens and earth.
But in order to get to that final day, which ushers in the eternal Sabbath rest, eternal life with God in our midst on the new heavens and earth, we need to be aware of the “step on the way.”
That step on the way comes into focus when we ask ourselves: What happens when we should die today or tomorrow? When I go through the gateway of death, where will I be?
Clearly, since Christ has not yet returned and made all things new, I will not be with Christ on the renewed heavens and earth. All those who have died and gone before us have not yet faced the final judgment, and are not yet fully enjoying their salvation. They are, however, one step closer on the way. So, how does the Bible lead us to answer our question, “When I die, where will I be?
The Bible gives us a number of answers to that question. For example, I will be buried; my body will be in a grave; people will be able to say, “Here lies Pastor Jack. He is dead; his body is turning to dust. He is waiting for the resurrection to come.” That is a biblical answer to the question we just raised. Paul tells us in I Cor. 15:42 that the “body that is sown” (buried) is perishable, weak, subject to the power of death.” But that’s not the whole story. For that body of ours is waiting to be raised in glory. This is the New Testament perspective on death and on the step closer on the way.
The Old Testament is quite vague about life after death. It speaks primarily in terms of Sheol, which is a general reference to the realm of the dead. From the O.T. perspective, all people who die end up in Sheol, the place of the dead.
The New Testament, however, has a much more developed teaching about the realm of the dead. The realm of the dead is really another “step closer on the way.” The New Testament does not speak of a “step closer on the way.” Rather, it speaks of “Paradise,”(Lk.23:43) “Heaven,” (Rev. 4:1) “Hades with a great gulf where some suffer torments of hell and anticipated judgment, and others (like Lazarus) experience comfort and blessings(Matthew 16:18; Rev. 1:18; 6:8; 20:13,14). The New Testament also refers to this step closer on the way as our heavenly Father’s “house,” (John 14:2) and as the “cloud of witnesses.” (Hebrews 12:1)
All of these references and images pointing to the realm of the dead give us glimpses of the step closer on the way. And the scriptures give us these windows, these glimpses of the step closer on the way, so that we find direction, strength and encouragement in our daily walk with God.
APPLICATIONS
That’s why I believe that God is asking us to do the following: You and I need to be informed about this biblical teaching. Study these things from Scripture; be instructed in the step closer on the way. Let it be, and become more so, part of your world and life view, shaped by Christ and his Word.
Knowing that Christ does not abandon us as we go through the gateway of death, is of tremendous comfort. Knowing that our bodies, though they turn into dust in the grave, are of extreme interest to God, so much so that he will re-constitute our dust and raise us from the dead, is a powerful antidote to spirit of our age, which says: dead is dead; there is nothing after we die.
Also, realizing that God has created this step (this intermediate heaven) on the way, shows us God’s love and care for us as we long to inherit the future of a restored, renewed creation with God living in our midst. God does not abandon us in the grave; in fact, all those who die in faith, that is, in Christ Jesus, are with Christ Jesus in heaven.
To be sure, as long as we are part of this step on the way, we are incomplete, not yet perfected, not yet glorified; we are part of the heavenly hosts; we are part of the great cloud of witnesses; like Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham, so we shall be comforted by the very presence of the Lord Jesus. And we shall be part of the “welcome wagon,” when the Lord Jesus comes at the end of time. For when he comes to make all things, new, all those who have died shall be with him. (I Thess. 4)
Also, I believe that God wants us NOT only to be informed, instructed about these things, but also be strengthened by this teaching in our daily walk with God. This expectation is in line with the Bible’s teaching, for example, that Christians, in the face of death, should not grieve as people without hope. That Christians do not have to fear death, because Christ has taken the “sting” out of death; Christ has turned death into a gateway into eternal life. Death for Christians is a step closer on the way to the new heavens and earth.
God calls us to find strength in knowing that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus; that to be with Christ in this intermediate heaven, in this step closer on the way—is desirable, as Paul said to the Philippian church after years of hard work proclaiming the gospel and enduring persecutions: “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.” (Phil. 1:23)
Yes, embrace this step on the way. Draw strength and encouragement from it; and let it shape you daily walk with God.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.