I would not have you ignorant, Paul says. Too many people
don’t understand death and life. Paul told the Corinthian Christians that death
was necessary (1 Co. 15:50f). This body of ours can only last a short time.
Even though people can live over 100 years, their bodies begin to deteriorate long
before. However, Paul teaches us that there is a purpose in death: we die so
that we can be changed – changed so that we can live for eternity.
This is true for all people – lost and saved alike. Remember
the parable I mentioned about the rich man and Lazarus? It’s found in Luke
16:19-31. In this parable, both men died. The rich man was lost in his sins,
and Lazarus was declared righteous because of his faith. I say that without
hesitation because that is how all people are declared righteous – from the Old
Testament to the New. When the rich man
died, he went to a place of torment. Several different words are used in the
Bible to describe this place. We call it Hell. The rich man was so miserable
that he begged for a single drop of water. Jesus told the rich man that no one
can ever leave that place of torment (v. 26). Jesus also taught in Mark 9 that
the torment never ends. Paul said in Hebrews 6:2 that judgment is eternal.
Isaiah 66:24 pictured hell as a place where bodies are being consumed but never
die. Folks, Dante’s inferno doesn’t do justice to the reality of Hell.
That is why Jesus taught that anything that would prevent a
person from coming to Christ should be “cut off.” Everything that prevents us
from living in His righteousness should be removed from our lives (Mark
9:42-48). Nothing is worth spending eternity in hell. Nothing.
On the other hand, Paul says, I would not have you ignorant –
and I would add, “About heaven.” In the parable of Luke 16, Lazarus was a
righteous man. In spite of the suffering he had experienced in life, he had
maintained his faith in God. Like Abraham and all the Old Testament saints, he
believed God, and God counted his belief to him as righteousness. When Lazarus
died, he went to the place called Abraham’s Bosom where he was comforted – this
was just the beginning of his eternity. This place was not heaven; it was the
place reserved for the righteous dead in the Old Testament. You see, there is
only one way to heaven. There is only one way to see God face to face, and that
is to place your faith and trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior. (If you
haven’t already done so, read my post from yesterday, and make that decision
today.) Until Jesus died on the cross, Old Testament saints went to this place
of comfort, and when Jesus died, He did, too. Read 1 Peter 3:18-19. Jesus “descended”
into Abraham’s Bosom and revealed Himself to these Old Testament saints as the
Messiah. Undoubtedly, because these were men and women of faith, they believed
in Him and accepted His sacrifice as the atonement for their sins. And so then,
Jesus took them to Paradise/Heaven (Ephesians 4:8-10).
My friends, nothing is worth spending eternity in Hell.
Everything in this life pales in comparison to heaven. Won’t you place your
faith in Jesus today?
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