D09 Remembering in Hell
List of the Online Lessons: A B C D E F G H
D09 Remembering in Hell
Luke (16) records the account of Jesus telling how two people died shortly after each other. One, named Lazarus, immediately after his death found himself in the arms of wonderful man of God, Abraham, that is, in heaven. We don’t know the name of the other deceased. We only know that he also died, and „in the underworld (i.e., hell) he lifted up his eyes in torment“ and tried to talk Abraham down, „Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in pain in this flame.“ (Luke 16:24) Abraham explains that there is a great gap between the two places that no one can cross now. At that moment the nameless man deep down begins to remember, „I beg you then, Abraham, send Lazarus to my father’s house. I have five brothers, let him bring them the important message so that they too will not come to this place of torment.“ Abraham says to him, „If they do not listen to the Bible (Moses and the Prophets), they will not be persuaded, even if a dead person was raised…“
You see, the glory of Jesus will be shown not only to us who are saved for eternity. Jesus‘ glory will also show up on those who remain in condemnation they themselves have entered into by their lives here and especially by their rejection of Jesus. Yes, the glory of Jesus will be shown even in eternal torment! It will not be the glory of God’s salvation, but the glory of God’s righteousness!
Notice, the man in hell does not protest at all where he is! For „deep down“ there everyone will understand what he/she has done or not done, and what was right or wrong. Everyone there will understand perfectly why they are there and where they are…
Satan is the Accuser. (Revelation 12:10) I think that in hell, the accusations will go on and on. I imagine someone there, squirming with pain, contemplating:
(a) „Yes, I belong here, righteously… They gave us that little Bible at school once. I, a proud fool, threw it in the trash… That will be self-reproach.“
(b) Certainly there will be reproaches in hell against others: „Our teacher laughed at everything Christian. My boss put me down in front of the others for even caring about such things, so I blew off this Jesus thing. I’m a wimp…“
(c) When Satan is the accuser, there will be reproaches even against Christians who have remained silent: „Yes, I’m rightfully here – I’m here for my bad actions and for rejecting Jesus. But they knew I was going here! They knew the way of rescue and they didn’t tell me! Selfish, hypocrites… They didn’t warn me, did not show me the way to avoid this place. Sometimes they’d say something in that awkward Christian language that I was so disgusting. And at the same time, they were primitive. They were separated in their sanctuaries and events, and they didn’t even want us ordinary people there! They were ashamed to talk about their Jesus. If only one of them could come here and dip the tip of finger in water and wet my tongue…“
That’s enough… Is it scary, my dear? Does it sound like a threat? Have you noticed that every day we pass the warning signs „High Voltage – Dangerous to Life“? Most of the time we don’t consider those signs to be threats. We’re grateful and respectful of them. Please note that the biblical account of hell is such a warning sign!
Will there be people in heaven who will run up to you and jump around your neck all happy that you showed them the way to connect with Jesus? And will there be people in hell who will remember you forever with remorse and anger that you didn’t tell them? I can say, YES to both questions, they will remember me there and there!“ I pray that there will be many in heaven and a few in hell… I really wish that someday in heaven, twenty, thirty or even fifty of your acquaintances will run up to you to thank you for bringing them to Jesus! I assure you it is possible!
Jesus, I would like to say, ‚Please have mercy on those around us…‘ But You have already had mercy! Now it’s our turn to make ourselves available to You and bring You to them...