Heaven in view. Part 1

There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, "'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire."
But Abraham replied, "Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us."
He answered, "Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment."
Abraham replied, "They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them."
"No, father Abraham," he said, "but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent."
He [Abraham] said to him, "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead."

Now I'm not sure whether this story Jesus told was a parable or not. It could have very well been a true occurrence, especially since He named the beggar, Lazarus. Furthermore, tradition has it that the rich man's name was Dives. There are many lessons to be learned from this story, but the one we want to focus on today is the attitude of Dives while in hell or Hades, as it is also called. Notice his first concern in hell is for personal relief. His second concern is for his five brothers who are still carelessly and selfishly living and doing their thing on earth. Notice that he was willing to forget about his own desperate desire for relief if only his brothers could be warned not to come to that place. Suddenly, after living a life of immense selfishness and disregard for others, he is overwhelmingly concerned for somebody else. Notice how much the pangs of hell change people!

The world has seen some unbelievably great and effective missionaries and evangelists down through the years. But the greatest missionary this world has ever seen would be a soul just released from hell! Imagine what would happen if Dives himself were to be allowed to return to earth for one week. He would go straight to his father's house and start screaming, "YOU FOOLS! WAKE UP, YOU IDIOTS! DON'T YOU KNOW THAT DEATH, HELL AND EVERLASTING DESTRUCTION IS JUST A BREATH AWAY? CAN'T YOU SEE THAT SATAN IS JUST WAITING FOR YOU JUST A MOMENT AWAY? FORGET ABOUT EVERYTHING THAT YOU THINK IS SO IMPORTANT NOW! TURN TO GOD, NOW, BEFORE IT'S ABSOLUTELY, ETERNALLY TOO LATE!!!"
His brothers, I'm sure, would think he had gone stark raving mad. But this would not deter or silence him in the least. He would unceasingly plead and beg them, on his hands and knees, to carefully consider and reconsider what he's telling them. Think of the unimaginably great relief he would feel if just one of them would listen to his voice.
Next, he would turn his attention to all his friends and neighbors. He would go back to talk to all his old girl friends, ex-wives, and forgotten acquaintances. He would even warn his enemies of the hellfire to come! In a short time, the entire city would think this rich man had gone crazy. Before long this guy would be scouring heaven and earth for souls to warn about the dangers and reality of hell. He would never tire. He would never allow himself to get distracted. He wouldn't stop to enjoy life to the fullest and he wouldn't care whether he was persecuted or not. He wouldn't bother to get himself all wrapped up in earthly busyness. There would be times he would not eat, drink, or sleep. There would be things he would deliberately miss out on simply because they would not amount to a hill of beans when heaven and hell are at stake. No, my friend, I'm telling you, we have not yet seen the missionary fervor of a soul just released from hell!

Now why is it that we would expect a soul just released from hell to act so desperately, while we Christians who preach this and claim to believe this act so nonchalantly? Is this stuff true or not? Do we believe it or not? Is there truly a heaven and a hell? Is there really a life after death? Is there truly an eternity, in which every soul on earth will live in one of only two places? I ask this because, if there is-if heaven and hell and eternity are really for real-then most of us ought to be living vastly different lives than we now do.
Just imagine: if we let the souls now in hell come back to earth, do you think they would know how to live then? Do you think they would make the same mistake of forgetting God and rejecting Jesus Christ? Do you think they would continue to squeeze God little by little out of their lives? Do you think they would carelessly allow sin and selfishness to rule their lives-their new lives? What would they tell us about living our lives? What would they view as the most important things in life?
I am convinced that they would tell us that the only truly valuable things in this life are the things that pertain to or affect the next life. The only things that really matter in this life are the things that have a bearing on the next life. Eternity gives meaning to this life.Without the next life, nothing else really matters. If there is no hereafter, then it doesn't really matter at all what we do here. As the apostle Paul and others have reasoned, "Let's just eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die" (1 Corinthians 15:32), and that's that. But if there is a hereafter, if there is a reckoning day, then what we do today takes on infinite and eternal significance.
Everything we do ought to be done with eternity in mind. Everything we say must be said with eternity in mind. Our entire lives must be lived with preparing ourselves and others for eternity as our chief business. We must make our lives count, and that can only be done by living life with eternity in view. We must continually ask ourselves, "Will this hurt or hinder my own soul? Will this help save some other soul? Is this really a waste of time? Will this count in eternity?"










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