1 Corinthians 15:58

(See verses 51-58 for context.)

Most people live as if they were never going to die. And really, it's pretty obvious why most people don't think about it. You work for years to train yourself for your profession, and what do you get: a dull job, a house, a car, a bank account, a couple of kids; if you play your cards right, you get a boat or a plane and more vacation time. But here's the big question: what good does all of that do you if you are just going to die in the end? How do people handle this? They just ignore the fact that they are going to die; they put death off in hospitals and retirement homes, and go merrily on their way getting and looking at things. But how can ignoring the fact of death make life any better? We've got to live according to the facts, and leave the dreams for kids. Look at the world's goals: FAME - what do you care how many people visit your grave after you're dead? POWER - 'king of the hill' over people who are out to get you. RICHES - most of the richest people in the world are miserable and bored. And when you stop to think about it, what doesn't get boring after a while? That's why you've got to keep looking for the fresh, the fun and the free. It just isn't worthwhile to work hard at all, because you only live once. As they say, "let's grab all the gusto we can get]"

As an example, look at Christians: what good does it do them to live morally, to be nice to everybody, and to build bigger churches, when they are simply going to die too? There they are, ignoring all of the pleasures and the fantastic opportunities that the world has to offer so that they can witness to people; they even struggle against the "sins" that the rest of the world enjoys. Since they die too, and that is all there is to their existence, what difference does it really make to be a Hugh Hefner, a Howard Hughes, or a John Calvin? Why not just go on welfare, run with the pleasures that the world has to offer, and at least have fun?

Well, why not? This is a popular answer, but consider a Biblical answer given in:

Hebrews 11:24-26 "By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharoah's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward."

This faith is not "blind faith" on Moses' part, or on our part either. We have made it plain that it is on the basis of sufficient evidence that we believe the Bible to be the Word of God, and as such it is our only reliable standard of truth. Moses' confidence that God would fulfill His promises and reward him for his service was not, then, an unrealistic wish, but reasonable trust in the God who had already demonstrated Himself to be worthy of that trust.

What then is the reward which Moses looked ahead to? Did Moses receive it back then? The conclusion to the Hebrews 11 discussion of such great men of the Faith is given in verses 39 and 40 of that same chapter:

"These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect."

Whatever this reward is, Moses will receive it together with us. This is what we want to consider now: what is this reward? Do we just die, and that is the end of our existence, or is there something coming after we die that is sufficiently good to affect the way we live now? To answer this question, we must consider several factors, the first of which is the resurrection. The Scriptures speak of two signifigant resurrections:

1. By the power of God, Jesus Christ was bodily raised from the dead on the third day.

Question: Third day? If He died on Friday and rose on Sunday, wasn't that only two days (Sat. and Sun.)?

In the Hebrew language, "the third day" is equivalent to our "the day after tomorrow." In their culture, they counted today as day one. That makes Saturday day two, and Sunday is the third day. For Biblical uses of "the third day" in the Hebrew idiom see 1 Samuel 20:12 and Genesis 1:5-13.

The fact of Christ's resurrection was the basis of the great sermons of the early church: see Acts 2:31-32, 3:15, 26, 4:10, 5:30, 10:40, 13:30, 33-34, 37, 17:31.

Why is Christ's resurrection important?

Mohammed, Buddha, Confuscius and Jesus were all great "moral teachers," but only Jesus came back from the dead! Christ's resurrection demonstrates that the God of the Bible speaks truthfully when He claims to have power over death, and when He offers to redeem lost and sinful men.

a. The resurrection is central and essential to the claims of Christianity.

i) That the resurrection is central to Christianity is clear because it is a part of the very heart of Christianity: The Gospel.

1 Corinthians 15:2-8, 20 Take the time to read the first 32 verses in 1 Corinthians 15 in your Bible before continuing.

Note that Paul here defines the Gospel which Christians are instructed to hold firmly. The Gospel is this:

1. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.

2. He was buried - he was really physically dead.

3. He was raised the third day according to the Scriptures.

To back this last claim, Paul notes the following data: He appeared to Peter and the Twelve; He appeared to over five hundred witnesses, most of whom were still living when Paul wrote his letter. Further, Christ appeared to James, to all of the apostles, and lastly to Paul. Note that Paul is the last person to whom Christ has appeared. Thus we see that Paul considers the fact of the bodily resurrection of our Lord Jesus to be a part of the Gospel.

Note that Jesus did not appear only to a small inner circle of men for only one evening: He appeared to many men over a period of forty days. To argue that so many people only imagined (or hallucinated) that they saw the bodily-risen Jesus over such a long time interval is to propose a greater miracle than to simply say that God did after all raise Jesus from the dead.

1 Corinthians 15:14, 17, 19, 32 Paul here argues that if Christ has not been raised, then all of his preaching, and even our faith, is useless, despite the fact that it improves men's lives; for if Christ has not been raised from the dead then we are still in our sins. Notice that our confidence in Christ's death to pay for our sins is inextricable from His resurrection. For Christ had not been raised, what would have made His death any different from that of a misunderstood martyr, such as Aristotle? No, our confidence that Christ has power over sin and death is that He put Himself under their power and overcame them.

Note that Paul asserts that if we only use Christ as our example or hero to get us through this present life (as liberals do), then we are the most pitiable of men. What good are displays of courage against the greatest of dangers, if we only die and that is all there is? We would be better off enjoying the passing pleasures of this life. Note that Paul argues that there are only two consistent ways to live: we should either "eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die," or be solid Christians. Those who chose the former are ignoring the fact of Christ's resurrection and its implications.

There are some people who try to have more (blind) "faith" than this. They argue that even if Christ did not rise from the dead, they would still believe. As we can see from this passage, such a 'noble' faith is not Biblical faith: it is nonsense.

This is a strong point to use in witnessing: to say, "There are all kinds of people running around today who ask you to 'have faith' in one thing or another, but I've found that you can trust in the Scriptures and in Jesus on the basis of reasonable evidence. For instance, if the body of Christ were found tomorrow and shown to really have been the body of Christ, or if some other solid archaeological data were found to disprove Christ's resurrection, I could no longer be a Christian."

A statement like this will really get another person to stop and think, because you are claiming that you have a firm basis for your beliefs, and that you do not neurotically cling to them as a crutch. And of course this is true: the basis of Christianity is not a stupendous claim which people cling to out of sheer tenacity; it is a reasonable and testable confidence in the God who has proven Himself to be trustworthy (cf. Romans 4:21, Mark 2:9-11). It is worth noting that Paul argues in a similar way in 1 Corinthians 15.

1 Corinthians 15:20 Amidst this discussion of the consequences that would follow if Christ had not been raised from the dead, Paul asserts (having just listed the evidence), "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep."

Christ's resurrection was a physical, bodily resurrection. Let us examine a few of the accounts that describe the risen Christ:

Luke 24:36-43 When Jesus first appeared to His disciples after He rose from the dead, they were frightened and thought they were seeing a ghost. Jesus calms their fear by saying to them, "Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself] Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have." Even after the disciples saw that Jesus had real flesh and bones, the passage says that they they still did not believe for their amazement. Jesus then ate a piece of their broiled fish to demonstrate that He was not a ghost or a spirit, but was truly with them physically (see also Acts 10:41).

John 20:24-31 The full impact of this story of the skeptic who became a believer is covered in the lesson entitled Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Note here that in verse 27, Jesus invites Thomas to put his finger into His hands to feel the nailprints and to put his hand into His side where He had been stabbed with the spear. That Jesus could invite Thomas to touch Him shows that he did not see Jesus in a vision or as a spirit, but that His physical body (the same body that was buried in the tomb) had been raised from death.

Liberals like Karl Barth would deny the literal, physical resurrection of Jesus which the Scriptures clearly teach by saying that "Jesus arose in their hearts." They deny the core of Christianity, yet they attempt to deceive others by still claiming to be Christian pastors and teachers. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 warns Christians to have nothing to do with men such as these who have a form of godliness but deny its power. 2 Peter 2:1-3 also warns us that men who introduce these destructive heresies deny the Lord, and that they bring swift destruction upon themselves. Such men, it is taught here, exploit people with stories that they have made up. These descriptions sound harsh, but remember that these warnings are given by the Lord to protect the people He loves from being fooled or exploited by such clever, but ungodly, men.

In response to the crucial nature of Jesus' physical resurrection to the Christian faith, it might be said, "But I was not there, how do I know that Jesus really did rise from the dead?" We have just seen passages in the Scriptures which demonstrate that the evidence of Jesus' resurrection was sufficient to convince even skeptics back then, when the matter could have been thoroughly investigated. Remember John 20, the conversion of Thomas, and 1 Corinthians 15, in which Paul mentions over five hundred witnesses who saw Jesus alive after His death. These witnesses could have been cross examined, and their testimonies checked against one another, to determine their reliability. But just because a ancient book mentions these things does not make them true. Could not all of those accounts be cleverly constructed fables?

The historical validity of the New Testament documents can be demonstrate by comparing them to secular historical documents and archaeological records. As far as the New Testament documents can be checked by us today, they are found to be reliable (for more on this, see F.F. Bruce's The New Testament Documents, Are They Reliable?). This then increases our confidence in the historical accuracy of the resurrection accounts, since they are found in an historically accurate document.

Yet for all this, several eyewitness accounts alone are not sufficient to establish for the moderate skeptic that his confidence should be in Jesus. And this is an incredible point: the Apostles did not rely on their personal (eyewitness) experience as their final proof of Jesus' resurrection and claims to deity. They appealed to evidence that anyone, even the skeptic today, can check up on: prophecy.

2 Peter 1:16-19 "We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, for we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to Him from the Majestic Glory, saying, 'This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.' We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with Him on the sacred mountain. And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place . . . ."

In this passage, Peter assures his readers that the apostles' accounts of Jesus were not cleverly constructed stories. He reminds them that he and the other apostles were eyewitnesses to what they taught. Yet he does not stop there. He goes on to say that because they saw these things, the word of the prophets (recorded in the First Testament) is made more sure. That the words of the prophets were fulfilled by Jesus firms up in our minds that those prophets were truly men of God, and that the Lord is upholding their words. Peter then instructs his readers to pay attention to the prophecy of Scripture "as to a light shining in a dark place." In other words, the weight that Jesus' resurrection (or any other part of His life and ministry) adds to the proof that Jesus is indeed God's anointed Messiah does not come from the spectacular nature of the event, but from the fact that it is a clear fulfillment of First Testament prophecies (cf. Acts 2:24-32, 1 Peter 2:23-24).

The First Testament prophets spoke of the Lord's Anointed One and what He would do (cf. Isaiah 53). That their other predictions had come true led the Jews to believe that the promised Messiah was going to come. That the Messianic predictions were fulfilled in a clear but complex (so that no one could 'fake' the fulfillment) way in Jesus was to the apostles' the final proof that Jesus 'must indeed be the Messiah.'

In concluding his inspired argument, Peter reminds us that the prophets who wrote the Scriptures did not write something which they had invented, but that as they wrote, they were carried along by the Holy Spirit so that ultimately, what they spoke was from God. Even today, we can examine the evidence of fulfilled prophecy (and we will in a special class that will be coming up soon) and determine that the prophets were men whose messages ultimately came from God.

Luke 16:27-31 In this passage, a rich man who died and went to hell asks the Lord to send a man back from the dead to warn his brothers about hell. The answer from Abraham in heaven comes back, "They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them." The man in hell then argues that his brothers would surely listen to someone who was raised from the dead. But the reply to this man was, "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead."

Stop and consider this for a minute: wouldn't this be an incredible proof? What if your grandfather who has been dead for twenty years would walk in the door, greet you, and warn you solemnly about the fact of hell? Would not that be an adequate proof to you that there is really a hell and that you should trust in Jesus to cover your sin so that you do not end up in hell yourself?

The Scriptures assert that the evidences found in Moses and the Prophets (the First Testament) is even more convincing. If men have hardened themselves to the point where they can ignore or rationalize away the weight of the evidence from fulfilled prophecies, they will also ignore or rationalize away such a miraculous event as a resurrection, even if they were eyewitnesses.

So again, we see that the most persuasive testimony concerning the resurrection of God's Anointed is found in the writings of the objectively established prophets. The testimonies of the apostles do not then establish the credibility of the miraculous event, but tell us when this already credible and expected event occurred.

Jesus went into coma on cross, revived in tomb; but unconsciousness on cross would be fatal; walking on nail-pierced feet a good trick! Jesus did not make "walking wounded" impression on disciples

Jesus died, but women/disciples had grief-induced hallucinations in which they thought they saw him alive; but hallucinations do not produce long-term, multiple witness, multiple sense appearances; authorities would have checked tomb as soon as story began to be uncomfortable for them.

Jesus or apostles or other disciples removed body from tomb; but Schonfield's view of Jesus setting up fraud has same problems as coma theory; other versions have to ignore soldiers at tomb, willingness of disciples to die for belief, nature of disciples' conduct (see Littelton, Observations on the Conversion & Apostleship of St. Paul); lack of fit with the phenomena of Jesus' ministry.

Evidence for existence of Jesus about as strong as for anyone in antiquity. If we know anything about him, we know he was crucified. If tomb not empty, authorities had perfect means to smash early Xy.

It is possible, but dangerous, to rule out the resurrection because evidence for it is merely historical rather than deductive or scientific. We cannot afford to demand that God do things our way, when in fact our problem is rebellion against Him and He is graciously offering us an opportunity for pardon.

Psalm 22 The first 21 verses of this Psalm describe the physical agony experienced by a crucified person, even though crucifixion had not even been invented at that time. Verse 15 tells us that this person has been laid in the dust of death by God, yet in verse 22 the tone of the Psalm changes from one of agony to one of victory and rejoicing. The first part of the Psalm clearly predicts the Messiah's death (cf. verses 16 and 18); the second portion of this Psalm refers to His resurrection.

Notice verse 29, and that it mentions that those "who go down to the dust will kneel before the Lord - those who cannot keep themselves alive." This is an explicit reference to the resurrection of the dead. How can those who have gone down to the dust kneel before the Lord unless they are given life again? In fact, this Psalm was understood by the Jews to be Messianic until after the 10th century A.D., when Jewish sentiment turned especially cold toward Christianity and the Jews changed their long-held belief that such passages describe the Messiah.

Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12 Up through the middle of Isaiah 53:10 this passage describes the suffering and death of the Lord's Servant. Especially notice verses 8-9 with regard to the death of this servant ("cut off" is a Hebrew idiom for 'killed' or 'murdered', cf. 1 Kings 18:5). Yet in verse 10 this servant's days are said to be prolonged and the will of the Lord will prosper in this servant's hand. Again in verse 12, we see that because this servant poured out his life unto death, God would give Him a portion among the great. How could this be that a dead person could be so highly exalted unless He were first raised from the dead? Again, this passage was held by the Jews to describe the Messiah until their anti-christian sentiments caused them to change their view of it. Especially important in this passage are verses 6, 11-12:

"We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion with the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."

This passage identifies the one who will pay for our sins and justify us before God as the same one who will rise from the dead. That our confidence in Jesus as our Savior is based on His resurrection does not only follow from the power shown by the resurrection; it has been foretold by a established prophet that the sin bearer would be raised from the dead. If Jesus were not raised, He would not be the sin bearer anointed by God. To have faith in someone who was not raised from the dead would be to ignore what God has told us about our Savior; that would be a futile faith indeed.

Psalm 16: 8-11 Notice verse 10: "because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay." David, who wrote this Psalm was not speaking of himself, because David's body remained in the grave and decayed (cf. Acts 13:35-37). David prophetically spoke of another, the Lord's Holy One, whom the Lord would not allow to see physical decay; ie., He would raise His servant from the dead.

On the basis of passages like these, we would expect that the Lord would send a Servant whom He would raise from the dead. This Servant through His death would have given Himself as a payment for the sins of the people. Through the knowledge of this righteous one, many would be made just before God. From a study of these passages we can see why Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15 that Jesus' death for our sins and His resurrection were "according to the Scriptures."

Despite all of this, are not the four Gospel accounts of the resurrection contradictory? How can these testimonies be reliable when they contradict one another?

No, the four gospel accounts of the resurrection morning are not contradictory. It is true that they include different details, and so they might appear upon a quick inspection to be contradictory, but they can be reconciled very reasonably.

1. Christ is now in heaven after His resurrection.

Acts 1:9-11 "After He said this, He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as He was gling, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 'Men of Galilee,' they said, 'wht do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.'"

Ephesians 1:20 God has seated Christ at His right hand in the heavenly realms.

By means of the Holy Spirit, who indwells believers, Christ is said to live in believer's hearts by faith (Ephesians 3:16-17, Romans 8:9-11).

2. Christ is interceding for us at the right hand of the Father.

Romans 8:34 Here we are told that Christ, who died for us and was raised to life, is at the right hand of God and is interceding for us. This is a tremendous comfort for forgiven sinners, because Christ is there to answer any charge against one of His believers with the unrefutable plea that on the cross the full demands of justice were satisfied for the sins of believers. (Also see Hebrews 10:12, 12:2.) What a rich salvation is ours in our Lord Jesus Christ!!!!

Hebrews 7:24-25 Since the priests of the Jews were mortal, they had to be replaced as they died, and so there were many of them. But because Jesus lives forever, He is the only priest we need before God. Jesus, the Scriptures assert, is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them. We need no priest other than the one who offered the perfect sacrifice of Himself for our sins.

3. Christ is our only High Priest and Advocate with the Father.

1 Timothy 2:5 "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." (See also 1 John 2:12).

Human priests in the First Testament foreshadowed the priesthood of Christ (Hebrews 7:23-24, 28), but such priesthoods are now entirely set aside and exist no more.

Hebrews 10:14,18 Christ's one sacrifice "has made perfect forever those who are being made holy." As verse 18 concludes, where our sins "have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin."

Therefore, any denomination that still has "priests" who are offering "sacrifices" is unscriptural. In their practice of offering sacrifices, they diminish the value of Christ's one sacrifice on the cross. On the basis of Jesus' resurrection we know that He is the One spoken of in the Scriptures whose one sacrifice for sin would satisfy God. Therefore, we can put our fullest confidence in Jesus' sacrifice alone. Jesus alone has power over sin and death. What a Savior!!!!

PART TWO:

1. Even as Christ was raised from the dead, so shall every believer who dies before Jesus' return be raised from the dead.

Job 19:25-27 Job knew that in the last days, after his skin has been destroyed, he would see God in his flesh. His heart yearned within him for that day]

Daniel 12:2 "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt." Daniel was informed by the Lord of the raising again to life of multitudes of the dead. That God will raise the dead is clearly found in the whole Bible, both First and Second Testaments. The Second Testament, however, does give more details concerning this raising of the dead to life.

2. Every believer in Jesus Christ will receive a new incorruptible

body - like the one Jesus has.

Philippians 3:20-21 It is taught here that Jesus Christ, "by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body."

1 Corinthians 15:51-55 Paul encourages Christians by telling them that they will be raised from the dead imperishable. Christians shall be changed: the perishable shall be made imperishable. At that time, we will know fully the victory over death that Christ has won for us. We will not spend eternity with the Lord in our present frail and corruptible bodies, but in the new imperishable bodies into which our present bodies shall be changed.

If we are to have a body like the one Jesus has now, what is His body like?

Acts 1:10-11 We are told here a very important fact: that Jesus will come back from heaven in the same way as the apostles had seen Him go into heaven. Jesus has, and will return with, the same body that the apostles saw Him in, that is, the same body in which He was raised.

Remember from Luke 24:36-43 and John 20:24-31 that Jesus' raised body was a physical body, with flesh and bones. Yet we are told in Philippians 3:20-21 that Jesus' body is glorious. Note that Lazarus and others were raised by Jesus in His earthly ministry, yet these men died again. Only Jesus has been raised with an incorruptible body. This is why He is referred to in 1 Corinthians 15:20 as, "the first fruits of those who are asleep."

We do not know what the exact physiology and chemistry of our new bodies will be. We do know, however:

a) Luke 20:27-38 Resurrected believers will neither be married nor given in marriage, and they can no longer die.

b) Revelation 21:4 - There will be no more mourning, or crying, or pain.

We surmise that:

c) Acts 10:41 We will probably eat as Jesus did between His resurrection and ascension.

In any case, our resurrection will be a bodily one: we will not be merely spirits. The promise of a new, immortal body will be more and more of a blessed expectation to us as we grow older and our present bodies grow feeble, break down, and imprison us in infirmity.

Philippians 1:23-24 Paul says here under inspiration that if he continues to live in the body, it will mean that he can do more fruitful labor. Yet he says that he desires "to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far." Paul teaches that when a believer departs from his body he will be with Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:8 In the context, Paul writes that God "has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." As a result of this, we are confident and we know that while "we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord." But "we would prefer to be away from the body, and at home with the Lord." So, to be away from the body is to be at home with the Lord.

Revelation 6:9-11 When the Lamb opened the sixth seal on the scroll, John saw the souls of those who had been slain because of their testimony. They cry out and ask the Lord to judge the inhabitants of the earth and to avenge their blood. They are given white robes and asked to wait a little longer until the number of their brothers who are to be killed as they were would be complete. Again, here the souls of dead believers are with the Lord; yet, they look forward to the things that are to come. Note that this is not their eternal state, but until their bodily resurrection, they are especially comforted by the Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52 When Paul describes the raising of the dead and their being changed from perishable to imperishable, he mentions that this is to take place "at the last trumpet." "For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed."

1 Thessalonians 4:14-18 We saw in Acts 1:10-11 that the Lord Jesus will come down from heaven in the same way that the apostles saw Him taken up into heaven. Here we see that at Jesus' return from heaven, God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep (died) in Him. Again we see that when believers die, their souls go to be with Christ.

Starting in verse 16: "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever."

We see from this passage, combined with the 1 Corinthians passage, that when Christ comes down from heaven to gather His believers He will raise up the bodies of the dead imperishable (He brought their souls with Him). Those who are still alive when Christ returns will be changed and caught up with the Lord after this resurrection. In this state (having our souls in imperishable bodies) we shall forever be with the Lord. This is so great that the inspired conclusion to this passage is, "therefore encourage one another with these words."

You can see what a blessing good doctrine can be, both to yourself and to other believers, when it is properly understood and taken to heart.

Luke 16:19-31 Notice especially verses 22-26. When Lazarus, obviously a believer, died, his soul went to the place of comfort. The rich man died and went to be in torment. Verse 26 brings out a crucially important principal: between the place of comfort and torment there is a fixed chasm so that no one can cross over from one place to another. After a person dies, he has no more opportunity to trust Christ. He dies only to face the just wrath of the God who would have saved him. This is important for Christians to understand so as to appreciate the finality of death to an unbeliever, and the hopeless state of the dead unbeliever . The only time we can try to convert our unsaved family members, friends, and acquaintances is while they still live. For an unbeliever, to be away from the body is to be in torment.

Some Lessons from Rich Man & Lazarus

(generalizing from specific features of parable)

(1) Our condition in this life does not indicate our condition beyond the grave. Our standing with men here may be quite different than our standing with God.

(2) The condition of men between death and the resurrection is conscious. For the saved there is comfort; for the lost, only torment.

(3) There is no second chance for the lost beyond this life.

(4) God's revelation in the Bible is sufficient to leave men without excuse for ignoring God's claim on their lives and His provision for salvation.

Revelation 20:4-5, 13 Verse 4 of this passage describes the resurrection of those who will reign with Christ on the earth for a thousand years. This thousand year reign of Christ is called the Millenium. Verse 5 tells us that the rest of the dead are not raised until after these thousand years. Verse 13 describes the raising of all of the other dead and their judgment. The ones who are thrown into the lake of fire cannot be Christians, so unbelievers are raised as well in the second resurrection so that they may be judged and condemned.

Luke 14:12-14 Note especially verse 14. When Christians do things that are in the Lord's interest, even though they receive no reward for it in this life, they will be rewarded at the resurrection of the righteous (the resurrection of believers). This gives us an insight into how gracious our heavenly Father is. Jesus comments in Luke 17:10 that after we have done everything we were told to do, we are still unworthy servants because we have only done what we ought to have done anyway. Yet God has chosen to make himself our debtor by promising to reward us when we do that which is only our duty. What a generous heart!!

It is often objected that serving the Lord in order to receive eternal rewards is less than spiritual: shouldn't we want to serve God's interests regardless of whether we are rewarded or not? Certainly this is true, and it is surely the ideal, but if God offers us such rewards, and tells us about them ahead of time, it must be good for us to know about them.

2 Peter 1:3-4 The purpose of God's "great and precious promises" to us is that through them we "may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires." God's rewards are incentives to us to pursue sanctification. Are any of us so clean and noble already that we can ignore the motivations which God has wisely provided for us to help us in our struggle against sin?

There is no better conclusion than this:

"Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." 1 Corinthians 15:58