Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share The Great Divide
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
The Great Divide
The Great Divide
Luke 16:19–31
July 14, 2019
A real hell declares the worthiness of God.
If what the Bible reveals about God the Creator as holy, righteous, and just is not true, then there’s no reason for hell. No one in the universe needs to be concerned if there’s no righteous, holy Creator demanding in the Ten Commandments that His image bearers reflect His moral character.
Yet, as the Bible declares God as holy, righteous, and just, then hell has its place. Hell answers to the justice of God for unbelievers just as the cross does for those He saves. The costliness of saving a people for eternity implies the reality of hell. Or else the Son of God would not have suffered in the place of sinners for God to be just in forgiving us.
But few people, especially those engaged in some kind of religious practice, think that the great divide will land them in hell. Hell is the abode of Hitler, Stalin, Saddam Hussein, and the like, not the place where good, religious people go forever, they think. Yet the deceptive theology that elevates people and denigrates God, that ignores human sinfulness and discounts divine holiness, leaves multitudes blissfully staring at eternity with a false hope. God’s infinite worth demands infinite wrath for sinful humanity. That’s why the cross of Christ in His sin-bearing work assures the reality of hell.
How do we understand heaven or hell? We’re bound by space and time, limited language, and finite minds, so wrapping our heads around the glory of heaven or the anguish of hell stretches far beyond our capabilities. So the Bible gives us enough pictures, images, metaphors, and prose to help us grasp the wonder of heaven and the horridness of hell. We see enough to know one place we want to be, another we want to avoid. The great divide means that each of us will spend eternity in one or the other.
How you listen to the message of the Bible determines your place in the great divide. Do you listen with faith and obedience? Or do you listen with unbelief and apathy? Jesus gets our attention with the story of Lazarus and the rich man. Some call this a parable because it illustrates what Jesus declares. Others call it a story rich with metaphors and images to help us to grapple with its reality. Let’s take a look together.[1]
Evidence for the Great Divide
The use of great divide expresses temporal and eternal realities. Temporally, in the present life a distinction exists between those following Christ and those who don’t. Some presently on the unbelieving side will, by the grace of God, cross over to the believing, Christ-following side. Hearing the gospel of Christ with faith to trust and obey Christ affects the present and eternal condition.
When we cross the threshold of death, the eternal divide never changes. No purgatory or holding place where a chance for a lengthy remedial state that ends in heaven, exists. Death is the final point opening to the great divide. No change in eternal geography takes place after one’s final breath.
In Life
In this story, Jesus addresses “the Pharisees, who were lovers of money,” as Luke 16:14 indicates. Whether a parable or story, the point that He makes lands like a moon-sized meteor. “Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple [which means the most expensive clothing possible, colored by a rare dye from sea snails, indicating him as a member of the ruling caste][2] and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day.” That’s an ancient way of stating that he lived the good life. He dressed to the nines and feasted extravagantly on the finest foods every day. The Pharisees, whether they had arrived at that rare life yet or not, longed to be there. But in contrast, “there was a beggar named Lazarus left before his gates, covered with sores” [my translation]. Almost as immoveable as the rich man from his bountiful table, Lazarus got dumped at the wealthy man’s gate, with no chance of life improvement. “And he longed[...]
View all episodes
By South Woods Baptist ChurchThe Great Divide
Luke 16:19–31
July 14, 2019
A real hell declares the worthiness of God.
If what the Bible reveals about God the Creator as holy, righteous, and just is not true, then there’s no reason for hell. No one in the universe needs to be concerned if there’s no righteous, holy Creator demanding in the Ten Commandments that His image bearers reflect His moral character.
Yet, as the Bible declares God as holy, righteous, and just, then hell has its place. Hell answers to the justice of God for unbelievers just as the cross does for those He saves. The costliness of saving a people for eternity implies the reality of hell. Or else the Son of God would not have suffered in the place of sinners for God to be just in forgiving us.
But few people, especially those engaged in some kind of religious practice, think that the great divide will land them in hell. Hell is the abode of Hitler, Stalin, Saddam Hussein, and the like, not the place where good, religious people go forever, they think. Yet the deceptive theology that elevates people and denigrates God, that ignores human sinfulness and discounts divine holiness, leaves multitudes blissfully staring at eternity with a false hope. God’s infinite worth demands infinite wrath for sinful humanity. That’s why the cross of Christ in His sin-bearing work assures the reality of hell.
How do we understand heaven or hell? We’re bound by space and time, limited language, and finite minds, so wrapping our heads around the glory of heaven or the anguish of hell stretches far beyond our capabilities. So the Bible gives us enough pictures, images, metaphors, and prose to help us grasp the wonder of heaven and the horridness of hell. We see enough to know one place we want to be, another we want to avoid. The great divide means that each of us will spend eternity in one or the other.
How you listen to the message of the Bible determines your place in the great divide. Do you listen with faith and obedience? Or do you listen with unbelief and apathy? Jesus gets our attention with the story of Lazarus and the rich man. Some call this a parable because it illustrates what Jesus declares. Others call it a story rich with metaphors and images to help us to grapple with its reality. Let’s take a look together.[1]
Evidence for the Great Divide
The use of great divide expresses temporal and eternal realities. Temporally, in the present life a distinction exists between those following Christ and those who don’t. Some presently on the unbelieving side will, by the grace of God, cross over to the believing, Christ-following side. Hearing the gospel of Christ with faith to trust and obey Christ affects the present and eternal condition.
When we cross the threshold of death, the eternal divide never changes. No purgatory or holding place where a chance for a lengthy remedial state that ends in heaven, exists. Death is the final point opening to the great divide. No change in eternal geography takes place after one’s final breath.
In Life
In this story, Jesus addresses “the Pharisees, who were lovers of money,” as Luke 16:14 indicates. Whether a parable or story, the point that He makes lands like a moon-sized meteor. “Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple [which means the most expensive clothing possible, colored by a rare dye from sea snails, indicating him as a member of the ruling caste][2] and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day.” That’s an ancient way of stating that he lived the good life. He dressed to the nines and feasted extravagantly on the finest foods every day. The Pharisees, whether they had arrived at that rare life yet or not, longed to be there. But in contrast, “there was a beggar named Lazarus left before his gates, covered with sores” [my translation]. Almost as immoveable as the rich man from his bountiful table, Lazarus got dumped at the wealthy man’s gate, with no chance of life improvement. “And he longed[...]