Luke 16:19-31
‘There was a certain rich man…, and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus who was laid at his gate full of sores and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table…. The beggar died, and was carried…into “Abraham’s bosom.” The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hell he lifted up his eyes — being in torments. He saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus in his bosom, and he cried out and said… : “Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am being tormented in this flame!” But Abraham said…: “You in your lifetime received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things. But now, he is comforted; and you, are tormented!… There is a great gulf fixed, so that they which would pass from here to you, cannot; neither can they that would come from there, pass to us!”‘ Luke 16:19-26.
The rich man lived sumptuously, every day — and when he died, was buried. Poor Lazarus desired only to be fed with crumbs from the rich man’s table — and died without being buried. But thereafter, he was carried straight to glory, into Abraham’s bosom. Calvin comments: “The chief accusation brought against this (rich) man, is his cruelty in permitting Lazarus — poor, (hungry) and
full of sores — to lie out of doors at his gate….
‘The beggar died.’ Christ here points out the vast change which death effected in the condition of the two men…. To be after death carried by angels in Abraham’s bosom, was a happiness…. On the other hand, to be sentenced to everlasting torments, is a dreadful thing….
“Abraham is called the father of believers…. To him was committed the covenant of…life, so that he might…preserve it faithfully for his own children and afterwards transmit it to all nations…. The children of God…follow the faith of their father Abraham, so they are received at death into that blessed rest into which he awaits their arrival… They enjoy the same habitation in Heaven….
“‘(After death, the unbelieving rich man went to) Hell’…. For the reprobate…are prepared dreadful torments…, cut off from hope…. You, (rich man)…, did choose to resemble a sow…. You therefore receive a reward which befits brutal pleasures…. It is said of Lazarus, on the other hand, that he enjoys comfort…. They who have patiently endured the burden of the cross laid upon them and…have cherished the hope of a better life, have a rest laid up for them in Heaven…. Wicked despisers of God…, wholly engrossed in the pleasures of the flesh…, will experience immediately after death…torments…. The wicked are tormented by the apprehension of future judgment!”
Calvin also says in his Psychopannychia: “In the New Testament, where the Evangelists use the term hadees, the translator had rendered it by infernus. Thus it is said of the rich man, ‘When he was in Hell’ (Infernus) &c (Luke 16:23).”
The selfish rich man in Hell — and the blessed Lazarus in “Abraham’s bosom”! Which of the two are you? Where shall you spend eternity?!
