Please Send Someone!

As if wondering whether we will know one another in Heaven isn’t big enough to wrap our brains around, how about this: Will those in Heaven be able to speak with those in Hell? Yikes. Here is a passage of Scripture which will either clarify our thoughts or confuse us even more in answering this question:

“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— for I have five brothers —so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’” (Luke 16)

These verses describe a conversation between someone in Hell and someone in Heaven. So what can we learn from this story?

1. Jesus wants us to know that there is a Heaven and a Hell.

2. At least in this passage, a man in Heaven and and a man in Hell are interacting with each other.

3. Life after death does not mean the loss of personal history and memory. The rich man remembers his life on earth and knows very well who Lazarus is.

4. The rich ruler still thinks Lazarus should be his errand boy. He wants him to bring water to Hell, and then later he wants to send Lazarus back to earth.

5. The rich man is concerned with the fate of his brothers, not wanting them to end up in Hell as he has. His solution is to send someone who has died back to earth to encourage them to repent.

6. There is no second chance after death. We need to repent now.

7. Jesus DID come back from the dead, telling us that Heaven and Hell are real.  Let’s be sure that we listen to what He says.