Two Beyond

"Two Beyond" (Luke 16:19–31)

The Jews were inclined to think that material prosperity was one of the unfailing signs (which must occur or cannot fail or cease to happen) of heavenly blessing, so that they could hardly have a good concept of a beggar. Christ proposes here, to bring them out of error.

I. There was a rich man.

A. There was a beggar named Lazarus.

1. The Lord concludes His discourse on stewardship in material things through this account of two lives, two deaths, and two beyond.

2. It should be clarified that the anonymous rich man was not condemned to hell because of his wealth.

3. All salvation is faith in the Lord and men are condemned for "refusing to believe in Him."

4. You condemn yourself for not believing and not wanting to believe Him.

5. When you have it, you give it to the beggar, all that he asked was a crust (piece of hard or discarded bread, especially the leftover).

6. He would have violently entered the kingdom by abandoning "his love of money."

7. We must know that it is true that Lazarus was not saved because he was poor.

8. He had trusted the Lord for the salvation of his soul.

9. The life of the rich man was for his pleasures and when it is so you cannot see what is around and, therefore, it is that you do not love.

10. Lazarus the beggar, went every day in front of the house of the rich, full of wounds, with filthy dogs that came and licked the sores.

11. The rich man had a lack of compassion for the poor because he was rich.

12. His fortune was enough for everything, many have great fortunes and are givers (philanthropists), love others.

B. For both of them, death comes.

1. (V.22) When the beggar died was taken by the angels to Abraham’s side.

2. Angels minister to believers in this life and there seems to be no reason to doubt that they do so at the time of death.

3. (Matthew 8:11) And I tell you, many will come from the east and the west and sit with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

4. It is understood by the voice of Jesus that Abraham's side is the same as heaven.

5. Believers, both rich and poor, are all in Heaven.

6. When the rich man also died, his body was buried, that body that "he had pampered so much" and spent on his pleasures, without looking to the side to do good.

7. While in Hades, (V.23) he raised his eyes while in torments.

8. His soul, his conscious "I," went to Hades.

9. Since Jesus came to the Jew there is another way of seeing things. Riches are not a sign of blessing.

10. They are a great "proof" of the fidelity of their possessor, in their administration.

11. To whom much is given much will be taken away.

12. He saw Abraham and Lazarus at his side from afar: Father Abraham, ask for compassion. The reason: (Revelation 20:15) And he who was not found inscribed in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire (2 Peter 2:4). For if God did not forgive the angels who sinned but threw them into hell He delivered them to prisons of darkness, to be reserved for judgment. (Isaiah 33:14) Who among us will dwell with consuming fire? Who among us will dwell with the eternal flames? (Psalm 9:17). The wicked will be transferred to Sheol, all the people who forget God. (Matthew 5:29) Therefore, if your right eye is an opportunity for you to fall, take it out and throw it out of you; for it is better that only one of the limbs be lost that your whole body be cast into hell; (Proverbs 15:24). The way of life is upwards to the understood, to depart from Sheol below. (Revelation 19:20) And the beast was imprisoned and with it the false prophet who had made before it the signs with which he had deceived those who received the mark of the beast and had worshipped his image. These two were thrown alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone (smell of rotten egg) (Revelation 20:15). And he who was not found inscribed in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. (Matthew 25:41 and 46) Then he will also say to those on the left: Depart from me, cursed to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; (V. 46) and they will go there to eternal punishment and the righteous to eternal life. (Mark 9:43) If your hand is an opportunity for you to fall, cut it off... better than having two hands and going to hell, to the fire that cannot be extinguished; (V. 44) where their worm does not die, and the fire never goes out.

13. This was chosen by the rich man, because he had no faith in God, his vanity and enjoyment were better.

14. The choices made in this life determine our eternal destiny and that when death has taken place, "this destiny is fixed."

15. There is no way to go from the abode of the saved to that of the damned and vice versa.

16. The rich man knowing hell wanted them to go to his own.

17. Abraham had the last word: "Refusing to listen to the Word of God is decisive."

18. If people don't pay attention to the Bible, they also won't believe if a person rises from the dead.

19. The Bible is the ordinary (common) method used by God to tell us His purposes, what He expects of us, and this must be sufficient.

20. Those who appeal to visions or sometimes audible, usually tend to be victims of their own suggestion (suggest, insinuate, raise, propose, or recommend something), or wish more or less consciously, to present themselves to others as privileged with such supernatural favors, which is a genre. Amen.