Hear God’s Word

Luke 16:19-31

Jesus shares a story on a rich man and a poor man named Lazarus (not the one that Jesus brought back to life). Both men perish and enter eternity but the poor man is sent next to Abraham's side in heaven and the rich man is sent to hell. Here we note an interesting feature that the rich man has consciousness of his previous life, he can speak to those in heaven, he can see heaven from hell and he understands where he is is a place of torment. When he asks for a drop of water Abraham not only denies his request, he indicates that it would be impossible for a great chasm exists between these two places. The rich man then asks for a messenger to be sent to his five brothers who he believes will share his fate. This request is also denied because God's word is already accessible and yet they do not believe. The interesting statement is that the people who are still alive have the prophets and Moses' laws that speak to them, and even a resurrection could not conjure faith in such hardened hearts against God's Word. This is a lesson for the ages! We are to be reminded that nations that witness God's miracles, people that experienced and saw the visible works of God in the past and those that were able to meet the incarnated Jesus still had no faith. Some did, and some did not. This is the reality of a broken and fallen world that opposes the will of God. Not even a resurrection can convince such unbelievers to be of faith.

I am asked at times by atheists why God doesn't just show himself or appear in the sky for all to see and one might say that such an act of miraculous nature would be brushed aside as such in an age of skepticism. God wants our love, not just belief in his existence for even Satan believes in the existence of God. Dr. William Lane Craig commonly asks his atheist opposition, "what single piece of evidence would be needed for you to believe in God?" And to such a question, every atheist has a different response, no response or some type of response that would be denied or discounted by the very measures they discount theism! Faith is a gift from God as Ephesians 2:8-9 teaches. Let us be grateful for such a faith.