NO YOU CAN'T
We seem to be fascinated with death and wanting to know what it is and where we go and can we barter with God to get into heaven.
We even have movies and books of people claiming that they went to heaven. But that's really impossible. The Bible tells us why in the parable of the Rich Man & Lazarus. (Not that Lazarus, another one. It was a popular name back in the day)
You can read the story in Luke 16:19-31.
In this story we have a beggar, Lazarus and this Rich Man. As is true even today this Rich Man treated the beggar incredibly poorly. Meanwhile Lazarus just wanted the scraps from the man's table while dogs licked his sore covered body. Then both men died. The beggar ended up in heaven at Abraham's side and the Rich Man ended up in Hell.
Side Note: Even as I type this a new post is coming to me so stay tuned.
The Rich Man in hell looks up and sees Lazarus chilling in heaven and asks Abraham if he could send Lazarus to dip his finger in some water so the man could cool his tongue. My how the mighty has fallen.
Abraham tells him straight up: NO
Because not only can you not go to heaven and come back to earth, unless your name is Jesus and your Father is God, you can't go from heaven to hell or vice versa.
So then he tries another track and asks Abraham to send Lazarus back to earth to warn his brothers about their behavior so they could escape hell.
Rant: The unmitigated gall of this dude who couldn't even be bothered with Lazarus on earth is now asking that Lazarus be sent back to earth from heaven to warn his rude family to save them from hell. Even in hell his rich privilege was showing. Boy bye!
Again, Abraham tells him no.
And the reason is interesting but incredibly true.
“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
With all the people who have died and come back how many people are convinced that it is because of the grace and mercy of God? They say: It's a medical miracle or the person is crazy or its a fantastical dream. Because the truth is if we as people hear the Good News of the Gospel of the one who was TRULY raised from the dead and STILL DON'T BELIEVE why would we believe some Joe Smo on a book tour or press junket?
We wouldn't, and that's the point. When we die there is no going back. And if you're in heaven why would you want to?
Could God raise us from the dead? Absolutely! But why? Us being raised from the dead saves no one but ourselves and our world is so jaded we would all miss the miracle. The only time in the Bible we see anyone raised from the dead is when Elijah, Elisha or Jesus himself did it.
God is the only one with the power to restore life once it is gone. Elijah and Elisha were Old Testament Prophets -when they were still doing animal sacrifices for sin atonement, so we are definitely not of that era - who cried out to God cuz they knew they didn't have the power to restore life. And Jesus is fully God and fully man, and since Jesus isn't walking the earth currently I'd say we are out of luck on this one.
So what's my take? Once we die we are gone and that's it. That's why we must take everyday seriously because we are not promised tomorrow. For those individuals who say they came back from heaven I believe they experienced something but it wasn't heaven because once we get to heaven or the other place we aren't coming back. Not even to warn our loved ones.
As an aside, isn't it interesting that its always heaven they come back from? Never hell. I wonder why? Hmmmm.
The Unlikely Missionary
DHW
Comments
Post a Comment