“LAZARUS AND THE RICH MAN”

Jesus told a story about two lives, two deaths, and two hereafters … it’s sometimes called “The Story of Lazarus and the Rich Man.” According to Jesus, Lazarus was pitifully poor. The rich man was loaded. Both died. The rich man went to Hell while Lazarus went to Heaven.

Some think that this is a parable… a fictitious story illustrating a simple lesson. I tend to believe that the story Jesus told was factual. Both men actually lived, died, and went into eternity.  

Jesus used the story to teach about the reality of two contrasting eternal destinies. At death, every human will go to Heaven or Hell. That’s a fact. Heaven and Hell are real.

For my purposes today, I’m interested in how Lazarus was translated from this life into the next. “One day the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s side” (Luke 16:22). An angel transported the man to paradise, a place where he joined other believers, including Abraham.

Humm? Is there other Biblical evidence?

At His ascension, Jesus was “carried up into heaven” (Luke 24:51). Carried by angels? The Bible doesn’t say.

When Jacob dreamed of a stairway leading to Heaven, he saw that “God’s angels were going up and down on it” (Genesis 28:12, see also John 1:51). Why were the angels traveling between Heaven and earth?

“Elijah went up into heaven in the whirlwind” carried by “a chariot of fire with horses of fire” (2 Kings 2:11). Was the chariot guided by an angel?

How will we get to Heaven someday? Will we be “carried away by the angels”? I see no reason to doubt that the angels who serve us on earth will not also serve us at the time of our death.

Can you imagine being scooped up into the strong arms of a mighty angel? “Let’s go home… I’ll give you a guided tour … and I’ll introduce you to Jesus.”

“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).