By Brownlow North
"And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off . . . and he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me . . . for I am tormented in this flame." (Luke 16:22-24, KJV)
The Scripture gives a brief summation of two men's lives and deaths, one rich and one a poor beggar. It is not said that the beggar had any funeral. Man paid him no honor, but he had the honor that comes only from God: the beggar died and "the angels carried him to heaven." It is expressly recorded, however, that the rich man was buried. Doubtless the pomp and pageantry of his funeral was all that he would have desired if had been on earth. But while the appointed mourners followed the dead body to the burying place and fixed the flattering monument in its place, where was the rich man himself?
Jesus tells us that the rich man was confined in hell's torments. Both the beggar and the rich man died, but how different to each the judgment that followed! The beggar died and, by the judgment of God, went immediately to heaven. The rich man died and, by the judgment of God, went immediately to hell.
This passage of Scripture clearly contradicts the unscriptural doctrine that there is no hell. Let no man deceive you. There is no repentance in the grave. Once a man is dead, the teaching of the Bible is that there can never again be any place found for mercy. As it was with the rich man and the beggar, so will it be with us all. Immediately after death, our portions will be fixed in heaven or in hell unchangeably and forever.
Seeing that we have arrived at the reality that the rich man was lost, there arises the all-important question: What was his sin? That it was soul destroying is quite clear, for it barred him from heaven and sank him in everlasting ruin. But what was it? His riches were not his sin. It is no sin to be rich. Abraham, called in Scripture the friend of God (2 Chron. 20:7), was rich. So were David, Solomon, Joseph, and many other saints in the Bible. Yet these were all saved when they died. No, it was not his wealth that kept the rich man out of heaven. What, then, was his sin?
The answer to this question will bring to light the sin--the fundamental cause of the destruction of every man who has or ever will perish. In order to answer this important question, we must first explore in what condition the rich man really was. In respect to his wealth, his circumstances were unlike the majority of others. Few, comparatively, are placed as he was in such a position of ease and affluence as to enable him to command at will all the good things of this world. Despite his position of privilege, the rich man shared a need in common with the rest of humanity. Though he probably never knew it while on earth, he was born with the greatest of all needs, a need that no person, whether rich or poor, has ever been born without--the rich man was born without God.
The need for God is the universal need of every human being. Whatever may be the differences among people, in this every person is alike. We are all born into the world without God, and, unless between our birth and our grave we are born again of God the Spirit, we live and die without God. In such a case, though we have gained the whole world, it would have been better for us if we had never been born at all.
Paul, in writing to the converts he had made at Ephesus, describes to them what they were like before they were converted. His description fits every person ever to live. "At that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world" (Eph. 2:12). Now this little verse can be summed up in two words: "without God." The person without Christ is an alien and a stranger to all true good. If he has any other hope for the future, it is unscriptural and soul deceiving, for as sure as he dies without God, he will perish, as did the rich man. This kind of person, no matter what may be the prosperity of his worldly circumstances, is a far more miserable and pitiable object than the beggar ever was.
