4/18/2024 0 Comments Lazarus bible story tagalogBut yet a drop of water could be brought to him. We knew the Lord to be a God of love, mercy, and forgiveness, and that if it had been within His power, He would have made rivers of water break forth in the rich man's desert. It seems hard and merciless that Abraham could not send someone across that gulf with at least a cup of cold water. The rich man was told that no one could bring him a drop of water to cool his parched tongue because a great gulf was fixed between Lazarus in heaven and himself, which neither was able to cross. Is it to be expected that we can make ourselves sensual and selfish, interested only in the things of this world, with no thought for the development of our souls, and then enjoy the life of heaven? Do we think that heavenly life consists in external pleasures and delights? And the parable teaches that he did not attain the kingdom of heaven. Instead of searching the Scriptures to find the way of life, he thought that he knew enough to choose his own way, and he chose the things that he thought were good. He had the light of the Word, but he was so rich in his self-conceit that he would not hear it. "There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day." His pleasures were those that gratified the senses of the body, the delights of the material world. Abraham says to the rich man, "Thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things." And the parable tells what these good things were. The parable does not say that the rich man had the Lord's good things, the good things of heavenly life. There is one very important word which discloses its meaning. But the parable itself shows what is meant by the rich man. The first words the Lord spoke in the Sermon on the Mount were "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"( Matthew 5:3). In the parable the rich man stands for those who have the knowledges of Divine truth and because of this think themselves good-for those who are rich in their own conceit, who ask in the boastfulness of their pride, "What lack I?" And we know that many of its truths had to be so veiled because men were not ready to receive them. In its letter, the Word often seems hard, contradictory, and even contrary to the laws of the Divine love, but in its inner meaning it is consistent and teaches truths necessary to the attainment of heavenly life. If the rich represent the materially rich and the poor those poor in this world's goods, wherein is there any parable? Of the Word it is written, "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life" ( 2 Corinthians 3:6). We need to know who are meant by the rich man and the poor man. Our text is from one of the Lord's parables, given to teach a lesson which it is important for us to understand, as it deals with our eternal happiness. He hath filled the hungry with good things and the rich he hath sent empty away" ( Luke 1:52). Mary in her magnification of Christ was inspired to say, "He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. When the rich young man came to the Lord and asked what he should do to inherit eternal life, the Lord said "Keep the commandments." The rich young man replied, "All these have I kept from my youth up." Then the Lord told, him that he was near the kingdom, but that if he would enter in, he must go and sell all that he had and give to the poor ( Matthew 19:16-22, Mark 10:17-22, Luke 18:18-23). There are other passages in the Scriptures which seem to teach this same lesson. This request of the rich man seems to be a legitimate one and the refusal unmerciful. And when the rich man asked that Lazarus might be sent to the rich man's house to warn his brothers, Abraham refused the request. It is not said that one was good and the other bad, but that one was rich and the other poor. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus is a parable of judgment, and pictures the rich man as failing in the final judgment and the poor man as attaining the kingdom of heaven. "Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented." Luke 16:25Īdditional readings: 1 Samuel 16:1-13, Psalm 7, Psalm 1, Psalm 8
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