Unrebuked Failures

“There was a certain rich man…. there was a certain beggar.”

Luke 16:19-26 (NKJV)

When Jesus Christ, the Son of God, walked among men, He said things that had never been said before by men, or had even entered their thoughts. His Words were light and truth that illuminated the world like nothing had before and no one else would afterward. (Matthew 13:34-35)

He was able to see things that no man had seen before. He saw the hearts of men and often revealed what He saw for the benefit of those listening. Nothing was hidden from Him and no one could close themselves off from Him. (Hebrews 4:12-13)

This has always been one of the great mysteries of God’s power and His love. He knows everything about us but still is able to love us.

And that is one of the unspoken truths revealed in the passage above. It is not a parable like many of the Lord’s sayings. It is a revelation of the lives of two men who had lived in that time. And the Lord pulls back the veil of darkness and death to show their final destiny.

Our Lord does not reveal how either person in the story arrived at their current position. The important point of this story is how they ended their lives.

The wealthy man mentioned above is apparently in good health and has everything his heart could desire in this world. Since the days of Job and Abraham, nearly 2,000 years before, it had become common for the Israelites to assume that wealth and well-being were signs of God’s favor. But the Lord shows how wrong that view can be. Sometimes it is true and sometimes it is not. Only the God Who sees the heart knows for sure.

This wealthy man’s name is not mentioned because he lacked the greatest thing – the faith of Abraham. Abraham was wealthy and healthy but his faith was not in his wealth or himself. He knew God was the source of his blessings. And so, he becomes the great pattern of faith in the Bible. Others, like Abel, Enoch, Noah and Job had shown signs of great faith before Abraham, but it was his long life of obedience and sacrifice that was revealed as a pattern of faith for all later generations. (Romans 4:16)

Even so, we take encouragement in the fact that Abraham is revealed as not being perfect in faith. His failure in fathering Ishmael lay the foundation for much of the strife between Israel and the Arab countries ever since. And yet there is no rebuke from the Lord recorded in the Bible. He is lovingly commended for his faith.  

We are told the wealthy man, relying on his blessings and himself only, missed the blessing of eternal life and found torment instead (Luke 16: 22-23). And when he begins to cry out for mercy (vs 24) it is then that he is reminded of the great wealth and opportunities he had in his life. This memory would be part of his torment forever.

But the “beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at” the rich man’s “gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table” and who “the dogs came and licked his sores” is named (Luke 16:20-21). He has been remembered for almost 2,000 years all around the world.

The reason revealed by the Lord is that in spite of all his outward sufferings, Lazarus had faith in God similar to Abraham. He had not known blessings like most but he did not lose his faith in God. And so, he is allowed to enter into the same rest as Abraham after his suffering and death.

This is the unspoken mystery. How can a person who has saving faith come to the place where they have no visible blessings from God? This was a man who lived by begging in a time when charity and generosity were rare. He was a man who suffered greatly with sores all over his body and only received relief from dogs who were willing to lick them. There are few pictures in the Bible of a situation so sadly pathetic.

The answer is difficult to accept but not hard to explain. Think of our own lives and those around us.

How often have we as individuals and those we know allowed the world and the enemy of our souls to ensnare us with “the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16). For some the trap is limited and temporary and by God’s mercy and grace are able eventually, sooner or later, to escape and find final liberty from them. And often not without much suffering and only with much help.

But for others it is a lifelong struggle with strongholds that seem to never weaken. Often the signs of it can be concealed for a while but the consequences will eventually become apparent. Sin and its terrible ravages cannot be hidden forever. And a person can end up like Lazarus with no hope and no help in this world, seemingly rejected by God.

Here is one of the amazing things about this story. The Lord talks about Lazarus’ sufferings and final faith but says nothing about his sad life and failures that led to its end. There is no rebuke for not doing better, for not believing more, for not being able to receive grace and mercy for help.

There is only loving acknowledgement and confirmation of the fact that Lazarus never stopped believing in God for forgiveness and eternal life.

The Lord told this story to show how outward appearances can be so deceiving. For people have always resisted believing that sin exists in them and it deserves eternal torment. We greatly need to believe that we are not so bad, that our sin is not so great and that we don’t need forgiveness, or at least not as much as others.

In our time most of us live like royalty compared to the rest of the world. We may be living at a high level of debt but are still greatly blessed. We have better health and healthcare than most of the world.

But what does God see when He looks in our hearts? Do we believe in Him for life or in ourselves?

None of us can hide from Him but when we come to put our faith in Him, we find that He is willing to accept us as we are! There is no rebuke, no condemnation for the sins of the past. (Romans 8:1) And there is also no ridicule for the failures of our lives after we come to faith in Him. He is constantly working to help us but when we stumble in disobedience, He does not forsake us but lovingly continues to bear with us. (Heb 13:5)

This story was not told by the Lord to encourage worldliness or disobedience. No heart of faith would believe it is so. It is told to encourage all who struggle with sin and the chains of sin that so easily bind them.

“He who endures to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:22)

This verse is a warning and a promise. A strong start in the life of faith is helpful but only the faith in God that survives all trials, tribulations, temptations and failures, like Lazarus’, will be rewarded at the end of life.

And the person with faith in God that survives to the end will be saved from the sin and failures of this life and find the comfort and peace of Lazarus in eternity.

Now Abraham and all those of the same faith in God, like Lazarus, have been taken up to heaven with the ascended Christ and are waiting for the faithful who leave this world to be “absent from the body” but “present with the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:8)

“For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:6)

“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

brother thomas