hades – Moment to Moment (Bible blog)

Two kinds of books

I love reading books. It became a lot more convenient to read when I got my Kindle Fire. Now, I can carry around any number of books, including a number of different Bibles without putting a strain on my back.

Here, though, we find two kinds of books.

John tells us that on the day of judgment, he saw all the dead both great and small standing before God’s throne with the books were opened. What is in those books? Apparently everything we have ever done in our lives.

In addition to those books, there is another book: the book of life. And in it is the name of every person who belongs to God; all those who have put their trust in Jesus and his work on the cross for their salvation.

And John tells us,

The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.

The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.

Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.

If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:12-15)

What do we learn from this?

We have a choice. We can either put our trust in ourselves and our works to get us to heaven or we can put our trust in Jesus and his work on the cross for our salvation.

If we do the latter, then our names are written in the book of life and we will be saved.

But if we choose to do the former, all of our works will be found lacking before God.

Lacking because he sees not just the good we do, but the evil.

Lacking because even when we do good, many times we do so with wrong motives and attitudes.

But most of all, lacking because we have rejected Jesus as King and Savior in our lives.

In short, if we insist on being judged for what we’ve done to get to heaven, none of us will ever make it. Every one of us will fall short.

I don’t know about you, but I do not want to be judged by what I’ve done to get me into heaven. I’d much prefer to rely on Jesus’ completed work on the cross for me.

The choice, however, is yours. Which will you choose?

When we fail to prepare

This is one of the most graphic depictions of the afterlife, probably because it’s the most personal. In particular, it is a graphic picture of what hell will be like.

Many people think that this was an actual incident, the reason being that this is the only story Jesus tells which names a person.

Whether it is a true story or not, I don’t know, but it is a clear warning to those who fail to prepare for eternity.

It is, in fact, the bookend to this chapter, which starts with a story of a person who did prepare for his future albeit through shady means.

Jesus starts the story by talking about a rich man who lived in luxury. He had no needs or wants unfulfilled, and therefore never gave a thought to his future. Nor did he give a thought to the people around him.

There was a man named Lazarus that he passed by day by day. Lazarus was a beggar, and my guess is that it was through no fault of his own.

But through illness or perhaps some other problem beyond his control, he was reduced to begging for a living.

Lazarus longed just for the crumbs from this rich man’s table, but the rich man never gave him a moment’s notice.

And so they lived.

When their time came, Lazarus was escorted to Abraham’s side where he was comforted, but the rich man descended to hell where he was in torment.

And when he cried out for relief, Abraham responded,

Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. (Luke 16:25)

What was Abraham saying? This man had spent his whole life enjoying his life on earth. He accumulated wealth, he enjoyed pleasure, and generally did whatever he pleased. But he did not prepare for eternity.

Lazarus, on the other hand, though he had nothing on this earth, indeed, though he suffered greatly while on earth, nevertheless prepared himself for eternity.

And so when the time came, Lazarus received comfort, while the rich man suffered in agony.

The problem with the rich man was not his riches. The problem was that he had not prepared for eternity.

He had not, as Jesus put it, used the wealth he had been given in such a way that he would be welcomed into eternal dwellings with God. (Luke 16:9)

Let us not be foolish as this man was. Let us remember that this life is but a breath, and that we need to prepare for eternity. For if we don’t, we will suffer his fate.

How about you. Are you prepared for eternity?