Better Early than Late

They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” Acts 1:10-11 (NIV)

Following his resurrection, Jesus has been busy getting everything ready for his ascension. In this Post-Easter transition time, he has dealt with restoring broken Peter, reassuring his band of disciples, and giving final instructions to his followers when He ascends.

I came across this meme the other day which caught my attention. “If the living knew what the dead knew, the whole world would follow Jesus the Christ.” I don’t know who created the meme and it may sound right, but actually, the living does know what the dead know. The difference is the living can still act upon this knowledge that the dead refused to act upon when they were living.

C. S. Lewis, in his masterful fantasy classic, The Great Divorce, takes passengers on a bus trip from Hell to the outskirts of Heaven. Lewis’ unnamed narrator introduces us to a few passengers that choose to get on the bus. The majority opt not to board the bus even with the possibility of escaping hell. Through the book’s pages, even those who did choose to get on the bus ended up returning to Grey Town. As Lewis writes “If we insist on keeping Hell (or even earth) we shall not see Heaven: if we accept Heaven we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and most intimate souvenirs of Hell.” In the story, one person does choose to give up his souvenirs and accepts grace to stay. Remember, Lewis’s book is a fantasy. “It has of course—or I intended it to have—a moral…I wish is to arouse factual curiosity about the details of the after-world.” (Lewis)

Jesus tells the story in Luke of two men. Luke doesn’t even bother to give us one man’s name, he is only identified as a rich man. The other man, and we know his name, is Lazarus. Yet until his death, he is known only as a beggar. Both men face the same state of life that every person must face: death. The rich man who didn’t need God on earth now begs for a simple drop of water. Lazarus who had no earthly resources now enjoys the treasures of heaven.

This account in Luke might give credence to the meme when he asks for someone from the dead to go to his brothers so they will repent and not come to this place. However, that is not the complete story as we read Abraham’s response to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” (Luke 16:19-31)

The unnamed man in Jesus’ story has all the comforts of life, education, and opportunity. Most likely he is an elite member of the temple’s inner circle because of his wealth and status. Most likely he is known by the religious leaders as a generous giver to the treasury. He has all the information needed to make his choice of eternity. Yet he is the man that C. S. Lewis writes about “Every human being is in the process of becoming a noble being; noble beyond imagination. Or else, alas, a vile being beyond redemption.”

Pastor emeritus Erwin Lutzer of The Moody Church writes, “One minute after you slip behind the parted curtain, you will either be enjoying a personal welcome from Christ or catching your first glimpse of gloom as you have never known it. Either way, your future will be irrevocably fixed and eternally unchangeable.” The rich man in Luke’s account could testify to Lutzer’s statement.

It should never be easy to forget the price paid as Jesus’ flesh-torn and beaten body was lifted off the cross. Easter reminds us not to overlook the darkness that engulfed the world as God turned his back on mankind. Religion may try to explain the ripped curtain, but the one vitally important thing that can’t be overlooked or denied is an empty tomb! “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. To those who knock it is opened.” (C.S. Lewis)

Would Pilate have made a different decision if someone from the dead had told him? Pilate had the living Jesus in front of him.

Would Caiaphas, the high priest, have made a different decision if someone from the dead told him? Caiaphas had the living Jesus in front of him.

Would the mob that was yelling for Jesus to be crucified have made a different decision if someone from the dead told them? They had the living Jesus in front of them.

Would you make a different decision if someone from the dead told you? Thankfully you have the living Jesus in front of you!

We don’t need a witness from the dead when we have a living Savior’s promise. “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:6-7 CSB)

God is great!