ABRAHAM'S BOSOM

THE RICH MAN IN TORMENT

Part 6

One of the cherished doctrines of those who know not the truth, is the pathetic ignorance that such as call themselves Jews, and have returned to the land of Palestine will, in time, rule the world. They are merely too ignorant of facts to know that the new land of Canaan for the new age is a domain on which the sun never sets. "His dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even unto the ends of the earth" (Zech. 9:10; Ps. 72:8). They are also too ignorant to know that this worldwide dominion is even now ready to be established by the sons of God, the Christ, the seed of Abraham, through whom all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. All of this was prophesied by our Saviour in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.

Alas, for the poor rich man, how many things he does now that be never did in his day of splendor. Old things have passed away, all things have become new. The purple, the fine linen, the sumptuous fare, are all gone, and in their place is torment, want, prayer; and, though last mentioned, not the least point recorded for our learning - the eyes of the rich man have been opened and he sees the Kingdom of Heaven. What a reversal! "And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and sees Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom." Oh, what a rude awakening! Here he had thought himself to have a through ticket straight to glory. But he was wrong! The poor, despised, insignificant Lazarus, whom he would not even countenance on earth, is now at the place of honor afar off, where he thought he should be. This indicates the house of Judah or the Jews of this dispensation seeing the Abrahamic Covenant fulfilled in another people (Mat. 21:43), and as far as they are concerned the prospect of the gracious promises given to Abraham being fulfilled in them is certainly "afar off," and it devastates them. And you will find that they are ever envious of the constant blessing God has given to His people.

"And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame" (Lk. 16:24). What? Think about it! If he is in a literal, raging flame, completely surrounded and engulfed by seething fires, would he be carrying on a conversation? Instantly his hair, eyebrows, eyelashes would have dissolved; his skin would begin blistering, and he would have only a fraction of a second to emit a bloodcurdling SCREAM! No, this conversation is not coming from a man who is completely engulfed in literal fire! What then is TORMENTING the rich man? Why, what he SEES! Notice: It says he "lift up his EYES..." even as Jesus warned the Pharisees, You shall SEE Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom, and you yourselves cast out!" Shocked realization comes to the rich man's mind. According to the parable, he instantly recognizes Lazarus, and Abraham. He sees them as if in a glorious state; perhaps even engaged in partaking of a sumptuous banquet, not unlike the hundreds of banquets the rich man enjoyed during his life, all the while offering only the leavings of his table for Lazarus! The fire is a word, a burning word of authority, as Jeremiah said, "Your word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones" (Jer. 20:9). Ah, it was the WORD OF THE KINGDOM brought by Jesus, which always angered, enraged, and infuriated the Jews! Provoked and indignant beyond explanation his mouth becomes completely dry, his tongue virtually cleaves to the roof of his mouth, and he cannot even moisten his lips! In mental anguish and paralyzing fright he calls out for Lazarus to at least "dip his finger in water" and COOL his Pharasaic TONGUE (doctrine of the Pharisees), for he was TORMENTED in this flame!

In the Greek, the word used here for "torment" is BASANOS which is what is commonly known in English as the "touchstone." Its proper usage in olden times was to try the genuineness of gold. The pure gold rubbed on the stone would leave a peculiar mark, different to that of other metals or alloys. Therefore it acquired a symbolic significance: a test or criterion for determining the quality or the genuineness of a thing; to test for purity or truth. The hell of the rich man was not a place where he was tortured by a torment sadistically inflicted, but a condition of testing for truth or purity. Our great God is not an almighty monster, a celestial Hitler or a heavenly Stalin, but ever the Lord of compassion and tender mercies. However, the best of earthly fathers must at times find it expedient to inflict a measure of pain and suffering on a son, to serve as a means of correction. That is the way in which the word "touchstone" is used in this parable. The rich man's torment, then, is that which is effected by the LIVING and ENERGETIC WORD of God, for this Word is the "discerner and analyzer and sifter (Wuest) of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Heb. 4:12). When the rich man was being tormented in the flames, as he watched Lazarus from afar in Abraham's bosom, he was having his GENUINENESS AND QUALITY tested by the ESSENCE-WORD of God, which is the living spirit of prophecy, which is, in reality, God Himself - for in the beginning was the Word, and the Word WAS GOD! Truly, OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE!

On the individual level I have seen many a man tormented by the living Word of God! A friend has ably written, "We have seen that the pouring out of the New Wine, which is the positive anointed Word of the Kingdom, will break the old wineskins. What we are confronted with here, however, is the awful truth that there are two ways that it will work to destroy the wineskins. In the first, which relates to the remnant, the election, the New Wine is poured in, bringing such an essence of truth with it that the elect will automatically reject and move out of the realm of static religious form. This brings life! But to those who cannot release the form and offer it up as a sacrifice to God, there comes an altogether different effect. God must move in to claim His own sacrifice. This is what happened in the period that brought the Church age. Those who formed the remnant of Israel received the New Wine of the Spirit with joy, and left behind the animal sacrifices, because they knew they were partaking of the true sacrifice. They forsook the law and commandments, the rituals and ceremonies and endless ordinances because they had grasped the reality of the new day. The essence of Judaism was fulfilled in them. But to those who clung desperately to the old, the New Wine had another effect. Fulfilled in the firstfruits of that day, the old form was already cracked, and because it was already fulfilled God sent the Roman armies in to carry out the garbage that remained. Thus we find that it was as Paul said, 'We are a fragrance of life unto life, but we are a fragrance (odor) of death - unto death.' To those who are alive, we smell fragrantly alive. But to those who are dead, we have the stench of death! But it was the same anointing that did both works. There was not a word of life for one group and a word of death and judgment for another. It was the SAME WORD - but falling on different ears. It was the same rain - but falling on different ground. It was the same sun rising - but shining on different material. As the old saying goes, 'The same sun that melts wax, hardens clay.' That is why, in Rev. 22:11 the Lord says, 'He that is unjust let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.' One Greek commentator said that the sense of the Greek in this passage is, 'Let him be more and more filthy, more and more unjust, more and more righteous, more and more holy.' In other words, the LIGHT reveals the condition - it does not CREATE IT! I like what I read in Wuest the other night: 'Light rejected, blinds!' Jesus said, 'Men refuse to come to the light because their deeds are evil.' The same Word that blesses one will become a curse to another because of the difference in the heart that receives it. This is why I say there is no need to judge Babylon, because 'He that believes not is condemned already.' A BEAUTIFUL WORD will condemn an unrighteous heart - and will at the same time deliver the righteous" -end quote.

The rich man was tormented by the effect of the very Word of the Kingdom which brought salvation to Lazarus! But beyond this - there is also that sense of torment that has been experienced by the rich man by virtue of the very condition in which he has found himself throughout the centuries since the dispensations changed. History interprets the rich man's doom. The story of Judah is the story of the flame of fire. Jewry as such has been in a veritable lake of fire ever since they as a nation rejected Christ. "You serpents, you generation of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell?" (Mat. 23:33). Jesus Christ foresaw and foretold the rejection of the Jews and the long night of wandering in unbelief that would follow. In Mat. 23:37-38 we have depicted the Lord Jesus Christ standing on the mount of Olives. He was weeping over the great city of Jerusalem that lay just below Him, and the great love of His heart for the Jews was poured out in most tender and sympathetic words. He exclaimed, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kills the prophets, and stones them which are sent unto you, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate."

What a beautiful figure Christ is using here to express His tender love for His own people according to the flesh! "For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah" (Heb. 7:14). When the mother hen sees a storm brewing, immediately her first concern is for the fluffy little chicks that compose her brood. She gathers them under her wings, and protects them from the storm or from the hawk that maybe flying overhead. Close to her breast they are sheltered and can feel the very heartbeat of the mother bird's love for them. This is the picture of the MOTHERHOOD OF GOD revealed in Jesus Christ. So He expressed Himself concerning the Jews. He would have gathered them to His bosom, and they would have felt His heartbeat of love for them, if they had only given Him a chance to do so; but they had rejected Him and were just getting ready to cry, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" He knew all about it. Jesus could foresee the entire scene of trial and crucifixion, and as He stood there upon the mountaintop weeping over them He was forced to exclaim, "Your house is left unto you desolate." The great and beautiful temple would soon be a desolation and a mass of debris. The service that had been the center of the worship of Jehovah for centuries was about to come to a close. Great Zion, the glory of the whole earth, would soon be a heap of ruins, lying in the dust.

The Roman people came to the city of Jerusalem some thirty-five Years after Jesus Christ was sent to the cross, and besieged the Holy City. When the city was captured, it is said that over a million Jews perished. Every tree that grew around the city of Jerusalem for over the radius of a mile was used in making crosses to crucify the Jews. History tells us that as many as ninety Jews were crucified upon one tree. Thus was fulfilled the prediction made by the Jews themselves - Let His blood be on us and on our children. Whereas the Jews sowed one cross upon Calvary's hill, they reaped thousands for themselves at the destruction Of the Holy City. The Romans scattered the Jews to the four winds of heaven; and for two long milleniums they never came back again to Jerusalem and have not to this day returned to the bosom of Abraham. They have been rejected and despised as they have gone from nation to nation, until the Jewish name became a byword in almost the entire world. Just a few Jews continued to dwell in the city of Jerusalem during the centuries, and from week to week they came and continue to come out to a spot called the "Wailing Wall," and there they have wept, longing for the return of those wonderful days of the long ago when Judah was basking in t he sunlight of the favors of God and they were considered the favorites of the Most High. At the Wailing Wall the mournful wail of the Jews is heard: "On account of the priests, who have stumbled, we sit lonely and weep. On account of our kings who have despised Him (Jehovah) we sit lonely and weep. Oh, make haste, O Redeemer of Zion: speak to the heart of Jerusalem. May the royal government shine over Zion. Comfort those who mourn in Zion." But although twenty centuries have passed by, their tears and prayers have been of no avail, for there is still a great gulf fixed and there is no way for them to pass over again to the old days of glory.

The Wailing Wall is mentioned in scripture. "Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself no rest" (Lam. 2:18). The Wailing Wall is an ancient wall, consisting largely of huge blocks of stone, which once formed part of the old temple of Solomon. This to the Jews is by far the most sacred part of the city of Jerusalem. They know that these colossal fragments of the time of Solomon antedate by a thousand years even the oldest of all other such memorials. There, century after century, the wretched exiles from Mt. Zion have come to kiss or bathe with tears these relics of their former glory. Now they are free to do so; but in past ages they paid enormous sums to their oppressors for this miserable privilege. It is a most pathetic instance of a nation's grief. How well I remember that when we were in Israel the scene at the wailing wall was to me the most pathetic scene of all. No one who has a particle of sympathy with human sorrow can gaze upon that scene without emotion. For, while some read aloud from the Old Testament words which describe the splendors of the ancient Kingdom, others moan and sob and beat their trembling hands against the wall. Everyone seems to be in motion, either nodding rhythmically, or rocking back and forth while chanting, mumbling, whispering, or shouting forth their words, while interspersed among the jumbled murmur of prayers are deep groans and sighs, and betimes a sudden shriek as if of pain.

What wonder that they mourn! For two thousand years this former rich man has been in hell, tormented in his flame! For long centuries his history has been one of almost uninterrupted tragedy. Scattered throughout the world, scorned by all nations, Judah has been forced to suffer every form of persecution which men have been sufficiently cruel and ingenious to invent. Words fail to depict their sufferings. To torture, rob, and exile them, the despotism of a hundred kings has been exhausted. They have been bought and sold as slaves. The plague which devastated Europe in the Middle Ages was ascribed to them with horrible results. In France, throughout whole provinces, every Jew was burned. In Germany, too, their history for centuries is a hideous chronicle of human cruelty, culminating in the monstrous holocaust during the second World War. We shudder at the brutal policy of Russia toward the Jews in this century and before, but let us not forget that all other nations, except free America, have acted in a similar way. The desperate situation into which the Jews fell as a result of their rejection of Jesus Christ is unequaled in human history. The Jews have been in torment ever since. And although a remnant now possesses the land of their fathers, their unending troubles make them a cup of trembling unto all who burden themselves with them. At this date the rich man is still in hell!

While the rich man had previously fared sumptuously, he is now seen in dire need - but he makes a mistake - he cries for the lost promises in Abraham instead of his Saviour! He pleads for Abraham to send help instead of Israel's Redeemer. He is all mixed up. His prayer is addressed to a person who has no power to answer prayer. Abraham has no power to save. Israel has no power to save. Fleshly identity and carnal works have no ability to bring the glory of God. He cries amiss and pleads his affliction which he has brought upon himself when he crucified his Saviour, even the Lord of Glory. He pleads for a drop of living water at the hands of Lazarus to cool his Pharasaic tongue, but it cannot be! The man is in want, and his need is a need that in this world God not only promises, but delights to supply. The scriptures abound with invitations to the poor and needy lacking water. To them "the Spirit and the bride say, Come." And they who have accepted the invitation for themselves, are commanded to say, "Come." And to all the words are addressed, "Let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." But the same God, who without exception gives to every thirsty soul these most gracious invitations, tells them also to WHOM they must come for water. Not to saints, or angels, or the spirits of just men made perfect, but to the Lord Jesus Christ; to Him of whom, under the teaching of God's Spirit, the Samaritan woman asked water; to Him who in the temple stood and cried, "If any man thirst let him come unto ME and drink"; to Him who has said, whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life." The rich man went to Abraham and asked him for water, and had he asked him for it when he was on the earth, Abraham would have been just as unable to give it to him, as he was when he asked him for it in hell.

But, thank God! it can be obtained. Never has the cry, "I thirst," gone up unto GOD, never did man feel his need of God, and cry for Him, and unto Him, without getting God. To every thirsting soul on earth, thus says the Lord: "When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue fails for thirst, I, the Lord, will hear them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water" (Isa. 41:17-18). As certain as the rising of tomorrow's sun is the faithful promise of the almighty Lord, "For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so A-L-L  I-S-R-A-E-L SHALL BE SAVED: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: for this is My covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For as you in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God has concluded them ALL in unbelief, that He might have mercy UPON ALL. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!" (Rom. 11:25-33).