(tm) The rich man did not reject Christ.
Back to The First and Second Resurrection
This was not his sin. His sin was one of omission. He failed to share his wealth with a poor man who was laid at his gate.
Because of the sin of selfishness the rich man descended into the flame of Hell when he died physically. Hell is his place of waiting until the time of the second resurrection from the dead. Then he will be given back his body and will be judged according to his works.
If at that time his name is not found written in the Book of Life he will be cast into the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. He will enter the Lake of Fire in his body, there to be an eternal witness of the result of sinning against the Lord God (Isaiah 66:24).
Was any good found in the rich man? Yes. After having been denied a little water to cool his tongue he did not curse God, Abraham, or Lazarus. Rather, he sought the salvation of his five unrepentant brothers.
How can we know if we will go to be present with the Lord when we die? If we are living in Christ now, serving Him, always saying yes to His will, as was true of Paul, we will go to be present with the Lord when we die. Let us never assume we will go to be present with Him if we are not living in Him today, if we are leading a nominal, casual, lukewarm Christian life. Even the righteous Christians are saved with difficulty (I Peter 4:18).
When the Lord appears, His servants who did not perform His will shall be sent into outer darkness. This may be an area of the earth that will be denied the light and glory of the Kingdom, just as Egypt was in darkness while there was light in Goshen. The believers who are sent into outer darkness will be filled with remorse and will wail and scream in terror and anguish of heart.
The fiery Gehenna , to which Jesus referred several times (Matthew 5:22; 10:28; 23:15; Mark 9:43; Luke 12:5), may be the same as the Lake of Fire—the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41).
The Beast and the False Prophet will be cast alive (in their bodies) into the Lake of Fire at the end of the thousand-year Kingdom Age (Revelation 19:20). The fact that they will be hurled in while they are in their bodies suggests that the Lake of Fire is a spiritual-material lake of burning sulfur.
Jesus spoke of the "goat nations" being assigned to the "everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41). It seems that the False Prophet, the beast, and the goat nations will enter the Lake of Fire before the second resurrection. They will be thrown in while in their bodies. This may be why Jesus spoke about "having two hands to go into hell [Gehenna ]" (Mark 9:43). It is possible that we enter Gehenna in our body.
The rich man asked that Lazarus might place some water on his tongue (Luke 16:24) The rich man was in Hell, or Hades. We assume his body was in the grave so it is interesting that he spoke of his tongue.
The "sea" (Revelation 20:13) may refer to the multitude of people throughout history who never have heard of God, of Israel, of Moses, or of Christ. They cannot be judged by the Ten Commandments or by the Gospel of the Kingdom because they have heard of neither.
In the Kingdom of God an individual is judged on the basis of the light he has received, whether the Law of Moses, the Gospel of Christ, or his or her conscience (John 15:22-24; Romans 2:14-16; Romans 7:7-9).
"Death" (Revelation 20:13) may be related to the "outer darkness." This area of lack of eternal life may be for those who knew the Lord but who chose to walk in sin, particularly in material comforts. Paul claims that if we (Christians) live in the appetites of the flesh we will die.
Paul does not state that the sinning Christian will be cast into the fires of Hell (as happened to the rich man). In fact, Paul does not mention the term Hell in any of his epistles. It appears that Hell is for the wicked, while it is the members of the churches who are killed "with death" (Revelation 2:23).
Death and Hell ride together (Revelation 6:8) and they will be cast into the Lake of Fire together. Spiritual death is the cause of physical death. Our bodies die because of the sin that dwells in them. This is the original curse. Hell, an area of spiritual torment, often is associated with death.
In several passages of the New Testament it is the believers, as we have said, who are threatened with spiritual death (Romans 6:23; 8:13; Revelation 2:23; II Peter 2:1). If a believer walks in the flesh he will die spiritually. It is possible that his spirit will be saved in the Day of the Lord Jesus, but where will he be in the meantime?
The rich man was cast into the flame of Hell because he had not been willing to share his material blessings with Lazarus, the beggar. Lazarus was saved from the tormenting flame of Hell because he had suffered on the earth.
We think many Christians will descend into the flames of Hell when they die because they have lived in pleasure on the earth while the needy (both spiritually and physically) have perished on every side. The needy will go to Paradise but the selfish, wealthy Christians will go to Hell.
God is not nearly as interested in our doctrinal correctness as He is in our relationships with people, and our willingness to follow Christ in the work of the Kingdom of God.
It appears that the majority of the participants in the second resurrection will be saved. Notice the wording carefully: "whoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:15).
The wording here implies that only the exception, only the person whose name cannot be found in the Book of Life, will be assigned to the fate that passes comprehension in its dreadfulness.
If the minority of participants were to be saved it would read: whoever was found written in the Book of Life was not cast into the lake of fire. In this instance, the exception would be the person who was spared.
If no person were to be spared the maximum sentence, the sentence that is worse than all other eternal destinies, the passage would read: no person was found written in the Book of Life. Every individual was cast alive into the lake that burns with fire and sulfur.
If this is what God meant, this is what God would have said.
Evidently death and Hell are spirits, for they go through the land like two people (Revelation 6:8) and then are cast into the Lake of Fire.
Many have been called to the first resurrection but few have been chosen. When we begin as a Christian our name is in the Lamb’s Book of Life. It has been there from the creation of the world. We have been raised with Christ. Our life is hidden with Christ in God. All this has been given us freely by God’s grace working through Christ. We already have been raised above Satan and are eternally alive.