The Revelation of Heaven That Comes From Earth

"If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they he persuaded, though one rose from the dead." Luke 16: 31

       Jesus does not mean that a man would not be persuaded of a future life if a departed soul were to reappear. That would not be true; and Jesus never says what is not true. It would be a direct refutation of His teaching; is not the power of His own resurrection just the fact that it is a message from the dead! But you will get a flood of light on the passage if you ask, What did the rich man in this parable need to be persuaded of? What was he in doubt about during life? The existence of God? The existence of a heaven? The existence of a hell? There is no evidence of any such scepticism. What he did doubt was the eternity of love. He allowed a miserable beggar to lie at his gates uncared for, and to be fed by the accidental crumbs which fell from his table; the dogs showed more humanity. When he got into the future life he found that he was unfit for it. It was a life of ministration; and he had never learned to minister. He said, ''I am tormented in this place;" he felt deserted, unbefriended, alone. He thought if a dead man were to appear to his five brothers on earth it would help them to be charitable. Jesus says it would not. He says the spirit of love cannot be created from the outside. No opened heavens will give it; no sights of beauty will give it; no scenes of horror will give it; it must exist within.

       My soul, why complainest thou of the silence beyond the grave! It is not from beyond the grave that thy revelation of heaven must come. If the essence of heaven were beyond the grave there would be openings in the cloud every day to let thee see through. But the essence of heaven is below, within. Wouldst thou find the river of its life; cry not for the wings of a dove to bear thee upward. Not in the scenes of mystery shalt thou find that river. Thou shalt only reach it in the commonplace street where Moses and the prophets dwell. While thine eye is on the stars thou art missing thy revelation. Lazarus is lying at thy gate - broken, afflicted, desolate. Israel's children are lying at thy gate - outcasts from the Egypt of civilization, foundlings picked up from the gutters of the Nile. Moses calls thee to save them; the prophets call thee to save them; the burning bush calls thee to save them. Wilt thou hear Moses and the prophets and the burning bush? Then hast thou reached the very essence of heaven - love. Wouldst thou tell thy five brothers that they are immortal? Thou needst not send a message from the tomb. Show them the power of love. Show them the power that here and now can make a man live outside his own environment. Show them the life that can find itself by loss, raise itself by burial, clothe itself by divestiture, enrich itself by poverty, glorify itself by lying in the dust. Then shalt thou ask no more a voice from the grave. 

"Lazarus begging for food."