The Eyes of the Risen Christ as a “Flame (phlóx) of Fire”: Part IV: The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, II: The paradoxes actualized

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Review

In Part I, we began the word study at the end, where the “flame” depicted the “eyes” of the “Son of Man” (1:13a-14, cf. Dan 7:9-14), which were “like a flame (phlóx) of fire” (Rev 1:14, 2:18, 19:12; cf. Dan 10:6b), thereby centering the fire of God’s holiness fully in the Person of the Risen Christ. For it is His eyes alone that can penetrate the heart of man, seeing beyond his projected, pharisaical image of false holiness into his inner being, where a spirit of corruption is operating (Rev 2:19-22). And seeing fully and perfectly, He only is sufficient to judge (Jn 5:22-> Rev 2:23).

This projected image of holiness was the focus of Part II, with the spirit that corrupts the heart of religious-appearing people being the love of self driving the love of money. Jesus had declared at the close of the Parable of the Unjust Steward the simple truth,

You cannot serve God and money (mammon43. Lk 16:13)

In the very next verse in the preface to the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, Luke begins by drawing our attention to the Pharisees, who were

lovers of money (philárgyros)…and derided (ekmyktērízō) Jesus (16:14)

Tracing this term, philárgyros, through the NT, we came to Paul’s final letter to Timothy, where he presented an 18-fold pathway which detailed the dissolution of the divine image in us, beginning with the love of self and money. As this false distortion of love takes deeper root in our being, we found that it brings boastful pride that leads us into blasphemy, making us heartless and diabolical, brutal and beastlike, becoming a traitor to all that is good, even to Christ Himself (3:2b-4).

And what was absolutely astounding here was that even with all of these horrors operating in the depths of our person, we somehow retain the ability to still project

a form of godliness

but which

denies the power thereof (II Tim 3:5).

In Part III, we moved from the preface of the Parable into its content, where we encountered the first occurrence of flame (phlóx) in the NT. And this flame of God’s holiness, we found, operated in two simultaneous dimensions concurrently. For the poor man Lazarus, the fire refined the depth of his person forming him into the likeness of the Suffering Servant so as to prepare him to receive the joy of the eternal Kingdom. For the unnamed rich man, however, deceived by the false holy spirit of wealth, this fire burned unto eternal judgment. At each juncture of this Parable, then, we encountered a great paradox:

The silent will be heard;

The naked clothed;

The hungry will have prepared for them in their starvation an eternal feast;

The poor through their poverty will be given enduring riches;

The oppressed through their oppression will receive everlasting justice;

The suffering in their disease, healing;

The outcast in their rejection, an eternal home.

The despised, everlasting consolation.

And all this happening in real time as the refining fires of trial reveal our eternal hope.

And at the very same time, we found that the opposite will be true as well: Those arrayed in fine clothing will be endlessly naked, those filled to the full with feasting will be eternally empty and those having access to health, wealth and power in this life will receive everlasting affliction, poverty and utter impotence in the next…that is to say, if they trust in them.

The great gulf fixed

We continue with the second part of Abraham’s response to the rich man’s cry of being tormented in this flame (phlóx). He had just revealed to him the paradoxical reality that he in his

lifetime received good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented (Lk 16:25).

Now he explains the terrifying fact that

‘Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us’ (Lk 16:26).

Why, we ask, is the gulf fixed?

“Because after death rewards cannot be changed” (Ambrose).

Before death, however, and during our lives there is a pathway open to us literally every moment into the Kingdom of God. In the words of the Abba Poemen,

The voice cries out to a man to his last breath, ‘Be converted today.’

If, however, we reject this voice, seeking to bypass the “narrow and suffering way”, then we reject “life” itself.

The final request and the reason for the name Lazarus

The rich man does not argue, but asks, begs, that his brothers be warned of what awaits them on the “broad and easy path” of love of self and love of money:

“I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify (diamartýromai) to them, lest they also come to this place of torment” (16:27-28).

We will not mention the rich man’s presumption of his continued superiority over the poor man whom he still believes he can order around as a suppliant…. We only draw attention to the fact that his words are now utterly powerless to direct any change whatsoever.

All opportunity is gone.

He is now beyond the gulf and the only power operative is the Word which he himself had rejected. They already have a “testimony”, as Abraham makes absolutely clear. They have been given exactly what they need to enter into life and not “come to this place of torment”:

“They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them” (16:29).

Yet this alone, in the fallen mind of the rich man, is not enough. They need, in his delusion, something extraordinary:

“No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent” (metanoéō, 16:30)

Now back to the name.

Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, will die (John 11:14, 39). He will be raised from the dead (11:43-44).

And what will be the response of the religious establishment?

Metanoia? Repentance? Turning away from the love of self and the love of money to embrace the love of God and the love of neighbor?

No.

Their response will be one of conspiracy and murder:

Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death (11:52).

And not Jesus only, but even Lazarus himself:

But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also (12:10).

The Fathers hold that they succeeded.

This is not all. There is one final question:

Having rejected the “testimony” of Lazarus’ resurrection, do they finally “repent” when Jesus Himself is raised from the dead?

Now we can better understand the final verse in the Parable:

“If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead” (16:31).

Miracles and signs can do nothing if the human heart is hardened:

He did not do many miracles (dýnamis) there because of their unbelief (Mt 13:58).

But although He had done so many signs (sēmeîa) before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke:

“Lord, who has believed our report?

And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again:

“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts,

Lest they should see with their eyes,

Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,

So that I should heal them” (Jn 12:37-41).

The dual reality that the fire of God’s holiness can, through Christ Jesus, cleanse the depth of our person bringing eternal healing; or if His mediatorial work is rejected, eternal judgment.

Concluding word: The paradoxes beginning to be actualized

In this opening occurrence of “flame” we find how present eternity is to us here and now.

Almost as if it is somehow working backwards in our lives.

That is to say, the eternal glory of Heaven is operative in the suffering of the poor man Lazarus redeeming literally every moment of his life of seemingly endless trials. And as he endures the unjust (and unexplained) horrors in This Fallen Age, silently yet with an increasingly tried faith, he is being conformed more and more to the image of His cross-bearing Savior and, in so doing, being prepared to enter in more fully to the joy of the eternal Kingdom.

And at the very same time, in the temporary comforts of the temporary satisfaction of this temporary life, we see the the eternal torment of judgment beginning to operate in the soul of the rich man. Though given opportunity after opportunity to hear the voice crying out to him in the suffering of his brother, he becomes increasingly hardened by the inner working of the false holy spirit of riches, so that he rejects the one Mediator between God and man not only in this his life, but moreover into all eternity.

Again,

Hell is eternity in the presence of God without a Mediator.

Heaven is eternity in the presence of God, with a Mediator.

Terrifying in one dimension; and heartening in another.

In the fifth and final post we will examine the remaining three occurrences of phlóx in the NT, tracing it through Acts, II Thessalonians and Hebrews.

Kyrie eleison!