LAZARUS, of whom the Lord speaks in His parable, was sorely tried. Life was bitter indeed to him. He was afflicted with a suffering body and with sore poverty, and saw continually the hale and the strong enjoying themselves, for He was laid at a rich's man's gate, desiring to be'fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. When Lazarus died such was his poverty that his burial was not mentioned. Such is the picture Christ drew of misery and poverty in this life, while He unveiled the joys and the misery of the life to come.
The Lazarus the world saw was destitute indeed, but the poor casket contained a precious jewel. His name was written on no tomb, it stands recorded in the imperishable word of God. No funeral honors attended his last journey on earth, but as his spirit left its mortal tabernacle, the holy angels carried him to perfect bliss-to Abraham's bosom.
The world judges by appearances, and judges as happy those who seem the most to enjoy life's pleasures; of the secret springs of peace and calm, of the cherished hope in things to come, the world must needs be ignorant. The true believer in God and His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, carries within him a spring of joy which is ever welling up into everlasting life. And not being visible, as is purple and fine linen, the world regards the joy of the believer in God as a thing of no value, or perhaps but as a fond imagination! While death ends the career of the worldly man, it but opens the door to the beginning of the home life of the sons of God.
The rich man at whose gate Lazarus lay, was not a gross living man, he enjoyed life, as almost all would do had they opportunity, but in this life-time he had his good things, and herein was his sad reward. He reaped what he had sowed. He lived for the world; he received all that this world had to give him, and he died without hope. For the world cannot give what it has not! Everlasting life, everlasting happiness, are not at its disposal.
As the veil is lifted, we see Lazarus and also the rich man in the world to come. Each is himself. Memory is keen. Feelings are acute. The persons are unchanged though their circumstances are altered. Let us learn the lesson, our eternity will be what we are when we bid this life farewell.