The Prima Facie Case

.... In our previous posting we quoted the story of the rich man and Lazarus, found in Luke 16:19-31. This story is an actual, true account and not simply a parable, so it shows a literal picture of the realm of the dead prior to the resurrection of Christ, which would later change things.

.... "But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented’."

(Luke 16:25)

.... To the thoughtful mind, a basic question must present itself at this point. In this story, the Day of Judgment had not yet come, nor would it come for many centuries – yet already the eternal destiny of each person had been decided. So how could this be? Let’s use the New Testament to explain the criteria for a prima facie case, and then, in our next posting, we'll work backward to the time before Jesus came, in order to answer the same question from an Old Testament perspective.

.... "For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again."

(2 Corinthians 5:14-15)

.... Through His death on the cross, Jesus has already paid the full price for all of our sins – for everyone’s sins – even for those who will never believe in Him nor repent. Thus, the primary form of each person's debt before God has changed, making our sins a secondary issue that has been entirely swallowed up into that much broader and more fundamental issue:

.... According to 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 (quoted above), we are now indebted to God, not for our sins, but for the life of God's Son. We are indebted to Him life for life, and now He is calling on us to commit our lives to Him. This may only be done through believing in the gospel of Christ and abiding in Him; and this committment, in and of itself, becomes the basis for our prima facie judgment. It is the all-inclusive question that will always decide our eternal destiny correctly, and the question of our individual conduct is secondary, to be further considered at a later, appointed time:

.... "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

(John 3:18)

.... But what about the people who died before Jesus came, like the rich man and Lazarus? In the same story Jesus quoted Abraham as saying, ‘Let them listen to Moses and the prophets’ but some of them had died long before God spoke to those men, or even to Abraham himself!

.... For those of us who were born after the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, this can be a very academic question. But for those who lived before the cross, it was the question of the ages! We will continue this discussion in our next posting.

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Daily Bible Reading: 1 Timothy 2