What is the meaning of Luke 16:26? And besides all this Jesus has just reminded the rich man of the unchangeable justice already shown—Lazarus is comforted, the rich man is in torment (Luke 16:25). “Besides all this” signals that what follows is yet another, final reason his plea cannot be granted. The expression underlines: • God has already rendered a righteous verdict (Hebrews 9:27). • No further evidence or argument can overturn that verdict (Romans 2:5–6). A great chasm has been fixed between us and you The “chasm” is real and permanent. It pictures the absolute separation between the saved and the lost after death, confirming: • Salvation decisions belong to this life only (2 Corinthians 6:2). • Destiny is set by God’s unchanging decree (Matthew 25:46; John 5:29). • No human effort, ritual, or appeal can bridge what God has fixed (Ephesians 2:8–9 shows grace offered now, not later). so that even those who wish cannot cross from here to you Desire alone cannot alter eternal realities: • Saints in glory may have compassion, yet they cannot reduce the torment of the lost—only Christ’s atonement, received in life, could have done that (John 3:18). • Post-mortem conversions, prayers for the dead, or imagined second chances find no biblical support (Hebrews 9:27; Revelation 22:11). • The statement underscores personal responsibility: what we do with the gospel now determines forever (Galatians 6:7–8). nor can anyone cross from there to us The barrier is two-sided; the lost cannot escape judgment, and the redeemed cannot be dragged back into it. This dual impossibility highlights: • The security of the believer’s eternal state (John 10:28). • The finality of rejection for the unbeliever (2 Thessalonians 1:8–9; Revelation 20:12–15). • God’s verdicts are irrevocable once eternity begins (Romans 11:29). summary Luke 16:26 teaches that after death God establishes an unbridgeable gulf between the righteous and the unrighteous. The time to repent and believe is now, in this life; afterward destinies are fixed, irreversible, and fully just. |
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