WHEN FAITH BECOMES SIGHT

Yesterday, I took a little detour from our story in Luke 16 to share something very personal with you.

When I taught this lesson to my “Golden Oldies,” I shared with them the story of Joy’s death and how the truths I had learned from God’s Word gave me peace in the middle of my deepest heartbreak—including the truth Jesus shared in Luke 16.

So, let’s get back to the story.

Remember my 96-year-old friend, Sara?

The day I taught the lesson about the rich man and Lazarus, Sara wasn’t there.

I remember glancing toward the front row and noticing her empty seat.

If you’ve been following this study, you know Sara rarely missed our Bible lessons. She always sat near the front, leaned forward, and listened with an eagerness that challenged me. At ninety-six years old, she had an appetite for God’s Word that many believers—young or old—could learn from.

So when she wasn’t there that morning, I smiled to myself.

“I’ll just have to catch her up later.”

I wasn’t wrong.

A few weeks later, it was Christmastime.

Every year I put together a small Christmas gift for each person in my senior devotional group. Nothing extravagant—just a simple reminder that they were loved, remembered, and being prayed for.

That afternoon I made my way from apartment to apartment, delivering gifts. I’d step inside for a few minutes, ask how they were doing, visit for a bit and then head on to the next door.

But when I arrived at Sara’s apartment, things were different.

She welcomed me in with her familiar smile, set her Christmas gift on the table, looked me straight in the eyes, and said,

“Now tell me what I missed.”

Apparently everyone had been talking about our lesson from Luke 16 around the lunch tables.

This wasn’t going to be a quick Christmas visit.

Sara didn’t want small talk.

She wanted the lesson.

So I pulled up a chair beside her, reached into my Bible, and unfolded a simple chart I had brought with me.

“I think this picture will help explain it.” (The picture for today’s post is similar to what I showed her.)

As we looked at the diagram together, I explained that in Luke 16 Jesus gives us a glimpse into the afterlife before His crucifixion.

There were two compartments in the place of the dead.

One was Paradise—also called Abraham’s Bosom—where Lazarus was carried after his death.

The other was a place of torment, where the rich man found himself.

Between them was what Jesus called “a great gulf fixed.”

From Jesus’ description, it appears the rich man could see across that gulf, but he could never cross it. Jesus made it unmistakably clear that once death came, there was no opportunity to move from one side to the other.

Then I explained something that often surprises people.

Before Jesus died on the cross, God’s people were saved by grace through faith just as we are today. They trusted God’s promise that a Redeemer was coming.

However, their sins were covered, not yet taken away.

The sacrifices of lambs, bulls, and goats pointed forward to the coming Messiah, but they could never permanently remove sin.

So from righteous Abel through the Old Testament and up until the cross, believers entered Paradise to wait for the completed work of redemption.

Then everything changed.

John the Baptist had introduced Jesus by saying,

“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29)

When Jesus cried, “It is finished,” the ransom for sin was paid in full.

The veil in the Temple was torn from top to bottom, declaring that the way into God’s presence had been opened.

After His death, burial, and resurrection, Ephesians tells us that Christ “led captivity captive.” (Ephesians 4:8)

Those Old Testament believers who had waited in Paradise were brought into Heaven because redemption had finally been accomplished. Their sins were no longer covered; they were completely taken away.

Then I looked at Sara and smiled.

“But here’s the wonderful part for us.”

“Because Jesus has already completed His work on the cross, believers today don’t wait in Paradise.”

Paul writes,

“To be absent from the body… is to be present with the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:8)

“The moment a believer takes his last breath on earth…”

“…he takes his first breath in the presence of Jesus.”

I stopped talking.

Sara simply looked at the picture.

Then she looked back at me.

A smile slowly spread across her face.

It was one of those moments every Bible teacher treasures.

I could almost see the light come on.

That was Sara’s “aha” moment.

She understood that the moment she died she would be with Jesus. Immediately.



Neither of us knew it then…

But before long…

That promise would become her reality.

Some time has passed since that December morning.

My dear friend has now gone home to be with the Lord.

I find myself thinking about that conversation often.

When we talked that day, Heaven was something she embraced by faith.

Now it is the home she enjoys.

When we spoke about God’s promises…

She believed them.

Now she sees them fulfilled.

When we read about Jesus in the pages of Scripture…

She loved Him by faith.

Now she sees Him face to face.

Sara didn’t enter Heaven because she was a good person.

She entered Heaven the same way every believer enters.

By grace.

Through faith.

God’s mercy withheld the judgment her sins deserved.

God’s grace gave her the gift she could never earn—forgiveness, eternal life, and an everlasting home with Him.

At the cross…

Mercy and grace met.

Mercy withheld the punishment.

Grace provided salvation and the gift of heaven.

Jesus made both possible.

The story of the rich man and Lazarus reminds us that eternity is real.

Sara’s life reminds me that eternity is personal.

One day…

The lesson became her reality.

One day…

It will become ours.

The question isn’t whether eternity is coming.

The question is whether we have trusted the only One who can prepare us for it.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” — Ephesians 2:8

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Has someone ever helped you understand a truth from God’s Word at just the right moment? Or has there been a believer whose faith quietly prepared you for eternity?

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Tomorrow, I’ll tell you about another conversation that began with this very lesson.

About a year later, I received a message that a man who was part of the golden oldies was struggling.

I decided to stop by his apartment just to chat.

I had no idea that visit would become one of the most unforgettable conversations of my life.

Tomorrow I’ll share the impact of that visit.