This clip is taken from the sermon “Heaven and Hell,” preached by Pastor Mark Driscoll at the Mars Hill Church Ballard campus in Seattle, Washington, on March 20th, 2011. It is the 68th sermon in the Gospel of Luke series.
Is There a Second Chance for Salvation After Death?
27 Sunday Mar 2011
Posted in Salvation
Mark gives us a great example of reading texts out of context. Take Hebrews 9:27- this verse is not even a complete sentence- the sentence continues in 9:28 and only makes sense with what comes before. The point of this section of Hebrews is not to describe what does and does not happen to people when they die; the point is that Jesus’ one death on the cross is sufficient to take away of the many, unlike the previous sacrificial deaths that were only sufficient for one year and had to be repeated. Moreover, Heb 9:27 cannot be taken as a complete picture of what happens to people when they die- It leaves out the biblical teaching of the general resurrection of the dead (both the saved and the damned- Rev 20:12-15; 1 Cor 15), which clearly happens between death and judgment. In other words, Heb 9:27 assumes that Judgment logically and even chronologically follows death, but it does not tell us what happens between these two events or how much time passes between them. (Note that I am not claiming this verse proves Mark’s view wrong; All I am saying is that he is making this verse prove something that it was never meant to prove.)
Secondly, consider the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16)- We must be careful not to automatically interpret parables literally- for this causes all sorts of problems. For example- If this parable is supposed to be taken as a literal description of what happens to people when they die, all kinds of problems arise. For example, the rich man is not condemned for disbelieving in Christ, but for enjoying good things and presumably ignoring the poor. Likewise, Lazarus is not “saved” because he receives Christ, but because he already experienced great suffered in this life. Abraham (note that it is the voice Abraham speaking in this parable and not, as Mark suggests, the voice of Jesus) explicitly says Lazarus receives comfort after death simply on the basis of his suffering; and the rich man suffers (presumably) eternally after death simply because he had good things/luxuries during life. Do we really want to say that salvation depends on how much suffering one receives in this life? Clearly, the parable is not literally about what happens to people when they die. There is no accounting of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus, and again there is no general resurrection nor judgment. This parable must have a different purpose than what Mark has in mind.
I enjoyed reading your comment. Thank you. -Dani