The wisdom of Jesus: If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead. Luke 16:31
The Gospel of Luke relates that Jesus, on his final journey to Jerusalem where he was to make his triumphal entry, the divine master left a series of important teachings about the Kingdom of God, the empire or dominion of the divine perfections.
And one of these teachings refers to the final destiny of the righteous and the sinners, and about this Jesus with wisdom explained that there is a retribution in this life, through the cosmic law of sowing and reaping, but there is also a retribution in the next life with the judgment of God. This is why Jesus spoke of the false and the true fear with these words: "Don't be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot do any more to you after that. But I'll tell you whom to fear. Fear God, who has the power to kill you and then throw you into hell" Luke 12:4-5.
This teaching, although it is an original explanation of Jesus, has a great similarity with all the teachings of the prophets of the Old Testament, the fear of God (constancy, firmness, devotion, and equanimity) is the basis of the spiritual life of man, including faith. Without the fear of God no one can receive faith nor enter the Kingdom of God, because conversion cannot be sincere, but rather self-interested and calculated in terms of some personal benefit. The fear of God is ultimately the most important treasure for man, Jesus taught.
And this teaching of Jesus later served as a basis to narrate a fantastic story between a rich man and a beggar named Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31. Jesus in his story taught that when the souls of these men reached the abode of the dead, Lazarus who lived as a beggar received comfort and was welcomed by Abraham, while the rich man was thrown into eternal fire. The soul of the rich man, Jesus recounted, asked for relief but was denied and then he asked for his family so that they would not suffer the same as him, and asked Lazarus to return to the world of the living to warn his family. And the story of Jesus ended with Abraham's response to that soul who in life was a rich man: "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead" Luke 16:31. Only God should be feared and not men, Jesus reflected, because the final retribution to men for their actions lies with God.
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