Friends all tried to warn me
But I held my head up high
All the time they warned me
But I only passed them by
They all tried to tell me
But I guess I didn't care
I turned my back and
Left them standing there
All the burning bridges that have fallen after me
All the lonely feelings and the burning memories
Everyone I left behind each time I closed the door
Burning bridges lost forevermore
Years have passed and I keep thinking
What a fool I've been
I look back into the past and
Think of way back then
I know that I lost everything I thought I that could win
I guess I should have listened to my friends
All the burning bridges that have fallen after me
All the lonely feelings and the burning memories
Everyone I left behind each time I closed the door
Burning bridges lost forevermore
Burning bridges lost forevermore
THE REQUEST
In Jesus' account, the man is in a place of eternal torment; his memory is intact; he remembers his family, the brothers he loves and wants them to be warned not to suffer the fate he is. He asks that a miracle occur and through that miracle, they hear the truth, the truth of the gospel.
But the answer is, "No," and for a good reason: if they don't believe the Bible, they won't believe Lazarus sent back from the dead because Lazarus would only say what the Bible says.
BURNING BRIDGES
Using our sanctified imaginations, we see that with his memory unimpaired, he can think about the bridges he burned in his lifetime when he had opportunities to be as Abraham and David were, justified by faith.
We note that he burned the bridges, and that people are burning their bridges today, bridges God has instituted to draw all men to Himself (John 12:32--"And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.”) There are six bridges:
1. The bridge of creation which testifies 24/7 to God's existence. (Rom. 1; Ps. 19)
2. The bridge of the concept of eternity in the human DNA. (Ecc. 3)
3. The bridge of the Bible, His complete and connected thought toward man.
4. The bridge of His Son to provide the payment for our sins by His death on the cross, a public death of which Paul said, "This was not done in a corner."
5. The bridge of the convicting work of the Holy Spirit.
6. The bridge of various Christians God puts in the path of the unbeliever. These are the friends who "tried to warn" him, the ones who "tried to tell"him, but he "didn't care." He "turned his back and left them standing there." They were the "everyone" he "left behind" "each time he closed the door."
In our sanctified imaginations, we can hear the man in torment declare, "All the burning bridges that have fallen after me/All the lonely feelings and the burning memories/Years have passed and I keep thinking/What a fool I've been/I look back into the past and/Think of way back then/I know that I lost everything I thought I that could win/I guess I should have listened to my friends. Burning bridges lost forever more."
ONE LAST TIME
To engage our sanctified imaginations a bit longer . . . would it change you if, for ten minutes, you could hear the screams in hell?
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