When Jesus appears to His disciples at His resurrection, He has a healed physical body. He eats, walks, talks—regular stuff humans typically do. He does this stuff for 40 days before ascending to Heaven.
He’s also the same person personality-wise. Except for the nail-scarred hands and the healed wound in His side, He’s the same person post-crucifixion as He was pre-crucifixion.
Common sense tells us our own transition from this life to eternal life will operate similarly. We take our personalities with us. However, an insurmountable issue exists for those people God justifiably sentences to Hell. For a couple of reasons, their personality will be useless to them.
First, Hell-bound men and women will experience overwhelming, unending regret. In Luke 16, Jesus teaches the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. Verse 23, Jesus describes the predicament of the rich man: “In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom.”
The rich man is in physical torment, but he also suffers mentally. First, he experiences the vast difference between Heaven and Hell. God’s heaven is filled with light and glory. The attributes of God are apparent there: His love, joy, peace and goodness. Unshakable regret overwhelms the rich man because he knows he can never partake of what he can clearly see.
Jesus describes why in verse 26: “Besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed.” It’s not a wall no one can see over, but a chasmpeople can see across. Jesus continues, “…so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.” Gazing across the chasm, the rich man knows powerfully the lost opportunity which will forever plague him. He realizes he will never have an opportunity for a do-over. His wish will never find an answer.
Some semblance of common sense kicks in for the rich man. People he cares for still remain on earth. He doesn’t want them to ignore their opportunity and end up in Hell. If he can convince Abraham to send someone back to warn his five brothers, then they can avoid this ‘place of torment.’
Abraham points out the five brothers have Moses and the prophets to warn them. For us, that’s equivalent to having the Bible. We can find out the truth about Heaven and Hell through God’s Word. The rich man declares that’s not enough in verse 30: “No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!”
Excellent common sense, rich man! You’ve hit the nail on the—. Hold on. Someone did come back from the dead. Namely, Jesus. Millions of people refuse to acknowledge that fact. Rich man, you’re speaking common sense. The problem is plenty of people never use common sense.
Also, the rich man identifies the specific moment of his regret. He believes if his five brothers behold a person who returns from the dead then they will repent. That’s the foundational ingredient of his regret. He never repented. He remembers exactly the moment he was invited to do so. And he refused. It was such a simple thing to do. If only He had repented and turned his life over to Jesus. His perpetual wish for having that opportunity again will never come true.
Abraham emphasizes that mistake with his closing statement in verse 31: “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.”
With His parable, Jesus is pointing to His own future. He will die on the cross, and He will live again. Yet, masses of people will refuse to repent and put their trust in Him. Instead, they will live out their lives, ignoring the truth of God’s Word, and then pass on to the next life. Common sense did not prevail. Opportunity lost forever.
Jesus offers a life of the easy yoke and the light burden. Instead, so many of us choose the difficult yoke and the heavy burden of Hell. The mental anguish of regret will forever consume those who ignore the common sense the easy yoke Jesus offers, leading them to repentance.