Today’s passage of scripture is one that I have found to be one of the most important in the New Testament in regards to understanding the afterlife. However, my view is not one that is widely shared among Biblical commentators. There is much disagreement over the proper interpretation of this passage amongst Biblical scholars. By way of disclaimer, I do not profess in any way to be a Biblical scholar.
However, I will tell you how I view Biblical interpretation. I believe that God’s word is sufficient in and of itself through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit working within us. To make a practical illustration; I think that if a man living on a desert island alone in the middle of the Pacific Ocean found a Bible washed up on the beach, even though he had never heard the gospel before that time, if he read the Bible he would have enough understanding to be saved. Furthermore, if he continued to apply what he learned, and be obedient to what the Bible says, he could learn all the essential doctrine that is necessary. I believe in the sufficiency of scripture. I believe in the completeness of scripture. We don’t need some additional revelation and furthermore we should not seek it. And I believe in the absolute authority of scripture. But I think the caveat to that understanding is that one must be obedient to the Holy Spirit to be taught by the Holy Spirit. I believe in what I call progressive revelation. That is as you are obedient to what the Holy Spirit teaches you through the word, then He will continue to lead you and guide you to all truth. I think that is what is meant by Jesus in John 16:13 says speaking of the Holy Spirit, “that He will guide you into all truth.”
So as I have studied this passage for the last 25 years or so, I have come to see it in some respects as a missing piece to the puzzle of eschatology. Twenty five years ago when my father died I wanted to understand exactly where he was now. And as I began to seriously study scripture for the answer I began to see how this passage links with other passages to give us a glimpse into the afterlife. I think that this passage is significant in that it speaks to the issues of heaven and hell straight from the mouth of God Himself. And so therefore it provides insight that no other person could have regarding the afterlife.
Unfortunately, this passage has suffered almost irreparable harm from well respected commentators and Biblical teachers because it has been relegated to an allegory. Many well meaning and well respected men have called this a parable and as such have diminished the significance of what Jesus had to say regarding the afterlife. My contention is that they call it a parable or an allegory in order to sustain what for many of them is a faulty doctrine of eschatology. In other words, they came by their view of the end times by various means such as being taught a particular view in seminary and this passage does not fit into their doctrine of the afterlife. Therefore some say that Jesus used fanciful allegorical elements that were not founded in reality in order to teach a principle. So while they maintain that the principle is important, they say the incidental details described by Jesus are not important and may not even exist as He described them. He was just using a fable that was popular with the rabbis of that day as a allegory to teach a principle.
I find that approach to be unsatisfactory on a number of fronts. First of all, I believe it is an actual story of real people, not a parable. And to support that view I simply point out that in none of the other 40 or so parables that Jesus gave did He ever attach a name to any of the characters. But this story has 2 characters that are named; Lazarus and Abraham. Abraham was obviously a real person, so it is logical to assume that Lazarus was as well. Secondly, Luke does not present this story as a parable. He did not always do so, but many times he did introduce a parable by saying Jesus taught them another parable. And thirdly, in order to dismiss all the incidental details that Jesus gave as allegorical, you also have to dismiss the normal template that Jesus employed for parables. But again that is contrary to all the other parables that Jesus gave. In all the other parables, Jesus used earthly stories to teach a heavenly principle. And in order to do that He had to use illustrations from real life situations that the people would have been familiar with such a sowing a field with seed, or tending to sheep, or fishing or whatever. But in this story, they want to say that Jesus uses an imaginary situation with no basis in reality in order to make a spiritual point.
So before we can really understand all that Jesus is teaching here, we must accept it as it appears; an actual story of two men that died which Jesus is able to tell because He is God and knows all things. And if this information conflicts with what we learned from reading the “Left Behind” series of books, or what some television preacher taught, then we need to be suspect of those sources of information that are in conflict with what Jesus says. We need to recognize fiction for what it is, and believe that Jesus is only able to speak the truth.
Now that being said, let’s make sure we don’t lose sight of the main point that Jesus was making and focus on the secondary points. I think that a lot of information can be gleaned here about what happens after death and how that fits with the doctrine of the end times. And I will address that briefly as we get to it. But eschatology is not the main point of what Jesus is teaching.
What Jesus is teaching is the same thing He always taught; the gospel of the kingdom of God. In parable after parable, in illustration after illustration, and in confrontation after confrontation, Jesus was teaching about the kingdom of God. How to enter the kingdom of God and the distinctiveness of the kingdom of God. And Jesus does that incrementally by a series of messages. Sort of like the progressive revelation that I spoke of earlier. Jesus doesn’t reduce the gospel of the kingdom to a pocket sized tract that says if you want to go to heaven then do these 5 steps in this order and you will be saved. He doesn’t reduce the gospel to a little formula that says if you pray in just this way you will be saved. He doesn’t dumb down the gospel to the point of just one word such as “Love”. He doesn’t say that all you need to do is have a relationship with God.
No, if anything, Jesus seems to be making it more and more difficult to enter the kingdom of God. When you look back over the last few chapters, it’s obvious that Jesus’ message becomes ever more confrontational. He keeps talking about the same themes but from different perspectives. But instead of making it easier to enter the kingdom Jesus seems to be making it harder. He keeps raising the bar.
Just a cursory glimpse back reveals this fact. In chapter 14 Jesus said that no one can be His disciple who isn’t willing to count the cost of what it takes to follow Him. He says no one can be His disciple that isn’t willing to give up his own possessions. He goes on to say it may be necessary to leave your family in order to follow Him. He says that no one can follow Him unless he is willing to carry his own cross and come after Him. He was going to Calvary to be crucified, and He says you have to be willing to do the same thing.
And to illustrate those principles He then gave a parable about a rich man who gave a big feast and invited all these people to his dinner. They all said they wanted to come. But when the time came for the dinner they all were busy doing other things; some were busy with work, others were busy with family, and others were busy buying and selling. And Jesus said the host became very angry because they would not come to his dinner, and so he swore that none of those who were invited would taste of his dinner, but instead he would bring in people from the highways and the outer reaches to eat his dinner.
And so Jesus just keeps turning up the heat, revealing the exclusivity of the kingdom. Repeatedly emphasizing that God will not be relegated to second place but must have preeminence. By the time we get to chapter 16, Jesus has focused His attention on money and the world’s goods as symptoms of an unregenerate heart. He says you cannot serve God and mammon. You are either loving the world and the things of the world, or you love God and the things of God. He was illustrating that how you live reveals who you belong to. See, the problem was that there were a lot of people in Jesus’ day, just as there are a lot of people in our day, that claim to be in the kingdom of God. They seem to be pretty religious people on the surface. But Jesus said God looks on the heart. God sees the heart. He knows the motives. And Jesus sees the hypocrisy of those that say that they love God and yet in reality love the world. They haven’t left anything for Christ. They haven’t forsaken the world, but yet they want to claim the benefits of the kingdom.
In Jesus time, much as it is in our time, people thought that they were in the kingdom of God because of a relationship. The Jews claimed their relationship to Abraham who they felt was their spiritual father. And because they were descendants of Abraham they believed they were in the kingdom. And so as proof of their favored status, they believed that prosperity was a blessing from God. So the more religious you were, the more money that you had because that is how they defined blessing.
That sounds a lot like the prosperity gospel that false teachers like Joel Olsteen and Joyce Meyers and others on the CBN network love to espouse today. They tell you that it costs nothing to have a relationship to God, that He just loves you so much and He wants to bless you. And if you just have faith in God then He will give you all kinds of blessings. Particularly monetary blessings. God wants you to be rich. That concept of blessing happens to be completely at odds with Jesus’ teaching.
So Jesus tells this story to once again show the disparity between what you claim to be and what you are. He tells this story to show that how you live is a reflection of what you believe. And that if earthly prosperity is what you are living for, then eternal destitution is what you are headed for. Furthermore, He teaches that you cannot discard the law of God to please yourself and still claim to love God. You cannot love God and despise your neighbor.
Now as we look at this story, Jesus says that the rich man had all that the world could offer; Jesus said “he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day.” Purple was a very expensive dye in those days. And so this guy had all the best clothes that money could buy. He ate the finest food. Luxury characterized this man’s life.
Then Jesus contrasts that life of luxury with that of a beggar. He said that there was a poor man named Lazarus who laid outside the gate of the rich man’s house. This beggar was covered in sores and longed to even eat of the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. In those days, dogs were not pets like we have now. They roamed the street in packs and were filthy, mangy dogs that carried diseases. And we can assume from this description that Lazarus is probably disabled because Jesus said he laid at the gate and the dogs came up and licked his sores. He was unable to defend himself against the wild dogs roaming the streets.
Now from a superficial point of view, Lazarus was a nobody. He had nothing. No friends, no family and no resources. And in contrast to him, the rich man had everything the world had to offer.
But what goes without saying was that obviously Lazarus had something of the greatest value that wasn’t apparent on the outside, but God knew his heart. And so when Lazarus died, God sent His angels to take him to Abraham’s bosom. Lazarus was so poor that he didn’t even get a proper burial. They probably carted him off to the local dump and dropped him off there.
The rich man also dies. You know, death is the great equalizer, isn’t it? Death comes to us all, whether we live in a cottage or a castle. Whether rich or poor, death comes to us all. Hebrews 9:27 says that it is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment. Jesus says the rich man was buried. I’m sure he had a nice funeral. Lots of people may have said nice things about him. But though he was rich in the world’s goods he was destitute in the matter of eternity. The rich man died and found himself in Hades.
Vs. 23 Jesus says, “In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom.”
Now I don’t want to lose sight of the primary focus of the message. But I will take a moment to teach you what I think this passage is saying concerning the afterlife. In the Old Testament, the afterlife was referred to as Sheol. It was the abode of the dead. In the New Testament, Sheol is referred to as Hades. And according to what is implied in Scripture, Hades is in the middle of the Earth. It is composed of two compartments, an upper and lower region. The upper region is what is called Paradise. And the lower regions is simply called Hades; a place of torment and fire. Between the two, Jesus says, is a great gulf, or chasm.
Now that brings up a lot of questions that the Bible does not answer. We don’t know how this all functions. We don’t know how spirits experience torment from flames, for instance. We don’t know how Abraham and the rich man were able to communicate across such great distances between Paradise and Hades. We are just given glimpses behind the veil of death that do not answer all our questions.
But here is what we do know. Jesus said to the thief on the cross as He was dying, today you shall be with Me in Paradise. And yet three days later He told Mary after His resurrection to “stop clinging to Me, I have not yet ascended to My Father.” So if God is in heaven and Jesus went to Paradise then He must have gone to Hades. And so He did according to a number of passages in the Bible. Acts 2:27 “Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither will You suffer your Holy One to see corruption.” Peter says that while He was there He preached to those in prison. That would be the souls in Hades. 1Pet. 3:18-19 “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison,” Paul tells us where Hades is located in Eph. 4:8-9 “Wherefore he said, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth?” The apostle’s creed confirms that; “Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried: He descended into hell: The third day he rose again from the dead.”
Furthermore, we know that in Paradise we experience the presence of the Lord. Paul said to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Jesus is omnipresent because He is God. And God will comfort His people in Paradise. And we also know that we will not stay there, but we are awaiting the resurrection of the dead. One day Jesus promised to return for His people and Paul describes this in 1Thess. 4:15, “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.” [asleep is a Biblical term for the dead in Christ, those in Paradise] “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. [this is the first resurrection, the dead in Christ] “Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”
Now there will be another resurrection that is described in Revelation 20:13, that of the dead in Hades, the unsaved awaiting the judgment. It says, “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.” Now that’s a summary of my view of eschatology. I am not going to break fellowship with someone who disagrees with me on a point or two. And I hope you will have the same attitude and don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. But hopefully I have illustrated why I think this passage is the key to understanding what happens after we die.
But even if you disagree with me on some of the particulars of eschatology, one thing should be absolutely clear from this illustration. There are two possible outcomes when you die. There are only two possible destinies. If you want to call it heaven or hell that is fine by me. Jesus calls it Hades and Abraham’s bosom.
Now let’s look at the rest of the story.
The rich man in Hades, being in torment in the flames, lifts up his eyes and sees Lazarus afar off in Abraham’s bosom. Now in a previous chapter, Jesus said to the Pharisees “In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out.” See, the Jews thought that Abraham was their father and they inherited the kingdom of God from him. But Jesus is saying that they would not enter because they were children of Abraham but only if they were children of God. Entrance into the kingdom is not by the means of the flesh but by the work of the Spirit.
For Lazarus, Abraham’s bosom is a reference to the celebratory feast like that the father of the prodigal son threw in his honor. Jesus said that there was celebration among the angels over one sinner who repents. Abraham’s bosom is a way of speaking of the place of honor at that feast, leaning against the person at the head of the table. It is a place of comfort, of peace, of reward, of being filled with good things.
Jesus does not describe the conversion of Lazarus. But please understand that there is no social gospel here that is teaching that there is some sort of merit to being poor. But rather Lazarus typifies the attitude of a person enters the kingdom. In the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5, Jesus says “blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.” “Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.” Jesus was picturing in that sermon just the sort of attitude that Lazarus symbolized. If you will enter the kingdom of God, then you must recognize that your own righteousness counts for nothing. You must come to God as a beggar, begging for forgiveness. You must come like the prodigal son who said I am not worthy to be your son, please let me be as your servant. You must come mourning over your sin. That is repentance.
In contrast, the rich man is in torment. He whose life was one of ease and luxury on earth is now in terrible torment. But again, Jesus isn’t advocating some sort of social justice, but He is describing divine justice. He is describing the wrath of God against sinners. He is illustrating the same principle He espoused in the earlier parable concerning the invitation to the dinner and the people that were too busy to come. He is displaying the judgment of God upon those that are too busy living a life in the world to value the things of God’s kingdom. His life of selfishness and self fulfillment did nothing to store up for himself treasure in the kingdom of God. He has not invested in eternity and so he is now destitute.
The rich man calls out to Abraham to send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water so that a drop could be given to quench his agony in the flames. This statement reveals first of all that he knew Lazarus. He knew his name. He obviously had seen him lying at his gate begging all those years and known who he was and his condition and yet he had ignored him. And in so doing he ignored the law of God. Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment in the law, and He said, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength and the second one is like unto it; you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Well the rich man had defied the law of God. He neither loved God nor his neighbor. You can’t get a much closer neighbor than one that lays outside your driveway every day. Here is a guy who never lifted a finger to help Lazarus, and now that he is helpless he wants Lazarus to help him by dipping his finger in water. He is still trying to order people around to serve himself. He loved only himself.
Listen, love is not about liking someone. It’s not about loving your friends. It’s about loving the unloveable, loving your enemies. Loving those that don’t deserve it. Love is not an emotion, but an act of will. God’s love is sacrificial love; agape love. It’s the kind of love that Christ had for us that He laid down His life for us. God says if you love Me, you will feed My sheep. If you love Me, tend My lambs. If you say you are in the kingdom of God, that you are a child of God, then act like God. Be gracious to those who need it and even to those who don’t deserve it. The rich man lived luxuriously for himself. His lifestyle manifested the kind of person that he was. He revealed what he believed by how he lived. Listen, God isn’t interested in lip service. This idea that we can honor God by giving Him lip service, singing a few “praise” songs and then live the rest of the week for ourselves is a lie from the devil. God is honored by obedience. “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
Then the rich man tries to order another service from Lazarus. If you can’t help me, how about helping out my family? I have five brothers back home. Send Lazarus back there to warn them so they will not to come to this place. But once again Abraham tells him it isn’t going to happen. Vs. 29, “But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ “But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ “But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”
This little exchange is insightful because it speaks of the way people think about the gospel. If God would just reveal Himself to me then I would be saved. If God would just do some great miracle that I want Him to do then I would be saved. We try to dictate the terms of our surrender. But the truth is that they wouldn’t be saved. Salvation is by faith. And what is seen is not faith, but that which is unseen. Salvation is nothing less than unconditional surrender to the God of the universe, to serve Him completely. Abraham says that they have Moses and the prophets and that is enough. Let them listen to them. What he is referring to is the entire scriptures up to that point. That was a way of referring to all of the known scriptures, from Genesis to Malachi. Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, commonly known as the Law. And all the rest of the scriptures was called the prophets.
You may remember how on the road to Emmaus after His resurrection, Jesus joins two disciples who are walking and are discussing among themselves in a very discouraged way the events of the last few days. And as Jesus joins their conversation, it says in Luke 24:27“And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” The point being is that they had even in the Old Testament more than enough revelation to know that Jesus was the Messiah. He was the seed of the woman who would crush Satan’s head, He was the offspring of Abraham who would bless all the nations of the earth, He was the substitute for the sacrifice that Abraham was offered in place of his son. He was the Great High Priest who would enter into the Holy of Holies once for all. He was the scapegoat that was driven outside the camp. He was the lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world.
The scripture is still the way to enter the kingdom of God. Romans 1 says it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. We want to try to use all sorts of modern media, to try to dumb down the gospel, we want to make our churches seeker friendly so we don’t scare someone out of the church. But we have forgotten the admonition of Jesus; John 6:63, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”
1Cor. 1:18, Paul said, “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”
In closing, I am very concerned that so very many people exist today in the church that think that they are ok, that think they are in the kingdom of God. They claim to have a relationship with God based on some external thing or other and yet their hearts are unchanged. They may have been baptized. Or they may have had an emotional experience once that they thought was spiritual. Maybe they had some crisis and they were told to have faith in God and they think that was how they got saved. Some raised their hand in an emotionally charged service one time and maybe came forward and said a prayer. I don’t know what you are trusting in for your eternal destiny. But I hope you are trusting in the truth of the gospel. I hope you have come to Christ as the prodigal son came home, in repentance, willing to become a servant. I hope that you have come like Lazarus, as a beggar, mourning over your sinful condition. Helpless, hoping only in God’s grace and Christ’s righteousness and begging to be made a new creation. Listen, it’s not about just believing in God. The Bible says the devil’s believe in God and they are not saved. Eph. 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
Grace is the gift of God; sending Jesus to take your place on the cross to pay the penalty of your sins. Faith is believing in all that God is and all that God says that He is in His word. Abraham was the father of faith. Abraham believed God and it was counted unto Him as righteousness. How did Abraham show he believed God? By obeying, going out to a place that he didn’t know, living in tents, confessing that he was a stranger and a sojourner in this world. He had faith to obey God. That is the result of faith; to be given a new heart, a new spirit, created for good works, so that we would walk in them. Salvation is a desperate appeal unto God to remake you and forgive you and change you so that you might serve Christ and Christ alone.
Listen, the rich man’s lifestyle revealed what he believed. As a man thinks in his heart so is he. You can fool other people into thinking you are a Christian. You can even fool yourself into thinking you are a Christian. But you cannot fool God. God sees the heart. I pray that today you examine yourself in the light of God’s word. Today is the acceptable day of salvation. There are only two possible destinations when you die. There are no second chances. God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. Let’s pray.
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