The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus—No. 2
By A. R. Bell
[Last week Mr. Bell showed that the purpose of the parable was to reprove the covetousness and self-righteousness of the Jewish nation.] “There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day; and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crums which fell from the rich man’s table; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, Father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” Luke 16:19-31. NOW we read further: “And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom.” Luke 16:22. Concerning this scripture, we read in Cruden’s Concordance, “Lazarus was in a place of rest, where he had communion with the saints, and enjoyed the same felicity with Abraham, the friend of God; and that place was heaven.” In confirmation of this view, many refer to the words God spoke to Abraham, “And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age” (Gen. 15:15), claiming for this scripture what Cruden claims for Luke 16:22. We read in Joshua 24:2, R.V.: “And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt of old time beyond the river, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor: and they served other gods.” This scripture declares the father of Abraham to be an idolater. The previous one tells us that Abraham was gathered to his fathers. The same doctrine that places the worshiper of the true God in heaven at death, consigns the idolater to hell at that time. Abraham went to his fathers when he was buried. Of David we read, “For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers.” Acts 13:36. In other words, this is simply telling us, of both Abraham and David, that they died, and joined their fathers in death in the grave. And Job tells us of man when he dies, “So man lieth down, and riseth not; till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.” Job 14:12. And we read from the words of Jesus Himself, that God, who “is not the God of the dead, but of the living,” and who says, “I am the God of Abraham,” etc., says this in view of and “as touching the resurrection of the dead.” Matt. 22:31, 32. This being true, the parable we are studying uses Abraham, the father of the faithful, as a type of the true Father in heaven. We read a scripture: “No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” John 1:18. Here John, writing many years after the ascension of Christ, tells us that Christ “is in the bosom of the Father.” How did He get there? Says the parable, He “was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom.” What are the facts? Luke, writing of the ascension of Christ, tells us, “While they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight.” Acts 1:9. One of the angels who stood by said to the wondering disciples, “This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.” Verse 11. The revelator, having in vision a glimpse of that event, tells us, “Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him.” Rev. 1:7. And Jesus, speaking of the same event, says, “When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory.” Matt. 25:31. These scriptures prove conclusively that Jesus was carried to His Father by a cloud of angels. And John, writing long after that experience, tells us that He “is in the bosom of the Father.” The first meaning of the word “Abraham” is father. “Lazarus” is the Greek form of the name “Eleazar.” “Whom God aids” is one definition of the name, “the help of God” is another, “God the helper” is another. Christ, under the symbol of Lazarus in the parable, and in His own personal experience, was helped of God. God did aid Him. God received His work and sacrifice, honored Him by not leaving His soul in the grave, caught Him up to His throne, and John reveals Him in the bosom of His Father. Now we read: “The rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell [hades] he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.” Luke 16:22-24. Is It Only Partly Parable?
Somehow or other, this story of the rich man and Lazarus, in the minds of many, is surely and only a parable—an object-lesson—until they reach this part of it; and then, behold, it is not a parable, but a record of a real, literal experience, and is given to set the seal of the Scriptures to the doctrine of the immortality of the soul and the conscious state of the dead! The parable was set to teach nothing of the sort. The whole record of the chapter, up to the giving of the parable, shows clearly that Christ was reproving covetousness and self-justification (see verses 13-17); and surely there is nothing in the question of whether the dead are conscious or not, to rebuke those prevailing sins. The record tells us the rich man “died,” and that he was “buried.” We read another scripture, which tells us, “The living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything.” Eccl. 9:5. Another scripture, speaking of the man that is dead, informs us that “his sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.” Job 14:21. We read further of the man who goes down in death, “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” Ps. 146:4. And Job asks the question, “But man dieth, and is cut off [margin]: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?” And answering his own question, he tells us, “As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up; so man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.” Job 14:10-12. Now let us draw some conclusions. If a man is dead, he is not alive. If he is asleep, he is not awake. If he has no thoughts, then he is not thinking. If he knows nothing, then he is not intelligent. But is that all there is of him?—O, no! for we read, “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” 1 Cor. 15:22. And we read further the words of Christ Himself, “The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” John 5:28, 29. These scriptures, then, while they plainly teach that when man dies, in that state he does not know anything, teach also that there is a sure awakening for all from death, and that that awakening is the resurrection. We read in 1 Thess. 4:16, “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” And of that time we read, “Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 1 Cor. 15:51, 52. This is the resurrection of the righteous; the dead in Christ shall rise first. Of the other class—the wicked—we read, “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” Rev. 20:5. And as to the question of punishment or torment at death, we are told that the Lord reserves “the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished” (2 Peter 2:9), the Scriptures teaching also that even the angels that sinned have not yet been punished. See Matt. 8:29 and 2 Peter 2:4. With these truths in mind, let us go back to Luke 16:23. Here we are told that the rich man, being dead and buried, lifted up his eyes in hell—hades, the grave—“being in torments,” and that in that condition he sees Abraham and Lazarus. And verse 24 tells us that in that condition, and in that torment, he cries out for relief.