Luke 16:24, commentary and pictures

The verse pictures the rich man suffering at a distance after death and begging Abraham to have pity and send Lazarus to bring the smallest relief of water to his tongue because of his anguish in the flames. It belongs to a parable that adopts the hearers' own idea of conscious converse among the dead to mirror their true standing before God, and it does not teach torment of the conscious dead before the resurrection. The cry exposes a complete reversal, where he who was clothed richly and supplied with every luxury while neglecting the destitute beggar at his gate is now in misery and want while Lazarus is comforted and exalted. He is condemned not merely for possessing wealth but for spending what was entrusted to him on selfish pleasure instead of relieving suffering and honoring God, and his stewardship having ended he can carry nothing out of the world. His unanswered plea shows that destiny is fixed by choices made in this life, so that once probation closes character cannot be changed and mercy can no longer be received, and that descent from Abraham cannot save when trust was placed in Abraham instead of God.

Parable Setting and Device

Luke 16:24 belongs to a parable in which Christ met the people on their own ground, framing the cry in torment around the doctrine of a conscious state of existence and conversation between the dead before the resurrection held by many of the Jews who were listening. He used that familiar preconceived opinion to hold up a mirror wherein hearers might see themselves in their true relation to God. The verse does not teach conscious torment after death, but conveys that no man is valued for his possessions, for all he has belongs to him only as lent by the Lord, and misuse of those gifts places him below the poorest and most afflicted man who loves God and trusts in Him. The plea for relief after death illustrates that once the time for choosing and preparing for judgment has ended it is too late to turn back, with no further probation afterward.

The cry is a figurative conversation in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, showing how the two classes represented by the men are estimated in the unseen world and how earthly wealth and status are judged there. The rich man is not condemned simply for being rich or for having riches; he is condemned because the means entrusted to him was spent selfishly and hoarded for self instead of being used to do good. His possessions gave him no true riches, for he had failed to lay up treasure in heaven through service to God and others, and by the time he recognized his loss it was too late to turn back.

The scene depicts Dives in torment, seeing Abraham and Lazarus at a distance and pleading, Father Abraham, for mercy to send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool his tongue because he is suffering in the flame. His plea follows a life in which he failed to use his abundance and abilities to care for the suffering beggar at his gate. The parable is a lasting lesson to rich and poor, contrasting their condition afterward with what went before, for Dives had received good things in life while Lazarus suffered evil things, but afterward Lazarus was comforted and exalted while Dives was tormented.

His suffering is portrayed as a burning fever that earthly wealth and human help could not relieve. In his sickness he learned what suffering meant, yet he had no knowledge of God, and he is represented as repeatedly calling on Lazarus for relief. That selfish life shows that selfish pleasure and intemperate, luxurious enjoyment are not the sum of happiness, for he had a duty to help Lazarus from his abundance but refused. His plea reveals a tormented conscience over neglecting Lazarus and a reliance on Abraham and descent from him rather than on God for salvation, a claimed relationship that could not overcome the gulf created by disobedience and transgression, with Abraham's reply describing a fixed gulf that cannot be crossed.

Earthly Contrast and Reversal

In life the rich man had every need supplied, clothed in purple and fine linen and faring sumptuously every day, while Lazarus lay at his gate in abject poverty, lacking food and home and money and friends, loathsome to the sight, covered with sores and begging for the crumbs the rich man despised. His comfort made his neglect especially serious, for he left without help one he could have helped. The rich man had not made God his dependence, while Lazarus trusted in God and was patient in suffering. Their positions are afterward reversed, with Lazarus comforted and exalted and the rich man thrust out from God's presence into misery and woe unutterable, seeing Abraham and Lazarus at a distance and crying for mercy for even a drop of water to cool his tongue in the flame.

That reversal stands as a lasting lesson to rich and poor. Men are not to be judged or valued by wealth or by the honors they receive from others, for riches do not recommend a man to God nor have any influence to secure His favor. All a man has belongs to him only as lent by the Lord, and misuse of those entrusted gifts places him below the poorest and most afflicted man who loves God and trusts in Him. The honored ease-loving man of wealth who lacks moral worth and soundness is valueless in the sight of God.

Lazarus possessed true faith and true moral worth and soundness which God saw and greatly valued. Therefore God took this poor despised sufferer and placed him in the most exalted position, exalted above those who hold high positions in this world but have not surrendered their lives to God. He is qualified to be introduced into the society of refined holy angels and to be made an heir of God and a joint-heir with Christ, valuable in the sight of God because he possesses moral soundness and worth. By contrast the rich man without true moral worth was worthless in character, corrupt and sinful and abominable in God's sight, despised and rejected and cast out from His sight as disgusting to Him.

Stewardship Condemns Selfish Riches

There is no sin in being rich if riches are not gained by injustice, and the rich man is not condemned simply for having riches but because the means entrusted to him was spent in selfishness and hoarded for self instead of being used to do good. He should have laid up his money beside the throne of God by using it to do good and seeking eternal riches through service to God and others, for death cannot make poor the man who does this, but the selfish hoarder can take none of it to heaven and his possessions give him no true riches. Having had his good things during his lifetime, he was forgetful of his obligation to God, proved himself an unfaithful steward, and failed to secure the heavenly treasure, and by the time he recognized his loss it was too late to turn back.

His abundance increased his duty and accountability to God to love God and his neighbor, to help the suffering from his abundance, to honor the Creator by blessing the world, to do the work God requires, and to lay up treasure beside the throne of God, and a reckoning day is coming when each person must answer for stewardship. But he forgot his accountability, neglected God's Word and the commands to love God and neighbor, and spent God's gifts extravagantly on selfish gratification instead of doing the work required. Entrusted with wealth and blessings, he was unfaithful because he used them for himself and neglected the poor beggar at his gate who pleaded for help though he had the means to help, while God blesses and commends the suffering believer and deals differently with those who suffer faithfully and those who spend for self-gratification what they should share with the poor.

He lived for self with life ruled by covetousness rather than love and generosity, using his means and abilities for selfish pleasure, intemperate and luxurious enjoyment, extravagant gratification and idolizing the body. He failed to use his abundance and abilities to care for Lazarus, who lacked food, home, money and friends, leaving without help one he could have helped, which made his neglect especially serious. Selfish pleasure and enjoyment are not the sum of happiness, for in torment he pleads for mercy for Lazarus to come with water to cool his tongue because he suffers in the flame, and in sickness suffering from burning fever he is represented as repeatedly calling on Lazarus for relief, yet later he would have given all he possessed to exchange places with Lazarus who had been poor and covered with sores. Abraham's reply describes a fixed gulf that cannot be crossed.

After death he is reduced to hopeless poverty and nakedness, stripped of purple and fine linen, crying for mercy he can no longer receive because his stewardship and probation are ended. In life he had all that money could buy but lacked the riches that keep his account right with God, living as if all he possessed were his own and neglecting the call of God and the claims of the suffering poor. Death is a call he cannot neglect, a command by irresistible power he cannot question or resist to quit the premises where he is no longer steward, for he brought nothing into the world and can take nothing out of it, and the robe of Christ's righteousness woven in the loom of heaven can never cover him. Christ lifts the curtain on this reckoning in the unseen world as a warning to all who are rich in this world's goods and not rich toward God, proving that what is highly esteemed among men is abhorrent in the sight of God and that gaining the whole world profits nothing if a man loses his own soul.

Probation Ends at Death

Eternal destiny is decided in this life while grace is offered, and those who waste their opportunities in self-pleasing cut themselves off from everlasting life. By their own choice they fix an impassable gulf between themselves and God. No further probation is granted afterward.

The cry for relief after death shows that once the time for choosing and preparing for judgment has ended it is too late to turn back. Mercy can no longer be received then, for probation is ended. Possessions are only entrusted and do not determine worth, and selfish use of entrusted means with neglect of suffering people leaves the rich morally lower than the poor who love and trust God. The one who had in life all that money could buy lacked the riches that keep his account right with God, living as if all he possessed were his own while neglecting the call of God and the claims of the suffering poor. After death he is reduced to hopeless poverty and nakedness, stripped of purple and fine linen and unable to be covered by the robe of righteousness woven in heaven, because he failed to lay up treasure in heaven through service. As an unfaithful steward he is by irresistible power commanded to quit premises he no longer stewards, bringing nothing into the world and taking nothing out.

A life forms a character that cannot be changed after death. The gulf is a wrongly developed character, the gulf of disobedience resulting from a life spent without delight in God. In the grave there is no power to choose anything good or evil, for in the day a man dies his thoughts perish. When the dead are raised they retain the appetites and passions cherished in life, and one who refused the opportunities and help offered to form a new character is not remade.

The closing of the rich man's history portrays the closing scenes of earth's history. The same course is followed today by unconverted church members who take part in worship yet love worldly pleasure and display, indulge appetite, choose the atmosphere of sin, and have no inclination to war against the lust of the flesh. Such a one is suddenly snatched by death and goes down to the grave with a character formed during lifetime in copartnership with satanic agencies.

False Trust in Abraham

Even in torment the rich man still clings to his identity as a child of Abraham and cries to Father Abraham for mercy, praying to Abraham instead of to God. He puts Abraham where God should be and above God, trusting his descent from Abraham and his relationship to him for salvation rather than depending on God. His religious belief rests on Abraham without true dependence on God, though he claimed to be a son of Abraham while remaining selfishly indifferent to the suffering Lazarus at his gate.

That claimed relationship cannot overcome the gulf created by his disobedience and transgression. His failure to let God's Spirit shape his heart and to use his privileges faithfully leaves him without spiritual discernment, and his neglect of Lazarus now torments his conscience as earthly wealth and human help prove unable to relieve his burning suffering. Abraham is in the grave and is not able to answer his prayer for relief.

His petition is not granted, because Christ alone is exalted to give repentance and forgiveness, and there is salvation in no other. By contrast Lazarus is welcomed into Abraham's friendship not on the basis of social standing or natural descent but on spiritual harmony with Abraham. Abraham served God by following His word in faith and obedience, while the rich man was unmindful of God and of the needs of suffering humanity, so the two are separated by an impassable gulf of wrongly developed character and disobedience.

Warning to Jewish Nation

The rich man stands for the Jewish nation, and especially for its leaders. Like him they were favored with every temporal and spiritual blessing, made depositaries of sacred truth and stewards of grace, and given every spiritual and temporal advantage. They were called to cooperate with God by imparting those blessings, with special instruction to remember brethren fallen into decay, the stranger within their gates, and the poor among them, and with promise of blessing according to deeds of love and mercy. But like the rich man they refused to cooperate with God, put forth no helping hand to relieve the temporal or spiritual necessities of suffering humanity, and used the Lord's goods for selfish gratification.

Filled with pride they regarded themselves as the chosen and favored people of God, yet they did not serve or worship God. The cry to Father Abraham shows they had divorced themselves from God, putting their dependence in being children of Abraham and placing their trust in Abraham as if he were God, putting Abraham where God should have been. That appeal reveals a religious belief resting on Abraham without true dependence on God, a failure to let God's Spirit shape the heart and to use privileges faithfully, leaving them without spiritual discernment. It reflects spiritual darkness and rejection of Christ the source of true light, and prepares them to hear the sentence, Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.

The torment in flame is the starvation and suffering of every kind that came upon the people when Jerusalem was destroyed. They brought that suffering upon themselves by neglecting to let their God-given light shine forth to the world and by proud resistance to the Redeemer, whose unfaithfulness brought ruin upon itself. Christ gave this warning so that they would remember and understand the lesson then, and in that calamity recognize that their suffering followed from that resistance.

Duty to the Needy

The parable exposes one cause of suffering in the world by representing the rich and the poor in the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man stands for those who have every luxury yet fail to fulfill their God-given responsibilities as good stewards of God's grace to supply the wants of the poor. Instead they pervert God-given powers to think only of accumulating wealth, heaping up treasure, and making the body an idol. Failure to give bread to the hungry, to clothe the naked, and to bring the outcast poor into the house is the pride, fullness of bread, abundance of idleness, and refusal to strengthen the hands of the poor and needy that was the iniquity of Sodom.

It pictures the appalling condition in large cities where multitudes are destitute of food, clothing, and shelter fit for a human being while in the same cities men of wealth have more than heart could wish. The rich man is the luxurious, selfish spender who uses his money on richly furnished houses, personal ornament, and gratification of sensual appetites. That gratification includes tobacco, liquors, and other things that destroy the power of the brain, unbalance the mind, and debase the soul. His means were given to honor the Creator by blessing the world, but turned to gratification of self they dishonor God and neglect His heritage. While he selfishly indulges himself, God and angels mark him under the gaze of heaven as an unfaithful steward.

It lays a heavy responsibility on white Christians, who are as Dives to the colored people of the South lying as Lazarus full of sores at their gate. The white race is Dives at whose gate they lie, and white Christians must bend a portion of their energies to the moral uplifting of the Negro race to higher standards of education and of home life. That uplifting is to come through honesty, justice, and active effort to uplift. Woe will come to Dives if he does not heed the need at his gate, for seeking supremacy as an end in itself by overriding justice causes loss, while uplifting this people brings uplifting to those who do it.

The example of Dives shows the danger of feeling at liberty to enjoy life's good things without using what God provides to help others and carry out His purposes. Those who claim to be sons and daughters of God must not follow his example. They must use what God gave them to give food and clothing and fitly spoken words to wretched, fallen, hopeless beings. God is the foundation of faith, goodness, and mercy, has demonstrated His love, and offers the blessings of this life and the future immortal life on condition of obedience in hearing and doing His will.