By Wendell Tenison
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Is the case of the rich man and Lazarus a parable? Absoluetly not. Of the thirty two parables that Jesus gave, not one proper name is given to any who are the specific characters of the parable. Abraham and Lazarus are not parables, however, reference is made to Moses, the prophets and the law. Why do so many so-called bible students and preachers reject historical account as fact? The paradise part is fine, but the flames of torment are feared because of a guilty conscience and jobs are at stake if the truth is taught. As in all of the parables that Jesus spoke, the truth is strong. Even if this is a parable which it is not, the truth it teaches is the same. So far as the religious world is concerned, it does not make any difference, because everyone is going to heaven anyway.
Hades means the unseen place of departed spirits. We will clearly see in the balance of this study how Hades is made up of four compartments; paradise, the great gulf, the flames of torment and Tartarus.
Luke 16:19-31 "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 crumbs 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."
In view of the nineteen places in the scripture where the phrase "shadow of death" is used, King David may or may not have been speaking of his death.
Psa 23:4 "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."
Are all of the righteous transported by the angels to Abraham's bosom? How are the unrighteous transported to the flames of torment? Are all of those in paradise (Hades) in Abraham's bosom? Are all of the righteous in paradise (Hades)? The rich man and Lazarus were under the law of Moses. The souls under the alter in the sixth chapter of Revelation and the angel in the twenty second chapter of Revelation, who appeared unto John and said, he was of his brethren and the prophets, were under the law of Christ. Our Lord told his twelve apostles when he shall sit in the throne of his glory, they also would sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. However, Abraham is the father of us all if we be Christs' and we do not know how many are in the bosom of the father of the faithful. One thing we know for sure is that all who are in the graves will come forth at the coming of Christ, John 5:28-29.
Rev 6:9-11 "And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:.....And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?.....And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled."
Rev 22:8-9 "And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things......Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God."
Mat 19:28 "And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."
Mark 9:43 "And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell (Gehenna), into the fire that never shall be quenched:"
Rev 20:13-15 "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell (Hades) delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works......And death and hell (Hades) were cast into the lake of fire (Gehenna). This is the second death (Gehenna)......And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire (Gehenna)."
Tartarus is not that part of Hades of flames and torment. It is agreed by all scholars that the sons of God found in Gen.6:1-4, were not men in the flesh, but angels. If the holy one and watcher (angels) in Daniel 4:23-33, could cause King Nebuchdnezzar to be turned out to pasture and look and live like animals, so could the sons of God in Gen.6:1-4, appear as men and cause the daughters of men to conceive. The sons of God who went unto the daughters of men were the angels who sinned and are now in Tartarus. There is no mention of any flames in Tartarus.
2 Pet 2:4 "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell (Tartarus) , and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;"
Jude 1:6 "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."
Job 4:17-19 "Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?.....Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:.....How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?"
Job 15:14-16 "What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?.....Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight......How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?"
Luke 23:43 "And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise."
Acts 2:25-31 "For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:.....Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:.....Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, (Hades) neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption......Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance......Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day......Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;.....He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell (Hades), neither his flesh did see corruption."
Mat 16:18 "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell (Hades) shall not prevail against it."
Gates are installed in order to ingress and egress. The other purpose of the gate is to restrain exiting or entering when closed. The illustration given in Rev.6:8, where the pale horse rider is personified as Death and Hell (Hades) follows with him as a giant vaccum sweeper breathing in all who die. It appears once trapped inside Hell (Hades) there is no way out. Jesus went through the gates of Hell (Hades), but whoever were/are the attendants of the gates could not prevent him from going out to build his church.
Rev 6:8 "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell (Hades) followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth."
Job 38:17 "Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?"
The Septuagint is regarded as one of the worst translations of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek, 285 B.C. It is garnished with a great many embellishments and it was not until this translation was made that all of the Hebrew scriptures began to be called the testament of Moses. Below is the reading of the Septuagint for Job 38:17.
"And do the gates of death open to thee for fear; and did the porters of Hell quake when they saw thee?"
Those seventy two Hellenist Greek speaking Jew translators may or not have been right. It is for the reader to decide.
Rom 10:6-7 "But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:).....Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)"
The word "deep" in the Greek New Testament text is abyss. Jesus descended into the abyss.
1 Pet 3:18-19 "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:.....By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;"
The Greek rendition of the word "preached" as one who was an announcer and not one who did evangelize. As one who is a town crier. What did Jesus announce? There is no doubt he proclaimed in all of Hades he was the Christ, King of the Jews, Lord of Lords, Savior of the world by his own blood, crowned to sit at the right hand of God, the only righteous judge at the resurrection, who now has all power and authority in heaven, the earth and things under the earth. Amen.
2 Cor 12:2-4 "I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven......And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;).....How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter."
Rev 2:7 "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God."
Rev 22:2 "In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."
Rev 22:14 "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city."
Psa 22:26 "The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever."
Jesus is simply saying, all souls now living after they die will live forever and all souls who are dead physically are still alive. Note the following words of Jesus:
Luke 20:37-38 "Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob......For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him."
Eccl 12:7 "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it."
Eccl 3:18-21 "I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts......For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity......All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again......Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
The four part man of the soul is the spirit, mind, heart and flesh; only two of the original exists after death, the spirit and the heart. The heart is a duplicate of the mind containing the five divisions of it. The mind or intellect, the brain, will return to the dust. However, God is able to create a body after death to dwell in the flames of torment and not be consumed. Then after the judgment that same body will enter the everlasting fire and brimstone. The rich man had eyes to see with, an intellect to reason with, a tongue to speak, emotions of grief, pain and anguish and a desire to convert his brethren.
1 Cor 15:42-44 "So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:.....It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:.....It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body."
1 Cor 3:13-15 "Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is......If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward......If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire."
Isa 6:6-7 "Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:.....And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged."
The furnance of King Nebuchadnezzer, Daniel 4:23-33, was heated seven times hotter than it should have been. The men who threw the three Hebrew children into it were burned up themselves by the intense heat. What saved the three Hebrew children? Were they sprayed with a flame retardant? These three faithful children's works were tried by the fire and their obedience and righteousness overcame the fire and therefore, they were saved by the fire. As baptism both saves and destroys, that is, man is saved from his past sins and the body of sin is crucified, Rom.6:6. So it is by the baptism of fire. Our efforts to save souls by teaching the gospel of Christ may go unheeded and some of those who were baptized may fall away, this is the loss of our works that will be burned.
Mat 8:11 "And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven."
Luke 13:28-29 "There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out......And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God."
The rich man did see Abraham and Lazarus. Jesus said, those unrighteous would also see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob after they were in punishment. It is difficult to tell whether Jesus is talking about the flames of torment, Gehenna, or both.
Did the rich man know about water being there, or was this instinctively a thing the rich man hoped there was water? Since the rich man requested it, it is presumed that water was somewhere in Hades.
© 2008 by Wendell Tenison