And what about Lazarus being ”already in heaven” (Luke 16:19-31)? Advocates state this parable proves we go to heaven or hell when we die. However, a review of the content of the parable may show another side to this story. Jesus was talking to the Pharisees at the time of this parable. He had just told them another parable: the parable of the unjust steward (Luke 16:1-13). The next verse (v. 14) states the Pharisees, “…when they heard these things derided him”. Jesus continues to address them saying they try to justify themselves before men, but God knows their heart.
It is likely the story of Lazarus and the richman parallels another parable found in Luke 14:15-24 (The Great Feast), beginning with the statement, “Blessed is he that shall eat the bread in the Kingdom of God.” Here Jesus tells about those who were called to the great feast and how they made excuses not to come (Jews). Finally the poor, the maimed, the blind, etc. (Gentiles) were called because those who were first called (Jews) were unwilling to eat. This is a simple parable about the Jews rejecting Jesus, the “bread of life”, the plenty of salvation, and how the gospel was opened to the Gentiles.
The parable found in Luke 20:9-16, has a similar them. A certain man planted a vineyard, then went to a far country, leaving the vineyard to husbandmen to care for it. When the owner sent servants (Prophets) to check on the vineyard the husbandmen beat them. Eventually, his own son (Jesus) was sent, but the husbandmen killed him and cast him out of the vineyard (Golgotha), thinking the inheritance would be theirs. After this parable, Jesus reminds the Pharisees of the quote, “The stone (Jesus) the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner.” He is speaking about how he himself is head of the church/the kingdom/ the Savior and their rejection of him.
…Back to Lazarus and the rich man. If taken literally, and not as a parable, the story would mean:
- ALL rich men go to hell, regardless of whether good or bad.
- ALL poor men go to Abraham’s bosom when they die.
- From Abraham’s bosom, “the saved” will watch the “lost” suffer eternally. (What a great and joyful pastime).
- A drop of water in hell will sooth a man’s pain in hell.
However, if this parable is compared with the parallel of the unjust steward and unjust husbandmen, another conclusion can be arrived at:
- The rich man was clothed in fine linen every day.
- The wearing of fine linen was associated with royalty
- The wearing of fine linen was prescribed for priests (Ex. 28:39)
- This is symbolic of the chosen people, the Jews (Ex 19:6), “And ye shall be to me a royal priesthood and a holy nation: these words shalt thou speak to the children of Israel.”
Hence: The clothing of the rich man identifies him symbolically with the people of Israel.
- The rich man faired sumptuously every day. Figuratively this represents the magnificent spiritual feast available only to the Jews (Romans 9:3).
- The rich man considered Abraham to be his father (Luke 16:24).
- Abraham called the rich man “son” (Luke 16: 25).
In contrast, there was the beggar, Lazarus, who laid at the gate desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. The dogs also licked his sores. Lazarus may represent the Gentiles. Ephesians 2:12 says, “Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in this world. The Gentiles were beggars, located outside Judah and longing to be fed spiritual crumbs from the table of the divinely blessed Jews. The Jews considered the Gentiles to be unclean “dogs” (Mark 7:24-30).
The “bosom of Abraham” The figurative meaning of being in one’s bosom is to be in a position of closeness, to be highly regarded. Paul explains this imagery in Galations 3:6-9 by telling how the Gentiles could be in this place of honor, “(v6)…Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for the righteousness”; “(v7), ‘Therefore, know that only those who are of faith are the sons of Abraham”; And (v8), The scripture for seeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you, all the nations shall be blessed”; (v9), “So then those who are of the faith are blessed with believing Abraham”. As the passage above (as well as the fourth and ninth chapter of Romans show), Gentile believers become “sons of Abraham” through faith in Christ. This faith allows Gentiles to no longer be “strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God (Eph. 2:19). For centuries the Jews had received the benefits of being God’s chosen people by virtue of being Abraham’s physical descendants. But after the sacrifice of Christ, this place of honor and blessing would be given to the people who are represented by Lazarus. This is the meaning of being “carried to the bosom of Abraham” in this parable.
Giving further credence to the probability this parable was making reference to the Jewish nation is the rich man’s comment in Luke 16:27, “I beg you to send him to my father’s house to my five brothers warning them of the plight to come.” Judah, the progenitor of the Jews, was the son of Jacob through Leah (Gen. 29:35). He had five full blooded brothers: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Issacher, and Zebulun (Gen. 35:23). Jesus wanted those self-righteous Pharisees to know exactly who he was referring to with this parable. This detail cements the identity of the rich man as the house of Judah, the Jews. Abraham refused the rich man’s request to have Lazarus go to his brothers, instead, “Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear him,’” (Luke 16:29). The rich man (Jews) already had a witness, Moses and the prophets. Jesus said in John 5:45, “Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father, there is one who accuses you, Moses, in whom you trust. (v.46) For if you believed Moses, you would believe, me; for he wrote of Me. (v 47) But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe Me?” Finally, in Luke 16:30-31, the reason for the parable is given, “ He said, ‘No father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead’”. This last verse is a sad prophecy about the Jews and about all the Israelites who have not, despite God’s resurrection of His Son from the power of the grave, recognized Christ as Messiah.
In an article written by Bryan T. Huie, January 9, 1998, he shared his perspective about Lazarus and the rich man in this way:
The parable of Lazarus and the rich man, long used by mainstream ministers to teach the reality of “hell,” really has nothing to say about punishment or reward in the afterlife. Christ used this story, which fit the common misconception about life after death in his day, to show the fate that awaited the Jewish nation because of the unbelief and faithlessness which led them to reject him as the Messiah. They still suffer from the fate to this very day. Yet the time is soon coming when God will pour on the Jews the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Christ whom they pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn (Zec. 12:10).
For more on the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, please visit Here a Little, There a Little: Lazarus and the Rich Man.