Jesus told this real life story: There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who wanted to be satisfied with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus at his side. And he cried: "Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame." But Abraham answered: "Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us."
And the man said: "Then I beg you father to send him to my father’s house, for
I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment." But Abraham said: "They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them." The man replied: "No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent." Abraham then said to him: "If they do not hear Moses
and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise
from the dead." (Luk 16:19–31).
See the definitions of Abraham’s bosom, Paradise, Hades, Torments (Hell),
etcetera, in What Does the Bible Say about Hell? Hades is the place where the spirits of the dead went. It contains two sections: Paradise and Hell.
Abraham’s bosom is the same place as Paradise. The incredible thing is that Paradise and Hell are within some kind of visual range of each other. It's even possible for the inhabitants of each location to talk to each other, although it's impossible to move from one place to another. See more of this in Listen to Jesus.
Paradise is a place of peace where the righteous people went, like Abraham, who lived before Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Afterwards, righteous people go directly to God's Heaven, to the presence of God. No one could go to God's Heaven until Jesus had paid the price for our sins on the cross (Heb 9:6–8,
Mat 27:50–51, Mark 15:37–38, Luk 23:44–46), see The Atonement. When Jesus died on the cross for our sins, see The Crucifixion of Jesus, all people in Paradise went directly to God's Heaven, which means that Paradise is now empty, see
The Resurrection of Jesus. See also the explanation of Elijah's Ascension to Heaven.
This story isn't a parable, it's a real event. The reason is that no parable
has proper names in it. This story has three names; Moses, Lazarus, and Abraham.
The Pharisees believed that the the presence of wealth was evidence that they had the approval of God. Jesus exposed this as a common mistake, see the last part of The Parable of the Dishonest Manager and The Parable of the Rich Fool.
In this real life story, the rich man ended up in Hell.
The point of this story isn't to explain how you get to God's Heaven or why you might end up in Hell. The rich man wasn't lost because he was rich and had good things, and the poor man didn't go to Paradise because he was poor and had very little. People are lost because they reject Jesus, see Salvation.
The rich man knew that his family wouldn't listen to God's Word, but believed that they would be convinced if Lazarus came back from the dead and warned them
(Luk 16:27–30). But Abraham answered: "If they do not hear Moses and the
Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead."
(Luk 16:31). It's exactly like that. Jesus spoke of himself. Jesus would rise from the dead, see The Resurrection of Jesus. Jesus also literally raised another person also named Lazarus from the dead, see The Death of Lazarus, but the religious leaders of Sanhedrin responded by trying to kill Jesus. This isn't enough for many people
to believe in him, see time 12:54–18:13 in John 4 (Part 3) :43-54 • A crisis of Faith.
See also the following explanations at the following times:
- 4:27–12:26 in Heaven, the Rapture and the Resurrections.
- 24:04–25:03 in 1 Peter 4.
- 30:15–32:36 in Bible Q&A With Pastor Paul │ May 2023.
- 34:09–35:30 in Bible Q&A with Pastor Paul │ October 2023.
- 20:23–22:02 in Bible Q&A With Pastor Paul │April 2024 |.
- 0:22–2:10 in Bible Q&A ∙ Episode 10.
- 4:08–5:15 in Bible Q&A ∙ Episode 13.
For information on parables, see Jesus' Parables.
