C
Greetings,
The Lazarus and the Rich Man Parable is complex and difficult message, Jesus often talked in Parables that can only be deciphered by the Holy Spirit which He sends to testify the truth. From what I have read of this thread, you are not looking deep enough into the message, and misunderstanding is something God sometimes intends, there is nothing wrong with what you are saying but God leads His sheep in the truth, one step at a time, some steps are naturally more difficult and bigger then others.
On the surface of it, there is nothing wrong with a kind of elementry, basic generalized interpretation, I mean if you just literally imagine a poor hungary Lazarus and fat greedy rich man, and it's all just a moralistic type tale about compassion and sharing and mercy for your fellow man, and that is all fine and good, that's a good message. If you have alot and someone has nothing why not share some of yours; that's a good message, it's also naive, to think that the Lord is that simplistic, as the real message, the truth behind the parable is much deeper much more profound, and it is a lesson within a lesson.
Now it took me a month of study to work through the meaning of the Lazarus and Rich Man parable, and the spirit did most of the work, I just ask alot of questions, so the questions you might want to ask are; Jesus never says anything unless it is vital and relevant, it's God talking so if He says something there must be alot of meaning behind it, so what does He mean when He says - "There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day" what does that mean? why is clothed in purple, what does he do? why does he eat so much everyday? Why is the beggers name Lazarus? Why is the Rich man not given a name? Why is Lazarus at the gate full of sores and why are their dogs licking his wounds?
We must ask all these questions, and it goes on, all the way until we are asking why does the Rich Man have five brethren? Why five? Is there something significant here why the Lord says "five" is the Lord hinting at who the Rich Man actually is? does He want us to know, does it matter? I suppose it does matter becuase otherwise He would not of said it! Now these five brethren had Moses and the prophets but they did not hear them, another clue? And what has all this got to do with desiring water and being in the bosom of Abraham? Surely we all cannot literally fit on Abraham's bosom and I am sure that father Abraham would not want to spend eternity with old begger Lazarus lying ontop of his chest, whats the 'great gulf'?
You know that believers have spent much longer than I contemplating all this, just reading and studying this one parable, praying, inquiring of God...It amazes me that I know people that have spent years trying to answer one parable of the Lord, and I see so many christians these days and they all know instantly what the Lord is saying as if His words are those of a naive child, it's all so easy, like reading a fairy tale with a good moral or two and a nice happy ending - rich man - bad, poor man - good, and that's it, thanks Jesus, next, move on, that was easy...
"Father Abraham, have mery on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue."
There is nothing simple about what the Lord is saying, you know one of the keys I used to unlocking the hidden message of this parable was Acts 2:29, if one cannot understand Acts 2:29 then you will be unable to decipher the parable.
The Lazarus and the Rich Man Parable is complex and difficult message, Jesus often talked in Parables that can only be deciphered by the Holy Spirit which He sends to testify the truth. From what I have read of this thread, you are not looking deep enough into the message, and misunderstanding is something God sometimes intends, there is nothing wrong with what you are saying but God leads His sheep in the truth, one step at a time, some steps are naturally more difficult and bigger then others.
On the surface of it, there is nothing wrong with a kind of elementry, basic generalized interpretation, I mean if you just literally imagine a poor hungary Lazarus and fat greedy rich man, and it's all just a moralistic type tale about compassion and sharing and mercy for your fellow man, and that is all fine and good, that's a good message. If you have alot and someone has nothing why not share some of yours; that's a good message, it's also naive, to think that the Lord is that simplistic, as the real message, the truth behind the parable is much deeper much more profound, and it is a lesson within a lesson.
Now it took me a month of study to work through the meaning of the Lazarus and Rich Man parable, and the spirit did most of the work, I just ask alot of questions, so the questions you might want to ask are; Jesus never says anything unless it is vital and relevant, it's God talking so if He says something there must be alot of meaning behind it, so what does He mean when He says - "There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day" what does that mean? why is clothed in purple, what does he do? why does he eat so much everyday? Why is the beggers name Lazarus? Why is the Rich man not given a name? Why is Lazarus at the gate full of sores and why are their dogs licking his wounds?
We must ask all these questions, and it goes on, all the way until we are asking why does the Rich Man have five brethren? Why five? Is there something significant here why the Lord says "five" is the Lord hinting at who the Rich Man actually is? does He want us to know, does it matter? I suppose it does matter becuase otherwise He would not of said it! Now these five brethren had Moses and the prophets but they did not hear them, another clue? And what has all this got to do with desiring water and being in the bosom of Abraham? Surely we all cannot literally fit on Abraham's bosom and I am sure that father Abraham would not want to spend eternity with old begger Lazarus lying ontop of his chest, whats the 'great gulf'?
You know that believers have spent much longer than I contemplating all this, just reading and studying this one parable, praying, inquiring of God...It amazes me that I know people that have spent years trying to answer one parable of the Lord, and I see so many christians these days and they all know instantly what the Lord is saying as if His words are those of a naive child, it's all so easy, like reading a fairy tale with a good moral or two and a nice happy ending - rich man - bad, poor man - good, and that's it, thanks Jesus, next, move on, that was easy...
"Father Abraham, have mery on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue."
There is nothing simple about what the Lord is saying, you know one of the keys I used to unlocking the hidden message of this parable was Acts 2:29, if one cannot understand Acts 2:29 then you will be unable to decipher the parable.
ooopsy 
