So....the story (not a parable, because Jesus used different words to tell this story than the other parables he taught) about the Rich man and Lazarus was...just for fun? There was a man in the flames and he was in torture and thirsty, this story was not told to represent something else, what could it represent? It was an actual account with real people to warn those who die without Christ.
The rich man is in Hades suffering in flames. Let’s look at the rich man, firstly, we know he is a Jew because he calls Abraham his father. Secondly we see that he was dressed if purple and fine linen. What is the significance of the purple and fine linen. Purple was the color of royalty and fine linen was what the priests wore. During Jesus’ time there was no king but rather the priests served as a sort of priest king. What was the chief sin of the Sadducees and the Pharisees? Was it not their rejection of Jesus? Look at the parable of the rich man and Lazarus who was Jesus speaking to? In the end of chapter 15 He tells the parable of the prodigal son, then He relates to His disciples the parable of the unfaithful steward. Who were the unfaithful stewards? They were the Sadducees and the Pharisees. Notice in the parable the stewardship is being taken away from the steward. After the parable Luke records this,
[SUP]14[/SUP] And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him. (Luk 16:14 KJV)
Jesus replied to them saying they justified themselves before men, then He says,
[SUP]16[/SUP] The law and the prophets
were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. (Luk 16:16 KJV)
He’s telling them that their reign is over, the Law and the prophets were until John. John has come the Law and the prophets are done. The priesthood is done.
Then He says anyone who puts away his wife and marries another commits adultery, the very thing He had accused them of earlier. So again, He calls them unfaithful. The book a Malachi deals with the adulterous priesthood and their demise.
So, so far we have Jesus giving two parables the prodigal son and the unfaithful steward which upon hearing the Pharisees derided Him. So Jesus turned His attention to them and calls them adulterers and said that the Law and the prophets were until John. That’s the end of the priesthood. Then He says to them there was a certain rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen who fared sumptuously. That’s them. Here they are presently rejecting Christ. So, Jesus tells them this parable, the details of which He draws from the OT. Lazarus was in Abraham’s bosom, what is that? It’s not a location. It means to be in a close relationship with Abraham. Abraham’s bosom is mentioned elsewhere in the Scriptures and it’s not where dead people are.
[SUP]5[/SUP] And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong
be upon thee: I have given my maid
into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee. (Gen 16:5 KJV)
Sarai’s handmaid was in close relations with Abraham, that’s what it means to be in Abraham’s bosom. The rich man, however, wasn’t in Abraham’s bosom where he expected to be, he was in Hades, in the flame. What does this mean? This rich man, the Pharisees and Sadducees were rejecting Christ and God and because of that were suffering. Jesus is drawing on an OT passage that they would be familiar with since their rejection was prophesied.
[SUP]9[/SUP] For the LORD'S portion
is his people;
Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
[SUP]10[/SUP] He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.
[SUP]11[/SUP] As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:
[SUP]12[/SUP]
So the LORD alone did lead him, and
there was no strange god with him.
[SUP]13[/SUP] He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;
[SUP]14[/SUP] Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.
[SUP]15[/SUP] But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered
with fatness; then he forsook God
which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
[SUP]16[/SUP] They provoked him to jealousy with strange
gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.
[SUP]17[/SUP] They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new
gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.
[SUP]18[/SUP] Of the Rock
that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.
[SUP]19[/SUP] And when the LORD saw
it, he abhorred
them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.
[SUP]20[/SUP] And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end
shall be: for they
are a very froward generation, children in whom
is no faith.
[SUP]21[/SUP] They have moved me to jealousy with
that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with
those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
[SUP]22[/SUP]
For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
[SUP]23[/SUP] I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.
[SUP]24[/SUP]
They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.
[SUP]25[/SUP] The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling
also with the man of gray hairs.
[SUP]26[/SUP] I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:
[SUP]27[/SUP] Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely,
and lest they should say, Our hand
is high, and the LORD hath not done all this.
[SUP]28[/SUP] For they
are a nation void of counsel, neither
is there any understanding in them.
[SUP]29[/SUP] O that they were wise,
that they understood this,
that they would consider their latter end!
[SUP]30[/SUP] How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up? (Deu 32:9-30 KJV)
Verse 22 is the fire in Hades, it is God’s anger. It’s not that there is literally fire burning in the grave, it’s God’s anger. The rich man represents the priesthood that is being rejected as the Law and the prophets are ending and God is bringing His justice on the priesthood for their abuse of His Law (read the book of Malachi) and their rejection of Christ. Notice the prophecy says that they were unmindful of the Rock that begot them. They turned away from their Rock, who was their Rock? Paul tells us who their Rock was.
KJV
1 Corinthians 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
[SUP]2[/SUP] And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
[SUP]3[/SUP] And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
[SUP]4[/SUP] And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and
that Rock was Christ. (1Co 10:1-4 KJV)
Just as those Jews in the wilderness had rejected Christ so too were the Pharisees and Sadducees of Jesus day still rejecting Him.
Notice that the rich man is speaking from Hades. Jesus is alluding to Isaiah.
[SUP]NKJ [/SUP]
Isaiah 28:1
Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim,
Whose glorious beauty is a fading flower Which
is at the head of the verdant valleys, To those who are overcome with wine!
[SUP]2[/SUP]
Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one, Like a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, Like a flood of mighty waters overflowing, Who will bring
them down to the earth with
His hand.
[SUP]3[/SUP]
The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, Will be trampled underfoot;
[SUP]4[/SUP] And the glorious beauty is a fading flower Which
is at the head of the verdant valley, Like the first fruit before the summer, Which an observer sees; He eats it up while it is still in his hand.
[SUP]5[/SUP] In that day the LORD of hosts will be For a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty To the remnant of His people,
[SUP]6[/SUP] For a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, And for strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
[SUP]7[/SUP] But
they also have erred through wine, And through intoxicating drink are out of the way;
The priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink, They are swallowed up by wine, They are out of the way through intoxicating drink; They err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
[SUP]8[/SUP] For all tables are full of vomit
and filth; No place
is clean.
[SUP]9[/SUP] "Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those
just weaned from milk? Those
just drawn from the breasts?
[SUP]10[/SUP] For precept
must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little."
[SUP]11[/SUP] For
with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people,
[SUP]12[/SUP] To whom He said, "This
is the rest
with which You may cause the weary to rest," And, "This
is the refreshing"; Yet they would not hear.
[SUP]13[/SUP] But the word of the LORD was to them, "Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little," That they might go and fall backward, and be broken And snared and caught.
[SUP]14[/SUP] Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,
[SUP]15[/SUP] Because you have said, "We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we are in agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, It will not come to us, For we have made lies our refuge, And under falsehood we have hidden ourselves."
[SUP]16[/SUP] Therefore thus says the Lord GOD
: "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever believes will not act hastily.
[SUP]17[/SUP] Also I will make justice the measuring line, And righteousness the plummet;
The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, And the waters will overflow the hiding place.
[SUP]18[/SUP] Your covenant with death will be annulled, And your agreement with Sheol will not stand; When the overflowing scourge passes through, Then you will be trampled down by it.
[SUP]19[/SUP] As often as it goes out it will take you; For morning by morning it will pass over, And by day and by night; It will be a terror just to understand the report."
[SUP]20[/SUP] For the bed is too short to stretch out
on, And the covering so narrow that one cannot wrap himself
in it.
[SUP]21[/SUP] For the LORD will rise up as
at Mount Perazim, He will be angry as in the Valley of Gibeon-- That He may do His work, His awesome work, And bring to pass His act, His unusual act.
[SUP]22[/SUP] Now therefore, do not be mockers, Lest your bonds be made strong; For I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts, A destruction determined even upon the whole earth.
[SUP]23[/SUP] Give ear and hear my voice, Listen and hear my speech.
[SUP]24[/SUP] Does the plowman keep plowing all day to sow? Does he keep turning his soil and breaking the clods?
[SUP]25[/SUP] When he has leveled its surface, Does he not sow the black cummin And scatter the cummin, Plant the wheat in rows, The barley in the appointed place, And the spelt in its place?
[SUP]26[/SUP] For He instructs him in right judgment, His God teaches him.
[SUP]27[/SUP] For the black cummin is not threshed with a threshing sledge, Nor is a cartwheel rolled over the cummin; But the black cummin is beaten out with a stick, And the cummin with a rod.
[SUP]28[/SUP] Bread
flour must be ground; Therefore he does not thresh it forever, Break
it with his cartwheel, Or crush it
with his horsemen.
[SUP]29[/SUP] This also comes from the LORD of hosts,
Who is wonderful in counsel
and excellent in guidance.
This passage from Isaiah speaks of judgment against Israel at the time of Christ. Paul alludes to this passage when telling the Corinthians the reason for tongues and this passage from Isaiah is quoted in the New Testament and applied to Christ.
[SUP]16[/SUP] Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever believes will not act hastily. God tells Israel that their covenant with death will not stand and neither will their agreement with Hades.
[SUP]NKJ [/SUP]
Isaiah 29:1 "Woe to Ariel[SUP]1[/SUP], to Ariel, the city
where David dwelt! Add year to year; Let feasts come around.
[SUP]2[/SUP] Yet I will distress Ariel; There shall be heaviness and sorrow, And it shall be to Me as Ariel.
[SUP]3[/SUP] I will encamp against you all around, I will lay siege against you with a mound, And I will raise siegeworks against you.
[SUP]4[/SUP] You shall be brought down, You shall speak out of the ground; Your speech shall be low, out of the dust; Your voice shall be like a medium's, out of the ground; And your speech shall whisper out of the dust.
[SUP]5[/SUP] "Moreover the multitude of your foes Shall be like fine dust, And the multitude of the terrible ones Like chaff that passes away; Yes, it shall be in an instant, suddenly.
[SUP]6[/SUP] You will be punished by the LORD of hosts With thunder and earthquake and great noise,
With storm and tempest And the flame (Isa 28:1-6 NKJ)
In this passage Israel is said to be speaking out of the ground just as the rich man was. This passage is about judgment against Jerusalem. Who was in Jerusalem? Was it not the Priesthood?
