Lazarus and the Rich Man is a PARABLE
Jesus said, "There was a certain rich man." Then there really was a certain rich man!
Jesus said definitely that this particular rich man "was clothed in purple and fine linen,
and fared sumptuously every day." He really lived in luxury and splendor! (Luke 16:19)
Also, Jesus said, "there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid.......
Yes, there were many such beggars in Palestine when Jesus lived there.
"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." They both died.
Did Jesus say the beggar went to heaven? He certainly did not!
He said the beggar "was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom."
Lazarus was carried into an intimate relationship with Abraham.
Look in your dictionary. A "bosom" is the breast of a human being, with the arms
as an enclosure; a loving embrace by the arms of one person about another;
an intimate relationship.
Lazarus here is pictured as a Gentile, who received salvation. Do Gentiles, upon being
converted and becoming Christ's, enter into any intimate relationship to Abraham? yes
"And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed , and heirs according to the promise."
Thru Christ they become the children of Abraham. Thru faith we all become "the
children of Abraham." (Gal. 3:7.) That is an intimate relationship with Abraham.
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Now Abraham is an HEIR of God. God gave Abraham a PROMISE. (Gal. 3:29),
those who thru Christ become Abraham's children are heirs-- but heirs according to
the promise God made to Abraham! And The PROMISE Was Not Heaven!
"And Abram took Sarai his wife,...and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan;
and into the land of Canaan they came. ...And the Eternal appeared unto Abram, and
said, Unto thy seed I give THIS LAND." (Gen. 12:5-7.)
This beggar thru Christ became "Abraham's seed," Then God included this beggar
when He said, "Unto thy seed will I give THIS LAND ." "For all the LAND which
thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed FOREVER." (Gen. 13 :15.)
"In the same day the Eternal made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have
I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates."
Gen. 15:18.
The PROMISE was not heaven. The promise was the land of Palestine, on this earth.
It was for ever, so the promise included eternal life, and eternal inheritance. (Heb. 9:15.)
The PROMISE was ETERNAL LIFE ON THIS EARTH in THE PROMISED LAND
When was this beggar to inherit, to come into possession of eternal life in the promosed
land ?Jesus, in telling about Lazarus and the rich man, did not cover that point.
This beggar, carried into the intimate relationship of a son of Abraham,could not inherit either
eternal LIFE, or this LAND, prior to the time his father Abraham receives these promises.
Abraham died, but has not to this day inherited the promises! (Acts 7:1-5.)
...And He gave him none inheritance in it . . . yet He promised that he would
give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him." [forever]
Hebrews 11: "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should
after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; . . . By faith he sojourned in the LAND of promise,
as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of
the same promise: . . . These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having
seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that
they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." (Heb. 11:8-13.)
Abrahamhe has not, even yet in our day, inherited these promises!
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We read in John 8:52, "Abraham is dead". At that time-- centuries after he died,
Abraham WAS DEAD! He is still dead today. When, then, is he to inherit the promises?
At the time of the RESURRECTION of the just, of course! The Kingdom of God is the
government to be set up IN PALESTINE to rule all nations after the Second Coming of Christ.
"For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven . . . and the dead in Christ shall rise first."
(I Thes. 4:16.) Human mortals, in Christ, living and dead, receive eternal life-- immortality--
the PROMISES God made to Abraham at Christ's Second Coming. That is when they shall
put on immortality!
"Flesh and blood (human mortals) cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; neither doth corruption
inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be
changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound,
and the dead (including Abraham and the beggar) shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."
(I Cor. 15:50-53.)
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"But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto
you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?
God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." (Mat. 22:31-32.)
Jesus did not say Abraham was then living. Yet the things God has promised are so certain
they may be counted as if already accomplished.
Jesus told the Pharisees they would see Abraham in the Kingdom (Luke 13:28),
because Abraham, now DEAD, will then be RESURRECTED from the dead!
Jesus said this beggar died. So, like Abraham, he is STILL DEAD !
But Jesus said that, after he died, "he was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom."
When do the angels come down from heaven? Matthew 25:31
At the Second Coming of Christ-- at the time of the RESURRECTION!
Christ shall "send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together
His elect from the four winds"-- out of their graves in a RESURRECTION. (Mat. 24:31.)
The TIME when the angels carry Lazarus and the saints into sharing the INHERITANCE
with Abraham-- into Abraham's bosom-- is the time of the RESURRECTION! Lazarus is
to be resurrected, and carried by the angels thru the air to meet Christ, at His return, and
to be with Abraham, in the intimate relationship of father and son!
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the Bible uses the word "bosom." Turn to Isaiah 40:11. Here God will care for His people
as a shepherd does for his sheep, which He will carry "in His bosom." Jesus was "in the bosom"
of the Father (John 1:18), enjoying the Father's blessings and close relationship. Moses carried
the children of Israel in his bosom. To be in one's bosom is to have that one's love and protection,
and share his blessings and inheritance. So it will be AT THE RESURRECTION!