Question: Is this parable of Jesus a real story as it seems to be? Will a rich man always go to hell and the poor man to heaven? Why does God not love the rich and the poor equally as He is the one who has created them all. What does this parable really teach to us practically? The rich man and Lazarus, Was it a real life story? Could you explain to us clearly.
Let me know your thoughts.
I am praying for you. Please pray for us.
Answer: Greetings in the awesome name of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Here we go....
" 19 “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. 20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. 26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’ 27 “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ 29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 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.’”"
We know that parables of Jesus are earthly stories told by Him to explain to us the heavenly reality of the Kingdom of God. Sometimes they are stories of nature, still other times they are stories of day to day household happening, sometimes they are real stories of real life that has happened but are hidden from the plain eyes of humans, etc...This story is one of the real story that Jesus has used to reveal to humans about what has happened to a couple of people who have seen each other in their earthly life, and as a echo of the earthly life lived by them what had happened in their after life.
This is the first time certain details of our after life are told by our heavenly teacher Jesus Christ, which are unique in every way.
Is It Wrong To Be Rich As A Christian And Right To Be Poor?
"19 “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day."
Here above, the lives of two men who lived on earth has been contrasted. One was the certain specific rich man who was living in luxury and spent as much money as he had earned and would have inherited. The message Bible says in this way about the rich man's life, "There once was a rich man, expensively dressed in the latest fashions, wasting his days in conspicuous consumption." This rich man was wasting his excess and was not using it the way it should be used, that is, to help others who do not have it at all.
You see the divide between the rich and the poor in today's world is, when it comes to wealth (valuable assets and items over and above income), the gap is even wider. The poorest half of the global population owns just 2% of the global total, while the richest 10% own 76% of all wealth. Income and wealth inequality in 2021.
The above fact we see in not a long time ago, but it is today's reality that can be googled and verified any time and anyplace. What does this show us? The parable of Jesus teaching about a certain Rich Man and Lazarus, is as applicable today in our lives as it was two thousand years ago when he taught it so.
I believe if wealth could be shared by individuals with a heart of love towards the poor, there will be no lack in all the world. God has provided on earth more than enough to feed the need of every person and not the greed of any person.
So it is not wrong to be rich and powerful, but it is wrong and sinful to feed ourselves and waste our resources at the cost of sharing it with others who are in need.
Is God, The God Of The Rich And The Poor?
Yes absolutely, God has revealed in His word, "The rich and the poor have this in common, The LORD is the maker of them all." (Prov 22:2). In other words, the rich and the poor can shake hands as equals before the God who has created them both in His image (Gen 1:27).
God has allowed this inequality in this world after the fall of humans in to sin, so that the rich can be given a chance to practice spirituality of the God-Kind and also the poor can receive the resources given with thankfulness and live praising God for His provision (Deut 24:15; 1 Tim 4:4-5; Rom 1:21).
The rich soon have a tendency to forget to give the Glory to God and be thankful for His supplies once they start to accumulate wealth more than enough for their own survival and their families (Jam 5:1-6). Even within the Church, God has clearly pointed out to the messengers or the elders, not to show partiality to the rich at the cost of poor people who come with rich faith (Jam 2:1-9). I believe that in the Church, many people sin regarding giving honor by face value which is what is showing partiality is, but they are not serious enough to consider it as sin which makes their spirituality to be shown to the world in poor light and the name of Jesus Christ is allowed to be blasphemed. May we throw away such evil thoughts and attitudes of partiality, and repent before the Rapture happens soon in our times most likely!
The Key Jesus Reveals To Understand Why The Rich Man Was Wrong And Sinning?
"20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores."
The key word Jesus reveals about the rich man attitude of sin is when he says "But" to contrast and show how seriously the beggar named Lazarus was suffering and was in need before this very man's house. He must have seen the sorry state of this beggar, every time he would have crossed the road or at least sometimes as he crossed the way, he would have seen the sorry state of Lazarus the beggar and would have turned his head away from him to get the curses of his own sin (Prov 28:27). In fact, this rich man was a very religious person who knew the law of Moses and yet did not practice it in his day to day life and living. He heard the law of Moses and Prophets day after day, week after week, but this rich man not even once started to put what he heard in to practice in his own life, because if he had, he would have repented of his sins and selfishness at least once, and would have considered his own depravity, and thought of changing his sinful lifestyle by showing mercy to the poor and to obey God and His Word, thus as a result he would not have woken up in hell after his death (Luke 16:29-30, 31, 23; Mic 6:8). The heart of the rich man never had mercy of God to show it to others who are in need like Lazarus the beggar, as Jesus has revealed that only those who show mercy to others will receive mercy of God in their own lives (Matt 5:7).
Lazarus, full of raw wounds and painful places on the body because of the unhygienic condition he was pushed in to by the society, at large (i.e..) only interested in their own selves, there was no one who could bandage his wounds and medically help him to recover from his ill-health (Luke 10:34-35). Especially such rich religious men who never even for a second could think about the plight of the beggars who are found in his vicinity. In fact, Jesus the good Samaritan came to take care of people like Lazarus and teach his followers to do the same through the wealth He has given to them to be used for His Glory (Luke 10:25-37; 8:1-3).
In fact, for every rich person, God has given them the opportunity to disperse their abundance to those who are poor and are in great need in their lives (Matt 26:11; Mark 14:7). Blessed are the poor because God has already helped them easily trust him for their true riches that comes to them eternally through their faith in God as they have nothing else to trust materially (Jam 2:5). Blessed are the rich when they use their opportunity given by God to use their wealth to be given to poor and exchange it for true riches to be given by God in heaven through their faith and work which becomes a external evidence of their internal faith (Jam 5:1-6; 2:14-18, 22, 26; Matt 6:19-21, 24).
So Lazarus being poor was able to be rich in faith towards God and thus inherited eternal riches from God by his trust in Him. Still certain people who carried Lazarus to visible social happening spots, made money through the misery that has happened in his life. The earthly fleshly man looks for profit in whatever he can get out of anything on earth, be it even the misery of people around them which they try to make a business out of it. The heavenly spiritual man looks for eternal profit and earthly peace, joy and righteousness which tangibly could be received from God through trusting his sovereign hand that is able to provide their earthly need (Luke 17:10; Rom 14:17; Php 4:6-7; Matt 6:30-34).
So even though there is an spiritual advantage of inclination to trust God as poor, and an spiritual inclination of disadvantage to trust in their own riches and oppress the poor being rich, yet both have an equal opportunity to trust God while they live on earth and replace their self from the throne of their heart and seat God who is the only rightful King of Kings to whom it belongs (Prov 22:2; 29:13; Rev 19:16; Psa 103:19; Rev 3:20; Luke 9:23-26; 1 Cor 6:19; 2 Cor 6:2).
Here the problem for the rich man was not his riches, or the plight of poor beggar Lazarus who was "desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table" was his poorness, it was rather the trust of the rich man in his riches which actually made his heart be hardened towards God and be merciless towards fellow humans who were in need around him, and having nothing made Lazarus to look to God and cry out to Him by trusting Him in his heart a little more easily (Jer 9:23-24; 1 Tim 6:17). That does not mean, a poor man always is a believer, there are people who are poor but choose not to trust God but rather curse him for their plight. There are people with great wealth, who live for God in faith and love to serve not only the poor but the whole community as God leads them. The secret is in the heart which trust God who gives it all for us to enjoy. The servants in the rich man's house must have cleaned all the wasted food in the rich man's abundance, every time after he had eaten each time, they must have collected it all and must have thrown it out to the beggars outside their house which made Lazarus taste bud crave for something tasty each time from rich man's table. Actually, a thing to note here for dog lovers is that, the dogs of that area actually shared the poor beggar Lazarus's food which he supplied to them when he was full, and they in their gratitude and love licked his sores and relieved his pain to comfort him. Thus the rich man was who was very religious and pious in every way, failed to even show mercy and gratitude to fellow humans around him, he has in fact come to a state of being less friendly than even dogs of the animal kind. Lazarus even though poor was sharing his food with dogs when he had more than enough for himself and the dogs replicated his love back to him in gratitude. What a contrast!
Thus the rich man went to hell fire because of his trust in his riches and not in God. The work of the rich man and the fruit of the character he revealed to the world around him was selfishness, which he practiced to disinherit the Kingdom of God (Gal 5:19-21). The poor man Lazarus went on to Paradise of Abraham's Bosom, not because he was poor but rather because he trusted God and loved him in spite of his beggaristic life which the society pushed him in to.
Every Human Who Is Born Twice Should Die Once, But Those Who Are Born Once Should Die Twice!
"22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. 26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’"
The rich man also lived in abundance and comfort of the earth, but a day came he had to die. Many of the rich man's family and friends would have come to send him off through burial of his physical body in fanfare, but there is no one to welcome his soul in his afterlife like the beggar Lazarus who was immediately welcomed in to the Kingdom of God by the angels. Death in itself is the wages of sin that God gives to all humans indicating that the day of spiritual judgment stands ahead of them (Rom 6:23; Heb 9:27), it is indeed a warning to all souls that each one must repent of his sins and embrace God's ways in their own lives to wait for God's Kingdom to inherit the eternal life as a gift of God which is salvation (Rom 6:23; Heb 9:28). Even each day we sleep is a foretaste of the sleep of death that lays ahead of every human (Psa 127:2), that is why God even in our sleep warns of our pride to keep our soul from entering in to hell one day and instead enter in to his home of heaven (Job 33:14-18).
When a rich man seats himself in the seat of his heart because of the abundance of his riches, instead of God who is the only worthy and rightful person, like in this above case, then the rich man becomes a fool towards God because he has forgotten that he cannot save his own soul from hell fire which only God can (Matt 10:28; Luke 12:13-21).
Even though all sinners will be sent to hell fire where fire does not quench and worms do not die after the final white throne judgment of all unsaved humans one day in the future (Mark 9:43-44; Rev 20:11-15), yet even now after a sinner dies, he will be kept in this same prison of Hades where the unsaved rich man found himself after his death, of which the righteous section called Abraham's Bosom of Paradise was emptied when Jesus died for them all and redeemed them to take them all in their new resurrection body to God's home and residence of the city of Zion now (Luke 23:42-43; 1 Pet 3:18-19; 4:5-6; Eph 4:8; Matt 27:50-53; Heb 12:22-24).
When we see this rich man crying out and saying to father of Faith Abraham, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’, it shows to us all the true state of the soul in eternal tormentation, which is being cut off from the goodness of God and His mercies (2 Thess 1:9; Psa 27:13-14). This rich man appeals to the fleshly relationship he had with Father Abraham through the natural lineage of being born as a Jew when he used to be physically alive on earth, but Abraham himself had died to his flesh so much through faith that he had no regards anymore for things after the flesh (Rom 4:16; 2 Cor 5:16). As God's word also confirms the faith attitude of Abraham by saying, those who are of faith are the only sons of Abraham after their death physically, as Abraham himself was saved by God through the good news of the Gospel which was preached to him by revelation from God. Therefore we see the rich man being tormented in Hades as a example for all those who think that their tradition and birth in a Jewish or Christian family can save them (Rev 3:9). We as a believer can only be blessed with believing Abraham our father of faith, not through Abraham as God has proved through the message of the good news of the Gospel that only Jesus' incarnation, life, sinless death and resurrection can be able to save humans universally for which father Abraham himself looked forward to see, waiting in the righteous section of Abraham's Bosom which was called temporal Paradise at that point of time (Gal 3:6-9; John 8:56). If Father Abraham the friend of God himself needed to believe Jesus and get saved (Isa 41:8), how much more we as sinful humans are in need of it (Rom 4:5-8). May God continue to help us trust in Jesus forevermore and continue to convict us of our sin, Jesus' righteousness and Satan's ultimate defeat against us so that we may inherit his eternal life through direct relationship with Him (John 16:8-11).
The rich man who ended up in the tormentful Hades, thought that he was still having body and was feeling thirsty in his thought, but the fact of the matter is, he was in a place where the Presence of God and His goodness was completely restrained by God which he was able to enjoy freely when he was on earth even without salvation of God or any regards towards Him (Matt 5:45), even though he was living in his own world of selfishness and indulgence without mercy towards the needy who lived before his very eyes (Prov 19:17; James 1:27). In other words, life without the Presence of God is like living without a drop of water to cool ourselves off in the midst of burning flames. But this is not even a tip of the iceberg, or in other words, the eternal real fire in hell [in Greek. Gehenna] that was awaiting the rich man after the white throne judgment of God after the Millennium rule of Christ and the Church (Rev 20:11-15), will be the real eternal torment where "worm does not die, and fire is never quenched" (Mark 9:43-44). Woe to the rich man and like wise to all sinners who have not repented of their sins towards God, when they have lived on earth!!! Repent!!
Father Abraham was able to communicate his thoughts back to answer the rich man acknowledging even his fleshly connection to himself by saying 'Son' as the rich man was a Jew when he was on earth. The simple rule of God is that, those who patiently bear hardship of evil on earth and even chastisement from God for sin to become holy, but still trust God and have faith in him are those who should enjoy the eternal life to come that God gives to those who are saved and have become the children of God (Rev 2:5, 7; Heb 10:35-36; 12:14; John 1:12; Luke 6:20-26). Those who live selfishly through their sin nature and in riches while on earth, having no thought about God or others in their life, deserve to live in hell fire being condemned in Hades as they have already enjoyed their life on earth by themselves, hence God allows them to continue to fulfill their desires to live by themselves in Hades and hell withdrawing the Presence of God and his goodness which He had freely given to them all to enjoy until they were on earth. Thus Hades is a place where God fulfills the desire of humans, to make them live their will freely, that is, to live by themselves without God and his goodness that accompanies Him and His Presence. Then the evil angels who influenced the unsaved indulgers and rich to whom hell was originally intended (Matt 25:41, 46), (i.e.) the rich and the selfish and the atheist (Jam 5:1-6), will accompany them to follow in to hell fire where worms does not die and fire is never quenched at all to make them live in eternal torments because their bodies will be raised up in the resurrection of condemnation to live eternally (John 5:29; Rev 20:13-15; Dan 12:2). In short, those who live for only good things in this earthly life, for them the good life ends on earth itself, and after that only Hades and hell fire awaits them. But those who live for God now by faith, accepting all the temporal evil things of life that work against them, and in spite of it all, learn to be thankful for the eternal life of free relationship that he gives to them will find themselves in paradise of God which is now the city of God named Zion (Rom 6:22-23; Heb 12:22-23).
It is no joke or a little thing when Jesus said, "He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it." (Matt 10:39) and also "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it."(Matt 16:25). Both the above verse points to us humans that if we desire to live in the will of God for our lives, it might be a cross of suffering to our self, but ultimately to our soul it will be the best blessing to us from the Creator of it because He will not only be our tutor and blessor all the way to eternity, but actually in the day of judgment for the saints of God, we will be rewarded eternally and felicitated for it all which will stay with us forever and ever (Matt 10:42; Rev 22:12). But in case if we want to save our life and find it in this changing temporal world through our fleshly indulgence neglecting the will of God for our lives which is a life of faith in God (Rom 1:17), then know for sure that we are sure heading for hell fire and not to heaven. Reward-less heaven and a miserable life on earth will be the result, if a believer tries to live his way and not God's way which He has shown to us through Jesus Christ (1 Cor 15:19; Rev 3:11). Do we want above all temporal comfort now or a eternal comfort then? Do we want a temporal relief from torment of the evil one by joining our self with the evil of our indwelling sin nature? Then following our choice we will receive eternal torment from God then in hell fire. The ball is in our hands, if we choose God over self, eternal over temporal, selflessness over self, love over hate, and above all God's character over talent or money then the whole heaven belongs to us as His dear children (Luke 6:20-23; Matt 5:3-12).
Finally when Father Abraham said to the rich man who was in the Hades prison, "And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us", it reveals that even though every child of God will be liberated enough in heaven to know Hades and hell, and all those that happens to the wicked over there, but they will not be able to free the sinners eternally but only be able to watch the just horror of what happens to them in the torment and communicate back and forth to give glory to God for His just judgment for wickedness and sin (Isa 66:24). So only if we are saved, we are saved eternally, if we are lost, we are lost eternally once we die on earth, as there is only one judgment of God after our death, (i.e) one for the righteous in which they will be rewarded eternally and the one for the unrighteous in which they will be condemned eternally (Heb 9:27; 1 Cor 4:5; 3:11-17; Rev 20:11-15).
Can we be able to save someone of our fleshly relative after they die on earth? No, we do not have the power to change the eternal state of any humans, and God himself has decreed that no one will be able to change their eternal state even adding including Himself in it because He has decreed it as the law of His Kingdom (Tit 1:2). We can save our fleshly relative or the unsaved whosoever from hell only before their death by sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Once they die, the great gulf of God which are God's unchangeable laws, stands between the lost and the saved humans (John 5:45-47; Deut 18:15, 18; John 12:48). God is just and show no personal favoritism to anyone to change the eternal state of any humans after their death (Rom 2:11; Acts 10:34), but is the justifier of the one who believes in Jesus Christ before their death (Rom 3:26). REPENT NOW AND TELL OTHERS ABOUT IT AS MUCH AS YOU CAN!
The Final Wish Of The Unsaved Rich From Hades Was Granted By God In Actuality Through Jesus Christ!!!!
Then we see the rich Man from Hades say to Abraham , "‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ 29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 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.’”
The communication of Hades which is the prison place of the condemned sinner kept until the day of white throne judgment (Rev 20:11-15), to the place of paradise that was Abraham's Bosom which has been emptied once Christ rose from the dead (Luke 23:43; 1 Pet 3:18-19; Eph 4:8-10), the line of inter-communication in the spirit is an amazing display of God's genius way of communication between human spirits beyond death that is displayed by God. The rich man was condemned enough to know that there was no way out from this prison for the sins he had committed in his life, but at the same time he was able to understand how repentance before his own death could have altered his eternal destiny forever. He really loved his family so much who were still living on earth, that he desperately wanted someone from this side of Abraham's Bosom to go to his 'Father's house' on earth and tell them about the reality of a comforting afterlife in the Presence of God, and the need for repentance to avoid ending up condemned in the sinful prison of Hades and Hell Fire after that forever and ever.
One thing we must understand in this earthly life is that the whole wide world is under the sway of the darkness and deceit of the evil one (1 John 5:19), the world in blindness will not value the love letter of God the whole Bible written to them all to make them realize the need for repentance. Therefore, we must all pray for the unsaved sincerely as believers, if God could hear the prayer of the condemned to reveal Jesus to come back from Hades to tell about the need for repentance to the whole world, God will also make the living unsaved to become saved through our sincere prayers prayed for their salvation (2 Pet 3:9; 1 Cor 9:22; Jude 1:23; 2 Tim 2:25-26). Hallelujah!
Alas to the rich man! He has missed the reality of truth that says, "Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near." (Isa 55:6). What a pitiable sight! No humans who have not sought God on earth to find him and live a God-pleasing life for Him, can never ever find Him in their after life. So the rich man's riches have completely blinded his heart with the darkness of the world while he was alive, so that he could not even notice the chances God had kept for him to see the light of His face through the poor man's Lazarus plight. All we need to do in our lives is to see God's light-post hidden in our lives here and there, even as we pass through life's journey, then ask God to remove the darkness of our own sinful heart, so that with much joy we could be able to recognize the light of heaven God has hidden in the happenings around us in our day to day lives around us, and thus move by faith to do what we can by God's grace. Hallelujah!
This is not just a story that Jesus had taught, but it was a real incident that Jesus revealed to us all as a parable, to make all people like us understand about the reality of the afterlife that awaits us all based on how we have responded to God who has pursued us with his love. Hence the request of the rich Jew in the Hades prison to send some one from Abraham's Bosom to the earth to make people understand about the need for repentance to inherit the eternal life, has been answered by God and therefore He sent Jesus to be resurrected from the dead. This is today the Good News for all humankind who are alive on earth even in our generation, and the very life of Jesus is a live demonstration of God to make all humans on earth realize the need for repentance, if they ever want to meet God in heaven which is His Home in their afterlife.
Today I plead to each and every one of you who are reading this, who have not yet repented and have been living in the darkness of sin without the light of Jesus Christ in your life, right now repent and make a 180 degree about-turn from your sinful self towards God and tell that you are a sinner in need of the Savior Jesus. And cry out to Him to save you from sin and self and give eternal life. If you do that right now and pray from your heart to God saying, 'O dear God, I am a sinner who have sinned against you and have gone away from you through living by myself without you since I was born. Today I repent and want to live with you and your grace for eternity ahead. I will follow Jesus the God-Man and the Mediator who has come from the dead and Hades to make me repent of my sin, and thus make me come to heaven, your home, when I die. Thank you that you will help me live with you and for you forever more. In Jesus name, I pray....AMEN!'
Praise the Lord! Truly the Lord has seen your repentance and will show His eternal favor of His comfort and Blessings of eternal life!
Much Blessings...
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