BIBLE
DIGEST - Number 77 October
1997
LAZARUS
AND ABRAHAM'S BOSOM
By Allon
Maxwell
|
"There was a
rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted
sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, full of
sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table;
moreover, 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 off and Lazarus in his bosom." (Luke 16:19-31 RSV) Luke's Gospel
contains this well-known parable, spoken by Jesus, which many use to support
the popular notion that the dead are not really dead at all! According to
this doctrine the dead are already in either Heaven or Hell, where the
righteous are blessed, and the wicked are tormented, while they wait for the
day of judgement. Of course,
there are some problems with this interpretation of the parable, since the
great weight of other Scripture is very clear that the dead are asleep
without any conscious existence. (Daniel 12:2 & 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15 & Ecclesiastes 9:5) UNDERSTANDING
PARABLES This story from
Jesus, is plainly a parable. We don't expect that everything we find in a
parable is going to be literal or theological fact. A parable is a story told
in word pictures to convey a simple message. The pictures are built around
conveying the message rather than presenting every single detail of the
picture as a fact in its own right. It is the
message in a parable that is important, not the literal accuracy of the
vehicle which carries the message. For example,
other parables with conversations which are not to be taken as literal are
found in Judges 9:8 & 2 Kings 14:9. There trees hold a conversation
to choose a king, and a thistle seeks a wife! The trees and the thistle are
made to speak for the purpose of the parable. Of course, no
one has ever used these parables to prove that thistles speak!! Neither
should we use the parable from Jesus, to say more than the Scriptures do
about the state of the dead. THE THEOLOGY OF
THE PHARISEES The theology of
the Pharisees did include a belief in an "intermediate state of life”
for the dead, which is reflected in this parable. There is a good description
of this "intermediate state" belief held by the Pharisees, in
"The Complete Works of Josephus". (See the "Discourse to the
Greeks Concerning Hades".) According to
this belief, Hades was a subterraneous region with two compartments. One was
a place of darkness where the wicked were thought to be held for temporary
punishment pending resurrection and judgement. Hades also contained a lake of
unquenchable fire. However, no one was actually to be thrown into the lake of
fire until after the final judgement, following the resurrection. The other
compartment in Hades was a region of light, which the Jews called
"Abraham's Bosom". There the righteous were believed to wait in
rejoicing and expectation of their resurrection to a place in Heaven. Note carefully
that, according to this theology of the Pharisees, Abraham's Bosom was not a
place in Heaven! It was a temporary abode in the lower regions of the earth. There are
enough significant differences between the story told by Jesus, and the
theology of current popular religion, to render the parable quite useless as
a support for the "Immortality of the Soul". PROBLEMS WITH
THE THEOLOGY There are at
least three major problems with that theology of the Pharisees.
WHY DID JESUS
USE IT? It is certainly
clear that Jesus Himself believed those Old Testament Scriptures which say
that the dead are "asleep in the dust of the earth".
(Daniel 12:2) In fact He
quoted from that very passage in Daniel, when explaining another parable
about future judgement, not at the moment of death, but "at the end
of the age". (Matthew 13:36-43) On another
occasion He used the fact that Abraham was currently dead, (i.e., asleep, and
not alive) as a guarantee of a future resurrection for all of the rest of
those who are of the same faith. (Luke 20:27-38) Why would Jesus
use a parable based on a theology which He did not Himself believe? A
careful, closer look will reveal that Jesus was using their own theology
against the Pharisees! He actually used this parable to reverse their
theology on several important points. The Pharisees
believed that the wealth of the rich, was a sign of God's favour and blessing
and a guarantee of a place in the Kingdom of God. And they also believed that
to be poor, and "full of sores", like Lazarus, was a sign of God's
displeasure and judgement against sinners. Imagine their
consternation when Jesus placed the Rich Man in the place of torment and made
Lazarus the "hero" of the story! He gave the reward to the one that
the Pharisees would have condemned outright! Jesus used the
parable to contradict the Pharisees and reinforce His own teaching that "it is
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to
enter the Kingdom of God." (Luke 18:25) But there is
another much more important message in this parable. The conversation between
the Rich Man and Abraham is in the story, not because it is literally
possible, but because Jesus wanted to use it to convey this other message. THE POINT OF
USING THE NAME "LAZARUS" John's Gospel
contains the story of the raising from the dead, of a man named Lazarus. (John 11:1-45) When this
remarkable miracle took place many believed. However, this did not suit the Chief
Priests at all! Their reaction was to plan to put Lazarus to death, in the
hope that this would stop the crowds who were flocking to see Lazarus and
then believing in Jesus. (John 12:9-11) This is the
main point of the parable. The Pharisees
did not believe what Moses had already said about Jesus. Neither did they
want to believe that Jesus had raised from the dead, a man named Lazarus! Neither did
they want to believe that Jesus is who He claims to be. Instead, they
tried to destroy the evidence! MISUSE OF THE
PARABLE It would be a
gross misuse of this parable to suggest that its purpose is to support the
doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul. That use would contradict the weight
of other Scripture on the subject of the state of the dead. If we insist on
taking that part of the parable literally, then we must also take the rest
literally. That would mean
accepting that: *
there is an intermediate resting
place where the dead are still
living, which is neither Heaven nor Hell. *
that there is communication
between the inhabitants of the two compartments in Hades. *
that judgement has already taken
place. *
that punishment or reward, has
already begun. *
and that the basis of judgement is
whether we are rich or poor! Of course, the Bible
says none of those things! CONCLUSION Our belief in
the power of Jesus to raise the dead, is a major element of the foundation on
which the rest of our Christian faith is built. Without it we have no hope
and no guarantee of eternal life for ourselves. Our hope of
eternity has nothing to do with an imaginary immortal soul. Nor is it the
myth of "heaven when we die". Our real hope
is bodily resurrection from our sleep in the dust of the earth, and eternal
life on earth, after Jesus returns from Heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:12-20 & 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) |