Hades for Idolatry – Luke 16:19-31

How do we know Lazarus was legitimately poor?  He had friends who laid him at the gate of the rich man daily, hoping for help from the rich man.  Why did God allow Lazarus to exist in such a terrible state if He loved Lazarus and Lazarus trusted in Him?  Part of it may have been His attempt to reach out to the rich man.  And God knew that Lazarus would be comforted forever when this life was over.

“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. 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 at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house—for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”  (Luke 16:19-31 ESV)

Jesus has been talking about money, its danger and how it should be used wisely for the kingdom.  To counter a view that money or wealth is a sign of God’s blessing and salvation and to show that it can lead to destruction, he tells the story of Lazarus the poor man and a man at whose gate he begged, a rich man.  Some have called this a parable, but Jesus never used actual names in parables.  Lazarus doesn’t go to Abraham’s side because he is poor but because he trusts in God.  The rich man doesn’t go to torment because he is rich but because he, like his brothers, have not believed God’s word.  The evidence that the rich man did not know God was his worship of wealth and his ignoring of those who were impoverished.

Jesus’ description of Hades is a place of torment and flame.  The rich man had good things in life but in eternity he does not.  Next door separated by a chasm is Abraham’s side, or what is elsewhere called Paradise, where angels have carried Lazarus for eternal reward.  There is no way for one to traverse this gulf between them.  Once you are judged worthy of Hades (a holding place before the Lake of Fire or Hell) you are there permanently.  Repentance must come in this life.  You cannot serve God and money.