Luke 23: 43 and Jesus said to him, ‘Verily I say to thee, YLT 𝗧𝗼-𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗹𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗲,❞ 𝗬𝗟𝗧.

Luke 16:19-31, “22 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;

23 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗟 𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝘂𝗽 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝘆𝗲𝘀, 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗵𝗮𝗺 𝗮𝗳𝗮𝗿 𝗼𝗳𝗳, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗟𝗮𝘇𝗮𝗿𝘂𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗺.❞

Is Abraham’s bosom the same thing as Paradise?

Now the common belief is that Hades is composed of two sections separated by a chasm, made up of paradise for the righteous and hell for the wicked, all awaiting the judgment. That Jesus went to hell and picked the paradise out of it and came out with it after resurrection, now having it in Himself.

How funny that we can go with tradition when we don’t have understanding of plain scriptures.

From Part 1 of this series, it’s obvious that Paradise equals the Kingdom of God which is God’s Garden, the Church. But let us quickly examine this passage taken from Luke 16:19-31 about Lazaraus and the rich man;

“There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:

And there was certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,

And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 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.❞

Let it be noted first of all that this is a parable coming all the way through from Chapter 15. Luke 15:3,

“And he spake 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘 𝗨𝗡𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗠, saying…” To who? To the Pharisees.

The Parables were: (1) The Lost sheep; (2)The Lost Coin; (3) The Prodigal Son; (4)The Rich Man and the Steward; and (5)Lazarus and the Rich Man.

Luke 16:19, “There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day.”

Now 𝗮 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 – a simile, representation or analogous story – which could even be a fable, so long as it is used to illustrate certain essential points of TRUTH.

𝗔𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝘆 𝗶𝘁𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 – 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗧𝗛 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲.

For instance, a person might say that man is a dog, but you are only referring to his character. That he is promiscuous, not that he is walking on four legs or that he barks like a literal dog. So there is nothing literal in this story here.

When you read in Luke 16:22,

“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;

23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

24 And 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,”.𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗵𝗮𝗺❜𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗱.

We know this by his language, “𝗙𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗵𝗮𝗺.❞ 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗵𝗮𝗺 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝗺 𝘀𝗼𝗻.

So we see a son separated from his father for “In hell (Hades) he lifts up his eyes, being in torments, and sees Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, FATHER ABRAHAM, have mercy on me…but Abraham said … 𝗦𝗢𝗡 (Grk., teknon-offspring), between us and you (Grk., 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗣𝗘𝗢𝗣𝗟𝗘) is a GREAT GULF FIXED: so that they (Grk., the ONES) which would pass from hence to you (Grk., YOU PEOPLE) cannot; neither can they pass that would come from thence.”

The YOU is not an individual but basically a group of people because it’s plural.

So here 𝗝𝗲𝘀𝘂𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗜𝘀𝗿𝗮𝗲𝗹, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗝𝘂𝗱𝗮𝗵. Meaning this rich man was of Israel, of the seed of Abraham, and a blessed and highly favored company.

The Pharisees boasted of their descent from Abraham and expected to enter Paradise because of that fact. Their heavenly blessings basically can be found in Rom. 9:1-5.

“𝗧𝗵𝗲 ❞𝟱 𝗕𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀.❞

Luke 16:27, “Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house:

28 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗙𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗘𝗡; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.”

This rich man has five brothers. So 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗦𝗼 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗳𝗶𝘃𝗲

This is very important for us to understand if we must know who this parable is about and what the separation was.

To be continued…