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. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. (Luke 16:22-23)

What The Rich Man Knew

The story of the rich man and Lazarus is a startling realization of death’s reality. This is not a parable or an illustration but a true story told by the Son of God to impress upon the minds of the Pharisees the seriousness of the judgment. An unknown rich man is shown in contrast to a destitute beggar afflicted with sores that only the dogs sympathized with. The life of Lazarus was a miserable existence of suffering, and he was laid at the gate of a very wealthy man who ignored his plight. There is no mercy shown to Lazarus, which conflicts with the Law of Moses for the poor to be treated with kindness. Because of his disregard for God’s law, the rich man found himself in an eternal place of darkness and suffering.

Jesus describes the rich man’s condition as one of agony, suffering from an unquenchable fire that will never end. The rich man may not have believed in eternal torment, but that reality came to him in death. His torment was real. He was suffering from intense pain. When he saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom, he cried out for relief because he was tormented in the flames of perdition. What he was experiencing was not a fable or myth – it was real. The rich man knew what kind of life he had lived before and how he mistreated Lazarus. Abraham reminded him that in his lifetime, he received the good things of life while Lazarus endured the evil of the world. In eternity, the roles are reversed.

Abraham told the rich man God had designed the Hadean realm, where a great chasm divided the saved and the lost. It was a place where no one from the flames of torment would ever escape. There would not be a few thousand years of suffering before being released. When someone is condemned to the flames of torment, they know they will never leave. The rich man knew where he would be for eternity. It did not matter whether he understood eternity when he was on earth, but now the expanse of a world without end loomed within his brain. He knew what eternity was like in an eternal flame.

Realizing his attempts at relief were futile, the rich man knew the way his brothers were living would bring them to the same place he found himself. He had five brothers who enjoyed life’s finer things, like the rich man did. The rich man’s brothers did not believe in eternity and rejected the idea of an eternal fire. They lived like the rich man, enjoying the sumptuous offerings of a gilded life without concern for others. Their destiny was an eternal flame, and the rich man begged Abraham to send Lazarus back to earth to teach them the truth. This too was not possible. No one who enters the portal of death returns.

Abraham reminded the rich man that the Law of Moses was given to guide men to the bosom of eternal life. If the rich man’s brothers did not heed the words of Moses and the prophets, they would not be converted if a dead man stood before them proclaiming truth. The word of God saves. There has never been a time when God has not revealed what a man must do to be saved. The five brothers would come to torment if they did what the rich man did. It seems the rich man was mission-minded too late.

Eternity is where all truth is found. The rich man knew many things when he died, but it was too late for him to change. God has given all men the opportunity to repent and turn to Him. That time is limited. You may not believe in eternity and scoff at the idea of a lake of fire without end, but you will know it one day. Like the rich man, you will beg for relief, and none will be given. And like the rich man, you will want someone to tell your loved ones to change their lives, but no one will return from the dead. The word of God that tells us what to do to be saved has been given. Jesus said those who believe and are baptized will be saved, and those who do not believe will be damned (lake of fire and brimstone).