Luke 16: 19 – 31: There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a 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; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 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. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
The story of the rich man and Lazarus gives us a little insight into the afterlife and the state of man in the next world. It is also from this story that we learn of there being no such a thing as soul sleep in the afterlife, for the rich man and Lazarus were both fully conscious and active in the next world. The rich man and Lazarus died in a short space of each other, and yet in their spirit form they were still conscious and had recognition of their former acquaintance, for it was the rich man who recognized Lazarus. Lazarus was in his theophany in Paradise; this Word body has the same form and appearance as Lazarus’ earthly body (although now in its youthful perfection), otherwise Lazarus would not have been recognizable to the rich man in Hell. The rich man could see, feel, speak and thirst, showing that he had his senses and had not lost his personality. Death only strips a person of their physical body but does not change their personality or bodily form.
When Lazarus went to Paradise, the scripture says that he was in Abraham’s bosom. Abraham was the father of the Jewish Church receiving into the Kingdom the Old Testament saints that had died. The rich man was certainly of the seed of Abraham, but he was not of the faith of Abraham. Although the rich man had never seen Abraham before, yet he was able to recognize him in much the same way that Peter was able to recognize Moses and Elijah (Matthew 17: 4) who also had not seen them before. In recognizing Abraham as his ancestor, his natural relationship did not avail him anything even though Abraham acknowledged the rich man as one of his sons (descendants). The dialogue that ensued in this story was between the rich man and Abraham (not Lazarus), because Abraham was God’s Old Testament mouthpiece as the father of the faithful Jewish saints.
Death only changed the dwelling place of the rich man, but it did not change his nature, thus we learn that the nature you die with is the nature you take with you to your destination in the next world. In Hell the rich man was still giving orders as he did to his servants on the earth, telling Abraham to send for Lazarus, and then debating and arguing with all that the prophet Abraham said; thus we have a man in Hell arguing with a prophet who had the Word. From this we learn that people will debate and argue with the prophet’s message whilst they are alive, and that same spirit of argument and debate they will take with them to Hell.
Abraham told the rich man to remember all the good things he had and all the misfortune that Lazarus had whilst they were still living, so in the next world you still have a memory of certain things in this life. What is most fascinating about this is that Abraham lived a long time before the rich man and Lazarus had their earthly existence, and yet here is the prophet Abraham looking past the Curtain of Time into this world and was able to see the lives of both men. As the rich man still had the spirit to reason and debate and argue in Hell, so Abraham still had his prophetic calling in Paradise. The great lesson of the story of the rich man and Lazarus is that what you are here in your spirit is what you will be when you cross beyond the veil, thus it is of such great importance that we all receive the Spirit of Christ into our hearts.