Daily Devotional Luke 16:26-31 – The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Part 3) – Who goes to hell? – Online Bible Study – Commentary in easy English – Day 326

“And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us. He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

In the early years of our marriage, I painted the outside door with oil-based paint. I kept washing the paintbrush with soap and water. Scrubbing harder didn’t work, so I wiped the paint with paper towels and my paint clothes. My arms and clothes were full of paint, so I took off my paint scrubs and wiped the paint on my legs. The pain was all over me and the kitchen. I sat on the kitchen counter in a place of torment and cried, realizing I needed my husband to save me. When he came home, he tried not to laugh. He got a bottle of turpentine from the garage and cleaned up the paint.

We separate ourselves from God when we don’t recognize the need for a savior. The Jewish people created their own chasm. They wanted to be in charge, have power, and be their own gods. They wouldn’t repent when John the Baptist and Jesus asked them to. Abraham believed he needed a Savior, and it was credited to him as righteousness. He mentored Eliezer (Lazarus) for many years, so Eliezer must have believed as Abraham did. They were in a place without turmoil waiting for Jesus to unite them with God. There are three heavens (2 Corinthians 12:2), so perhaps they were in a different one from God; maybe Hades, the realm of the dead, also has separations, and Abraham was there. It is clear Judah was in Hades in a place of psychological torment separated from God. Jesus is the only one who can fill the chasm between the Jews and God. He is our ticket to the kingdom’s banquet. When we believe, Jesus delivers us straight to God. When Jesus told this parable, he hadn’t yet died to save us. The chasm from humans to God was still in place.

Judah (the rich man) asked Abraham to send Eliezer (Lazarus) to his five brothers to warn them they needed a savior, so they don’t end up in a place of torment. Through this parable Jesus told the Pharisees they had evidence He was their Savior and prophesied they wouldn’t be convinced even when He rose from the dead. Today the Jews still try to save themselves by keeping the Ten Commandments, and they can’t.

But Romans 11 gives this story a good ending. Romans 11:25-32: “Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved. … And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins … they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. Just as you who … have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too … may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.”

Perhaps unbelievers go to Hades while awaiting Judgment by Jesus, but the Bible says in Romans 11:32 that everyone is disobedient and God will have mercy on them all. Doesn’t that mean no one will spend eternity in hell?

Dearest Father in Heaven, thank you for a good ending to this story, for Your mercy, and for Jesus who fills the gap between godlessness and You. I pray that all Christians will stop telling the lie that people will go to hell for eternity and, instead, start loving. According to Your promise, You will have mercy on all. And Your promises are irrevocable. I pray in Jesus’ precious name, amen.

Daily Devotional Luke 16:26-31 – The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Part 3) – Who goes to hell? – Online Bible Study – Commentary in easy English – Day 326

4 thoughts on “Daily Devotional Luke 16:26-31 – The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Part 3) – Who goes to hell? – Online Bible Study – Commentary in easy English – Day 326

  1. Drew and I were watching a documentary on serial killers the other night. It was absolutely chilling as the forensic psychologists talked about these men and women and how their brains work. What happens to a human being that makes them so evil and full of violence. I believe in Hell and I believe that there are people there and that they have no chance for redemption because they are so full of hate, violence and evil. These are just some of the worst criminals on earth and they have no remorse for what they have done. Does God show mercy on these people? Are these people so bad that they don’t care about God’s mercy? Even when they come face to face with Jesus at the end, they turn their backs on their Savior. I am not sure how it works and maybe none of us know for sure until we do die. What do you think?

    1. This is a difficult topic, and I hit more upon it today as I chose two people who have committed heinous crimes in a memorial to Cannon Hinton. I believe that Hades (hell) as written in the Bible is a holding place for the dead. I believe it held most everyone after death before Jesus died to save us. I believe those that God credited as righteous during that time before Jesus’ death were held either in a different part of Hades where the Holy Spirit can travel or in the first or second heaven where the Holy Spirit can also travel but where God’s throne is not. I tend to think, though, that before Jesus all were held in some portion of Hades because Jesus traveled there before he went to heaven to save people. Jesus is not mentioned traveling to a different part of heaven to take people directly to God. After Jesus died, I believe those who don’t believe and haven’t accepted Jesus as their Savior still go to Hades (or hell) until their judgement. Those who believe in Jesus and have accepted Him as their Savior can go straight to heaven if they don’t need to be judged. The people who are so full of hate and evil as you mention certainly go to hell to await judgment. The thing is, we don’t know how so much hatred was instilled in them. If they were beaten and molested as children and all they know is hate, won’t God have mercy on them? The only reason I say God will have mercy on them because we read that God has mercy on all. Chances are such hateful people won’t want anything to do with God. All I know is that Jesus gave His life for all who sin, and He filled the chasm between wherever Abraham and Lazarus were and hell where Judah was and that he also filled the chasm between heaven and hell. People can’t go to heaven when they’re filled with hate so if some time in hell and some time with Jesus can make their hearts be filled with love and make them realize they need a savior, then I believe they will go to heaven. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. Whoever believes in me shall not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus is the only way to heaven. Pam, most people don’t believe as I do, so there is a definite possibility my thinking could be wrong. My God is a loving judge, and I am confident Jesus will do what is best for all who love Him and that heaven is nothing but paradise. Blessings, Jody

  2. Jody, thank you for your thoughtful response. I know that you think differently than some Christians do concerning entry to Heaven. I believe as you do, and I feel it is the difference if you look at God as the loving God or if you are taught the fear of God. We were taught the live of God and to never fear God.

    1. Because of my personal relationship with God, I know that he’s a loving God. God has taught me that. I believe the Bible upholds it in every way. That is why I do not skip one word in my Devotional Bible Studies. Every word shows that God is a loving God.

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