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Author: Stephen Weller
646 words, 3 minutes read time

Hades and Paradise Are Real Locations

Scripture: Luke 16:22-26

In the previous lesson, we started work on the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. In this lesson we will learn more about this parable.

^{Lk 16:22} “The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, ²³ and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. ²⁴ 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.’”

The poor man was in declining health and soon died, but there is no mention of a proper burial for him.  However, his soul was carried by angels to where Abraham was living, a place Jesus referred to as paradise in ^{Luke 23:43}. Eventually the rich man also died and received a burial. However, his soul went to Hades where the living conditions were not so good.

Hades and paradise seem to be located near each other (Luke 16:19 – 31) and seem to represent temporary locations of souls until the day when Jesus Christ comes back to judge the world based on whether or not individuals have believed in Him. Believers will come before the Judgment Seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10) to receive rewards based on service to him. Unbelievers will come before the Great White Throne Judgment of God. At that point these souls will be sent to their eternal destination. The unsaved (wicked) will go to the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11 – 15), and the saved (righteous) will go to a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21 – 22).

The rich man was suffering greatly, living in anguish among flames, notices Abraham in the distance and with him was Lazarus, the poor man that he would not give so much as a crumb to eat as he lay at his door begging. In his horrible thirst the rich man (now not so rich), cries out to Abraham to send Lazarus to him with some water to cool his tongue.

^{Lk 16:25} “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. ²⁶ 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.’”

Abraham then reminds the rich man that he wasn’t very helpful when Lazarus needed his help as he lay at his gate begging for a few crumbs. Now that he was suffering, he asked Lazarus for help, but why should he expect him to help any more than he did? Abraham then says, “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.”

We must remember that this is a parable and we must be very careful not to try to draw doctrinal significance from this as nowhere else in Scripture is there any indication that there will be personal communication between those in hades with those in paradise. That which is clear is that hades and paradise are real places where souls go after physical death; the wicked to suffer in hades and the righteousness to paradise to fellowship with other believers and with God.

Conclusion

Since the request of the rich man was denied, how do you think he might respond? Might he have another request?