Life After Death Series: Part 4 - Difficult Verses - 119 Ministries

[Music] [Music] hello and welcome to another teaching from 119 ministries our ministry believes that the whole Bible is true and directly related to our lives today if you would like to know more about what we believe in teach please visit us at test everything dotnet if you enjoy this video don't forget to hit the like button and subscribe to our channel by hitting the button down below we hope that you enjoy studying and testing the following teaching [Music] [Music] at this point in the life-after-death series it should be understood that after we die we enter a period of unawareness we have no thoughts we have no working consciousness we remain in that state until the resurrection while we have exhaustively reviewed scripture to establish such a conclusion there are several points found in scripture that understandably suggests to some that we are immediately conscious after death and the form of some type of ghost like spirit often residing in the concepts of heaven or hell while the idea of eventually residing in heaven or hell will be examined in depth later in this series first we must examine these points in Scripture that appeared to suggest that we are conscious after death prior to a resurrection the thief on the cross probably the biblical text most used to prove that we are immediately conscious as a spirit after death are the words of Yeshua to the thief on the cross Luke chapter 23 and he said Yeshua remember me when you come into your kingdom and he said to him truly I say to you today you will be with me in paradise case closed some might say but is it really as cut and dry as it appears there are several factors that should cause one to pause and reconsider what this passage appears to say the first is the request made by the thief he asked his schewe to remember him when he came into his kingdom that is important as they say context matters Yeshua answered a thief's request in that context the thief apparently understood the Messianic Kingdom in the same way most first century Jews did he knew that it would be at physical Kingdom ruling on the earth the thief specifically requested Yeshua remember me when you come into your kingdom so when will you schewe come into his earthly kingdom answer when he returns from heaven and rules over the nations from Jerusalem with a rod of iron as Isaiah foretold Isaiah chapter 2 the word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem it shall come to pass in the latter days that the Mount the house of Yahweh shall be established as the highest of the mountains and shall be lifted up above the hills and all the nations shall flow to it and many people shall come and say come let's go up to the mountain of Yahweh to the house of the God of Jacob that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem he shall judge between the nation's and shall decide disputes for many peoples and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks nation shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn war anymore for yushua statement to be literally true the weight is presented by those that believe we become conscious spirits after death the thief had to follow Yeshua to paradise the very day they died the thief requested to be remembered when Yeshua enters into the kingdom when Yeshua enters into the kingdom that will be the 1000 year reign on earth perhaps his show is referring to that time period as a form of paradise or paradise on earth if you will since Yeshua has not established the kingdom of God in Jerusalem he cannot have yet granted the thief his request in a timing of being the same day however as the other scriptures clearly show paradise is located in heaven where the Tree of Life is so perhaps a thief went immediately to heaven or paradise on this same day with Yeshua following their death although we know from the West sais own words that he did not go to heaven at his death John chapter 20 Yeshua is said to her woman why are you weeping whom are you seeking supposing him to be the gardener she said to him sir if you have carried him away tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away Yeshua said to her Mary she turned and said to him in Aramaic rabboni which means teacher Yeshua said to her do not cling to me for I have not yet ascended to the Father but go to my brothers and say to them I am ascending to my father and your father to my god and your God after his resurrection you should told Mary not to cling to him because he had not yet ascended to heaven to his father instead he had just spent three days and three nights dead asleep in the tomb if Yeshua did not ascend to paradise until after his resurrection there's no way that thief could have joined him there are the same day they both died on the cross if he assuming that thief did not ascend to heaven the day of their death what did you shoe a mean by his statement the answer is actually quite simple there is no punctuation in the original Greek text of this passage when English translators placed a comma before today they did so because of their belief influenced by the traditional teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and the idea of becoming a conscious spirit after death similar to what you see portrayed in cartoons for the same reason modern translators have followed suit grammatically this sentence in Greek can also be read as truly I say to you today you will be with me in paradise since this understanding removes numerous difficulties in apparent scriptural contradictions it should be the preferred rendering unfortunately the traditions of men die hard it is no different than saying today I declare for example like zechariah zechariah chapter 9 return to your stronghold o prisoners of hope today i declare that i will restore to you double the thief is still asleep unaware and unconscious waiting for the resurrection the thief will be brought into the kingdom fulfilling the thief's request and eventually brought into paradise at the close of the one thousand years then fulfilling Yeshua's promise we will be discussing in detail the 1,000 years and what follows later in this teaching the point is this the thief did not enter into paradise immediately after his death in fact the thief has still not entered into paradise and like many he is waiting for the resurrection to come Lazarus and the rich man if you sue his words to the thief on the cross are most often used to support a conscious existence after death the parable of Lazarus and the rich man runs a very close second Luke chapter 16 there was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day and at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus covered with sores who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table moreover even the dogs came and licked his sores the poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side the rich man also died and was buried and in Hades being in torment he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side 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 but Abraham said child remember that you and your life time received your good things and Lazarus in like manner bad things but now he is comforted here and you are in anguish and besides all this between us and you a great chasm has been fixed in order that those who had passed from here to you may not be able and none may cross from there to us and he said then I beg you father send him to my father's house for I have five brothers so that he may warn them lest they also come into this place of torment but Abraham said they have Moses and the prophets let them hear them and he said no father Abraham but if someone goes to them from the dead they will repent he said to them if they do not hear Moses and the prophets neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead the parable of Lazarus and the rich man has been the foundation of many of the erroneous beliefs about conscious spirits in hell within traditional Christianity some have viewed it not as a parable using figurative speech but as a true story Yeshua told they give details about the punishment of sinners in hell this is understandable to some degree in Scripture it is not always obvious when a parable is a parable and when real events are real events and this way it can be challenging to discern when things should be interpreted as literal and things that should be taken figuratively this is just as true for us today as it was for those in Yeshua's day it was not uncommon for Ushu to be speaking using a parable or speaking figuratively and for him to be taken let early consider when Yeshua said destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days those listening all thought he was speaking literally about the real temple and objected it has taken 46 years to build this temple and you are gonna raise it in three days yet john notes but the temple he had spoken of was his body he was speaking figuratively but his audience misunderstood him by taking him literally even the disciples of Yeshua were not immune to misunderstanding his figurative language for example on another occasion he told his disciples be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and they misunderstood they thought they were being told that they forgot to purchase bread we are two thousand years removed how much more likely is it for us to also not understand it correctly as a result of the confusion he explained to them that he was talking figuratively the yeast was the teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees and use metaphorically relates to doctrine if we're going to understand Luke chapter 16 verses 19 through 31 correctly then we have to understand it in the context of the rest of the Bible we will also have to be careful and precise and proper interpretation the issue it makes it clear that his parables are intended to be difficult to understand we cannot pretend that parables are to be taken at face value and that they do not require some work and explanation to reach a proper interpretation Matthew 13 this is why I speak to them in parables because seeing they do not see and hearing they do not hear nor do they understand John 16 I have said these things to you and figures of speech the hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures a speech but will tell you plainly about the father so yes we are going to have to exercise some work to properly understand in Luke 16 19 through 31 we cannot point to this parable and assume that is straightforward no different than those of the first century should not have assumed that Yeshua's parables were straightforward we have to remember that God gave us brains for a reason and for this parable we are going to have to use them Matthew chapter 10 so be wise as serpents and innocent doves first corinthians 14 brothers do not be children in your thinking be infants and evil but in your thinking be mature let's quickly examine some parables just for illustration purposes we need to show how parables work in Matthew 13 verses 24 through 30 there is a parable about a farmer who finds weeds growing it in this field the interesting thing about this parable is that it is one of the very few where you should conveniently explain the meaning to the disciples this sower is Messiah Yeshua the field is the world good seeds are good people bad seeds are bad people the enemy is the devil was Satan or the adversary they're Reapers are the Angels and the harvest is the end of the age there is not often much confusion here because Yeshua himself gave the identification the characters in the parable more importantly and fantastic for us it establishes a template for proper interpretation of the issue as parables in Luke 14 16 through 24 issuer tells a parable about a man sending out invitations to a feast but the invited guests are too busy with business to accept the invitation the host then becomes angry and then invites the poor and outsiders instead it is easy to see that the characters in the parable are all real people or groups of people the host of the banquet is God the servant sent to call guests is Messiah Yeshua guests who make excuses are the scribes the Pharisees and the Sadducees the poor and sick of the town are everyday Jews and those from outside the town are the Gentiles also it was based on real-life circumstances when he told this parable Yeshua is actually present at a banquet and his audience included exactly the kind of people who were excluded in the parable see how theists parables are following a similar interpretive paradigm so let's continue in Luke 15 verses 11 through 16 we have another parable the mention of the far country and pigs in verse 15 suggests the same subject the father is God older son equals the Jews the house of Judah and the younger son equals the house of Israel again real people real local circumstances for more on the circumstances of this parable we would recommend our teachings the lost sheep and what is the gospel in Luke 16 verses 1 through 13 we have a much more complex subject yet the parable is still metaphorical relating to specifics that require interpretation Yeshua makes it clear that he is talking about the Pharisees who were lovers of money when they laugh at the parable he turned to them and said you are those the master is God the dishonest manager are the Pharisees and the debtors are the people in our culture an employee such as a manager documents and details monies owed to his employer by his customers and in return the employer pays the manager a wage if that manager reduced the bills of his employers customers owed to his employer and was caught he would be most likely fired and may even find himself in jail is Yeshua commending this behavior not at all the problem is that when we read the Bible we assume our own cultural perspectives into the text which will often cause serious problems with the interpretation of that same text it was discovered that in the first century the master the employer did not pay this steward or the employee a wage instead a steward made his money by adding his fees on to the bills of his master's debtors the customers when the debtor receives the bill from this steward he does not know what amount on the bill belongs to the master and what amount belonged to the steward only the steward would know when the debtors would pay their bill to the steward this steward would pocket his portion of the bill and then for the remaining money to his master as this steward is called unrighteous we can assume that who's placing an extraordinarily high amount on the bills for his fee in order to make large amounts of money at the expense of his master and his master's debtors however when he found out that he is going to be fired he took the debtors bills and reduced or he eliminated the amount owed to him thereby occurring favor with these debtors in hopes that one of them might hire him due to his pursue gener today we now come to the last of the parables in this section of Luke the one with which we are concerned one important point there is no break between you are those spoken to the Pharisees and the Lazarus parable this suggests that that Pharisees were the audience of the parable as well and as we will see that is quite important for proper interpretation like the other parables we need to examine this parable through the lens of the first century context and culture in this case we also need to apply certain historical facts about Yeshua's day let's read the parable one more time Luke 16 there was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day and at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus covered with sores who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table moreover even the dogs came and licked his sores the poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side the rich man also died and was buried and in Hades being in torment he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side 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 an anguish in this flame 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 and besides all this between us and you a great chasm has been fixed in order that those who had passed from here to you may not be able and none may cross from there to us and he said then I beg you father to send him to my father's house for I have five brothers so that he may warn them lest they also come to this place with torment but Abraham said they have Moses and the prophets let them hear them and he said no father Abraham but if someone goes to them from the dead they will repent he said to him if they do not hear Moses and the prophets neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead those that insist that this is not a parable but a true literal story that Yeshua told to describe the condition of the Lawson he'll must overlook several facts to arrive at that conclusion first he assured the Messiah never accuses the rich man of any sin he is simply portrayed as a wealthy man who seemed to have lived a very comfortable life being rich is not unrighteous and living comfortably is not unrighteous so something else is going on furthermore Lazarus is never proclaimed to be a righteous man he's just one who had the misfortune to be poor with an uncleaned status and unable to care for himself if this story is literal then the logical implication is that all the rich are destined to burn in hell while all the homeless and destitute will be saved does anyone believe this to be the case no strike one for literal let's continue if hell as truly as it is pictured in this story then this saved we'll be able to view the lost who are burning there could anyone enjoy eternal existence if they're able to see lost friends family and acquaintances being incinerated in hell yet never burning up strike two for literal additionally if hell as it is traditionally taught isn't abyss of fire and brimstone where sinners are tormented forever does anyone really believe that one drop of water would relieve the pain and anguish as someone's suffering in its flames strike three for literal those are just some of the difficulties we encounter when we try to make the account of Lazarus and the rich man literal instead of realizing that it was a parable if it is a true story then all of the things that Yeshua said must be factual if all the points of the story are not literal then we must view this tale as an analogy you should use to teach larger spiritual truths realizing this just as must be done with the issue as other parables we must properly interpret the figurative language using the same interpretive pattern established and the other parables so we need to identify the characters in this parable who is the rich man who is his father who are his five brothers who is Lazarus and who is Abraham it seems easiest to start where there is likely to be the most agreement that Abraham is the Abraham of Genesis the next easiest is Lazarus there is only one person of this name found in the Bible namely Lazarus of Bethany the brother of Mary Martha who has raised from the dead by schewe in John chapter 11 verses 1 through 44 comparing the parallel accounts of the anointing and Bethany in John chapter 12 verse 3 in Matthew 26 6 we find that Lazarus other name was Simon and then he had been a leper the leprosy must have been healed when Yeshua raised Lazarus from the dead but he was still known as Simon the leper this explains why the Lazarus and the parable was full of sores Luke chapter 16 verses 20 through 21 and at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus covered with sores who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table moreover even the dogs came and licked his sores Lazarus was poor because he was unclean according to the law of Moses the Torah Simon would have been ceremonially unclean and could not enter his own house in Bethany he must live outside the camp so we have two men both Jews both called Lazarus both poor both unclean lepers both of whom died and both of whom would not convince people by their resurrection there just seems to be too many coincidences for them to not have been the same person so Abraham equals Abraham Lazarus is Lazarus this would lead us to expect that the rich man is also someone known to the audience of the parable who was the rich man reading to this story we can find the following clues to the identity of the rich man he was rich he dressed in purple and fine linen he lived in luxury every day in his lifetime he received good things he had five brothers they lived in his father's house they had Moses and the prophets but they did not listen to them they would not be convinced even if someone were to rise from the dead it is not obvious to the modern reader who this rich man is but it should be clear that the pitcher is much too detailed to simply be a representative of all rich men but the Pharisees listening would have known immediately whom our Messiah was referring to there was not any chance of their mistake in it because only one man in Israel dressed in purple and fine linen a man who fit all the exact clues which his schewe gave us to the identity of the rich man as in Luke's previous parable of the dishonest steward the key to the meaning lies in the Old Testament in Exodus 20:8 we find the instructions given to Aaron for the making of the high priests garments blue purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen the Pharisees could not fail to understand that the man dressed in purple and fine linen was the high priest the name of the rich man the high priest when Yeshua spoke this parable was Caiaphas we know from the Jewish historian Josephus who wrote a detailed account of the period and antiquities of the Jews that Caiaphas had met all for the first qualifications of the rich man of Luke 16 he was rich he was dressed in purple and fine linen he lived in luxury every day in his lifetime he received good things his father's house in Luke 3 - and acts 4:6 we meet the other high priest who served with Caiaphas Anna's who was father-in-law to Caiaphas Josephus also records that Caiaphas served as high priest from 18 to 35 AD at the time of Yeshua's ministry Anna's had been removed from his office by the Romans were openly resisting them but behind the scenes he retained his authority and position this is why in John 18 13 through 24 Yeshua's first tried by Anna's and only afterwards sent to Caiaphas but then Caiaphas not Anna's ciencias schewe to Pilate the five brothers in case anyone listening did not understand who he meant Yeshua was even more specific the five brothers issue of mentions are the five other high priests who were in fact his five brothers-in-law the five sons of Anna's the historian Josephus records now the report goes that this elder Anna's proved a most fortunate man for he had five sons who had all performed the office of a high priest to God and he had himself enjoyed that dignity a long time formerly which had never happened to any other high East's the years they served are as follows le ace are 16 to 17 ad Jonathan 36 to 37 ad Theophilus 37 to 41 ad matheus 41 to 43 ad and as the younger sixty-two ad as mentioned the years eighteen to thirty-five ad between Eleazar and Jonathan were occupied by Caiaphas between 43 and 62 ad the high priests were taken from other families than anise finally in 70 AD the temple was destroyed in the high priesthood can no longer function this confirms the lists of coincidences between their rich man and Caiaphas he had five brothers they lived in his father's house they had Moses and the prophets but they did not listen to them the final coincidence is confirmed when after the resurrection of Simon of Bethany we read that the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Yeshua and putting their faith in Him they would not be convinced even if someone were to rise from the dead John 12 verse 10 also confirms another coincidence between the Lazarus of the parable and Simon Lazarus of Bethany John 12:10 so the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well the resurrection of both was rejected by Anna's and his five sons so here's this summary so far we have established the identity of all the characters Abraham is Abraham Lazarus is Simon the leper of Bethany the rich man is Caiaphas his father Anna's and finally his five brothers are Eliezer Jonathan Theophilus Mathias and Anna's the younger but what does this parable mean at the rich man's gate at his gate was late a beggar named Lazarus covered with sores and longing to eat from the rich man's table even the dogs came and licked his sores as we noted in considering their real Lazarus when a person contracted a skin disease they became unclean this meant the unclean were no longer allowed to eat from the sacrifices offered in the inner court in this way Simon of Bethany was barred from eating at the table of Caiaphas in Jerusalem there is similar language in Matthew 15 when they Canaanite woman who is a Gentile dog as far as the Pharisees were concerned said to Yeshua she said yes Lord yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table Yeshua is saying that though weak the unclean and the poor were all denied spiritual food by the ruling caste of the high priest the bosom of Abraham Luke 16 22 the poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side the rich man also died and was buried now this is where this story starts to become difficult nowhere else in the bible does it say that when men die they go to Abraham's side and older Bibles it reads bosom of Abraham meaning the lap of Abraham here's the word that is used in Hebrew for bosom which means your lap but is also used to express the idea of covering or embracing here's the word in Aramaic which also means the lap today if you ask a hundred people about their theory about death you will likely receive a hundred and fifty different answers many people seriously believe that when they die they will go to the gates of heaven to be met by the Apostle Peter others believe other things but the idea that the Dead go to sit in the lap of Abraham is something that nobody today believes but people did believe in Yeshua's day mention of the bosom of Abraham Isaac and Jacob have been found in burial papyri in the early rabbinical legends the bosom of Abraham was where the righteous went it is not in the Bible of course but it was popularly believed while the NIV has to abraham aside the literal a be rendering to the bosom of Abraham is better as the bosom of Abraham Isaac and Jacob it was a specific concept in contemporary popular belief another source showing what the Jews of Yeshua stable is a book called four Maccabees which was probably written by Jews in Egypt about a generation after Yeshua in this work of fiction Abraham Isaac and Jacob received and welcomed Jewish martyrs into the world of the dead 4th Maccabees 1317 after our death in this fashion Abraham Isaac and Jacob will receive us and all our forefathers will praise us again this is not Bible teaching only popular superstition in the first century the rich man in hell the story even becomes more difficult when we read the next verse Luke chapter 16 verses 23 through 24 and in Hades being in torment he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side 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 an anguish in this flame so even with the most creative imagination it is difficult to believe that from hell one can see people in heaven and talk to them but this story gets stranger still but Abraham said child remember that you and your life time received your good things and Lazarus in like manner bad things but now he is comforted here and you are in anguish 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 so nothing in the Bible prepares us for this description of hell again the parable the rich man and Lazarus turns out to be unique which hell we need to clarify what the word hell means here as an English Bibles two words have been confused and blended into one hell and the English Bible can be one of two words in the original Greek text Hades the grave the pit the place where the dead sleep in Old Testament known as Sheol in the Bible all people go to Hades to await the resurrection even Yu Shu in Hades or she'll for three days and three nights Gehenna originally the name of the valley Gehenna on this south side of Jerusalem in the Old Testament the valley was known as been a known in the New Testament the name is associated with the fire in which the rejected will be destroyed at the Last Judgment the problem is that in Luke 16 23 the Hell described as net fit either of those biblical definitions in fact the word is Hades but it clearly does not fit with the Hades of silence where Yeshua is laid there are nine other mentions of Hades in the New Testament 50 in the old all these other references present Hades as the grave Luke 16 23 is the odd one out the source for the unusual Hades in Luke 16 23 as with the source for the bosom of Abraham itself lies outside the Bible in the mists of the first century many Jewish myths survive today and these works a variety of fantastic pictures of Hades are given that have no connection with the Old Testament one of the closest to the picture given in Luke 16 23 through 24 isn't a work called the apocalypse of Zephaniah false beliefs about Hades it needs to be said that the apocalypse is Zephaniah has nothing to do with this F and I who wrote the book of that name in the Bible the real Zephaniah lived in the days of king josiah about 620 BCE the so called apocalypse is F and I on the other hand was written by an unknown Jewish author and probably a Pharisee sometime around 150 AD in other words the book is a fake it is interesting however because the mists shows us what many Jews in Yeshua's day believed the details are not exactly the same as Luke 16 23 through 24 for example in the apocalypse of Zephaniah that chasm between the fiery part of Hades and the part given to Abraham has a giant river running through it in fact the author recounts that fictional Zephaniah journey across river in a boat steered by an angel apocalypse F Anaya chapter 9 verse 2 you have escaped from the abyss and Hades you will now cross over the crossing place then he ran to all the righteous ones namely Abraham Isaac Jacob Enoch Elijah and David another difference is that in Luke 16 only Abraham is mentioned in the apocalypse of Zephaniah all three patriarchs Abraham Isaac and Jacob are in this side of the underworld reserved for their righteous along with Enoch Elijah and David but the differences are minor and there are enough common points and more in many other Jewish myths to suggest that the content of the rich man and Lazarus parable has some relation to the contemporary Jewish ideas and in particular to popular Pharisee teachings the Pharisee and the sinners as we have already established the picture of Hades the bosom of Abraham and the chasm between them represents the Pharisees teaching or at least popular Jewish belief rather than Yeshua's own teaching all of this however is only half of the Pharisees teaching the other half concerns that Pharisees ideas about exactly who would get to be with father Abraham and who would go to the fiery side of Hades according to the Pharisees all of this sinners meaning the publicans tax collectors the poor the crippled the blind the lame the lepers people with other skin diseases the insane and of course the Gentiles and the Samaritans would all burn in the fire only those who followed all the rules of the law usually interpreted as the oral law or the Talmud were defined as being righteous meaning they're rich and they're respectable the scribes the experts in the law the rulers are the synagogues that priests and high priests and of course the pharisees themselves they would depart to be with father abraham our father abraham is a common phrase in the jewish Mishnah what the Pharisees did not teach but note that the Pharisees did not teach at their righteous went to heaven even they knew that no man has ascended into heaven heaven was for God alone and to teach otherwise would have been blasphemy the Pharisees also did not teach that Abraham's bosom was the final destination of the righteous the Pharisees taught a resurrection and judgment on earth Abraham's bosom was only a waiting station with this in mind it is surprising that so many people quote this story of the rich man and Lazarus as proof of the doctrine of going to heaven following death not only does this story not mention the word heaven once this description of Abraham's bosom bears no resemblance to any ideas about heaven taught anywhere why did you show use Pharisees doctrine we assume that that teaching about Hades and Abraham's bosom is not from the Bible but from contemporary Jewish superstition this helps us on the fundamental principle that the Bible does not contradict itself but creates an even bigger problem surely Yeshua not a proof false teaching the idea itself is abhorrent the answer well it was only a parable solves nothing even in a parable we would expect consistent teaching it would have been equally possible for our Messiah to have told the parable in a way that fits with the Old Testament teaching issue is certainly did not need to refer to Hades the great chasm Abraham's bosom and father Abraham an unacceptable solution another answer is issue is accommodating himself to his listeners to get the message across but this will also not do immediately there are examples of Yeshua speaking to the poor and the simple in terms that they would understand but never to the disciples and certainly not to the Pharisees issue did not accommodate his words to false teachings in order to make other points understood his disciples wouldn't do this either Paul even specifically warns about various Jewish books such as the apocalypse as F and ayah which circulated in the first century Titus chapter 1 not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth yet we still have to explain why the parable that rich man and Lazarus is so badly at odds with the rest of the Bible the answer may be in observing how Yeshua dealt with the Pharisees on an earlier occasion in Matthew 12:22 Yeshua heals a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute but when the Pharisees heard this they said Matthew chapter 12 verse 24 it is only by Beelzebul the Prince of demons that this man asked out demons now you sure could have responded to this slander in several ways he could have quoted Exodus 4:11 to show that it is God who makes a man blind or mute not demons he could have equally quoted first Cain's 18:27 and second Kings 1:3 to show that Beelzebub the god of a cron had failed to prove his existence in the days of Elijah but he didn't instead Yeshua counters with irony Matthew chapter 12 verse 27 and if I cast out demons by Beelzebub by whom do your sons cast them out therefore they will be your judges the comet therefore they will be your judges is a powerful rebuke in saying this Yeshua through the falseness of the Pharisees teaching right back at them back in the days of the Prophet Elisha his way of dealing with the prophets of Baal was not much different Elijah mocked them to show Israel how false they were so if your sure makes use of the Pharisee beliefs in the parable the rich man and Lazarus we need to ask does Yeshua confirm them or ridicule them Yeshua contradicts the Pharisees beliefs the first contradiction has already been mentioned in the Jewish myth Zephaniah was able to cross by angelic boat from one side of Hades to another Yeshua contradicts this Luke 16 and besides all this between us and you a great chasm has been fixed in order that those who had passed from here to you may not be able and none may cross from there to us another contradiction is that in the myth Abraham Isaac and Jacob intercede for those in torment and Hades apocalypse F and ayah 11 1 through 2 and as they looked at all the torments they called out praying before the Lord Almighty saying we pray you on behalf of those who are in all these torments so that you may have mercy on all of them and when I saw them I said to the angel who spoke with me who are they he said those who beseech the Lord are Abraham Isaac and Jacob but Yeshua contradicts this instead he has Abraham refusing to help relieve their rich man's suffering Luke 1625 but now he is comforted here and you are in anguish another contradiction is that in other Jewish myths Abraham is credited with the ability to do what the rich man asks and resurrect the dead for example in the first century Jewish fiction that Testament of Abraham the patriarch Abraham pleads for the dead and returns 7,000 to the living testament of Abraham 18 11 then Abraham arose and fell upon the earth and the Angel of Death with him and God sent a spirit of life into the dead and they were made alive again but Yeshua once again contradicts the myths and has Abraham refusing to raise Lazarus Luke 16 29 but Abraham said they have Moses and the prophets let them hear them this reflects his shoe his own condemnation of the Pharisees in John chapter 5 verse 39 issuer ridicules the false teaching there is only one solution left that will explain why you should deliberately choose to tell a parable drawn from the Pharisees superstitions this is that Yeshua was showing the teaching to be false by exposing it he was using their own beliefs and traditions against them by reversing the rules this doesn't mean that he affirms their beliefs about the afterlife is truth that wasn't the point he was simply using the familiar traditions as this setting for his rebuke of the Pharisees and how by making the main characters in this parable real people Caiaphas and Simon of Bethany according to the Pharisees view of the universe Simon as a leper and therefore a sinner should after his death at Bethany have descended to be in torment in the fiery part of Hades Caiaphas on the other hand would as a high priest at the very top of the Jewish religious hierarchy be guaranteed a pleasant welcome by Abraham on the other side of the underworld and yet Yeshua told them a version of their teaching which had the beggar Lazarus received by Abraham while the wealthy High Priest clothed in purple and fine linen descended into the flames to add burning coals yeshua told how the high priest called on the father abraham to show mercy and abraham refused the mythical ferryboat accost that chasm and hades was not in service nor was abraham inclined to help their rich man who enjoyed such a good life on earth then as a final rebuke yeshua has Caiaphas asked Abraham to send Simon the leper back to the house of Anna's in Jerusalem to warn his brothers-in-law but again Abraham refuses twice Luke 16:31 he said to him if they do not hear Moses and the prophets neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead and this refusal our Messiah has Abraham promising Kivus the same torment in the fire for his entire household Eliezer Jonathan Theophilus Mathias and Anna's the younger and no doubt his father-in-law and as the elder as well so it is no wonder then that this is the last of the series of parables and Luke chapters 14 through 16 either addressed to the Pharisees or with the Pharisees present and the next verse Luke 17 1 the Pharisees are gone and Yeshua is left alone with the disciples so here are the conclusions number 1 the parable of the rich man and Lazarus is not as simple as it appears some of the keys purple and fine linen the beggar covered in sores the crumbs from the rich man's table can only be understood by comparison with other Old Testament and New Testament passages number 2 the parable contains some details where a knowledge of history the five brothers mentioned by Josephus or contemporary beliefs the bosom of Abraham can be helpful number three even without these the parable certainly does not support modern ideas about going to heaven number four the parable cannot be literal Caiaphas did not literally die in descend to hades he was still much very alive in Acts chapter 4 verse 6 likewise although Abraham refused to raise Lazarus in the parable in reality Yeshua did raise Lazarus but Yeshua says in Johnny eleven eleven that Lazarus slept he was not literally Abraham's bosom and finally of course we know that from Hebrews chapter 11 verse 13 and 39 through 40 that Abraham is not literally presiding over the underworld he is dead awaiting the resurrection the only thing that is literal about the parable is the prophecy of Luke 16:31 that was fulfilled in John chapter 12 10 when Caiaphas and his family tried to kill Lazarus rather than accept the fact that Yeshua had raised him from the dead all who cite this narrative as evidence for the existence of consciousness after death staunchly assert that this is a true story accurately representing life after death after all if this parable does not accurately reflect a bad idea of hell and eternal punishment then when Yeshua be lying we would argue no it is a parable that parables were always intended to be deconstructed and properly interpreted there is truth in them but not in the literal they are to be properly interpreted and then literally understood within the boundaries of that interpretation if this parable was to be interpreted as a literal depiction of hell simply because yes you would not have used an invalid depiction of hell in a parable then we just trade one proceeded problem for another problem what do we mean even if we accept a groundless position that the account of Lazarus and the rich man actually happened this story presents conscious spirit advocates with several problems first the position of duelist is that all the Scriptures are referring to the dead sleeping are actually speaking only of their bodies so duelists believe that the bodies of the dead sleep while they're conscious spirits are either in heaven or in hell if that is the case then how could the rich man lift up his eyes and Hades as a spirit have eyes additionally if the rich man's body was asleep while his spirit was being tormented why did he need Lazarus to put a drop of water on his tongue to cool it there's a disembodied spirit have a tongue also what physical flames caused pain to a non-physical entity and with the disembodied spirit of Lazarus have a finger to use to dip the requested water with remember according to Paul in 1st Corinthians 15 we do not have a heavenly body until the resurrection there are only two bodies earthly and heavenly in truth as we have already detailed issue is using a common first century misconception about the afterlife to make a point to the Pharisees he was addressing Yeshua was referencing a Hellenistic belief about the afterlife that had found its way into Judaism by the first century the timing of Lazarus's reward and the rich man's punishment as another serious problem with taking the account literally in this story we see that Lazarus obtained his reward and the rich man received his punishment right after their deaths but the Bible clearly teaches that rewards and punishments will be given after the Messiah's return from heaven Isaiah 40 verse 10 behold Yahweh God comes with might and his arm rules for him behold his reward is with him and his recompense before him Isaiah 62 11 behold Yahweh has proclaimed to the end of the earth say to the daughter of Zion behold your salvation comes behold his reward is with him and his recompense before him Matthew 16:27 for the Son of Man is going to come with his angels and the glory of his father and then he will repay each person according to what he has done 1st Corinthians 3:11 through 15 for no one can lay a foundation other than what is laid which is Yeshua the Messiah now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold silver precious stones wood hay straw each one's work will become manifest for the day will disclose it because it will be revealed by fire and the fire will test what sort of work each has done if that work that anyone has built on the foundation survives he will receive a reward if anyone's work is burned up he will suffer a loss though he himself will be saved but only as through fire revelation 11:50 through 18 but this seventh angel blew his trumpet and there were loud voices in heaven saying the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever and the 24 elders who sit on their Thrones before God fell on their faces and worshipped God saying we give thanks to You Lord God Almighty who is and who was for you have taken your great power and begun to reign the nation's raged but your wrath came and the time for the dead to be judged and for rewarding your servants the prophets and the Saints and those who fear your name both small and great and for those destroying the Destroyers of the earth revelation 22 behold I am coming soon bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for what he has done let's pause for a moment and employ some critical thinking should it be true that upon death unbelievers immediately proceed to a place called hell in which there is untold torment how do we explain the purpose and need for those outside the faith to be resurrected in order to face judgment think about that do you see the problem let's suppose John Doe unbeliever dies and goes to hell he stays there until the resurrection for the purpose of judgment at this judgment he is told guess what you're going to hell because you did not believe John Doe unbeliever be like what I was just there why did you have to just place me in a resurrected body just to pronounce judgment on me and order to send me back and perhaps most importantly why was i punished before my judgment why was i punished before my trial remember unbelievers are not resurrected unto judgment until this second resurrection we have had even experienced the first resurrection so the question remains as a righteous judge why would God carry out a punishment to unbelievers in the afterlife before providing a fair trial of the evidence of two to three witnesses even Nineveh Sodom and Gomorrha had two witnesses present prior to judging why would an unbeliever be sent to hell in everlasting torturous punishment just to be resurrected to face judgment just to be told at judgment he is going back to hell the absurdity itself exposes a serious logical problem let alone all the scripture we have reviewed already in this series that also challenges the idea of us becoming conscious spirits following our death as an additional thought we don't see torture as a punishment in the Torah so why would eternal torture be an eternal punishment the Torah is Yahweh's example of righteous living within it contains all the righteous judgments afforded to those who break the Torah and this physical life why would a judgment of torture contrary to the examples of the judgments found in the Torah be used by Yahweh it wouldn't some might argue that the capital punishment of stoning constitutes as torture that is seemingly a fair point however there is a fine line between carrying out a sentence of death and torture that can always be debated but when we examine the clear intent and methods of torture there seems to be a difference as it relates to stoning it was historically a reasonably humane process Sanhedrin chapter six Mishnah for details what that looked like the first witness would push a man face-first off a cliff onto rocks that was at least twice the man's height they would check and see if the fall then killed the man if it did not the second witness would then take a very large rock and throw it on his chest while it would not be pleasant if the idea was torture they could have made that infinitely worse most would define torture as the idea trying to delay death while at the same time trying to increase the maximum amount of pain the biblical and historical process of stoning simply does not appear to reflect that at all what do we see is the ultimate punishment in the Torah the wicked and the unrighteous cut off from the living they are prescribed death what do we see is the everlasting punishment for the wicked we see them resurrected from death to face judgment they are then told their fate and sentenced to eternal death with no hope of a future resurrection this final eternal judgement for the unrighteous is an exact parallel to the capital punishment judgments found in the Torah remember the Torah exemplifies Yahweh's own righteousness it exemplifies that he is the perfect judge listing the perfect judgments if the Torah is the standard in judgment would we not see that same standard employed at our judgment in the end of course we would the judgment for unrighteousness is capital punishment it is death in the end for those who are unbelievers for those who are unrighteous their judgment will be death not torture for now this concludes part 4 of the life after death series in part 5 we will continue to examine the Scriptures used by those who believe that conscious spirits carry on after death we pray that you've been blessed by this teaching and remember continue to test everything shallow [Music] it is because of you our generous supporters who make it possible to offer these high-quality teachings completely free of charge if you feel led to support 119 ministries so that we can continue this effort please visit test everything dotnet and click on the support 119 tab learn how you can partner with us to take the whole Word of God to the nation's [Music] you [Music]

Channel: 119Ministries

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Keywords: 119Ministries, torah, bible, hebrew roots

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Length: 57min 19sec (3439 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 03 2020