Luke 16 (NKJV)

Having now considered Verses 23-26 from a literal perspective we would now like to consider them as they were intended from a figurative or parabolic perspective.

“There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day.  But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 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.”

VERSE 23 “And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom.”

As was stated from the beginning the rich man pictures the Jewish nation, while the beggar pictures the Gentiles. The Jewish nation fared sumptuously, that is to say to them were given all the promises and blessings. They were draped in purple; purple represents royalty and as such the kingdom of God in its typical form was represented in the Jewish nation. They likewise were dressed in fine linen, representing the righteousness or justification that God provided them through the sacrifices of the law.

All of these things belonged to the Jews. Their table was furnished in the presence of all their enemies (the heathen, the Gentiles), as they themselves often boasted.

But the time came when they rejected Jesus, and their nation died— died to all those blessings.

“Behold your house is left to you desolate.” (Matt 23:38)

They did not go to eternal torment, but into Diaspora and died to those blessings originally intended for them. As a nation they died, and lost their nationality; they were still a people, but no longer a nation. As a nation they were in Hades, and were dead.

As pointed out earlier in our study Hades represents the abode of the dead, the “grave” or “pit”, and is being used here in a symbolic sense to depict the condition of the Jewish nation as dead to all the higher or heavenly promises. But as a people they are very much alive, and have been suffering torments all throughout the gospel age. Where from whom? Why at the hands of the various Christian nations.

The torment, into which the rich man went, is fitly represented by the troubles which have come upon them since they rejected Christ; and during which time God has showed them “no favor.”

Question: Do the Jews realize they lost favor?

Answer: Down through the Gospel Age, the Jews were persecuted, banned from employment, made to be scapegoats, called Christ killers, victimized in pogroms (organized massacres), burned at the stake, put in the arena with wild animals, tortured, etc. They had to be merchants because they could not own land. Of course they realized they were Jews, sons of Abraham, but they could not explain what was happening to them. They did not know why they had been dispersed in Gentile lands and why they were without hope, as pictured by the valley of dry bones (Ezek. 37:1, 2).

The “bones” represent the nation of Israel scattered throughout Europe. According to the Pentateuch, the Jews expected material blessings, but instead they were “in torment.” And while they were having hard experiences, the Gentiles were prospering with their religion. (Both the true as well as the apostate)

When the Jews were in Diaspora, they could SEE that the Gentiles (represented by Lazarus) were being favored under the Abrahamic promises originally theirs as pictured by Lazarus in the “bosom of Abraham”. They were surprised that Gentiles were being nurtured and taught in the promises made to Abraham and that they were searching for meaning and instruction in the Hebrew Old Testament.

Again in the parable Abraham is a type of God, the rich man being in Hades, saw Abraham “afar off” illustrating how the Jews have ever since their being temporarily cast off seen God “afar off”, no longer as close as they once were during the Jewish age.

The Jews having ceased to be God’s royal people (died as a nation) and have been “tormented” (persecuted, troubled, afflicted) all throughout the gospel age, while Gentiles have been “reconciled to God,” and, introduced into the bosom [family] of Abraham.

The Gentiles came into God’s favor, and became participants of the blessings promised to the seed of Abraham. Abraham’s bosom represented that the Gentiles had been admitted to the privileges of the children of Abraham, spiritual Israelite’s, joint heirs with Christ in His kingdom.

We will consider Verses 24 and 25 in our next post.