Luke 16: 14-31
Sheol: Hades and Paradise
Jesus has just told the story of The Unjust Steward (vs 1-13), who gave all his lord's debtors discounts after he was given notice. And his boss commended him for his wisdom in making friends this way. Jesus said that, The children of this world are, in their generation, wiser than the children of light (v. 8).
And the Pharisees who were covetous, heard all these things, and they derided Him (v. 14). Probably because the prevailing opinion in that culture was that God blessed godly people with worldly possessions, so if they were rich, they were all right with God.
But Jesus refuted that assumption with the story of The Rich Man and Lazarus. This is not a parable, because He calls the beggar by his actual name, Lazarus. (He doesn't give the name of the rich man, to protect the guilty.) So it's a true story of something that really happened. It's history.
This gives us a discription of the Sheol where David said that all men went when they died, both the righteous and the evil (Ecclesiastes 6:6 and 9:3).
The Place of the Dead, called Sheol, had two parts. The rich man, who was wealthy in the things of this World, but not toward God, ended up in the fiery side, or Hades. Lazarus, the poor beggar, had no material goods, but was rich toward God, and was comforted in "Abraham's bosom," or Paradise.
Between these two sections there was a great gulf. Was it Nothingness? I don't know, but they could see one another across it, and talk to each other; but it was impossible for either to go from one side to the other either way.
This set-up doesn't exist today, now that Jesus has died and has risen from the dead.
Before Christ, people offered animal sacrifices, as lined out in the Law of Moses. Other peoples also offered sacrifices, but to their idols, which were backed up by demons, often killing their own children. God never had anyone sacrifice any other human person in death at any time. He asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, but stopped him from killing his son.
When an Israelite brought his own lamb or bull or goat to the priest, he would lay his hand on the head of the beast to identify with it, and then the priest would sacrifice it on the altar, dying instead of the person, for his sins. Then the animal's blood was splattered on the sides of the altar, which covered the sins so that the person could be forgiven.
That's how God saved His people then: they admitted they deserved death and let the animal die in their place. This was how it was done since Adam, when God killed animals to clothe him and his wife.
God saves people the same way today. Only we don't sacrifice animals any more, because Jesus is God's Lamb Who died in our place individually, once for all. And His Blood splattered on the sides of His altar, the Cross, doesn't just cover our sins, it washes them completely away, without a shadow of a stain.
Only what is perfectly pure can live with God in Heaven; otherwise, Heaven would get as bad as the World is today. That's why Jesus had to die. If there was any other way, God would have let Jesus out of it (If it be possible--Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, three times, Matthew 26:39).
When the Old Testament saints died, they went to Sheol, because they still bore their sins, they were just covered. But when Jesus' body was in the tomb, He went down into Paradise, organized all His saints into a Victory Procession, and paraded them before all the denizens of Hell on their way to Heaven, now that Jesus' Blood washed them clean. (See my blog posted on 2017, April 17: "What Was Jesus Doing?")
He carried the whole Paradise side of Sheol into Heaven that day, along with everyone who was in it; now only the Fire-side remains, that we call Hell. God made that place for the devil and his demons (Matthew 25:41); people only go there by their own choice. Sad to say, there are many who make this choice by default in rejecting God's most gracious offer of Heaven.
O my Father, I pray for all those sheep of Yours who are still lost. You know who they are, Father, and I'm asking You to keep sending workers out into Your mission fields to find them and draw each one of them into the safety of the One Fold with One Shepherd.
Just as You know all the Stars by name (Psalm 147:4), You also know us, and You call us by name. I will know my Shepherd, my Savior, my Redeemer, my King, my Bridegroom, by His voice when He calls me by my name (John 10:11, 14, 27), out of this World and into His arms!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
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