Luke 16:24 Commentary and Bible Study

In the parable we get another impossibility. The rich man in hell is able to call out to Abraham in heaven and of course that is impossible, but it's made possible in the parable for the sake of making an important point. He lifts up his eyes and he is aware that Abraham is in heaven and Lazarus is with him. Lazarus has died. He has seen him begging at the gate, but he knows that he has now gone to heaven. But here he is in his anguish, in vain crying out ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in his flame. He knows ha cannot be completely removed from that place and he deserves to be there, but he asks for just a little alleviation of his sufferings.He discovers the value of a soul and he petitions heaven for the first time, when it's too late. In the parable he sees Abraham afar off in heaven and he sees Lazarus in his bosom in his embrace, which means Lazarus has entered into life and glory, close not just to Abraham but to the Lord himself. The rich man is far off, far from God, far from heaven. Now for the first time, when it's too late, he wants to cry for help. He realises that Abraham and Lazarus are in a very different place to himself. Abraham is favoured by God, free, in a place of happiness and peace, while he is in a place of torment, and although it is described in entirely physical terms, it is also a place of mental anguish and hopelessness which crushes the human spirit with the prospect of eternity. He does not know what is possible and what is not possible, and he appeals to Abraham’s kindness to reach out to him. But he does not understand his position as well as Abraham understands it. Look at the fear which gets into this rich man. He is in a place where no help can come to him.Christ taught that hell is a place of unquenchable fire, a place of remorse, a place of shame, a place of everlasting contempt, a place where there will be no happiness, no craft, no science, no music, no laughter, no friendship nothing of that sort. All these things, says the Bible, will be no more at all heard in thee, in hell, in the eternal future.Let us understand that to go out of the presence of God is to go into a realm where all is hostile to holiness, all is the very opposite of truth and good. That is the environment where the soul goes if we die in unbelief. The Bible teaches that there is something we must take with us when we go into eternity away from God. We must take our conscience, and we shall feel shame as we have never felt it before. We shall feel an agony of frustration because it's too late and there's no hope. This rich man had been a Jew. He knew the Old Testament; he had heard Moses and the prophets; he had heard the promises and the teaching, and now it was too late. He had refused it and despised it, and he wouldn't believe it. He wasn't going to give up his appetites, his sensuality, his selfishness, his grandiose delusions, and exchange these for God, for the teaching of the word of God. But now he is so burned up with frustration and agony, because it's too late, and he has found after all that these things are true. So he is full of remorse, sorrow, and despair.