Many sermons on the parable of the rich man and Lazarus dwell on the reasons why the rich man went to a place of torment (hell), but very few attempt to answer the question: “Why did the poor man Lazarus end up in the “bosom of Abraham,” where he was comforted?
First of all, a couple of things need to be clarified: First, the poor man Lazarus in the parable is not the same person as Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, the friend of Jesus whom He raised from the dead (John 11:1-44). Second, the “bosom of Abraham” is not the same as heaven. The “bosom of Abraham” is generally considered as a temporary holding place for the righteous who died before Christ redeemed the world, where they awaited Christ to come and lead them to heaven. After Christ’s Death, He descended to the realm of the dead and opened the gates of heaven for the righteous.
So, why did Lazarus end up among the righteous, when the parable did not give any indication of his good or bad deeds, or whether he had faith in God or not? All the parable tells us is that Lazarus, covered with sores, laid at the rich man’s door, and would have gladly eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table (cf. Luke 16:20-21). However, we can reasonably glean from these two verses that Lazarus had a humble and patient acceptance of his life situation on earth. He did not complain to God or curse the rich man for not helping him. What Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3),” epitomizes Lazarus as the poor who depended on God, in contrast to the rich, who depend on their riches and wealth.
There is much more that we can learn from this parable: Jesus teaches that heaven and hell are real. Many preachers shy away from uncomfortable topics such as hell. Some even preach “universal salvation” – that everyone goes to heaven. Yet Jesus spoke about hell many times: Gehenna (Matthew 5:22, Mark 9:43), eternal fire (Matthew 25:41) and eternal punishment (Matthew 25:46), to mention a few. Scripture is clear that every person who has ever lived will eventually spend eternity in either heaven or hell. So many are complacent in their conviction that all is well with their soul, but many will be shocked to hear the Lord tell them otherwise when the time comes: “I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.” (Matthew 7:23)
This parable also tells us that once we cross over to the next life, there are no more chances. The transition to our eternal fate takes place right after judgment at the moment of death. Those in heaven are saved for eternity and those in hell are damned for eternity. There is a great chasm that prevents anyone from crossing from one side to the other (Luke 16:26). Those in heaven will rejoice forever and those in hell will be grinding and gnashing their teeth (Matthew 8:12, 13:42, 50, 22:13, 24:51, 25:30) as they look back at the opportunities they did not take for true repentance.
Many false preachers teach people the “prosperity gospel,” where material wealth on earth is seen as evidence of God’s love and blessing for them; while on the other hand, poverty and destitution are evidence of God’s curse. The Epistle of James sums up the parable with this warning: “You have lived on earth in luxury and pleasure; you have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter (James 5:5).” Not only do riches not get us into heaven, they are serious obstacles to heaven: so difficult like a camel going through the eye of a needle (Matthew 19:23-24) and the rich young man who could not be detached from his possessions (Mark 10:23-25, Luke 18:24-25).