Hades, the Rich Man and Lazarus, and the Afterlife

some thoughts on Hades and whether or not the "Hadean Realm" exists

The Classic End to a Gospel Meeting

It’s the last night of the gospel meeting—“revival” for the uninitiated. For good little Christian boys and girls, it’s a Thursday night, but for heathens who have forsaken the Sunday-Thursday gospel meeting pattern, it’s a Wednesday (shout out to my Monday-Friday NI folks… you know who you are).

Personally, I would love to go back to the two week long version, but I have no life and my kids aren’t in sports. Of course, where I go now doesn’t have gospel meetings anyway…which is a good? thing? ? Idk? There’s nobody in front of me to copy their reaction, so I’m kinda just winging it here.

Anyway, it’s the last night of the gospel meeting. It’s time for the minister (not pastor) to bring it home.

Sunday morning’s lesson was on change agents in the church.
Sunday’s sermon was about the church that Jesus built.
Sunday night’s sermon was on the need for evangelism.
Monday night’s sermon was on the dangers of premillennialism.
Tuesday night was all about the real kind of baptism.
And now it’s Wednesday, so it’s time to talk about judgment, Hell, and what happens before all that.

That’s right boys and girls. There’s a chalkboard ON THE STAGE. And it has a CIRLCE on it. You better buckle up because we are about to talk about the scorching fires of Hell Tartarus, which is the bad chamber of Hades (the good side being officially called Abraham’s Bosom or Paradise).

Or, if the church as a projector…

Where does this chart come from? Why is it important? And…is it even a valid description of the spiritual realm?

Two Views on Luke 16

Let’s start by talking about where this chart comes from and why it’s important. It comes from reading the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16 for the wrong reasons. I’ll explain more about that in the second half of this section.

Luke 16:19-31 is About the Afterlife

Sermons like the one I mentioned above typically approach Luke 16:19-31 for a behind-the-scenes peek into the afterlife. Specifically it is seen as a description of what life will be like beyond death for those who live before the general resurrection of John 5:28-29 (cf. Daniel 12:2; Revelation 20:11-15).

Others within my tradition, like the congregation in which I was raised, believed that this “intermediate state” came to an end sometime between Jesus’s death and ascension.

Regardless, both groups approach Luke 16 the same way. Just as Genesis 1 was seen as a play-by-play of the creation of the earth in six twenty-four hour days around six-thousand years ago, Luke 16 was seen as a picture of what the intermediate state looks like.

Here’s the important passages from the KJV:

And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. Luke 16:22–23

And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. Luke 16:26

One thing missing here is the word “Paradise” that is found on the charts above. This word comes from Luke 23:43 in which Jesus said, “Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

People like my Granddady as well as myself took this to mean that the thief on the cross would be in heaven (cf. 2 Corinthians 12:4; Revelation 2:8). But most preachers that came through our congregation believed (at least before he could get ahold of them) that this passage is teaching that the thief would be in the good part of the “Hadean realm.”

Besides these few passages, the other major part that was emphasized here is that the rich man asked for Lazarus to dip his finger into water and cool the rich man’s tongue. The message: Tartarus is hot and so is Hell.

But I think Jesus never intended for us to read the parable in this way. The purpose of the story is not to show what life is like behind the veil but to communicate a very different point!

Luke 16:19-31 is About the Stubbornness and Hypocrisy of His Critics

One big question that a lot of people have about Luke 16:19-31 is whether or not the story is fictitious or if Jesus had in mind an actual person named Lazarus and an actual rich man who neglected to care for this poor beggar.

In Beale and Carson’s work The New Testament’s Use of the Old Testament, David Pao and Eckhard Schnabel call this section of scripture a “parable.”¹ Keener, in the IVP Biblical Background Commentary makes the same assumption.² Keener adds that Jesus is not making up a parable here; instead, he is drawing from imagery in a popular rabbinic story.

Since parables naturally draw from imagery with which the people would be familiar, Jesus’s use of the imagery doesn't necessitate that Jesus is giving us a precise description of the afterlife or agrees with their assumptions. As Keener says, “Some details about the afterlife here are standard features of Jewish tradition; a few are simply necessary to make the story line work.”³

For example, does the rich man’s ability to carry on a conversation with Abraham mean that speaking to one another across a great gulf is a normal occurrence in the afterlife? What does “speaking” even mean in the spiritual realm? And does the rich man still have a tongue even though his body remains buried during the story?

The point is that this story’s ability to convey to us a cohesive picture of the afterlife breaks down if we focus on some of the details.

Let’s go back to Keener’s observation. Jesus needs these details to “make the story work.” We might ask what Jesus is trying to do with this story. To put it plainly, we need to look at the context.

Luke 16 is set in a time of conflict in Jesus’s ministry. In Luke 16:14, Luke observes that the Pharisees with whom Jesus was contending were lovers of money. They ridiculed Jesus for his teaching and for his inclusion of shady characters (Luke 15:1-2). This is not to say that every Pharisee was like this or that every Jew was like this; that’s obviously not the case (John 3:1).

But in this particular instance, the people Jesus is dealing with love money, and they chased after things that were prized by humans but were an abomination before God. Why is chasing after money an abomination? Because to accumulate massive wealth often means that someone somewhere down the line is being robbed of their milk and honey. Deuteronomy 24, along with hundreds of other passages in the Hebrew Scriptures, demands that Israel watch after the poor. You can’t love money and honestly take care of those who are less fortunate; that’s what makes it the root of all evil.

And so the story Jesus tells isn’t designed to give us a picture of the afterlife; instead, it is to use a familiar story to reveal the stubbornness of the contentious religious leaders—a stubbornness which came from their love of money. “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day…”

After the rich man’s request for a drop of water is denied, he asked if Lazarus can go and warn his brothers. Abraham’s response reveals Jesus’s whole point:

Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ He said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ” Luke 16:29–31

The Pharisees were supposed to be shepherds, teachers of the Law, but even they missed who Jesus was, and if they weren’t willing to search the scriptures, then a resurrection wouldn’t change their minds.

I Have Doubts About Hades

At this point in my study, I have serious doubts about the existence of an intermediate realm that existed, at the very least, prior to the Cross. There’s a few reasons for this, but one major one comes from that thief on the cross passage we mentioned earlier. Let’s look at it again:

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:42–43

The thief would be with Jesus in paradise on that day. This is not sometime after the resurrection or ascension or the coming of the Lord; instead, he would be with paradise on day one of Jesus’s death.

Paradise is where the tree of life is (Revelation 2:7). The tree of life, as we learn in Revelation 21-22, is in the presence of God (Revelation 22:1-2). This is not a promise to go to the “good part of Hades”. Jesus is saying that the thief will join him in the paradise of God on that day, which was the thief’s request to begin with.

Let me give you a few other reasons.

Can Sinful People Be in the Presence of God?

One major reason people need Hades to exist is because of the idea that sinful people cannot be in the presence of God. The argument goes like this…

Righteous people under the Law didn’t have true forgiveness because the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin (Hebrews 10:1). Instead, they had eternal life in prospect, pending the death of Jesus. Since sinful people cannot be in the presence of God, God created a holding chamber, Hades or Sheol, to keep the righteous until the cross (or the resurrection depending on one’s view).

There are a lot that can be said about some of these points. We could talk about the atonement being, in a sense, outside of time or “before the foundation of the earth.”⁴ We could talk about the nature of sacrifice and forgiveness. Instead, I just want to make a few quick points about the presence of God.

God is omnipresent. Paul argued in Acts 17 that God is not far from each one of us. Psalm 139:8 says that if one goes into either heaven or Sheol that God is there. This last verse is poetic, of course, but it is shocking. Then there is Jesus. If God cannot be in the presence of sinful people, then what was Jesus, who is God, doing for thirty-three years?

This argument seems like one the Pharisees and scribes were making in Luke 15.

Jesus was “made to be sin” on the Cross, and God was not distant from him; in fact, God was in Christ reconciling the world to God (2 Corinthians 5:16-21). As Jesus told his disciples, they might leave him, but God never would (John 16:32).

Click below to hear a sermon on the assumption of separation versus the truth of union. I think the assumption of separation is a big reason why we need a Hadean Realm.

Where Did David’s Child Go?

When David’s son was sick, he fasted, but when his child died, he got up and ate food (2 Samuel 12). This confused the people, but to David it made perfect sense.

He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me, and the child may live.’ But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.” 2 Samuel 12:22–23

Where did David’s child go? David’s child, who had no sins, had no need to go to an intermediate state (I don’t buy the doctrine of Total Depravity or any facet of Calvinism). I strongly believe that David’s son went into the presence of God. David knew that his son would not return from that state, but he had faith that he would dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Is Abraham Alive?

In Matthew 22, the Sadducees asked Jesus about the resurrection. In response to their question, Jesus said, “And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is God not of the dead but of the living” (Matthew 22:31–32).

Is Jesus saying that Abraham was alive? It seems like that to me. In a similar passage, Jesus said that many would come from the east and west to sit with Abraham at the banquet table in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 8:11). By the way, this is the meaning behind the strange phrase “Abraham’s bosom.” Abraham’s Bosom is not the proper name of a holding tank for righteous people; instead, it is banquet imagery.

Read this passage from Luke 16 again but in a different version:

In Hades, where he was being tormented, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. Luke 16:23

Where was Lazarus? He was by his side, possibly leaning on him like the beloved disciple leaned on Jesus. As Keener observed,

True Israelites and especially martyrs were expected to share with Abraham in the world to come. The most honored seat in a banquet would be nearest the host, reclining in such a way that one’s head was near his bosom.⁵

So where was Abraham before the cross? He wasn’t drifting someplace in an intermediate state; he was already enjoying the Messianic Banquet of Isaiah 25:6.

What, Then, is Hades?

Then what is Hades?

Great question.

I think in many places it just refers to the land of the dead, and we aren’t really told what that means or what that looks like. One popular way to describe the afterlife was to be gathered to one’s fathers (e.g. Genesis 25:8; 49:29). In some instances, like in Luke 16, it is pictured as a strictly bad place. The text never says that Lazarus went to Hades.

Here’s what I think Hades is…

Hades represents a developing tradition about the afterlife that the Jewish people picked up on from years of exile, captivity, and simply living among the nations. Jesus takes this dark and murky view of the afterlife and turns it on its head by entering into the realm of the dead through death and conquering it. Jesus’s death shows that there is something beyond the grave. He defeats the Saduccees denial of a “more” while dismantling the nationalistic view of resurrection held by the Pharisees, a resurrection necessitated by unfulfilled land promises.

Instead, Jesus reveals that God is not the God of the dead but the God of the living. In the Revelation of Jesus Christ, John depicts Jesus as destroying a personified Death and Hades. The martyrs weren’t condemned to some shadowy existence; they were invited into the throne room of God as they waited their reward at the time of judgment and vindication (Revelation 6:9-11). They weren’t relegated to a waiting place but reigned with Christ during the thousand years (Revelation 20:4).

I look at Hades as a picture of our delusion. We are so blind to the love and the forgiveness of God that we couldn’t imagine that what Paul said was true:

For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me, yet I cannot say which I will choose. I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better… Philippians 1:21–23

We think that Stephen’s expectation was just wishful thinking:

While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Acts 7:59

We are so unsure of God’s love for us, that we have to create a murky, shadowy intermediate state devoid of God’s presence. But as Jesus testified to the thief, and as Paul, Peter, and Stephen all believed, all that was waiting them was the presence of God in Divine Splendor.

Believe me when I tell you that this does not even begin to answer half of your questions or my own, but I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Give me your honest opinion in the comments. Like I said, this is just the beginning of a thought. I have doubts about Hades, but I have not even convinced myself yet. However, testing ideas, sharpening iron, and being honest with our doubts is what this page is all about.

Below is a clumsy fake “discussion” on this idea I wrote in 2019. I’ve put it here as a “gift” to my paid subscribers.