“Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house—for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’” (16:19–31)

His point was that all the divergent paths people travel in life narrow to just two at death, after which everyone becomes either a glorious being in heaven, or a wretched being in hell.

No one who takes the Bible seriously doubts the existence of heaven. But hell is denied by many, and preached by few. Many who profess to believe in the authority of Scripture avoid speaking about hell, express doubts that any more than a few colossal sinners will go there, or even deny its existence altogether—in direct contradiction to the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said more about hell than anyone else, and solemnly affirmed its existence as the place of eternal, conscious torment for most people (cf. Matt. 5:22, 29, 30; 7:19; 8:12; 10:28; 13:40, 42, 50; 18:8–9; 22:13; 23:15, 33; 24:51; 25:30, 41; Mark 9:43, 45, 47, 48; Luke 12:5; 13:28; John 15:6). Robert L. Thomas summarizes the Lord’s teaching on hell:

Some think that the idea of hell is cruel, unkind, unfair. What kind of a God, they ask, would send people into everlasting punishment? But God is never in the position of defending Himself regarding the truths He reveals in Scripture. His nature, works, and revelation define what is true, just, and righteous. The purpose of the divine revelation of hell’s horror is to warn sinners of its reality and the terrifying fate that awaits them there so as to motivate them to repent of their sins and embrace salvation in Christ.

The biblical revelation regarding hell should motivate believers to defend the clear teaching of our Lord and the rest of Scripture. It should also infuse them with a sense of urgency in evangelizing the lost. “Neither a cavalier attitude toward the lost nor a compassionate compromise are appropriate for a subject of such grave import” (Richard L. May-hue, “Hell: Never, Forever, or Just for Awhile?” The Master’s Seminary Journal vol. 9, no. 2 [Fall 1998], 131). To warn sinners of the fearful fate that awaits them is an act of sympathy and compassion. But in its zeal to find pragmatic new methods of evangelism, the church has too often abandoned its message. That message must include the bad news of what happens to those who reject the good news of the gospel.

The tragic truth is that most people who end up in hell will be shocked to find themselves there (cf. Matt. 7:22–23; 25:44; Luke 13:25–27). A recent survey revealed that virtually all the people who believe in heaven also believe they will go there (Gallup poll survey, 10–13 May 2007). Such was the case with the rich man in this story. Both to himself and to others, he would have seemed like a lock for heaven. The Jews believed that riches were a sure sign of God’s blessing. Therefore the more money a man had the greater his blessing from God. When Jesus said to the disciples, “How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!” (Mark 10:23), “the disciples were amazed at His words” (v. 24). And when the Lord “answered again and said to them, ‘Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God’” (vv. 24–25) “they were even more astonished and said to Him, ‘Then who can be saved?’” (v. 26), if not the rich.

The disciples’ response reflected the common belief of the Jewish people—especially the money-loving (Luke 16:14) Pharisees to whom Jesus directed this story. The rich man symbolizes them, both in their love of money, and in their assumption that their wealth was a sign of God’s favor. Like him (vv. 27–30), the Pharisees demanded signs from Jesus before they would believe. And like him, they would one day be shocked to find themselves in hell. They are tragic examples of those who gained the world, but lost their souls (Mark 8:36).

The question arises as to whether this story told by our Lord was an account of an actual event, or a parable. Those who argue that this is a real story do so because none of the individuals in any of the Lord’s other parables are ever given a name. But there is nothing inherent in the concept of a parable that would prohibit naming an individual, for ease of identification in the story (especially reasonable since the names Abraham and Moses are also used). And as will be seen, there is an important reason why Jesus gave Lazarus his name. On the other hand, the story’s opening words, Now there was a rich man, are consistent with the language with which Jesus often began His parables (cf. 10:30; 14:16; 15:11; 19:12). Further, the circumstances depicted in the story cannot be literally true. There is nothing in the Bible that suggests that those in hell can see into heaven and converse with those who are there. Nor is the angels’ carrying the poor man’s body to heaven the normal experience of believers at death. It is best, therefore, to view this as a parable, a story created by the Lord to convey vital spiritual truth.

The parable may be viewed from two perspectives: the contrasts between the two men, and the lessons the Lord intended the parable to teach.

THE CONTRASTS

“Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’ (16:19–26)

The story of these two men is marked by extreme contrasts in life and shocking reversals after death. In life, one was enormously wealthy, the other an impoverished beggar. The rich man was inside the house, the poor man outside. The poor man had no food, the rich man had all the food he could eat. The poor man had needs, the rich man had none. The poor man desired everything, the rich man desired nothing. The poor man suffered, the rich man was satisfied. The poor man was tormented, the rich man was happy. The poor man was humiliated, the rich man was honored. The poor man sought crumbs, the rich man feasted. The poor man needed help, the rich man gave him none. The poor man was a nobody, the rich man was well-known. The poor man had no dignity in death, not even a burial, the rich man had dignity in death and a lavish funeral. The poor man possessed no hope, the rich man possessed all hope.

After death, however, the situations of the two were completely reversed. The rich man became poorer than the poor man had ever been, while the poor man became richer than the rich man could have ever imagined. The poor man was on the inside (heaven), while the rich man was on the outside (hell). The poor man enjoyed the great heavenly banquet, while the rich man was totally deprived. The poor man needed nothing, while the rich man lacked everything. The poor man had all his desires fulfilled, while the rich man’s desires would go eternally unfulfilled. The poor man was satisfied, while the rich man suffered. The poor man was happy, while the rich man was tormented. The poor man was honored, while the rich man was humiliated. The poor man enjoyed a lavish feast, while the rich man longed for a drop of water. The rich man desperately sought help, while the poor man was unable to provide it. The poor man had a name, while the rich man did not. The poor man had dignity, while the rich man had none. All of the poor man’s hopes were realized beyond what he could have imagined, while the rich man’s hopes vanished forever.

The rich man is the main character in the story. The poor man never speaks; his role is primarily to serve as the contrast to the rich man. The rich man’s words give the only testimony from hell found anywhere in the Bible.

The stark differences between these two men can be grouped into three segments: life, death, and life after death.

LIFE

“Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. (16:19–21)

Jesus made the most obvious contrast in the earthly lives of the two men their economic status. The rich man He portrayed as extremely wealthy, one who habitually (on a daily basis) dressed in purple and fine linen. That he was dressed in purple means that his outer garment had been dyed with a Tyrian purple dye, which was extracted from sea snails. Because it was very labor intensive to produce, the purple dye was extremely expensive, and only the rich could afford fabrics or garments dyed with it. Lydia, the wealthy woman in whose home the believers in Philippi met (Acts 16:40), was a dealer in such fabrics (v. 14). That he wore an inner garment of fine linen made from expensive Egyptian cotton further demonstrates his wealth. Like the rich man in another of Christ’s parables whose motto in life was, “Take your ease, eat, drink and be merry” (Luke 12:19), this man was joyously living in splendor every day. His lifestyle was a lavish one of self-indulgence and ostentatious display.

In stark contrast to his extravagant lifestyle was the desperate situation of the poor man. Ptōchos (poor) describes a person in the state of most extreme poverty (e.g., Mark 12:42–44). In Galatians 4:9 it is translated “worthless.” Jesus created this man as having nothing; he was destitute. In addition to his poverty, he was covered with ulcerous sores; oozing, open lesions (cf. Rev. 16:2, 11). He had been laid (lit., “thrown,” or “cast”) at the rich man’s gate (probably the entrance to the courtyard of his house). The man evidently was paralyzed, and had been abandoned by those who could no longer care for him in hopes that the rich man would.

Unfortunately the rich man, consumed with his opulent, self-gratifying lifestyle, took no notice of him. Like the priest and the Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30–32), the rich man in Jesus’ story ignored someone who urgently needed help. Despite being outwardly religious, he disregarded the second most important commandment of the law, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18; cf. Matt. 22:34–40). But though he passed the poor man every time he went through his gate, he did nothing to relieve his suffering. His indifference is designed to mirror the disdain with which the Pharisees treated the outcasts of their society.

The name Jesus gave the poor man, Lazarus, is significant. It is the same as the brother of Mary and Martha, but used of a fictional person in this case. Lazarus is the Greek translation of the common Hebrew name Eleazar, which means, “whom God has helped.” It is an appropriate name, because it symbolizes the only way he was able to enter heaven—God gave him the help essential to receive eternal life. To the rich man and Jewish society he was nameless and insignificant, but Jesus gave him a name that described what God did for him. By giving him a name, Jesus also made it clear that the rich man’s brothers would have recognized him as the same man who lay at their gate had he been sent back to warn them (v. 27). In contrast the rich man, who would have been widely known, is given no name. Later tradition calls him Dives, which is not a proper name, but merely the Latin word for rich.

Adding to his misery, the poor man was starving, longing intensely to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table. The crumbs were pieces of stale bread used by the dinner guests to clean their hands, and then tossed under the table for dogs to eat (cf. Matt. 15:26–27). Those same dogs were coming and licking the poor man’s sores. Dogs in biblical times were not domesticated pets, but semi-wild scavengers (cf. Ex. 22:31; 1 Kings 14:11; 16:4; 21:23–24), and are consistently presented in Scripture in a negative light (e.g., 1 Sam. 17:43; 24:14; Ps. 22:16; Prov. 26:11; Phil. 3:2; 2 Peter 2:22; Rev. 22:15).

DEATH

Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. (16:22)

The extreme contrast between the two men in life continued in death. While they were alive, the rich man had treated the poor, suffering, man who lay at his gate as if he were already dead. But then everything changed. The poor man died, diseased, destitute, and starving. There was no burial, funeral, or earthly honor in death, but honor came from heaven as his body was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom (see the discussion below). There would not have been one in any case; his body would have been thrown onto the dump with those of the rest of society’s outcasts. The rich man also died, but unlike the poor man, he was buried and no doubt such a man would have been honored with an elaborate funeral. All his resources, money, friends, privilege, and prestige could not buy him another day of life; his riches could not prevent the inevitability of death. And no angels arrived to carry him to heaven.

LIFE AFTER DEATH

In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’ (16:23–26)

The dissimilarity between the rich man and Lazarus in life continued through the transition of death and became magnified to the extreme in eternity. In the Lord’s story He depicts Lazarus dramatically being carried to heaven by holy angels when he died. This suits the story, but while angels minister to the saints (e.g., Matt. 18:10; Heb. 1:14), there is no biblical precedent for them carrying a believer bodily to heaven at death. The phrase Abraham’s bosom appears only here in the Bible. It is not, as some believe, a technical term for the abode of the Old Testament saints until after Christ’s death made atonement for their sins. It merely indicates that when the poor man died, he went immediately to the side of Abraham in the abode of the righteous.

That angels would minister to a person the Pharisees viewed as an outcast would have shocked them. The belief that disease and poverty signified God’s curse on a person was deeply ingrained in their thinking. Job’s three friends insisted that his suffering was the result of his sin. Even the disciples asked Jesus regarding a man born blind, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” (John 9:2). That such a lowlife as Lazarus was taken to heaven by angels would have been a greater shock for the Pharisees. But not only was he taken to heaven, he was also given the place of honor and intimate fellowship at the side of Abraham, the friend of God (2 Chron. 20:7; James 2:23), the father of the Jewish race and of the faithful (Gen. 15:5), the greatest figure in Jewish history. To the Pharisees, this would have been stunning, incomprehensible, a direct frontal assault on their theological assumptions. This man who was humiliated on earth, a man whom no self-respecting Pharisee would have had anything to do with, was honored in heaven because the Lord helped him and had the angels deliver him.

The rich man’s body was honorably buried, with full treatment given to his corpse. His eternal soul, however, went to Hades. In the Old Testament Sheol, the equivalent of the New Testament term Hades, was used in a general sense to refer to the realm of the dead (though it was occasionally contrasted with heaven [e.g., Ps. 139:8; Isa. 7:11; Amos 9:2]). In the New Testament, Hades refers to the abode of the damned prior to their judgment and sentencing to the final phase of hell—the lake of fire (cf. 10:15; Rev. 1:18; 20:13–14).

The phrase he lifted up his eyes indicates that he was fully aware of his surroundings and in conscious torment. His soul was not asleep, nor did he go out of existence. Just as Lazarus illustrated that at death the redeemed go immediately into the conscious enjoyment of the bliss of heaven, so the rich man shows that the unredeemed go immediately into conscious torment in hell. For the sake of the point in the story he was allowed to see Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom, though as noted above that cannot happen in reality. Upon seeing them he cried out, addressing Abraham as Father Abraham, basing his ensuing plea on his Jewish heritage and descent from Abraham, the father of the Jewish people.

His plea for mercy—something he had likely never asked for in life—was an acknowledgment of his guilt and that his punishment was deserved. He did not protest his innocence, or question the severity of his punishment, but merely sought some temporary relief. His plea for Abraham to send Lazarus indicates that his view of the beggar had not changed. He still saw Lazarus as someone so lowly and insignificant that if someone were selected to leave heaven and come to hell it should be him. His unchanged, unrepentant attitude illustrates the reality that hell is not remedial, but punitive. That the rich man appealed to Abraham, showing no interest in God the Father or the Lord Jesus Christ, further supports that truth. Those who rejected God in life will not suddenly desire to love and serve Him when they find themselves in hell. One reason hell is forever is that sinful attitudes continue forever, thus the punishment cannot end.

Seeking mercy at the hands of the one to whom he had shown no mercy, the rich man begged Abraham to send lowly Lazarus so that he might dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off his tongue, because he was in agony in the flame (cf. Matt. 3:12; 5:22; 7:19; 13:40, 42, 50; 18:8, 9; 25:41; Mark 9:43; John 15:6; Jude 7; Rev. 14:10; 19:20; 20:10, 14–15; 21:8). His accusing conscience gave him no hope that he would ever be released from hell. Instead, he sought temporary relief; a drop of water from the finger of the one to whom he would not give a crumb. He was desperate for just the briefest moment of relief in the unending horror of hell.

But Abraham’s reply dashed his hopes. He called him child, acknowledging that in a racial sense he was his descendant. But his Abrahamic heritage did not keep him out of hell, nor would it mitigate hell’s torments for him. Abraham called on him to remember that during his life he had received his good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things. But death completely reversed their situations, and now Lazarus was being comforted in heaven, and he was in agony in hell. He had chosen a life of proud self-righteousness, including materialistic pleasures and comforts apart from the true righteousness of God, and was enduring the eternal consequences of his choice.

Nor was there any way to send him help. Besides all this, Abraham reminded him, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us. Our Lord was revealing that death permanently fixes everyone’s destiny; no one will escape hell, nor will anyone in heaven visit hell.

The rich man’s experience of torment (v. 23) and agony (vv. 24, 25) typifies the sinner’s experience in hell. As noted above, hell’s torment is frequently described with the words fire, fiery, or flame. Mark 9:48 describes it as a place “where their worm does not die” (cf. Isa. 66:24). The “worm” most likely symbolizes the fully informed, accusing conscience and the gnawing, nagging, relentless guilt it presses upon the soul tortured in hell. Daniel 12:2 speaks of the “disgrace and everlasting contempt” and its accompanying self-hate and loathing that those in hell will experience. Like David (Ps. 51:3), their guilt will continually be before them. Jesus described hell as the “outer darkness” (Matt. 8:12; 22:13; 25:30), a picture of abandonment and banishment, of being cast away permanently from God’s presence (cf. 2 Thess. 1:9). Hell’s torment makes it a place where “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:28).

Worst of all, there is no hope of relief for hell’s inhabitants, who “have no rest day and night” (Rev. 14:11; cf. 20:10). Their sentence is eternal; their punishment never ending. The fire of hell is unquenchable and will never cease to burn (Matt. 3:12; Mark 9:43), since it is everlasting (Matt. 18:8; 25:41; Jude 7). Hence the destruction of the wicked in hell is eternal and never comes to an end (2 Thess. 1:9). (Some argue that “destroy” in Matthew 10:28 indicates that the ungodly are annihilated and go out of existence. That, obviously, would contradict the passages cited above that teach that the lost suffer conscious torment in hell. Obviously, someone who has gone out of existence would be incapable of suffering. Nor does the Greek word translated “destroy” mean to cease to exist, but rather to be rendered useless, perish, or be lost [it is so used in Matt. 9:17; 10:6, 39; 12:14; Mark 3:6; 4:38; 9:22; Luke 13:33; 15:4, 17; 19:10; John 6:12, 27; Rom. 14:15; 1 Cor. 8:11; etc.].)

THE LESSONS

And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house—for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’” (16:27–31)

Several lessons may be drawn from the concluding dialogue of this compelling and frightening story.

First, this parable answers the question of why sinners end up in hell. The rich man seemed certain to make it to heaven, yet instead found himself in hell. The Lord’s hearers, particularly the Pharisees, would have been dumfounded, and at a loss to explain why. It was not because he was not of the right racial stock. The Jews erroneously (cf. Matt. 8:11–12; Luke 3:8; 13:28; John 8:31–58) believed that hell was reserved for Gentiles while most Jews (except tax collectors, irreligious Jews, and those guilty of gross sins) would go to heaven. Therefore one’s Abrahamic ancestry essentially guaranteed entrance to heaven. Before his salvation, Paul was confident that he would reach heaven because he was “circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless” (Phil. 3:5–6); after his salvation he realized that those things were nothing but “rubbish” (v. 8).

Lazarus represented the outcasts who came to Jesus and received salvation. The rich man is the Pharisees and all who follow their brand of works religion. The rich man was a descendant of Abraham. He appealed to Abraham as his father, or ancestor, and Abraham acknowledged that by calling him “Child.” But race is not a factor in determining a person’s eternal destiny. Being a Jew does not guarantee one entrance to heaven any more than being a Gentile guarantees one will be sent to hell.

Nor was it his substance that doomed the rich man to hell. It is true that, as noted earlier in this chapter, riches can make it difficult to enter the kingdom. But wealth is not an absolute barrier to salvation, because God has the power to save whomever He chooses (Matt. 19:26). Abraham himself was very rich (Gen. 13:2), as were Isaac (Gen. 26:13), Jacob (Gen. 32:5), Boaz (Ruth 2:1), Job (Job 1:3; 31:25; 42:10–12), David (1 Chron. 29:28), Solomon (2 Chron. 1:11–12; 9:22), and Joseph of Arimathea (Matt. 27:57).

The rich man was not sent to hell because he was a secular, irreligious Jew. Like the Pharisees, he was outwardly religious by the standards of the day, so much so that he thought his riches were a reward from God; he and his brothers were familiar with Moses and the Prophets, and he even understood that they needed to repent so that they would not also come to this place of torment where he found himself. His acknowledgment that they needed to repent also presupposes a belief in sin, the law, and God as the law giver.

While sin damns all the unredeemed to hell, there is nothing to suggest that he was guilty of any especially heinous sins. Like the Jews, he was religious and well respected and that argues for the fact that he was not in hell because he was guilty of such sins.

Some might think that he wound up in hell because he was selfish, utterly lacking compassion, love, and concern for the poor beggar who lay at his gate. It is true that his sin sent him to hell, and that selfishness is at the heart of all sin. But to say that selfishness condemned the rich man to hell is only partially true. Even if he had been generous, kind, and merciful toward Lazarus, those acts of charity and compassion would not have atoned for his sin. Salvation throughout redemptive history has always been solely by God’s grace through faith (see the discussion of this truth below).

In the end, there is only one reason that the rich man (and by extension all the unredeemed) ended up in hell: failing to believe in and act on the truth of Scripture. Heaven is for those who believe in what God has revealed in His Word and act on it. Abraham affirmed Scripture’s sufficiency when he said in response to the rich man’s request to send Lazarus to his brothers, They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them. Revealing his lack of belief in Scripture’s sufficiency, the rich man pleaded for a supernatural sign: No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent! This was both a complaint and a request. The implication is that he and his brothers had insufficient data; that they lacked a sufficiently convincing sign. The Pharisees did exactly that: they repeatedly demanded a sign from the Lord (Matt. 12:38; 16:1; Luke 11:16; John 2:18), which He refused to give them (Matt. 12:39; 16:4). Emphatically confirming the absolute sufficiency of Scripture to bring sinners to salvation, Abraham replied, If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets (i.e., the Old Testament), they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead, as the resurrection of a real Lazarus and the Lord Himself proves. Since unbelief is at heart a moral, not an intellectual issue, no amount of evidence alone can turn unbelief to faith. The Word of God has the power to do so (Heb. 4:12; 1 Peter 1:23).

That reply raises the question of what people before the cross needed to believe to escape hell. First, they needed to believe the truth about God. The Old Testament reveals Him to be the holy, sovereign Creator, Ruler, and Lawgiver who always judges sin. God judged sin at the fall, to which the repeated refrain in the genealogy recorded in Genesis 5, “and he died,” testifies. The catastrophic judgment of the flood gives further evidence that God judges sin. Because He is absolutely holy (Isa. 6:3), God’s “eyes are too pure to approve evil, and [He] can not look on wickedness with favor” (Hab. 1:13). Therefore He must punish sin, and as a result, “the soul who sins will die” (Ezek. 18:4).

Second, they needed to believe that sinners must repent. Confronted with an overwhelming display of God’s nature and acts that rebuked his inadequate view of Him Job said, “I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6). Jonah proclaimed God’s impending judgment on Nineveh, and its people repented (Jonah 3:4–10). Through Ezekiel, God called for Israel to repent and turn from their sins (Ezek. 18:30–32). “Let the wicked forsake his way,” Isaiah declared, “and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Isa. 55:7).

Third, they needed to believe that salvation is by God’s sovereign grace (cf. Ex. 33:19; 34:6–7; Pss. 41:4; 51:1). The New Covenant, by whose provisions all the redeemed throughout redemptive history are saved, is a gracious covenant (Jer. 31:31–34). Thus, sinners in every age have been saved by grace alone, never by their own merit, works, sacrifices, or performance of rituals and ceremonies.

Fourth, they needed to believe that God forgives the penitent sinner because He is, by nature, a forgiving God. In Exodus 34:6–7 God describes Himself as

David, no stranger to God’s forgiveness (cf. Pss. 32:1, 5; 51:1–4), wrote,

Micah exclaimed,

The Pharisees, who imagined that God was less righteous than He is and that they were more righteous than they were, saw little need for genuine repentance. They approached God only to confess their sins superficially, but more to celebrate their own righteousness:

Fifth, they needed to believe that God’s gracious salvation and forgiveness of sin is appropriated by faith alone. Abraham “believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6; cf. Rom. 4:3, 9, 20–22; Gal. 3:6–9). Habakkuk wrote that “the righteous will live by his faith” (Hab. 2:4; cf. Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38).

Sixth, they needed to believe that salvation occurred by the granting or imputing of an alien righteousness; that is, a righteousness from outside of them (cf. Phil. 3:9). Righteousness was imputed to Abraham when he believed God (Gen. 15:6; cf. Rom. 4:3; Gal. 3:6; James 2:23).

Seventh, they needed to believe that God’s justice was satisfied by transferring His judgment to a substitute. The millions of animals sacrificed throughout Israel’s history taught them that “without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb. 9:22). Those countless sacrifices could not, however, take away sins (Heb. 10:1–4).

Eighth, they needed to believe that Messiah would come and redeem them from their sins (Job 19:25) through His substitionary death on their behalf. He would be the seed of the woman, who crushed Satan’s head (Gen. 3:15), the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. He would be both human and divine; both David’s descendant and his Lord (Matt. 22:42–45); the one who would be humble (Zech 9:9), and yet the king who will rule the nations with a rod of iron (Ps. 2:6–9; cf. Gen. 49:10).

Finally, they needed to believe that reception of salvation requires the forsaking of all sin, or hope of salvation by any human means. In Psalm 3:8 David wrote, “Salvation belongs to the Lord,” and He alone is the Savior (Isa. 43:11; 45:21–22). Isaiah 55:6–7, as noted above, also calls for just such a complete abandonment of any other hope of salvation.

The Old Testament, then, contained all the information necessary to lead the honest seeker to salvation. Paul exhorted Timothy to remember “that from childhood you have known the sacred writings [from his believing mother and grandmother; 2 Tim. 1:5] which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15). Peter proclaimed to the people of Israel that “the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled” (Acts 3:18). Jesus indicted the Jewish leaders for understanding that the Old Testament taught the truth about eternal life, yet being unwilling to believe in Him (John 5:39–40). Paul wrote to the Romans that “now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets” (Rom. 3:21), and testified to the Corinthians, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3–4).

Like the rich man, as noted above, the Jews demanded signs from the Lord. But they rejected the convincing signs that they did receive (John 12:37)—including the resurrection of a dead person. After the Lord performed the astounding miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1–44), the Pharisees’ response was to plot His death (vv. 47–53) and that of Lazarus (John 12:10–11). And when the Lord Jesus Christ Himself rose from the dead, the religious leaders bribed the Roman soldiers who had been guarding the tomb to falsely claim that the disciples had stolen His body (Matt. 28:11–15).

For the rich man, Israel, and all who arrive in hell, the issue is not lack of information, but rejection of the truth: “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).