Was Abraham and Lazarus in Hell Before Jesus Came and Took Them Out?
1) Direct Answer
No. Abraham and Lazarus were not in the torment of hell. They were in Paradise—“Abraham’s bosom”—a place of comfort in the lower parts of the earth, separated from the place of torment by a great gulf. After His death, Jesus descended there and then led the saints out when He rose.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- Luke 16 shows two places in the unseen world: the rich man “in torments,” and Lazarus comforted in Abraham’s bosom, with “a great gulf fixed” between them. That’s not the burning hell for the righteous; it’s Paradise.
- Jesus said to the thief, “Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). He went to Paradise after death.
- He said He would be “in the heart of the earth” three days and nights (Matthew 12:40). Paul says He “descended first into the lower parts of the earth,” then “ascended up on high, He led captivity captive” (Ephesians 4:8–10).
- Peter says He “preached unto the spirits in prison” (1 Peter 3:19). He announced His finished work; the damned remained where they were, but the redeemed were delivered.
- When He rose, “many bodies of the saints…arose, and came out of the graves…and appeared unto many” (Matthew 27:52–53). That shows the Old Testament saints were brought up.
- Before Calvary the way into the holiest was “not yet made manifest” (Hebrews 9:8), and the blood of animals could not take away sin (Hebrews 10:4). After the perfect sacrifice, the way opened, so now “to be absent from the body” is “to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8).
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- If Abraham had been in burning hell, he could not have been “comforted” nor speak peace to Lazarus (Luke 16). The Bible plainly shows two separate regions.
- Before the Cross, the righteous waited in comfort because the full price of sin hadn’t been paid. After the Cross, Jesus—God manifested in flesh—paid it in full, descended, and then took the redeemed up. Paradise is now above, in the presence of God.
4) Reinforcing Statement
So Abraham and Lazarus were safe in Paradise, not in torment, and when Jesus finished the work, He took those saints out and brought them into His presence.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Abraham and his Seed after him
61-0423 §34
Why, without the shedding of blood there's no separation from sin. It's through the shed blood. Now, notice what taken place. He took the animals and cut them apart. Abraham watched until the sun went down. And there was a deep sleep fell upon Abraham. And when he noticed the deep sleep come, that meant death. It's due to all of us. We're all coming there to that great, eternal sleep. Now we notice immediately after that, he looked before him and a great horror of blackness and a smoking furnace. What is it? Hell....
Sirs, we would see Jesus
64-0304 §31
Jesus said, and, "as it was in the days of Sodom..." Remember, He left that alone. Let's picture Sodom. There was three classes of people in the world always. That's believers, make-believers and unbelievers. They're in every group. We'll speak on it, maybe, one night through the week. But in that time, there was the unbeliever---the Sodomites. There was the make-believer, which was Lot, and his group. There was the called-out and elected, which was Abraham, which was not in Sodom. Three angels came down just befor...
The Faith of Abraham
55-1118 §47
I can hear Him [knocking sound] knock at the door. Abraham walking the floor. Said, "Sarah, didn't we have a good time down there? Sure did. Oh, how wonderful it was. [knocking sound] Say, somebody's at the door of paradise. Who is it? Open the door." Abraham said, "That's my God." Job looked over and said, "Say, that's my Redeemer that liveth." [knocking sound] Oh, my! Adam shook Eve and said, "Wake up. Looky yonder." Ezekiel said, "I saw Him like a wheel in the middle of the wheel, turning way up in the middle of...
Abraham's covenant confirmed
61-0210 §60
Now, when Abraham kept all the vultures off of the sacrifice until the sun went down... That's what we've got to do now. Keep the vultures off until the morning breaks. That's all that matters. Yes, sir. Now, watch what happened. And as soon as they did, a deep sleep fell upon Abraham, see. Now, sleep means death. And when he opened his eyes, he looked. There was a smoking furnace. That is where every sinner goes, where we all deserve to go. A smoking furnace ... went out. That's hell, where every man and woman tha...
The restoration of the Bride Tree
62-0422 §226
Now, listen closely. Now, there was... Listen, now, don't miss this now! There was four death messengers ... (Or would you rather we just close? Would you rather...?) [ Congregation shouts "No!"] Listen real close now. Look! There was four, four death messengers killed that tree. Is that right? What was it? Palmerworm, locust, cankerworm, caterpillar. Is that right? Four messengers of Roman devils, dogmas, killed that tree. One took its fruit, one took its bark ... or took its leaves, one took its bark, one took th...