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.
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 4:E-55
That poor Smyrnaean Age was dying. When it died, it never came back. No age ever comes back. No revival ever comes back. It can't have the life of God in it by natural generation. It takes a regeneration from above. This last age started with the fires of a Pentecostal revival and they organized it right back. Instead of taking the Word they took their own ideas and did just what every age has done--substituted the manual for the Word. Just you step outside that manual and see what happens. You are out, brother. An...
Diseases and Afflictions
50-0100 §60
I put my hands upon him; I said, "Brother, the Lord Jesus that has sent this vision to you is standing here now to make you well." I took my hands off of him. Took a hold of his hand; cataract was dead. Tears begin to... dripped off his cheek. He said, "I thank You, Lord. I thank You, Lord." She said, his wife said, "Honey, do you see?" Said, "Yes, I see." Said, "Oh, you--you really sees, honey?" Said, "Yes." Said, "That's a red car setting there." Oh, my. She just started screaming like that. And then they grabbed...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 3:E-46
"Thou canst not bear them which are evil, and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars." These Ephesians believed that God's people ought to be holy. According to this verse they took steps to keep the body unleavened from sin. Most evidently the apostasy had already started. Sin had entered into the church. But they were obedient to the words of Paul when he said to put away the wicked from amongst them. They were a separated people. They had come out of the world, a...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 5:E-54
He has to be for that is history repeating itself from the time of Ahab. Israel's history under Ahab is happening right here in America where the prophet of Malachi appears. As Israel left Egypt to worship in freedom, pushed out the natives, raised up a nation with great leaders like David etc., and then put an Ahab on the throne with a Jezebel behind him to direct, so have we done the very same in America. Our forefathers left for this land to worship and live in freedom. They pushed back the natives and took over...
The Seal of God and the Mark of the Beast, part 1
61-0216 §35
Look at the smoke coming up from the altar, come right on up and settle down on Calvary. As Cain killed Abel at the altar, Judas killed Jesus at the altar. That's right. Notice. Again, you only see three crosses, don't you? There were four---four crosses. There was Jesus in the middle, a thief on one side, and a thief there on the other. And Judas hung himself on a sycamore tree. And Jesus was hanging on a tree, too. (Cursed is he that hangeth on a tree, and is made a curse for us.) Judas was on just as much cross...