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 1:E-94
Now remember how those sons of Jacob treated Joseph. They cast him into a pit. They took his coat of many colors that his father had given him and dipped it in blood to make his father think that the boy was killed by some animal. They sold him to some slave traders who took him into Egypt and there he was resold to a general. The general's wife had him falsely imprisoned, but after some time his ability as a prophet brought him to the attention of Pharaoh and he was exalted to the right hand of Pharaoh with such a...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 3:E-62
That cycle of revival and death has never failed. All you have to do is recall this last move of God in the Spirit when men and women dressed like Christians, went to church, prayed all night, took to street corners and weren't ashamed of the manifestations of the Spirit. They left their old dead churches and worshipped in homes or old store buildings. They had reality. But it wasn't too long a time until they began to get enough money to build fine new churches. They put in a choir instead of singing unto God for...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 4:E-9
When Israel entered into unlawful alliances with the world, and formed fellowships by marriage, the day finally came when the world took over and Babylon carried away the people of God into captivity. Now when they went into captivity they went in having a priesthood, a temple and the Word. But when they came back they had rabbis, a theological order of Pharisees, a synagogue, and the Talmud. And when Jesus came they were so corrupt that He called them of their father, the devil, and this in spite of the fact they...
The Angel of the Lord
51-0718 §41
Mr. Kipperman went upstairs to go to bed, and Mr. Best, or Mr. Ayers setting, smoking a cigarette. And after while he went in, took them out of the acid, took out one, blank, two, blank. Took out all six of them, they were blank. And when he took the next one out, there the Angel of the Lord was on the picture. And he had a heart attack. They tried to get him to Rice Hotel, of course they was guarding the door, wouldn't let them come in to where we was ... to where I was at.
Jehovah-Jireh, part 1
64-0402 §34
Now we find out then, that in the 14th chapter of Exodus now, or, 14th chapter of Genesis (pardon me), in the 14th chapter of Genesis, Abraham and Lot had been separated, and Lot finally got into some trouble. And you always do. When you separate yourself from believers, you're getting into trouble. We find out that the kings'd gone confederate, and they made war. And they come down and they took Sodom, they took Gomorrah, they took all the kings of the dales and valleys, and everything. They took Lot. And just a f...