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.
Jehovah-Jireh
61-0209 §70
(One more comment, if you will, just a moment. We got exactly ten minutes to get out in time.) Then what happened to Lot when he took his choice? What happened? Chaos set in right away. What was it? Some kings come down and took Lot and took him (Sodom), and took their wives, and took everything and left with it. Watch Abraham in the fourteenth chapter now. The blessed Spirit of Christ upon him, he went after his fallen brother. The Spirit of Christ on Abraham. He went after his fallen brother and brought him back....
Faith
56-0427 §43
And Abraham, God took him and put him to sleep. Now, showing... "Abraham, I'm going to take you out of the picture. There's nothing you can do about it. I'm going to do it Myself. I'm going to show you how I'm going to do it, Abraham." So, He put Abraham asleep, and when Abraham fell asleep. He'd kept the birds off until the sun went down, off the carcasses of the dead animals. And then when Abraham went to sleep, the first thing appeared before him was a horrible blackness: Death that comes to every man: separatio...
Sirs, we would see Jesus
60-0109 §48
Now, Abraham had separated himself. That meant the church spiritual. Lot was church nominal, and Sodom was the world. That's exactly the position we stand in today. There is the world, perverted; there's the church nominal; and there's the church spiritual. Now, watch. While Abraham was sitting out under his oak, three men came up. Abraham didn't know who they were, and they seemingly didn't know Abraham. Perhaps dust on their clothes, but there was something in Abraham, he wanted to hear them. Said, "Won't you dro...
Investments
63-0126 §103
We find out that Moses, he had pallbearers that had to take him up. Man couldn't do it. But this rich man had probably the celebrity of the city for pallbearers. But in hell he lifted up his eyes. But why? His investment in the... Now, he was a church member. You say, "He wasn't." He was. The Bible said he was. He called Abraham "Father," see---"Father Abraham," see, seeing Lazarus. But he was a professed church member, but he did not want any investment in Jesus Christ. So you see where he lifted up his eyes? In h...
We would see Jesus
62-0704 §62
And there came three messengers from heaven, dressed like men. And Abraham set in the door of his tent one morning, and looked, and three men come up. Now, they had dust on their clothes, like they had been traveling. And Abraham, there was a little something down in him, he knew that them were strange men. They looked like somebody that he ought to know, so he run out. There's something about a real borned-again Christian, when you meet one! I was coming through a restaurant today, somebody said, "God bless you."...