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.
El-Shaddai
59-0416 §33
God promised Abraham there just what He was going to do. So we took the covenant, how they made it. Tore the contract in two, one person made ... took one part of the contract, the other person took the other part of the contract. Now, when this contract was finished, they had to come together, and both pieces of the contract had to dovetail. You see? You write a contract out and tear it, and then try to duplicate it one time. You'll never do it. See, because it's just the tearing of the paper and everything, it ha...
Abraham's covenant confirmed
61-0318 §60
Then he said, "Isaac, put your hands behind you." He took a string, and begin to tie his hands. Isaac knew, then. Watch his obedience, like Jesus, the true Son of God, obedient unto death, took the cross. Tied his hands and his feet. Abraham lifted up the little boy and laid him upon the rock. I can imagine him standing there and trying ... his intellectuals trying to go to work, "What are you going to tell Sarah when you get home?" But the little buzzer kept saying, "I'm Jehovah. I will provide. You just follow me...
The Faith Of Abraham
59-0415E §56
Now, Abraham, sure he was heir. Then after while, Lot got in trouble. Now we will close in a minute. Lot got in trouble. And you always get in trouble when you backslide. Wish we had time to dwell on that. But he got in trouble. What happened? The enemy come and packed him off. Now, Abraham played the part of the Saviour again. He garrisoned himself and went after the enemy that took away his poor backslidden, corrupted brother. That's what Jesus did. Sickness bound you, sin bound you---poor, backslid, and corrupte...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 8:E-71
Well, that did surprise me. But I noticed a difference between those herders and the ones that took care of the sheep. Come nighttime all the others but the shepherd of the sheep left his animals in the fields and went on home. The shepherd took his sheep with him, and put them into the fold and then lay down and became the door of the sheep. Oh, praise God, our Shepherd never leaves us or forsakes us. When nighttime comes I want to be in His fold. I want to be in his care.
Christ
55-0221 §54
Look. In the Old Testament when an agreement was made, it was under the basis of the shed blood. Quickly now, listen. What did they do? In the oriental type they took an animal, and cut it and killed it, and cut it in two. And they took it out here, after they'd torn it in two, torn the animal in two, and laid it out here. Each man got in there and they wrote this agreement with each other. And they cut that ... or, tore it in two. One man took one piece, and the other piece was taken like this. And they made a vow...