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.
Christ is identified the same in all generations
64-0415 §38
...... or--or Noah took Moses' message. Neither could Joshua have took any of their message, see, each one. Isaiah could not have took another's. Each message is for that age. And with the age that we're living in, when that Word is interpreted, God speaking that Word out and making the Word for that age live, giving the interpretation of it, that is God in Christ, manifesting. See? Because, Christ is the Word, and when the Word is made manifest, that is Christ in every age, then.
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...
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...
Believest thou this?
53-0906A §74
Nothing to your church letters anyhow. Don't do you one bit of good. God wouldn't never recognize one at all. Only those who's got their name written on His Book up there by the blood of His own Son is the only one God'll recognize. And here they went. Now remember, and Lazarus died. The darkest hour that home ever seen. Now, they'd left their church, put out of the synagogue to follow Jesus. He had disappointed them. Now, doesn't life get that way sometime? Look like everything in the world happened, but remember...
The resurrection of Lazarus
51-0729A §80
I can see Jesus after He was become popular, got out, and the miracles began to follow Him. He called them out and said what they were. God was with Him, manifesting Himself to Him. And then one day He went to live with Martha and Mary and Lazarus, was His buddy. Then when He got over there to Lazarus... He left the home one day, not because He had to, but because His ministry was shoving Him away to another country. And because to fulfill a vision God had give Him. Watch. He left the home. And when He left the hom...