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.
Hebrews, Chapter 7, part 1
57-0915E §31
Now, the kings all drew themselves together, and they figured that the plains down there was well watered, and they'd just go down and take this little ol' Sodom and Gomorrah, and take it over. And they did. And when they went down and took it over, they took Lot with them. Now I want you to notice the Spirit of Christ here in Abraham. Now notice the 14th verse: And when Abraham heard that his brother [Get it?] his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and ei...
We would see Jesus
62-0727 §71
Now here they were. Now, Abraham had seen great things before God. Now, Abraham had a relative, a nephew, which was Lot. And Lot had took his choice, down living like the world in Sodom. You know the story? There was the Sodomites---unbelievers. There was lukewarm believers, Lot and his family. Here was Abraham and his family, positionally sitting here. The time had come for the fire to fall. What happened? Listen close now, in closing. One day there were three angels came up before the camp of Abraham. One of them...
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...
Jehovah-Jireh
57-0106 §45
So He took His son, made Him a form of sinful flesh and took Him up to Calvary. (Listen close now.) Took Him to Calvary and there God wrote His covenant with the human race. Oh, brother, see it. He took the Lord Jesus, the Emancipator of this proclamation, and He took Him to Calvary, and He ripped Him apart. He took the body up to heaven, set it on the throne and sent the other part down, which was the Holy Ghost. And that same Holy Ghost is here on the earth, making up the body of Christ. And at the resurrection,...