StanJ
Lifelong student of God's Word.
There is no indication that Luke 16 and Lazarus is a parable but regardless you advocating that parables are not true stories?Jun2u said:I know you don’t like for people to repeat things but sometimes it is necessary to make for clarifications. And so again, I repeat, Luke 16:19-31 is a parable. A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly/spiritual meaning, and that makes the whole Bible a parable (Mark 4:12-13), and is also known throughout the world as the “Greatest Story Ever Told.”
In the parable of the Wheat and Tares, Jesus explained who or what the wheat and tares represented. There is no difference in the language of Luke 16 we’ll just have to determine what character represents whom as I will try to explain below who these are. Immediately however, we know Luke 16 is a parable because we read that Lazarus was carried by the angels straight to Abraham’s bosom. I don’t recall this ever happening to any one before. God took Enoch but does not tell us how and Elijah went up in a whirlwind into heaven. If Luke 16 is not a parable where then did the rich man’s tongue and eyes come from seeing he was in hell?
God did not open our spiritual eyes to the truths of Luke 16. I think He wanted us to search out the Bible like the Bereans. I believe the Biblical explanations and representations of the characters of Luke 16 mentioned are these:
1 Father Abraham = is a representation and type of God the Father.
2 Lazarus = is a representation and typifies all believers who are safe in the arms of God.
3 The rich man = is a representation and typifies all the unsaved of the world.
4 Moses and the prophets = is a representation of the commandments of God.
5 The term “though one rose from the dead” = is a term that points to Jesus.
There is nothing in Scripture that demonstrates parables are not true story in fact the language used in The Parables indicates that they are true stories taken out of life. Jesus as God would know these stories and would know how to effectively use them to drive home a point which of course he always did.
Abraham's bosom is just not the place where Abraham and all believers awaited their inheritance based on their face and it definitely is not having or where God is because Jesus said no man has seen God. (John 1:18)Jun2u said:“Abraham’s bosom” typifies the Father ’s care for the believers. Believers are safe in the arms of God. Indeed Lazarus went to the Father.
This is not possible since there is a gulf fixed between heaven and hell that we read about in verse 26.
This is the problem when you've cherry-picked verses out of context and use them in an eisegetical manner.
Abraham's bosom is Paradise and what is referred to in verse 26 is the chasm that existed between believers and non-believers in their temporary abode because neither Paradise nor Hell is permanent, it is only temporary.
God's houses we're Believers gather together corporately is Paul shows in 1st Timothy 3:14-15. The place Jesus prepared for believers in heaven is the New Jerusalem which if you read Revelation 21 comes down out of heaven. Have you not ever studied any of this? How long have you actually been studying the Bible? Why do you think there are so many aspects of the New Jerusalem that referred to the apostles and their leadership in the church? Those are the things that Jesus prepared.Jun2u said:This preparation for a place for the believers is a done deal! The only way Jesus could prepare a place for the believers in God’s house was for Him to go to the cross, and defeat Satan. That is exactly what He did (Matthew 12:29; Revelation 20:1-2). Where is God's house? In paradise or in heaven?
I totally agree, and your misconceptions and false teachings about the word give clear illustration to this point. Just remember that Jesus is capable of delivering you from your blindness.Jun2u said:The problem I believe for many Christians having wrong doctrines is that they don’t bother to search out scriptures, the deeper and spiritual meaning of scriptures, to see if their conclusions are harmonious with the rest of the Bible. And sometimes or most of the time, they will take the work of another person and adopt it. It’s like the blind leading the blind.