ABRAHAM’S BOSOM

 

KEY VERSES: ²² It came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; ²³ And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. ²⁴ And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. (Luke 16:22-24)

  The rich man had good things in the world, but the beggar, Lazarus, had evil things. Now that they are dead, the rich man would have torments and the poor beggar comfort in “Abraham’s Bosom.” The beggar had laid at the gate and was full of sores. He depended on the charity of those entering the gate to the city for comfort, but there was little comfort for him. Now that they were dead, the situation was reversed; the rich man had the never-healing sores and torment.

  In life, the beggar begged for crumbs from the rich man’s table and dogs licked his sores. Now that the tables had turned, the rich man begged for even a drink of water to quench his thirst, but Lazarus had living water where Abraham was. Lazarus was in Abraham’s bosom in Paradise. Now consider Paradise.

  Paradise was in God’s Bosom, and torments outside Paradise to where Adam and Eve were cast out. Not that Hell is outside Paradise on Earth, but that Hell is outside Paradise in the Third Heaven. On the northern side of the Third Heaven is a “very terrible place, and there (are) every manner of tortures in that place… and the angels fearful and merciless, bearing angry weapons and torture… And those men said to me: ‘This place, O Enoch, is prepared for those who dishonor God’… ‘who knew not their Creator’… ‘for all these is prepared this place amongst these, for eternal inheritance.’” (Secrets of Enoch 10).

  That is where the rich man abided eternity and Lazarus did not! But also, in the Third Heaven was a place prepared for the righteous. Their inheritance was Paradise, and it is reserved for those who do kind things like giving bread to those hungry, help the injured, and provide clothing to the naked. Most important is that they “walk without fault before the face of the Lord.” (Secrets of Enoch 9).

  Lazarus walked without fault, but the rich man in purple “fared sumptuously every day” (Luke 16:19). The rich man’s “god” was himself, and so long as he fared well, all seemed right for him. It was not!

  “Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence” (Luke 16:26). That “great gulf” is between torments (Hell) and Abraham’s Bosom (Paradise), both in the Third Heaven.

  The human soul is immortal. It will never cease to exist. However, the soul will either be with God in Paradise or without God in Hell. What has that to do with Abraham’s Bosom?

  Remember Paradise? Therein Eve was in Adam’s Bosom (Gen 2:21), and she came out of his side (not rib) and was under his protection. There was a “silver cord” (Ecc 12:6) between God and Adam, and when Eve was created that silver cord extended to Eve as well. She was always in God’s Bosom because she was from Adam’s Bosom. Adam was heir to God and lived on His “Estate” — Paradise, and so long as Eve remained in Adam’s Bosom, she was preserved in Paradise.

  Sin loosened the silver cord, as Solomon wrote. With the advent of sin, Eve was no longer in Adam’s Bosom, and Paradise was lost. However, she was preserved by grace by the flesh of a lamb that God provided (Gen 3:21).

  The two were cast outside Paradise unto the perils of the world. There was a “great gulf” between Paradise and the torments in the world. Cherubim guarded the gate to that gulf (Gen 3:24) and still do to this day (Rev 4:6). That “great gulf” in the later is called a “sea of glass” and thereon the cherubim still guard the Way to the Tree of Life.

  Enoch saw that, and so did John the Revelator. So did Luke! Those who are accompanied by the Holy Ghost see things that are unseen to most! They do describe what they see with different words. Luke saw Paradise as “Abraham’s Bosom.” Why would that be? Mankind was no longer in Adam’s Bosom because of sin. Each were on their own. Adam was heir to God by the law of primogeniture. However, the younger adopted son, Abraham received the inheritance.

  God wrote a Will for Abraham and his seed. Theologians call it the Abrahamic Covenant. It was an everlasting Covenant and would always be God’s inalterable Will.

  Why Abraham? Because he was willing to sacrifice his only remaining son (Ishmael had been emancipated just as Adam had been). God recognized his nature and counted it as righteousness (Rom 4:3). Adam was no longer the Son of God, and Abraham was his adopted son. Adam’s Bosom would not do because he brought sin into the world. Abraham’s Bosom would do until the biological and spiritual Son would die so that mankind could be in Jesus’s Bosom; where before there had been blood and water to “make room” for God’s children.

  Abraham’s Bosom was Paradise, but it was because of the blood of a ram (Gen 22:13). That would do until Jesus died. Only blood and water from the Lamb would suffice to preserve all mankind in Jesus’s Bosom.

  Adam’s role was to “dress and keep” the Garden (Gen 2:15), or to serve and preserve a “Garden of Living Souls” to speak metaphorically. With Adam dead, then Abraham would serve and preserve mankind since he proved himself worthy of trust. God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is not, for a time, the God of Adam since Adam failed Him.

  In time, God will regenerate Adam as promised in Genesis 3:15. That now has occurred with the sacrifice of Jesus.  Adam surely rested in Abraham’s Bosom since his was no longer efficacious. The Edenic Covenant was a promise of the Covenant of Grace that Jesus provided. Until then, the Abrahamic Covenant would suffice.

  The Abrahamic Covenant was God’s Will for mankind through the seed of Abraham. It was sealed with the blood of the foreskins of all those males who signed on. Circumcision was a fleshly representation of the desires of the heart. Circumcision was the “signature” attesting to God’s Will for His children — all the children of Abraham. The Mosaic Covenant and the Ten Words, by the way, were “conditions” of the Covenant with Abraham. The rich man did not love Lazarus by doing those things. He failed God and Abraham, and hence, he was not worthy of Abraham’s Bosom.

  What is the significance of Abraham’s Bosom? When he died, his grandson, Jacob (Israel) climbed on the bed with him and laid his head on Abraham’s Bosom. When Abraham died, this was the end:

And he (Abraham) placed two fingers of Jacob on his eyes, and he blessed the God of gods, and he covered his face and stretched out his feet and slept the sleep of eternity, and was gathered to his fathers. And notwithstanding all this Jacob was lying in his bosom, and knew not that Abraham, his father’s father, was dead. (Jubilees 23:1-8).

  (His death was described as “giving up the Ghost” in Gen 25:8). He gave up the Spirit of God to Israel to cover the sins of the Hebrews until Jesus came.)

  He placed two fingers to cover Jacob’s eyes, that he might see what Abraham was experiencing as he died. Abraham did not die, he was “asleep.” Jesus used those same Words to describe the death of the flesh. Abraham, just like Jesus, “gave up the Ghost” (Mark 15:37). Jesus gave up the Ghost to Comfort God’s heirs, and Abraham gave up his ghost, from God, to preserve mankind; the very thing on which Adam failed!

  Those who signed-on to the Abrahamic Covenant through circumcision of the heart, not only of the foreskin, would be preserved in Abraham’s Bosom just as Jacob (Israel) was. Whereas Christians are preserved in Jesus’s Bosom, perhaps a remnant of Jews remain preserved in Abraham’s Bosom. Remember that it is an eternal covenant and the conditions for it were written on stone by the finger of God Himself (i.e. Jesus). Those are the Ten Words of Jesus and are the conditions of the Abrahamic Covenant.

  Lazarus was preserved for a time in Abraham’s Bosom, but in a short time, he was preserved in Jesus’s Bosom. Jews are the same way. Paradise is paradise, but the soul lingers there in either Jesus’s Bosom or Abraham’s. Abraham is a surrogate for the Jews until Jesus’s “Temple” was ready. When Jesus died, He gave up the Ghost and the Temple was finished. No longer, for Christians, would it be Abraham’s Bosom but the Temple of Jesus!

(picture credit: Wikipedia; "Abraham's Death)