(19) There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: (20) And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate full of sores, (21) And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. (22) And 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 lifted 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. (25) But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy life-time, receivedst thy good things; and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. (26) And beside all this, 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. (27) Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: (28) For I have five brethren: that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. (29) Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. (30) And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. (31) And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one arose from the dead.
We have here a most interesting relation, given by our Lord under the similitude of a parable, in a wonderful contrast between a rich man clothed in Tyrian purple, and a poor man as miserably wretched in respect to this world's good, as the possibility of the human state could admit. Yet, notwithstanding these outward circumstances, the poor man is shewn to have been a child of God, and an heir of the kingdom, while the rich man was found to have been a child of the devil, and an heir of hell. The circumstances of both are drawn by Christ in the most striking and finished manner; and the improvements the Lord intended from the representation to the Church, are too plain to need a comment.
Everything in the picture of the poor man but one feature corresponds to Christ himself; and were it not for that one striking particularity, we might be led to conclude that the Lord Jesus is the Lazarus of the parable. But that one wholly precludes such an application; for though the Lord Jesus was poor indeed, yet not a beggar: for had he been so, be could not have answered the law, which suffered no beggar in Israel. But in every other sense, the humbled and debased state of Christ was in correspondence to Lazarus. He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities. His death, his ascension to glory, and the rejection of his name and Messiahship, brought on the awful judgments which followed. But on these points we need not enlarge in this parable.
The awful close to the rich man's luxury, and the cries uttered by him in hell, are strongly marked. And the total impossibility of any recovery from thence, is not only read here, but through all the word of God. There can be no change without grace in the heart; and where there is no grace, there is no salvation. See an equally awful account, Psalms 49:6-14.