"Then there is the parable of the rich man and Lazarus," one says,
"where Lazarus and Dives are talking, though dead--Lazarus in Abraham's
bosom and the rich man in torment."

But that is a parable; and no one can set the figures of a parable
against the facts of positive Scripture. In parables, lessons are often
taught by figurative language and imaginary scenes which could never be
real, though the lesson is emphasized the more forcefully.

In the parable of Judges 9, the trees are represented as holding a
council and talking with one another. No one mistakes the lesson of the
parable, or supposes that the trees actually talked. So in the parable
of the rich man and Lazarus, the lesson is taught that uprightness in
this life, even though under deepest poverty, will be rewarded in the
future life; while uncharitable selfishness will surely bring one to
ruin and destruction.

In the face of the Bible teaching, no one can turn this parable into
actual narrative, representing that the saved in glory are now looking
over the battlements of heaven and talking with the lost writhing before
their eyes in agony amid the flames of unending torment. This is not the
picture that the Scriptures give us of heaven, nor of the state of the
dead, nor of the time and circumstances of the final rewards or
punishments.

[Illustration: From an inscription on an Egyptian monument, representing
the weighing of a soul after death.]

[Illustration: LOT FLEEING FROM SODOM