You really should read more than one source.For instance, take a look at this excerpt.
... (excerpt) ...
Are the Dead Conscious?
Notice, now, Lazarus, with Abraham and all the saints who are Abraham's children, is to be resurrected at the time of Christ's coming. They shall live through the millennium. But the rest of the dead shall not live until the thousand years are past. The rich man, then, will not come back to life until a thousand years after Abraham, Lazarus, and all who are Christ's have been made alive.
Will this rich man be conscious of the great lapse of time?
Your Bible says, if you will believe what it says:
- "For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything . . . for the memory of them is forgotten" (Eccl. 9:5)
- "His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them" (Job 14:21).
- "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; m that very day his thoughts perish" (Psalm 146:4).
Many times people have died, and by the drug adrenalin or other methods the heart has been started beating again. Always they say they were totally unconscious — no dreams — no knowledge — just a total blank.
The rich man, then, at the time of his resurrection, after the millennium, will come to consciousness, open and lift up his eyes, knowing absolutely nothing of the hours, days, and years since he died. To him it will be the next fraction of a second from the time — he died. It will seem to him as if he had gone immediately to this state or condition in which he finds himself rising up out of the grave.
What Is This FLAME?
But when he is resurrected, he sees a flame which torments him. What is this?
Now Jesus did, on other occasions, speak of perishing and being destroyed in gehenna fire. What is this? It is described in Revelation 20:14-15, as a lake of fire.
Scripture everywhere describes the final fate of the wicked as being burned up. Their punishment is death by fire! It is this "lake of fire," which is "the second death," from which there shall be no resurrection! They remain forever dead! This death is for all eternity — eternal punishment — but it is not eternal punishing!
Now, opening his eyes in his grave, this rich man SEES Abraham, and Lazarus in his "bosom" — his embrace! He also sees this awful flame of fire — this lake of fire which is about to destroy him forever! He is terrified!
What happens when one is suddenly so horrified with fear? His mouth goes dry. His tongue sticks to his mouth and throat!
The rich man cries out in this mental agony:
- "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."
Now if the rich man were in the kind of "hell" most people seem to believe, his whole body would be on fire — you would think he would have called for at least a bucket of water to put out the fire, wouldn't you?
Look at this!
How much water did he call for? He said to Abraham:
- ".. . Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water."
Why did he call for water? To put out the fires of all "hell"? — the kind of hell people would have you believe he was in? Ah, no! He only wanted a mere couple of drops of water on Lazarus' finger — why? —
- "to 'cooL MY TONGUE'!"
The flame, he said, was "tormenting" him. This word "tormented," used in verses 24 and 25 is translated from the Greek word odunomai. This is defined in any Greek English lexicon as
- "to cause pain, to pain, distress; pain of body, but also, pain of mind; grief, distress."
Why, of course! This rich man opens his eyes in his grave in a resurrection. He is resurrected mortal, just as he was before he died — not immortal like Lazarus. He sees this lake of fire. Now he knows the frightful, the awful doom he is to be thrust into — to be burned up — destroyed! He is suffering mental anguish such as he never experienced in his lifetime. His tongue is dry. He breaks out in cold sweat. He cries for a little water on the tip of Lazarus' finger to cool his tongue! He is in a condition of weeping and gnashing of teeth!
The Final Hell Fire
Now once again read this in your Bible. Read exactly what Jesus said, not what the "hell-fire" preachers have told you He said! Did Jesus say this rich man was going to suffer endlessly and forever — always burning — being on fire — yet never burning up? Did He? Of course not!
There is not one word here about how long his anguish is to last.
Jesus was saying these things to those who would not repent. What did He want to make them understand, when He gave this account about Lazarus and the rich man? Jesus answers this question for us in Luke 13:27, 28 where He said:
- "Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out."
The wicked are going to be cast into the lake of fire. When they lift up their eyes in their resurrection, they shall know that they are doomed, now to be cast into the lake of fire to be burned up.
This rich man cried out for help because of his mental and physical anguish — knowing what was now to befall him! He knew he was guilty! When a man realizes he is guilty, and faces his just and terrible retribution, the very first part of the body to be affected is the tongue, which dries out — seems to be on fire.
What Is the Great Gulf?
But Abraham and Lazarus were afar off, and no water was brought. The rich man had to suffer mentally for his sins. He had had his reward, in the material things he sought and craved, during his mortal lifetime.
There is a great gulf fixed between this doomed sinner and all the glorified saints in God's Kingdom.
What is that great gulf?
The gulf mentioned by Abraham which prevents the wicked from escaping death by hell-fire, and which also keeps the righteous from being burned, is immortality. Those who are immortal shall never die because they are born of God (Rev. 20:6). But human beings who have not been begotten and born by the Spirit of God are still flesh, subject to corruption and death. They can be burned by fire.
Don't forget, this is a literal fire and the rich man is a human being composed of flesh and blood. Only the saved possess immortality as the gift of God (Rom. 2:7), but the wicked reap anguish and wrath that shall devour the adversary — fiery indignation (Heb. 10:27). What happens when a human body is being burned by a flame?
There is a period of torture during which the fire consumes the body before the person dies. Then what about this rich man? Jesus didn't say he was immortal, for if he were he would be spirit and flames do not burn spirit. Fire is a physical process. It is combustion of matter.
The rich man is a physical person just as you are.
Not Completed
And Jesus leaves us in this account, with the rich man hearing the words of Abraham in his mind or conscience and tormented by the flames that are billowing about his body.
A human body doesn't burn forever. It finally turns to ashes in a fire. Therefore we must go to other verses of the Bible to find out exactly what did happen after the short conversation recorded.
Matthew 13:30 speaks of the wicked being gathered into bundles to be burned. What happens to tares (weeds) when in fire? They burn up!
Again in Matthew 3:12, John warned the Pharisees that they would be burned up as chaff if they didn't repent. They are to be burned with unquenchable fire, too. A fire so hot that no amount of water put on it could put it out, because the flames would turn the water to steam.
When God punishes the wicked the fire will be unquenchable! But that doesn't say it won't burn itself out when it has nothing more to burn. An unquenchable fire can't be put out, but it can burn itself out when it has consumed everything.
Malachi 4:1, 3 speaks of this fire that will burn the rich man:
- "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.... And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this."
That is the end of the wicked! They shall perish and not be any more.
- "Into smoke shall they consume away" (Psalm 37:20).
The rich man then, being mortal flesh, is going to burn up after being tormented in the flame. He is going to die the second death (Rev. 20:14). The wages of sin is death, not endless torment (Rom. 6:23).
The Rich Man's Brothers
The rich man at last realized he was doomed! He now comprehended the gulf that existed between him and those who had been made immortal. Abraham had made clear the utter impossibility of the rich man crossing that gulf into immortality. He had had his chance during his lifetime. He had passed it up for this world's material riches and pleasures. There was no hope for him. He was now doomed to perish in this lake of fire.
His last thought flashed finally to his five brothers. He gave one last cry to Abraham, begging him to send Lazarus to his father's house to plead with his brothers, lest they come to his terrible fate. Abraham replied they had the writings of Moses and the prophets. But the rich man realized they would not hear these scriptures.
"Nay, father Abraham:" he screamed, "but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent"! (Verse 30.)
The rich man knew Lazarus was raised from the dead! This one statement proves that the whole experience of Lazarus and the rich man was given by Jesus to show the truth of the resurrection — not to teach any immediate going to "heaven" or "hell" at the instant of death.
Abraham replied:
- "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one ROSE from the dead" (verse 31).
There it is! In plain language! The experience of Lazarus and the rich man shows the resurrection from the dead — not an instantaneous going to "heaven" or "hell." It is a resurrection from the dead — not from life. It shows mortality which dies, and is dead — not immortality which never loses consciousness and lives forever in an eternal punishing of the imaginary "hell." Jesus was showing a resurrection — or bringing back to life of one who was dead — of one who had no consciousness whatever of the lapse of centuries and millennia since his death.
Far from illustrating immortality of the soul and the lurid eternally burning torture of Dante's fabled "hell," Jesus illustrates death — total unconsciousness through the centuries — resurrection from death and restoration of consciousness — and, finally, the second death in the lake of fire that shall totally destroy the wicked — in which they perish — and become ashes under the soles of the feet of the saved — the eternal punishment of death — eternal death — the SECOND death!
The Warning for YOU! Finally, what is the real lesson?
Jesus was preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God — the New Testament Gospel. He was showing salvation, the resurrection to eternal LIFE as the gift of God — inheritance of the Kingdom of God on this earth.
The Apostle Paul plainly tells us that the New Testament Church of God is built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief corner stone (Eph. 2:20). Jesus said:
- "I . will build my Church."
Jesus here teaches YOU that if you refuse to hear Moses and the prophets — and Moses was one of the prophets — you have no hope of salvation! The scriptures (Old Testament as well as New), according to II Timothy 3:15, are able to make us wise unto salvation. We are to take the whole Bible, not the New Testament only.
Those who teach that the Commandments of God are done away teach a message of doom! Those who teach the pagan doctrine of the immortality of the soul — going off to "heaven" at death, or eternal punishing — teach contrary to what Jesus said!
May you take heed, and hear all the Word of God!