The Choice Between Heaven and Hell: What Jesus' Story of the Rich Man and Lazarus Teaches Us

When we think about the afterlife, we often picture it in abstract terms—clouds, harps, and pearly gates for heaven, or fire and brimstone for hell. But what if the reality is far more concrete, far more immediate, and far more based on choices we make right now? Jesus told a story that pulls back the curtain on eternity, and it's more relevant today than ever.

A Tale of Two Destinies
In Luke 16, Jesus shares one of his most vivid and challenging parables: the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus. What makes this parable unique among all of Jesus' teachings is that he gives one of the characters an actual name—Lazarus, which means "he whom God helps" in Hebrew. This detail suggests Jesus isn't just spinning a theoretical tale; he's describing a reality we all need to understand.

The story is deceptively simple. A wealthy man lives in luxury every day, dressed in purple and fine linen—the ancient world's equivalent of designer suits and luxury cars. At his gate lies Lazarus, a beggar covered in sores, so desperate he would gladly eat the scraps that fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs showed Lazarus more compassion than the wealthy man did, coming to lick his wounds.

Then both men die. And here's where the story takes a dramatic turn.

The Great Reversal
Lazarus is carried by angels to Abraham's side—a place of honor at the great heavenly banquet. To understand the significance of this, we need to picture first-century Middle Eastern dining customs. People didn't sit upright at tables; they reclined on low couches, leaning on their left elbow while eating with their right hand. The person next to you would have their chest near your back in this intimate dining arrangement.

Lazarus, the beggar who couldn't get crumbs on earth, is now reclining right next to Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation. He's gone from the gate to the place of highest honor.

The rich man, meanwhile, finds himself in Hades, in torment. The reversal is complete and permanent.

Understanding Hell: Not a Divine Sentence, But a Personal Choice
Here's where many people struggle with the concept of hell. How could a loving God send anyone to such a place? But Jesus' story reveals something crucial: God doesn't send people to hell. We send ourselves there.

Throughout his life, the rich man lived as though he didn't need God. He was self-sufficient, comfortable, and unresponsive to the needs around him or the God above him. In effect, he told God, "I don't need you. I'll be my own lord, my own god."
And in eternity, God simply granted his wish.

Hell isn't a punishment God gleefully inflicts on people. It's the natural consequence of a life spent pushing God away, maintaining independence from Him, and refusing His invitations. The only people who experience hell are those who have chosen to live without God—and God, respecting their free will, honors that choice eternally.

What Hell Actually Is
Think about the attributes of God for a moment. God is love. God is beauty. God is goodness. God gives purpose, progress, and relationship. Now imagine a place with the complete absence of God. What would that look like?

It would be a place with no love, because love comes from God. No beauty, because God is the source of all beauty. No goodness, no purpose, no progress, and critically—no relationships. Just isolation.

A place where you're all alone, with nothing meaningful to do, no reason to do it, and no one to do it with—that sounds exactly like what hell must be. Jesus describes it as a place of torment, and the rich man cries out in agony, begging for even a drop of water to cool his tongue.

But Abraham's response reveals another harsh reality: there's a permanent chasm between heaven and hell. "Those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us."

The decisions we make in this life are final in the next.

The Heart That Finally Changes—Too Late
Here's where the story becomes particularly poignant. The rich man, now experiencing the reality of his choices, has a change of heart. He thinks of his five brothers still alive on earth and begs Abraham: "Send Lazarus to my father's house to warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment."

Five minutes in hell turned a hardened, self-sufficient man into a desperate evangelist. He doesn't ask—he begs. He doesn't want anyone he loves to end up where he is.

But Abraham's response is telling: "They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them." In other words, they have Scripture. They have God's Word. They should read it and heed it.

The rich man protests: "No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent."

And Abraham delivers the crushing final line: "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead."

The Fourth Character
Jesus told this story just weeks before going to the cross. He knew that in a few short days, He would be crucified, would rise from the dead, and would offer salvation to everyone willing to accept it. He is the fourth character in this story—the someone who would rise from the dead.

And Abraham's words proved prophetic. Even after Jesus rose from the grave, many still refused to believe.

This reveals something profound about God's heart: He doesn't want anyone to go to hell. That's why Jesus told this story. That's why He went to the cross. That's why He offers us a way out.

The Two-Part Solution
The defeat of hell requires two parts, and only one of them is God's responsibility.
Part one is what God has already done. He made a way for us to get to heaven. On Good Friday, Jesus Christ—sinless and perfect—died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. We were racking up a debt we could never pay, so God paid it Himself through His Son.

Three days later, Jesus rose from the dead, proving He was God, proving there's life after death, and inviting us to join Him in heaven by accepting His payment for our sins.
Part one is complete. God has done His part.

Part two is our part: choosing God's way. And it's a free choice. No one is coerced. No one is forced. God has stretched out His hand and invited us to take it, to build a relationship with Him that continues into eternity.

The Bible puts it simply: "To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."
Receive. Believe. These are the words that change everything.

The Choice Before Us
The story of the Rich Man and Lazarus isn't meant to scare us into faith; it's meant to wake us up to reality. Heaven and hell are real. Eternity is real. And the choices we make today have consequences that last forever.

The rich man's tragedy wasn't that he was wealthy—it was that he lived as though he didn't need God. He was so self-sufficient, so comfortable, so focused on his own life that he missed the beggar at his gate and the God in heaven reaching out to him.

We face the same choice he did. Will we live as though we're self-sufficient, able to make our own way, be our own god? Or will we acknowledge our need for God, receive His gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, and choose to spend eternity in relationship with Him?

Given the choice, who wouldn't choose God over the alternative? Who would willingly choose to spend this life and eternity alone, separated from love, beauty, goodness, purpose, and relationship?

The invitation stands. The hand is extended. The question is: will you take it?
Easter isn't just a historical event we celebrate once a year. It's the moment when God broke through death itself to offer us life. It's the ultimate demonstration that God doesn't want anyone to perish but wants everyone to come to Him.

The rich man learned too late that his self-sufficiency was an illusion. Don't make the same mistake. Today is the day to receive the gift of eternal life, to believe in the name of Jesus, and to become a child of God.

The banquet is prepared. The question is: where will you be seated?