Ephesians Lesson 27 of 39 part 4

Luke 16:26-28

"And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence (paradise side) to you cannot*; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence (hell side). Then he (the rich man) said, I pray thee therefore, father (Abraham), that thou would send him (Lazarus) to my father’s house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment."

*the souls of those waiting for the resurrection of the dead and the body prepared for the second death and their fiery end.

In verse 29, we emphasize Paul’s writing for us today in the Church Age, when Abraham was being begged by the rich man to do something for his brothers, what did Abraham say?

 

Luke 16:29

"Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them."

Notice Abraham did not tell them, "Well they can pray to God." Abraham said, "They have the written Word." And we maintain today, if we could talk to the Lord and ask Him a question or two, do you know what He would say? "You have the letters of Paul, and in them is everything you need to know, just read them!" That is what Abraham said here, "They have Moses, and the prophets, they have the printed Word, and that is all they need.”

We know that Abraham and Lazarus were on the Paradise side. We also know that the rich man who was lost. Because he was over on the torment side and there was a great fixed gulf between them, where they could not go to each other. What Jesus implies, in this analogy with Jonah, is that He also went down to hell on the Paradise side during His three days and three nights after His crucifixion. And so from Paradise, as we see Paul explicitly puts it, He ascended upon high, in the second ascension. Coming back to that reference in the book of Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians 4:9

"(Now that he (Christ) ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?"

This was where Abraham, Lazarus, and all the Old Testament saints were waiting for the everlasting one and His atoning blood of the Cross so they could then enter into what we now know as heaven. Remember the blood of animals could not take away sin, and so they could not go into heaven into the presence of God until the atoning blood had been shed. Thank goodness for the atoning blood it has been shed, and now with the work of the Cross finished, Christ could take Paradise out of its place in the center part (bowels) of the earth. He takes it with its occupants up into glory. Hell is then enlarged to accommodate all that would go there, the disbelieving, the unbelieving, the lost, the infidels, those who refuse this Gospel. Reading on in Ephesians chapter 4 in verse 9, in it’s entirety.

Ephesians 4:9-10

"(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first (after His death on the Cross) into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)"

There is a lot more here than meets the eye at first or even the forth observation. What are some of the "all things" in verse 10? Well, those Old Testament believers who were saved by their trust in God's faithfulness, but they could not be saved by the work of the Cross, because it had not happened at their passing. That was still clear out into the future. As we have learned through our short study of the Hebrew with the word “everlasting”. Once Christ finished the work of the Cross and went down into Paradise and preached to those souls, spirits in prison (1Peter 3:17-22) as Peter says, “Now what could Christ tell the Old Testament believers? ‘I died for you, my blood has been shed, the atoning blood is done.’" And so He takes them now out of the Paradise side of hell, out of the lower part of the earth up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things, because that is what the work of the Lord's Supper, the Marriage Feast and the Cross and His final ascension did. Today in the Church Age, as believers die, their soul or spirit goes right into the presence of Christ in what the Bible calls the third heaven, the very abode of God. Why and How? Because of the revelation which the Lord allowed us to share. He has opened our eyes and understanding to these things and more by His Grace and our learning of Him!