Take a look at the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31.
Bible Gateway passage: Luke 16:19-31 - New International Version
The parable describes the state of a rich man and poor man right after death. Both are alive right after death. The rich man ends up in hell. The poor man goes to heaven.
"But a problem with this explanation of the parable is that there are several scriptures—many of them from the mouth of Jesus Himself—that contradict the idea that people go to heaven or hell immediately after death."
What Is the Real Meaning of the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus?
In Matthew 25:30 (parable of the talents), the servant appears to be alive after being thrown into hell. This verse is preceded by a harvest. The servant is accused of being lazy and worthless.
Matthew 25:30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
The thing about parables is that you can't just interpret them directly. Jesus shows us how to get to the truth in a parable when he explains the parable of the sower. One must seek an independent real world scenario that seems to match up with the concepts introduced by the parable. One has to seek a plausible scenario that could occur separately from the parable. Often that means one must be close in time to the actual scenario.
Here I am defining a plausible end-time scenario:
A series of nuclear wars between countries take place shortly before the arrival of Jesus. These are the harvests (parable of the talents in Matthew 25). The time between a harvest and your actual death is covered in this parable. During this time you will be dying from radiation exposure.
From the time of a harvest to a person's death there will be weeping, gnashing of teeth, pain, agony and thirst. The time period could last from a few days to a few weeks depending on the radiation dosage. There will be no one to care for you, because they are dying too.
Define rich man: Any person who lives in a rich land.
Define poor man: Any person who lives in a poor land.
The parable describes a rich man but in real life it means people who live in rich lands. Harvests apply at the country level, not the person level.
Below is a scenario that shows a rich land being targeted for a harvest. Once the harvest hits, then the survivors start suffering the effects of radiation exposure. This continues until the survivors die.
So nuclear war has hit. The big cities in America have been taken out. Half the population is dead or near death. Then there is you. You live a little further out from a big city. You merely got a fatal dose of radiation. Depending on the dosage, you will be dying within a few weeks. It's going to be very painful without care from a doctor. You can't move because of the pain. You can't fetch water to ease your thirst. A drop of water sounds pretty good.
It gets even worse when you consider that the rich man in the parable has five brothers who he wants to warn. Apparently, harvests will be coming for them too, only a little later. If somebody warns them, they won't listen. Presumably, these are other western countries (rich lands).
Of course, the people in rich lands could avoid the harvests by repenting and turning back to Jesus but that's never going to happen. 9/11/2001 was the last sign to turn back. And the people did turn back for about a couple of days, then it was full steam forward.
At this point, you are supposed to pay attention and get out of the way of harvests.
Lazarus represents the people who live in poor lands. They largely escape the harvests. They have to avoid the mark of the beast and accept death for Jesus. A little later they come back to life in the kingdom of heaven which is established by Jesus after he returns and takes over the planet.
Bible Gateway passage: Luke 16:19-31 - New International Version
The parable describes the state of a rich man and poor man right after death. Both are alive right after death. The rich man ends up in hell. The poor man goes to heaven.
"But a problem with this explanation of the parable is that there are several scriptures—many of them from the mouth of Jesus Himself—that contradict the idea that people go to heaven or hell immediately after death."
Source: What Is the Real Meaning of the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus?
What Is the Real Meaning of the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus?
In Matthew 25:30 (parable of the talents), the servant appears to be alive after being thrown into hell. This verse is preceded by a harvest. The servant is accused of being lazy and worthless.
Matthew 25:30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
The thing about parables is that you can't just interpret them directly. Jesus shows us how to get to the truth in a parable when he explains the parable of the sower. One must seek an independent real world scenario that seems to match up with the concepts introduced by the parable. One has to seek a plausible scenario that could occur separately from the parable. Often that means one must be close in time to the actual scenario.
Here I am defining a plausible end-time scenario:
A series of nuclear wars between countries take place shortly before the arrival of Jesus. These are the harvests (parable of the talents in Matthew 25). The time between a harvest and your actual death is covered in this parable. During this time you will be dying from radiation exposure.
From the time of a harvest to a person's death there will be weeping, gnashing of teeth, pain, agony and thirst. The time period could last from a few days to a few weeks depending on the radiation dosage. There will be no one to care for you, because they are dying too.
Define rich man: Any person who lives in a rich land.
Define poor man: Any person who lives in a poor land.
The parable describes a rich man but in real life it means people who live in rich lands. Harvests apply at the country level, not the person level.
Below is a scenario that shows a rich land being targeted for a harvest. Once the harvest hits, then the survivors start suffering the effects of radiation exposure. This continues until the survivors die.
So nuclear war has hit. The big cities in America have been taken out. Half the population is dead or near death. Then there is you. You live a little further out from a big city. You merely got a fatal dose of radiation. Depending on the dosage, you will be dying within a few weeks. It's going to be very painful without care from a doctor. You can't move because of the pain. You can't fetch water to ease your thirst. A drop of water sounds pretty good.
It gets even worse when you consider that the rich man in the parable has five brothers who he wants to warn. Apparently, harvests will be coming for them too, only a little later. If somebody warns them, they won't listen. Presumably, these are other western countries (rich lands).
Of course, the people in rich lands could avoid the harvests by repenting and turning back to Jesus but that's never going to happen. 9/11/2001 was the last sign to turn back. And the people did turn back for about a couple of days, then it was full steam forward.
At this point, you are supposed to pay attention and get out of the way of harvests.
Lazarus represents the people who live in poor lands. They largely escape the harvests. They have to avoid the mark of the beast and accept death for Jesus. A little later they come back to life in the kingdom of heaven which is established by Jesus after he returns and takes over the planet.
