Luke 16:24

And he cried, and said, 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 in anguish in this flame.

Father Abraham ... Here is found the absolute necessity for seeing this as a parable; for Abraham himself, like all the saints in death, is in the place here called "Abraham's bosom." Abraham is therefore a type of God who presides over both Paradise and the place of the wicked in Hades. This, of course, negates any support that might be supposed in this connection for praying to departed saints. Besides that, as Wesley said:

It cannot be denied but here in Scripture is the precedent of praying to departed saints. But who is it that prays, and with what success? Will anyone who considers this be found copying after him?[39]

Send Lazarus ... Ah, so the rich man did know Lazarus, after all, apparently even fancying that Lazarus was under some obligation to him, perhaps for the crumbs!

This flame ... Jesus invariably used fire in his reference to eternal punishment, and he did not depart from the pattern here. It is no comfort to view this as merely a symbol of the real punishment; because what kind of punishment is that which would require so dreadful a symbol of it? The logic that suggests that this is symbolical language was thus stated by Dummelow: "The rich man was not in hell ([Greek: Gehenna]), for no one is sent there till after the last judgment."[40] In addition to this, Dives was at the time indicated here a disembodied spirit upon which actual flame would have no effect.

[39] John Wesley, op. cit., p. 267.

[40] J. R. Dummelow, op. cit., p. 761.