Backsliding begins in the heart And He said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living (Lk. 15:11–13). The Parable of the Prodigal Son portrays the only time in Scripture that God, personified in this Parable by the Father, is pictured running. In that for which, and to which, He ran, provides a fitting example of Who God is and What God is. He is love! The spiritual declension of the son took place while he was in his father’s house. He fell from the moment he desired the father’s goods without the father’s company; and it only needed a few days to find him in the far country. Backsliding begins in the heart and very soon places the feet with the swine. His only occupation was the degrading one—to a Jew—of a swine-herd, and his only food the husks that the swine did eat. No man gave to him; for in the Devil’s country, nothing is given, everything must be bought, and bought at a terrible price. First of all, the Prodigal “came to himself” (15:15); then he “came to his father” (15:20). Such is the action of the Holy Spirit first upon the conscience and then upon the heart. While the boy was a great way off, the father saw, had compassion, ran, fell on his neck, kissed him, and said to the servants, “Bring …” (15:20–22). All these activities express the grace and love that welcome true Repentance. Grace ran to kiss the Prodigal in his rags; Righteousness hasted to dress him in its robes; for he could not sit in his rags at the father’s board. The Prodigal had not to provide the best robe, the ring, the sandals, and the fatted calf. They were provided for him, and they declared that his Repentance had been accepted; for servants were not thus arrayed and feasted. We must understand that there were no reproaches, rebukes, or reproofs for the past, no irritating admonitions for the future, because the Father and His Joy are the subjects of this story rather than the moral condition of the son. The elder brother pictured the Pharisee. He neither understood nor shared in the Fathers joy. On the contrary, he was covetous and refused to sympathize, although his Father entreated him to do so. Self-righteous, he claimed to have given a perfect obedience. But his desire to make merry with his friends showed that morally he was as much lost to his Father as was his brother. Christ, as “The Way,” is symbolized in the robe, the ring, the sandals, and the fatted calf, for He is Righteousness (II Cor. 5:21), Eternal Life (Jn. 11:25), Sonship (Jn. 1:12), and Peace (I Cor. 5:7–8). The death of the sinless calf was a necessity ere the feast could be enjoyed. Had the Prodigal refused this raiment and claimed the right to enter the Father’s house in his rags and nakedness, he, like Cain, would have been rejected. His was true Repentance, and so it accepted these gifts, assuring purity, perpetuity, position, and provision. This Parable, in fact, destroys the argument that no Atoning and Mediating Saviour is needed between God and the sinner. From The Expositors Word For Everyday
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 06:50:43 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015