Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. Matthew 22:37 (this is for our security and our peace. It keeps us from being diluted in our faith by having too many "loves." It's like having multiple boyfriends or girlfriends; you never get to experience the deeper intimacy that having only one will give you. Therefore, His peace and hence our joy that only He can give, gets diluted when we love more than just Him.
He took upon Himself our sin and became our Atonement. He became not only the sacrifice but the payment in full (the definition of Atonement) for my and your sins. Without this, we would be damned, being eternally separated from God. It's a big, big deal. He took our punishment and gives us His life when we put our faith in Him. Thus, a relationship of peace is established, which was hitherto prevented by the demands of His justice (we have heard this so much; I pray that we never become deaf to it).
The soul that sinneth, it shall surely die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. Ezekiel 18:20 (we are all accountable for our own decisions and choices. It's not society's fault or our parents' poor upbringing, etc. Granted, these situations do not help, but the way out is simply to humble yourself before God and ask for His help, which is within reach for all.
The best way I know how to explain sin is to explain the root from which it comes. It comes from archery. The archer gets first place when he or she hits the bullseye, dead center, one deviation this way or that is "to miss the mark," which is the literal meaning of sin. And that mark that is required from God is Holiness. Nothing less than Holiness can be accepted into the presence of Almighty God. Do you see the problem? We are anything but Holy. If a 4.2 GPA is required to get into USC or Stanford, a 3.0 won't cut it. It's the same with God. If schools require this for admission, how much more the King of Kings?
Once we understand the great chasm that divides us from God, who cannot agree with our need for His Atonement? That is why it is such a waste of time and energy to try to do "good works." Yet many religions and the New Age teach that by doing good deeds, we can earn Heaven. It is futile, for he can never approve us via our efforts, and absolute Holiness is the only standard God can accept, for He is utterly Holy. So we have a problem.
Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have (His) grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
For -- our God is a consuming fire (against all sin). Hebrews 12:28-29.
The only thing that connects us and grants us hope is His love for us.. He created a way for us to come to Him. To think we can reach Him by any other means shows a seriously low view of God, and an exorbitantly high view of ourselves.
God calls Isaiah and shows him a scene in Heaven.
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also- the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted, and his train filled -- the temple (His "train" is His cape, which represents His victories, and the longer the cape, the more victories He had. The Lord's train filled the Temple). Round about Him stood the seraphims (super angels): each one had six wings, with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly.
And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Isaiah 6:1-4
Upon seeing this, Isaiah, the prophet, was filled with fear...People arrogantly say that when they see God, they will tell Him a thing or two. This statement is foolishly arrogant. If Isaiah, a man who lived by the Ten Commandments, was filled with fear, how much more those of us who do our own thing?
Then said I (Isaiah) Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen -- the King, the LORD of hosts (Isaiah feared death, so conscious of his sinfulness) Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
Via these verses, we clearly see our fault. We think God is somewhat Holy rather than Utterly Holy. In our pride and ignorance, we think we can come before Him just like we are; that He should accept us as we are is so wrong. It's like me saying if I think enough positive thoughts, I should be able to fly. I can think all the positive thoughts I want, but as soon as I jump off the roof of my house, gravity proves otherwise.
Here's a story that illustrates both positions: God's position as a loving Father, and our position of thinking we can do better with our lives than God can. It's the story of the Prodigal.
And the younger of (the sons) said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. (Which is audacious; the son is asking for his inheritance before his father dies.) He was arrogant and very disrespectful, like telling your father to hurry up and die( the father went ahead), and he divided unto them his living. Luke 15:11-32
And he went into a faraway country, and when he had spent all (in riotous living and harlotry), there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine( being Jewish, swine were forbidden creatures). And he would have wanted to fill his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: but no man gave unto him( corn husks are not digestible for us, but this shows that he was starving)
And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! Luke 15:14-17
At times, it takes hard life lessons for us to appreciate what we already have or to take God's offer of salvation seriously. The next verses are a great picture of what true repentance and humility look like....and the Father's love.
I will arise and go to my father. I will say unto him, Father, I have sinned( true repentance starts with owning your sin) against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son( this is huge, he was trulyrepentant and willing to a servant, but he also failed to see how much he was loved ) make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him( dirty, smelly, probably hadn't washed in days).
And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe (when we come to God in repentance, He clothes us with His righteousness, making us His son or daughter), and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet (represents his restored authority) Matthew 15:18-22
***This is an amazing parallel to how God approaches us. We feel guilty over so many things and believe we should behave a certain way, but none of us can. Our sin nature overpowers us; therefore, we make excuses for our behavior, when all God wants is for us to come to Him. He is able and wants to forgive us and put the best robe on us.
God, through Jesus Christ, stepped into time to forgive and redeem us. God created us, and He longs as our Father to have fellowship with us. The prodigal is his father's son, not because of his works; he just is. Now, whether he is an obedient son or a disobedient son that comes under the discipline of His father, and it is the same with us. If we are obedient to the Holy Spirit, we are blessed with the fellowship of His love.
If not, we begin to feel anxious and worried, and if we continue to disobey and fail to spend time seeking Him through church and reading the Bible, we start to feel empty. The Father disciplines us as our decisions cause us to grieve the Holy Spirit. We are only hurting ourselves when we do not seek Him. Just as we eat daily, we need to spend time with Him daily, "feeding" our souls on His Truth.
Unfortunately, the church is burdened by sons and daughters who do not live out their identities. We are the sons and daughters of the Greatest King period. If you have been born again but are not living it, I sincerely encourage you to repent and ask for forgiveness. There is no pleasure here ever so alluring that is greater than sensing His love for you and having peace as a result. Start reading your Bible, and since being a Christian is done with family (other Christians), start going to church. It will be an uphill climb. All hell will break out, but stay with it. The enemy attacking you is confirmation that you are now doing the right thing. His attacks help you to start building "spiritual muscles." He deceived you once; do not let it happen again. Now back to our story...
"The Father ran to his son," very uncustomary in any culture, but the father didn't care about custom or tradition; his love for his son compelled Him. The father is a picture of The Lord going to the Cross for us. Also, how did the father see his son coming? He would continually gaze at the horizon in hopes of seeing his son's silhouette. His heart ached for him. Often, in our pride, we say, "I will welcome him or her back, but they must first apologize, or pay back the money, or make right the wrong." And yes, there is time for that, but it is not now.
Now is a time for welcoming, for making them feel valued and loved. Just like the father in this parable, make your son, daughter, spouse, or friend rejoice in the fact that coming back was the right decision. They probably struggled terribly with guilt, wondering if you would accept them. Be different than the world, represent the Father's heart.
Don't let your pride get in the way of your prayers or the Holy Spirit's work in their life. It's important that when satan traps a fellow believer into a life of wrong thought and actions, and, by their own choice, have walked away from that lifestyle (which is an acknowledgment of a wrong choice) and back to you, we encourage them. Christ is setting them free, He's answering your prayers, so be part of His plan. From that, we surround them with our love and acceptance.
We are not condoning their sin, and God will work in their conscience to right any wrong they did. They need to go to church and join a small group of believers that will encourage them in their walk with the Lord. We need to be sure the door to the past is firmly shut. Satan doesn't give up easily. You want to give no ground to the enemy to say, "I told you that Christians, even your parents, are a bunch of hypocrites."
This is what Reconciliation looks like, and this parable is an excellent example. It is the heart of God; therefore, be His heart towards your loved one. If you find you don't have it, could it be that you do not know His love for you? The elder brother was furious at his father. He was a legalist, like the Pharisees, prideful and rigid. God's mercy on us all is a big deal.
You may say this is not fair. Jesus never sought to make things fair, not even for himself. What he suffered was terribly unfair. Yet he was willing to pay it, as the prodigal's father was more than willing to welcome his son back. The past did not matter; what mattered was that the son returned of his own volition. This proved that he had learned his home was with his father, and that the world, which had seemed so appealing to him earlier, was nothing but a lie. Learning these lessons was worth the money the father paid out to his son. He lost some money but gained so much more - an appreciative son (do we have this?).. The story continues....
And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. Matthew 15:23-24
Who represents the "fatted calf?" It's Christ. Fatted simply means the calf was designated for sacrifice, as Christ was.
And all that dwells upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are written in the Book of Life of the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world. Rev13:8
The story of the prodigal is about us.... we are the prodigal.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him (Jesus)-- the iniquity of us all. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:3-6
Are we not so grateful for such an invitation into a life with Christ, where all sin confessed is forgiven? That we are not left to ourselves to figure it out, but we have the Holy Spirit to help and guide us. Amen
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another, the Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you (this is the Holy Spirit the third person of the Trinity). John 14:16&17
Father,
Thank you for this study. Truly a deep dive into your heart as seen in this parable. Let's be appreciative of Your love for us by living a transformative life, one that is so grateful for all you've done for us. Let us represent you to our family, friends, co-workers, etc.
Thank you,
Your son by Grace - Arthur
