The parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and
the prodigal son, bring out in distinct lines God's pitying love
for those who are straying from Him. Although they have turned
away from God, He does not leave them in their misery. He is full
of kindness and tender pity toward all who are exposed to the
temptations of the artful foe.
In the parable of the prodigal son is presented the
Lord's dealing with those who have once known the Father's love,
but who have allowed the tempter to lead them captive at his will.
"A certain man had two sons; and the younger
of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods
that falleth 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."
This younger son had become weary of the restraint
of his father's house. He thought that his liberty was restricted.
His father's love and care for him were misinterpreted, and he
determined to follow the dictates of his own inclination.
The youth acknowledges no obligation to his father,
and expresses no gratitude; yet he claims the privilege of a child
in sharing his father's goods. The inheritance that would fall
to him at his father's death he desires to receive now. He is
bent on present enjoyment, and cares not for the future.
Having obtained his patrimony, he goes into "a
far country," away from his father's home. With money in
plenty, and liberty to do as he likes, he flatters himself that
the desire of his heart is reached. There is no one to say, Do
not do this, for it will be an injury to yourself; or, Do this,
because it is right. Evil companions help him to plunge ever deeper
into sin, and he wastes his "substance with riotous living."
The Bible tells of men who "professing themselves
to be wise" "became fools" (Rom. 1:22); and this
is the history of the young man of the parable. The wealth which
he has selfishly claimed from his father he squanders upon harlots.
The treasure of his young manhood is wasted. 200 The precious
years of life, the strength of intellect, the bright visions of
youth, the spiritual aspirations--all are consumed in the fires
of lust.
A great famine arises, he begins to be in want, and
he joins himself to a citizen of the country, who sends him into
the field to feed swine. To a Jew this was the most menial and
degrading of employments. The youth who has boasted of his liberty,
now finds himself a slave. He is in the worst of bondage--"holden
with the cords of his sins." (Prov. 5:22.) The glitter and
tinsel that enticed him have disappeared, and he feels the burden
of his chain. Sitting upon the ground in that desolate and famine-stricken
land, with no companions but the swine, he is fain to fill himself
with the husks on which the beasts are fed. Of the gay companions
who flocked about him in his prosperous days and ate and drank
at his expense, there is not one left to befriend him. Where now
is his riotous joy? Stilling his conscience, benumbing his sensibilities,
he thought himself happy; but now, with money spent, with hunger
unsatisfied, with pride humbled, with his moral nature dwarfed,
with his will weak and untrustworthy, with his finer feelings
seemingly dead, he is the most wretched of mortals.
What a picture here of the sinner's state! Although
surrounded with the blessings of His love, there is nothing that
the sinner, bent on self-indulgence and sinful pleasure, desires
so much as separation from God. Like the ungrateful son, he claims
the good things of God as his by right. He takes them as a matter
of course, and makes no return of gratitude, renders no service
of love. As Cain went out from the presence of the Lord to seek
his home; as the prodigal wandered into the "far country,"
so do sinners seek happiness in forgetfulness of God. (Rom. 1:28.)
Whatever the appearance may be, every life centered
in self squandered. Whoever attempts to live apart from God is
wasting his substance. He is squandering the precious years, squandering
the powers of mind and heart and soul, and working to make himself
bankrupt for eternity. The man who separates from God that he
may serve himself, is the slave of mammon. The mind that God created
for the companionship of angels has become degraded to the service
of that which is earthly and bestial. This is the end to which
self-serving tends.
If you have chosen such a life, you know that you
are spending money for that which is not bread, and labor for
that which satisfieth not. There come to you hours when you realize
your degradation. Alone in the far country you feel your misery,
and in despair you cry, "O wretched man that I am! who shall
deliver me from the body of this death?" Rom. 7:24. It is
the statement of a universal truth which is contained in the prophet's
words, "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh
flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he
shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when
good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,
in a salt land and not inhabited." Jer. 17:5, 6. God "maketh
His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain
on the just and on the unjust" (Matt. 5:45); but men have
the power to shut themselves away from sunshine and shower. So
while the Sun of Righteousness shines, and the showers of grace
fall freely for all, we may by separating ourselves from God still
"inhabit the parched places in the wilderness."
The love of God still yearns over the one who has
chosen to separate from Him, and He sets in operation influences
to bring him back to the Father's house. The prodigal son in his
wretchedness "came to himself." The deceptive power
that Satan had exercised over him was broken. He saw that his
suffering was the result of his own folly, and he said, "How
many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare,
and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to may father."
Miserable as he was, the prodigal found hope in the conviction
of his father's love. It was that love which was drawing him toward
home. So it is the assurance of God's love that constrains the
sinner to return to God. "The goodness of God leadeth thee
to repentance." Rom. 2:4. A golden chain, the mercy and compassion
of divine love, is passed around every imperiled soul. The Lord
declares, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore
with loving-kindness have I drawn thee." Jer.31:3.
The son determines to confess his guilt. He will
go to his father, saying, "I have sinned against heaven,
and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son."
But he adds, showing how stinted is his conception of his father's
love, "Make me as one of thy hired servants."
The young man turns from the swine herds and the
husks, and sets his face toward home. Trembling with weakness
and faint from hunger, he presses eagerly on his way. He has no
covering to conceal his rags; but his misery has conquered pride
,and he hurries on to beg a servant's place where he was once
a child.
Little did the gay, thoughtless youth, as he went
out from his father's gate, dream of the ache and longing left
in that father's heart. When he danced and feasted with his wild
companions, little did he think of the shadow that had fallen
on his home. And now as with weary and painful steps he pursues
the homeward way, he knows not that one is watching for his return.
But while he is yet "a great way off" the father discerns
his form. Love is of quick sight. Not even the degradation of
the years of sin can conceal the son from the father's eyes. He
"had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck" in a
long, clinging, tender embrace.
The father will permit no contemptuous eye to mock
at his son's misery and tatters. He takes from his own shoulders
the broad, rich mantle, and wraps it around the son's wasted form,
and the youth sobs out his repentance, saying, "Father, I
have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy
to be called thy son." The father holds him close to his
side, and brings him home. No opportunity is given him to ask
a servant's place. He is a son, who shall be honored with the
best the house affords, and whom the waiting men and women shall
respect and serve.
The father said to his servants, "Bring forth
the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand,
and shoes on his feet; 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."
In his restless youth the prodigal looked upon his
father as stern and severe. How different his conception of him
now! So those who are deceived by Satan look upon God as hard
and exacting. They regard Him as watching to denounce and condemn,
as unwilling to receive the sinner so long as there is a legal
excuse for not helping him. His law they regard as a restriction
upon men's happiness, a burdensome yoke from which they are glad
to escape. But he whose eyes have been opened by the love of Christ
will behold God as full of compassion. He does not appear as a
tyrannical, relentless being, but as a father longing to embrace
his repenting son. The sinner will exclaim with the Psalmist,
"Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth
them that fear Him." Ps. 103:13.
In the parable there is no taunting, no casting up
to the prodigal of his evil course. The son feels that the past
is forgiven and forgotten, blotted out forever. And so God says
to the sinner, "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy
transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins," Isa. 44:22. "I
will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no
more." Jer. 31:34. "Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto
the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for
He will abundantly pardon." Isa. 55:7. "In those days,
and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall
be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah,
and they shall not be found." Jer. 50:20.
What assurance here, of God's willingness to receive
the repenting sinner! Have you, reader, chosen your own way? Have
you wandered far from God? Have you sought to feast upon the fruits
of transgression, only to find them turn to ashes upon your lips?
And now, your substance spent, your life-plans thwarted, and your
hopes dead, do you sit alone and desolate? Now that voice which
has long been speaking to your heart but to which you would not
listen comes to you distinct and clear, "Arise ye, and depart;
for this is not your rest; because it is polluted, it shall destroy
you, even with a sore destruction." Micah 2:10. Return to
your Father's house. He invites you, saying, "Return unto
Me; for I have redeemed thee." Isa. 44:22.
Do not listen to the enemy's suggestion to stay away
from Christ until you have made yourself better; until you are
good enough to come to God. If you wait until then, 206 you will
never come. When Satan points to your filthy garments, repeat
the promise of Jesus, "Him that cometh to Me I will in no
wise cast out." John 6:37. Tell the enemy that the blood
of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin. Make the prayer of David
your own, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash
me, and I shall be whiter than snow." Ps. 51:7.
Arise and go to your Father. He will meet you a great
way off. If you take even one step toward Him in repentance, He
will hasten to enfold you in His arms of infinite love. His ear
is open to the cry of the contrite soul. The very first reaching
out of the heart after God is known to Him. Never a prayer is
offered, however faltering, never a tear is shed, however secret,
never a sincere desire after God is cherished, however feeble,
but the Spirit of God goes forth to meet it. Even before the prayer
is uttered or the yearning of the heart made known, grace from
Christ goes forth to meet the grace that is working upon the human
soul.
Your heavenly Father will take from you the garments
defiled by sin. In the beautiful parabolic prophecy of Zechariah,
the high priest Joshua, standing clothed in filthy garments before
the angel of the Lord, represents the sinner. And the word is
spoken by the Lord, "Take away the filthy garments from him.
And unto him He said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to
pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.
. . . So they set a fair miter upon his head, and clothed him
with garments." Zech. 3:4, 5. Even so God will clothe you
with "the garments of salvation," and cover you with
"the robe of righteousness." Isa. 61:10. "Though
ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a
dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold."
Ps. 68:13.
He will bring you into His banqueting house, and
His banner over you shall be love. (Cant. 2:4) "If thou wilt
walk in My ways," He declares, "I will give thee places
to walk among these that stand by"--even among the holy angels
that surround His throne. (Zech. 3:7.)
"As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee." Isa. 62:5. "He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love; He will joy over thee with singing." Zeph. 3:17. And heaven and earth shall unite in the Father's song of rejoicing: "For this My son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." (COP 198-207)
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