Parable of the Prodigal Son (6)

“A great way off, his father saw him.” In the parable of the prodigal son the Lord Jesus is speaking of the relationship between the father and the child. Although the child had lost his father, the father had never lost his child. We see that the father was looking for his son to return home. He knew that the child would, in due time, come home and bow before him.

Many times the father was looking for that child. Many times he focused his eyes on the distant horizon, looking for his son. He was only a little speck when he first saw him. It was his child. His heart was moved with compassion, “and he ran.” Do you know why he had compassion? It was because he was the father. He had those fatherly ties unto his child. The Lord Jesus said in this parable that the father had compassion on his son when he saw him coming down the road “a great way off.” Then the father couldn’t just stay where he was. No, he let that compassion, as it were, flow out from him. “And had compassion, and ran.”

We see the prodigal son returning home. He had broken the ties with his father’s house, but the tie from the fatherly home was never let go, was never broken. That is why there was a coming home. That is why this young man was raised from the mire and was coming home. And his father had compassion on him. What an inexpressible, unfathomable wonder of God.

The Lord Jesus is here illustrating the love of God for His people. We have to go back to God’s everlasting eternity and see that there was a God who was moved from within Himself. We see the Father and the Son who came together, and the Father asked, “How shall I place them among the children?” That was the question from heaven. The servant of the Father, Jesus Christ, said, “Lo, Father, I come to do Thy will.” He would restore the attributes of the Father. He would pay the price that was required. He says that He is sent to heal the broken hearts, to open the prison doors, to bring home what belongs unto the Father. This parable shows the love of God, and that it is still possible to be converted unto God. Needy and struggling souls may still be converted.

“And ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.” We see the father running in love. The father saw him and ran. He did not just stay in the house. He was outside looking, and he saw him coming. This father had only one desire, and that was that he might embrace his son, that his son might again be held in his arms. The father was the first, the first to see and the first to run.

This young man, on his journey homeward, did not know how it would go. Looking upon himself and what he had become, the prodigal son thought that his father would never accept him. “Oh,” he thought, “if only I could come to the place in the dust at my father’s feet. If only I could bow there and cry unto my father.” But, before he could open his mouth, he felt the love of his father. Before he opened his mouth, he saw that his father came running, not in anger, but in love. “He ran.” This father, as Jesus illustrates in the parable, ran to embrace his son, to hold his son, and to kiss him.

Are you a prodigal? There are times in the lives of the prodigals that they say, “Lord, speak only one word unto my soul that my soul may be saved.” Under the deepest convictions and in the deepest bowing before God they say, “Lord, may I hear it once; is it possible for me?” Then there is hunger for one crumb from the Master’s table, and that God may come in that crumb. No, you can’t come of yourself, for you feel your inability. You feel your unwillingness and the hatefulness of your heart. That all has to be broken down by God. And still, underneath all of this, there is that living plant which cries unto God for His coming. “Oh, that I may taste once that this God is my God in and through Jesus Christ.”

I spoke once with someone who had been in such darkness, missing so much the communion with God, missing that Fatherly heart. It had become so barren, and it had gone on so long. She had experienced so much communion in previous times, but now it was all gone. There came a time that she fell upon her knees, spread forth her empty hands, and said, “O Lord, art Thou still there, Lord?” And in that selfsame moment He came. He ran, and He filled her heart with His communion. Weeks later when she was telling me about it, she was weeping like a child because God had filled her heart with His love and compassion.

And so this God is always busy with His people. “And He ran.” We see that this coming is from His side. I hope that you pray for His coming. His coming is when He touches the heart, breaks it, and lays it bare. His coming is also when He comes with His goodness and mercy, in and through Christ.

Do you know what is a wonder? It is that He is always coming, time and again. We always walk away from God, stray from Him, and never want to wait for Him, but want to go our own way. The greatest wonder is His coming; He never forsakes and never stops coming to the sinner. That is ultimately the salvation of each child of God. It will ultimately be heaven’s joy that Jesus Christ kept coming time after time.

It says in this verse that he “fell on his neck, and kissed him.” That young man had thought to come in the dust, but the father’s arms upheld him. He couldn’t sink away. The prodigal son thought he’d sink into hell because he had sinned everything away, but those arms upheld him. So often you have to sink away, dear child of God, when you see yourself, when the Spirit opens the heart and lays it bare. Then you have to say, “O Lord, I fear I will sink away forever and forever.” No, you can never, never sink away anymore. Those everlasting arms will uphold you. The prodigal son also thought that he would perish, but it says, “and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”

Do you know what that was, that kiss? It was an expression of what was in his heart. It was an expression of the love, the compassion, which he had for his child. This was his child. It was not because of that child, for that child had broken all the ties. That child had severed everything. But it was because of his father. “And kissed him.” He kissed his child. And now God, in and through Jesus Christ, embraces His child and kisses him. That is what He is for His people. That is what lives in the heart of the Father for His children.

— to be continued —

The Prodigal Son

Afflictions, though they seem severe,
In mercy oft are sent;
They stopped the prodigal’s career,
And forced him to repent.
Although he no repentings felt,
Till he had spent his store;
His stubborn heart began to melt
When famine pinched him sore.

“What have I gained by sin, (he said),
But hunger, shame, and fear?
My father’s house abounds with bread,
While I am starving here.
I’ll go and tell him all I’ve done,
And fall before his face;
Unworthy to be called his son,
I’ll seek a servant’s place.”

His father saw him coming back,
He saw, and ran, and smiled;
And threw his arms around the neck
Of his rebellious child.
“Father, I’ve sinned — but, oh, forgive!”
“I’ve heard enough,” he said;
“Rejoice, my house, my son’s alive,
For whom I mourned as dead.

Now let the fatted calf be slain,
And spread the news around;
My son was dead, but lives again,
Was lost, but now is found.”
’Tis thus the Lord His love reveals,
To call poor sinners home;
More than a father’s love He feels,
And welcomes all that come.

— J. Newton

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen