Our Lord often spoke to His hearers in parables, for in Matthew 13:34, we read, “Without a parable spake He not to them.” If an uninspired writer had been the author of the Gospel according to Luke, we should have expected him to tell us in chapter 15 of three parables. But no, the inspired author tells us that, “He spake this parable to them.” Believing, as we do, that “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” we cannot but see in this a plain proof of it.
We have a most wonderful revelation of God in the New Testament, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—Three in One, and One in Three—one God. In the Old Testament we have an emphatic assertion of the oneness of God, for we read, “Hear O Israel: The Lord [Jehovah, singular] our God [Elohim, plural] is one Lord [Jehovah, singular]” (Deut. 6:4).
The wise Creator has stamped this three in one feature on His creation. This is seen in nature; for instance, in the universal law of matter, which has three dimensions: length, breadth and height. This is seen alike in the mighty sun in the heavens and in the tiny insect, sporting itself in the sunshine. The remarkable thing is that, though each dimension may be mentally considered apart from the others, you cannot in practice have one without the others. The knowledge of this universal “threeness” is in keeping with the revelation of God in the Trinity.
In the light of this, let us briefly consider the three parts of “this parable.” In the first part we have brought before us the Good Shepherd, who goes after the lost sheep until He finds it, and then rejoices, and creates joy in heaven over even one sinner that repents. One cannot fail to see thus illustrated the mission that our Lord came to carry out on earth. He was good enough and great enough to understand fully all that His mission involved, and ready to pay the price of sin on our behalf. He went all the way to Calvary in order to find His sheep that was lost. Was there ever a story like this?
The second part of the parable concerns the woman who, having ten pieces of silver and losing one, sweeps the house diligently until she finds it. Again, finding it there is rejoicing; a figure of that joy that exists in heaven, in the presence of the angels, when the lost is found. Here we have an illustration of the fact that, whilst there must be a work done for us, in which we have no share, even the work of redemption, there must also be a work done in us by the Holy Spirit, to bring us to repentance and faith in the Saviour. Apart from this work, we were “dead in trespasses and sins, just as the coin was dead. We may well thank God again and again for the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
The third part of the parable, giving us the father’s welcome to the wayward prodigal on his return, is most touching, since it illustrates in the most vivid way the welcome of the repentant and returning sinner, as the fruit of the work wrought for him and in him. What beautiful features these are, which could only have emanated from the heart of God Himself. We read, “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 [literally, covered him with kisses].”
The homeward steps of this ruined but repentant “Down and Out” were driven by his deep need. He had no greater expectation than to be found among the hired servants, who had enough and to spare. He had been starving, and denied even the husks that the swine did eat. But the keen eye of the father scanned the road that led from the far country back to himself and his house.
To illustrate God’s welcome to the returning sinner the father must run, and kiss frequently, and clothe with the best robe; and with a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet bring him into the house. What an astounding welcome is here described, but it sets forth the response of God the Father to repentance and the reception that He gives.
What is given to us here in parabolic language is beautifully expressed in Romans 3:23 as “the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ,” and it not only is “unto all,” but is “upon all them that believe,” so that the believer stands in all the acceptance of Christ. The best robe was waiting before the prodigal’s return and into it he did not, and could not, put a single stitch. It was all of grace. Then the ring on the hand was the emblem of eternal love, and the shoes on his feet the sign of sonship, for the servants in those lands did not wear shoes.
And lastly, the killing of the fatted calf and the merriment illustrate the joy of the welcome, in which the repentant sinner has his share. They “began to be merry,” and no word is given as to the merriment ceasing, for the joy of the blessed God and of redeemed men abides for ever.
Thus we see how the three parts of the one parable are all needed to present the whole picture, and how it illustrates most graphically the wonderful activity of the thrice blessed Godhead—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—in our blessing. We see portrayed the work of the Son in our redemption: the work of the Holy Spirit in our regeneration, and then the response produced by the way of repentance, and the amazing reception accorded by the Father to the returning sinner.
The grace displayed far surpasses our highest expectations. The God who has received us is able to keep us from falling, and to present us “faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 24).