The Lost Son

 

TEXT: Luke 15:  Luke shows Christ as “The Son of man” (His humanity).  The Old Testament began with man, made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26) and the New Testament begins with God in the image of man (John 1:14).

Luke’s name means “light giving or luminous”.  He was a man of learning and knowledge, and exact observer and faithful recorder, a teacher at Antioch (Acts 13:1).  He was known as the beloved physician.  He wasn’t just a medical physician, but he was also a physician of “light”! 

He was the writer of the Gospel of Luke, showing Christ’s humanity and the Book of Acts, showing the acts of the Holy Spirit in the Apostles in confirming the Word of God.

In Luke 15 Jesus speaks several parables to those that fought against Him, the publicans, Pharisees, and scribes.  He told about the “lost sheep”, the “lost coin”, and the “lost son”.

·         Vs 11: And he said, “A certain man had two sons:

·         Vs 12: 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.

·         Vs 13: 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.

·         Vs 14: And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.

·         Vs 17: 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”?

·         Vs 18: I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee”.

·         Vs 20: 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.  

V  Vs 24: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.  And they began to be merry.

V   Lost is from the root word apol’lumi, meaning to destroy fully (to perish; or lose); die; mar.  It is also from ol’thros, meaning to destroy; ruin, death, punishment, or destruction. Synonyms for “lost” are:  stray; astray; off-course; off-track.

LOST here is not in the sense of “extinction” (to distinguish, being totally destroyed, dying out as a species, or no longer in existence) but in the sense of “ruin” (the remains of something destroyed; downfall of something).  Lost here is “NOT OF BEING” but of “WELL-BEING”!

Here this young man had everything he needed at his disposal but he wanted what was his so he could get out there in the “world” and do his own thing, or as some of us thought “be our own boss”.  But he found out that there was a price to pay, like we ourselves found out after we got out there.  At that time I wasn’t counting up the cost or thinking of the responsibility and accountability that went along with “being on my own”, but God was merciful!

Here the younger son asks his father for his portion (allotment; share) of goods [substance, property (possessions)] that belonged to him.

·         Vs 12: And the father divided unto each of them his living (means of livelihood),

·         Vs 13: And not many days after, the younger gathered all and took a journey into a far country.

This “son” visited a foreign land distant from where he had been and found that country to be an empty expanse, void of what he had at his father’s house, and it was in chaos (extreme confusion; disorder), an abyss (a bottomless pit; hell; prison).

This “son” had left that which was “heavenly” and went into “an abyss, an empty expanse, or hell”!  He actually made a move from that which was “divine” into that which was “human”.  He didn’t realize what that country had to offer him until he got there.  Typical of religious order, it looks good from the outside, but once you get on the inside you find yourself dealing with more “evil” than “good”.

As you look at Luke 15:1-10:  [it speak of the parable of the “lost sheep” and the “lost coin”]

·         Vs 4-7: If a man having one hundred sheep and one got “lost” he’d call his friends and neighbors and would not stop until he found it!

·         Vs 8-9: Speaks of a woman having ten pieces of silver and if one piece got “lost”, she would light a candle and sweep the house, until she found it!

Take note here of how the “sheep” and the “coin” were sought after diligently until they were found, because they were not capable of moral choices and actions like the “son”, who “was not sought after”.  The “son” was a responsible agent capable of moral choices and actions, whereas the “sheep and the coin” were not.  Others had the responsibility to find the “sheep and the coin”, but the “son” was personally responsible for finding his own way back to “his father’s house”!  But in each case there was joy when “the lost” was found!

But this “lost son” soon found out there was a price he had to pay, being on his own, away from his "father’s house”.  

Vs 14-16:  In this “far country” he wasted (scattered; squandered) his substance (possessions; goods) with riotous living and having spent all, there arose a “mighty famine” (destitution; a scarcity of food; dearth; hunger) in that land and having nothing he joined himself with a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.  And he would fain (desired) have filled his belly with husks that the swine did eat:  and no man gave unto him (this implies religious slavery). 

Husk is the “outer covering” of the corn.  To get to the corn you must peel away the husk.  Corn typifies increase, prosperity, and perfection.  It always has an even number of rows and about eight hundred kernels.  Eight is the number of “new beginnings”.  For God to bring His people to perfection (wholeness in Him), He does it through the Truth of the Word.  And we receive His word through revelation and it peels “the husk of religious order or religious teachings” off of us, so that our “ear can hear” what the Spirit is saying to our “church” (you and me individually) because we are the “temple of the living God”.  1 Corinthians 3:16: Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

God’s people have been in a “far country” (religion) for ages, held captive by the “citizens of  that country” (preachers not preaching the fullness of the Gospel to us).  We ate with them for a while, but when the “Gospel, the good news of the Kingdom” came and was revealed to us, what we had been eating made us nauseated, and we regurgitated the lies and deceptions of the enemy and ingested the “Truth” that we don’t have to die and go anywhere to get what Jesus died for us to have right now:  perfect peace; divine health; eternal and everlasting life; dominion; authority; power; wisdom; knowledge; understanding.  All that Jesus was in the earth, we His body can be or is now because we are His flesh and bones in the earth (Ephesians 5:30).  But to have all this we must return to our Father’s house by “coming to ourselves”, because that’s where the Father is, “in you and me”!  1John 4:4: Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

·         Luke 15:17: And when he came to himself!

“And” is a conjunction which is a word that joins or connects two complete thoughts.  This “son” had been “unconscious” for a while.  Being “unconscious” can occur in different ways.  One can be knocked unconscious, it can be self-induced, or medically induced.  But in either case, one is not conscious (have awareness of; able to feel or think; or are awake).

·         Vs 17: 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?

·         Vs 18: I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee”.

Arise is the root word anis’temi, meaning to stand upright; lift up or arise from “sleep” or the sleep of religious lethargy that has been preached into us over the years by the Pharaoh’s of “philosophy, vain deceit, traditions of men, rudiments of the world” or the systems of men that Paul warned (cautioned) us about in Colossians 2:8, and haven’t preached CHRIST in His fullness into us!

Paul said, Ephesians 5:14, “Awake thou that sleepest (have fallen asleep), and arise from the dead (nekros’) [being a corpse – walking dead], and CHRIST shall give thee light (epiphau’o) [illumination (to know; give light to; make clear; explain; inform; revelation truth].  He will bring us into the knowledge and understanding of who He is in us, and who we are in Him, in the earth!  1 John 4:17: As he is, so are we, in this world, right here and right now, not off beyond the blue, which is “the far country” for many.

This parable of the "lost son" is a picture of the  "sons of God" that left their Father's house. 

Jude 6: And the angels (messengers) which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

The “sons” leaving the Father’s house in actuality was not of their own choosing.  God had a plan and a purpose.

Romans 8:20:

·         For the creature (the creation) (the thing formed) was made subject (subordinate; assigned or disposed to a certain position) to vanity (moral depravity; emptiness; profitlessness; idols) not willingly (voluntarily; of own free will):

·         But by reason (occasion; purpose) of Him (God Himself) who hath subjected (put under subjection; arranged in an orderly manner; put in a certain position).

·         The same (him; her; them; these things; this man; those; together) in hope (anticipation with pleasure; expectation; confidence; by faith).

Romans 8:21:

·         Because the creature (creation) itself also shall be delivered (liberated; made exempt from mortal liability) [death], from the bondage (slavery) of corruption [decay; ruin; perishing; pining (wasting away in grief); shriveling; withering; depravity], into the glorious liberty (freedom) of the children (sons) of God.  

In the minds of “religious people” they are already in a “far or foreign country” because many believe they are “pilgrims” travelling through a barren land, waiting to go where God is!

·         Hebrews 11:13: These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers (foreigners; out of their own country) and pilgrims (not permanent dwellers; sojourners) on the earth.

We are NOT pilgrims, strangers, nor are we foreigners travelling through barren land.  I’ve heard it sang in some of the songs religion sings.

·         Isaiah 45:18: For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited:  I am the LORD; and there is none else.

·         Ephesians 2:19: Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and the household of God.

God the Creator allowed the creation to fall so that He could manifest the Son Jesus Christ, so that He could deliver the creation and restore (reinstate; rehabilitate; reconstruct; revive; renew) it back to God the Father.

·         1 Corinthians 15:45: And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening (make alive) spirit.

·         Vs 46: Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

Had God allowed Jesus Christ to die before the fall of creation, the creation would not have known what He was dying for!  But because the Father allowed the creation to fall and then manifest the Son as Savior of the world, now the creation knows why He died!  Though Revelation 13:8, states that He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, yet it didn’t happen then physically, because the fall of man hadn’t taken place.  But after the fall the physical death of Jesus Christ was manifested on the cross because the penalty for man’s sin had to be paid in blood and Jesus’ blood was the only blood that could be used because it was “innocent (not guilty) blood".  Man’s blood had become “guilty” through the fall of Adam and Jesus’ “not guilty blood" paid the price of redemption for mankind!

·         Matthew 27:3-4: Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders.  Saying, “I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent (not guilty) blood”.

·         John 6:38: I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

·         Vs 39: And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it (the creation) up again, at the last day.

And He did raise the creation up again at the last day, meaning at the time He got up or was resurrected, because He is the “last day”!  The "first day" happened in "the beginning", who was and is Christ, when God created the heaven and the earth and brought forth the light (Christ), Genesis 1:1-4, which was and is "the life" that would radiate and is radiating through mankind (male and female) even now and forever (St. John 1:3).  There is no other day outside of Him!  Jesus is the “first day”, the “last day” and all in between!  Revelation 1:8: I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty!!

WHERE DID THE SONS OF GOD COME FROM?

The “sons of God came out from God Himself!

·         St. John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

·         Vs 2: And the same (that was us [male and female]) was in the beginning with God.

·         Vs 14: And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

Yes that was Jesus:  Galatians 4:4: When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.  But we were included as well:  St. John 1:11: And he came unto his own and his own received him not.  vs 12: But as many as received him, to them, gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:  vs 13: Which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

I am not here just because my parents got together one day or night, whichever it was, but I’m here because God sent me here by divine plan and for divine purpose, and so were you!

·         1 John 4:17: As he is, so are we, in this world.

SON in Hebrew is ben (bane), meaning a son (as the builder of the family name).  It is also from “bat”, meaning daughter.  Both words are derived from the verb banah’, meaning to build; build up; builder; built again; repair; set up; have children; obtain children. In the Greek son is tek’non, meaning a child (as produced; to beget; bring forth; bear).  It also comes from huios’, meaning a son.  This definition, huios, stresses the quality and essence of one so resembling another that distinctions between the two are indiscernible.  God wants us to become so much like Him until the devil won’t know who he’s looking at, God or you!

This part of the definition of son, “having or obtaining children”, isn’t just tied to giving physical birth to, but also bringing forth sons of God spiritually for God’s kingdom and glory!

These “sons” were and are both male and female.

·         Genesis 1:26: And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:  and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth”.

·         Vs 27: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

·         Vs 28: And God blessed them, and God said unto them, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it:  and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, and over everything that moves upon the earth”.

·         Genesis 5:1: This is the book of the generations of Adam.  In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; Vs 2: Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

This lets us know that in the beginning, the dominion wasn’t just given to the male Adam, but it was given to the female Adam as well.  The “female” also qualified to be Adam along with the “male”!  They both were ruling and reigning as God’s representatives in the earth!!

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and made all that is therein, including “man” or “Awdawm” (Adam) (male and female).

Genesis 2:4: These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.

The LORD God is now in charge of the creation and He’s making the “earth and the heavens”.  He is taking those bound by the “earth man” (carnality; flesh), the man that’s sensitive, frail and of low degree, and with the Word of God is bringing these people into the “heavenlies”, the higher realms of spiritual elevation in God.  He’s bringing them into a place of dominion, authority, power, perfect peace, wisdom, knowledge, understanding, divine health, and eternal life!

We’re still talking about “THE SONS OF GOD” right now, but this was before they got “lost”!

·         Genesis 2:8: The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden and there he put the man.

Why eastward?  The Sun rises in the East.  The “sun” typifies the light and the glory of the “Son” of God, Jesus Christ.  The sun rising in the East denotes the beginning or the dawning of a new day.

The “garden of Eden” was a place of power, a place of protection where the LORD God had placed everything man (male & female) needed at his disposal in relation to life, health, wealth, wisdom, knowledge, peace, dominion, authority, and power!  Man was walking in incorruption and immortality!  In actuality man was walking in “kingdom authority” with control over every area of his being (heart, soul, mind, and body), and had dominion over the creation.  This Adam race of people (male and female), were God’s ambassadors or representatives in the earth!  So where did the LORD God, place at man’s disposal, all that he needed?  He placed all that man needed “within the man”!  Man himself (male and female) was God’s “garden of Eden”!

This “garden of Eden” was not a forest of trees (pines, oaks, flowers, etc) as men suppose.  Though it was a “forest of trees” but these trees were men, people (male and female) of great status that God had “planted” or put in a place of power, ruling and reigning in the earth for His own use!

Ezekiel 28:1-19 [the lamentation against the king of tyrus]:

·         Vs 13: Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold:  the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou was created.

Ezekiel 31 [God speaking to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt and his multitude]:  (God had made him great):

·      Vs 8: The cedars (types of people) in the garden of God could not hide him:  the fir trees (types of people) were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees (types of people) were not like his branches; nor any tree (other people) in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty:

·         Vs 9: I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches; so that all the trees of Eden that were in the garden of God, envied him.

Question, if these trees were physical trees as we know them (oaks, cedars, pines etc), “How can a physical tree envy a man”?  Impossible!  There were other people in the “garden” as well!  People of great stature and status in the earth and they envied the king of Egypt because of the place of power God had elevated him into.  Another thing, if the Garden of Eden was only in Genesis with Adam and Eve running around naked as religion teaches it, “How did the king of Tyre and Pharaoh the king of Egypt over in Ezekiel get into that garden?  It’s because that “garden of Eden” was a place of power, dominion and authority God had many people in, including the Adam race of people.

These “trees” named in Ezekiel were a type of God’s people and as you search out the meaning and characteristics of them (cedar, chestnut, fir (cypress), they all had this particular characteristic, they were “rot-resistant”, which typifies “IMMORTALITY”!  God made us His people the same way, “immortal”!  Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:31 (speaking of Jesus): Thou will not leave my soul in hell neither will or did his flesh see corruption (diahpthora’) [decomposition and decay].

·         Ephesians 5:30: We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

1 Peter 2:5: You also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

Now, if God’s “physical house” (the body of Jesus) didn’t see corruption (decomposition; alteration; decay), how much more His “spiritual house” (Christ’s body, the Church, which we are) not seeing corruption?  He made us in His image after His likeness (Genesis 1:26).  As he is, so are we, in this world (1 John 4:17). 

God’s people have been in that “far country” (religious order) long enough, held captive by the “citizens of that country” (preachers not preaching the fullness of the Gospel to us).  We have eaten with them long enough and it's time for us the "sons of God" to arise and return to our Father so that we can live!!! There's power, dominion, authority, divine health, perfect peace, and eternal life in our Father's house!! 

All that Jesus was in the earth, we “His Body” (His bride; His wife; the Church) can be or is because we are His flesh and bones in the earth (Ephesians 5:30).  But to have all this we must return to our Father’s house by “coming to ourselves” because that’s where the Father is, “in you and me”! 

The sons that have already gotten hold of this revelation truth have already arisen and returned to our Father’s house and we are no more “lost” but “found”, by  the renewing (renovating) of our minds and receiving of the truth of the gospel (Romans 12:2).  And those that will receive it will and can do the same!

·         Luke 15:20: 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.

·         Vs 22:  The father said to his servants, “Bring forth the best robe (God’s righteousness) and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand (God’s authority), and shoes on his feet (power to tread on the enemy):

·         Vs 23: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat, and be merry (us gladly eating of  Christ’s body and drinking of His blood) (John 6:53):

·         Vs 24: For this my “son” was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.  And they began to be merry!

We the "sons" that have taken hold of the revelation truth that we are now "one" with our Heavenly Father "are already back" with Him!!!  GLORY HALLELUJAH!!  GIVE GOD THE PRAISE!!!

Pastor Gracie Perry