Time sure flies. I can't believe it's almost been one month since we last updated.. As Jeremiah once said:
If I say, "I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name," there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot. Jeremiah 20:9 🙅♂️😱🔥
Yet God is good as He always is. In this last month, He kept on encouraging me loving me and disciplining me. To reach this point where I can write again,.. it is a blessing. As Paul writes that I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. To be able to write is only by His grace and to keep this overflowing love for myself is impossible.🤲.
Today's post is a simple: The Prodigal Sheep and the The Prodigal Son, two off my most favorite passages that highlights the intimacy of Christ' great love for me.
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Luke 15:1-7 😞🐑🛐
The Pharisees wondered why oh why does the righteous Jesus associate with the lowest off society near to Him. Here were the tax collectors, adulterers, and sinners approaching Him. Yet Jesus never once sought the approval off men. He came to do His Father's Will and Jesus revealed on later that He never came to seek the healthy but the sick.
I love this passage because it sets the prelude. The stage and setting off what's to come. And Jesus also shared another parable of the lost coin:
“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:8-10 🪔😟
The woman sought that one lost coin through her whole house diligently, not doing anything else, not even lighting a lamp or sweeping, until she finds it. From both parables, we find a commonality:
From Luke 15:5 the word (heuron), Luke 15:6 (heuron), Luke 15:9 (heurousa) are similar to which they use the root word heuriskó. This word means "I find, learn, discover, especially after searching" This emphasizes that from both parables that the lost sheep and the coin has not been found yet. As Jesus is foreshadowing how difficult it is to gain something lost. It is even harder to find something that actively hides themselves. Why is that?
But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself." Genesis 3:9-10 ❔😱😖
Last week my heart trembled and tears flowed after hearing this verse. In my past life off sin just like Adam, I was afraid and hid myself from God constantly. He is holy, and being in His presence scared me. So I hid. Never realizing how His great hesed love kept on searching...😭
From the 1898 painting, "The Lost Sheep" by Alfred Usher Soord. The painter wisely depicts this tug and-pull relationship of Jesus trying to reach out to the scared sheep in hiding:
When I look back at my life, I was that lost sheep standing on a cliff. Dangerously close to falling over. The sheep who ran away from the Father. I never realized how gracious He is by thoroughly searching for me. There were so many opportunities. I remember once going to a gospel rally and my eyes cried out bawling hearing Rev. Tong's sermon. It was surreal. Yet I ignored that calling😰. Likewise at another time, I had a deep depression and locked myself inside my room for months. Yet Christ kept on knocking at the door of my heart. He never did once gave up. He sent me my praying mother, friends and even strangers along my journey off faith... Leading up to my own "heuron" moment. Just like in Luke 15's end that moment came and is realized in the Parable of the Prodigal Son.
Luke 15:11-24🎬
The Prodigal Son did all kinds of unimaginable sins (probably drugs, women, gambling, gluttony, etc). And wasted away all the gifts the Father blessed him with. Similarly, in my past I remembered my cardinal sin of revolting and cursing the Father. Wasting away my life, I remembered those days I was most proud, haughty, and restless. Yet little did I know that these very sins clouded my perceptions of reality. I thought I was "free" from not going to Church, from doing whatever I wanted. Yet just like that lost sheep, I was a slave to sin. A bondage that placed my life on an edge. To a life of sin and flesh. I was so close to dying so many times and I didn't even realize it....
Yet Jesus kept on searching for me. He truly is the good and kind Shepherd who keeps pressing on. Trying to find the one lost sheep who hid and ran away. The Shepherd drew near to me yet I kept running away. One day. Unexpectedly. After 26+ years of being lost my "heuron" moment came. The Father opened my eyes and through the Holy Spirit I saw how guilty I was before the law. I have transgressed in my sins bearing a life full off iniquity. As I came before my holy God, I realized of my sins and also said:
I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ Luke 15:18-19 😭🙇😭
In all hopelessness and guilt, I should have receive judgment just like the Prodigal Son. And yet, the Father in the parable reacted differently:
And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. Luke 15:20 🏃🤗❤️
Rereading this verse again, I realized how much this meant now. As in the ESV Study Bible gives us a context of the tradition at the time: “The father cast aside all behavioral conventions of the time, as running was considered to be undignified for an older person, especially a wealthy landowner such as this man.” The Father ran and ignored what was considered tradition, not to mention ignoring the importance of:
"KEẒAẒAH (Heb. קְצָצָה; "a severing of connections," lit. "cutting-off "), a technical term used in the Talmud for a ceremony, whereby a family severs its connection with one of its members who marries a person beneath his social rank (Ket. 28b), or when one sells part of his estate (tj, Kid. 1:5, 60c)."
As Kenneth Baily, author of The Cross & the Prodigal explains:
"
. . .if a Jewish son lost his inheritance among Gentiles, and then returned home, the community would perform a ceremony, called the kezazah. They would break a large pot in front of him and yell, “You are now cut off from your people!” The community would totally reject him.
So, why did the father run? He probably ran in order to get to his son before he entered the village. The father runs — and shames himself — in an effort to get to his son before the community gets to him, so that his son does not experience the shame and humiliation of their taunting and rejection. The village would have followed the running father, would have witnessed what took place at the edge of the village between father and son. After this emotional reuniting of the prodigal son with his father, it was clear that their would be no kezazah ceremony; there would be no rejecting this son — despite what he has done. The son had repented and returned to the father. The father had taken the full shame that should have fallen upon his son and clearly shown to the entire community that his son was welcome back home.
"
-Matthew Williams: The Prodigal Son’s Father Shouldn’t Have Run!-
The Father gave me grace through Jesus Christ and saved me despite off my sins. Not only that, He sacrificed so much for someone as unworthy as me. And it was in that moment of embrace was I able to receive Christ's great great grace. To experience a deep deep overwhelming love that continues to amaze me to this day.
In the parable, the Father ran, embraced, and kissed the son. As how Rev. Michael Densmoore shared from Spurgeon:
Thank You O Lord for Thy kisses, Your warm embrace that soothes my soul. How Your love envelops and transforms me in that moment and forevermore. Not only that, You celebrated the Prodigal Son's return to which I will never understand how You are so gracious:
But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate. Luke 15:22-24 🎉🤗🎉
The word 'celebrate' comes from the word εὐφραίνω or euphrainó which means "I cheer, make glad; generally mid. or pass: I am glad, make merry, revel, feast." The Father didn't just accepted or forgive the son. The Father celebrated merrily. Inviting all others to join in the euphrainó. This pinnacle of all joys. This word appears 14 times in the Bible and is based on Strong's Greek 2165. There is one time the root word also appeared in Acts:
For David says concerning him,
"I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh will also dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.' Acts 2:25-26 😭❤️🤗
That was my first true supernatural encounter with the Lord. The words "was glad" is from the Greek ēuphranthē. And amazingly, all David says here truly describes my first encounter with the Lord. I remembered that moment to which I "flashbacked" my whole life before me and seeing how the Lord was always before me. Protecting me, guarding my heart. As people in the past has abandoned me. Yet my Lord will never do so. He has shown me all my journey. From the start to the end. And most importantly I felt His presence. I rejoiced and was glad... some say it was a glimpse of Heaven and I believe it so.
. . . And that is the end off my story as the Prodigal Son. Who was lost and dead. Who now is alive again and is found.😭.
Reflection
Dear Lord, thank You for leading me and searching for me all those years... and writing this uplifts my heart in joy. That glorious moment when I finally returned home back to You. Soli Deo Gloria.. 🎺👑🤗 .
To anyone reading this today, I would like to challenge you with this: Do you feel lost? 👨🦯. Are you running away both figuratively and literally? 🏃. Searching for something to fill that emptiness? All my life, I was the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the younger son who ran away and ended up lost. Struggling to find my way and fighting my Father who loved me so... sad isn't it? How we often fight those who love us the most. I realized now how I wasted away my life thinking that I can 'find happiness' out there. Pursuing a hedonistic pleasure seeking life. Yet I tried to fill a void that cannot be filled with anything this world offers..😱.
If you read this and feel compelled or moved—I invite you today to open your hearts❤️… To receive the good news. Know that whatever hidden sin you have. Whatever guilt. Or regret that no one knows about— God knows your deepest darkest sins. Oh boy, does He know it. We are all guilty before His moral laws. As I too have done sins that I thought were unforgivable. Yet only through Jesus Christ all sins are forgiven. Thank You Jesus for being my Father who warmly embraces me 🤗. Just as I was then as am now, I have sinned against You. And have fallen short off Your glory 😔. Yet through Christ I boast in His splendor & glory 👑. Just as the prodigal son came in humbleness and repented. I (finally😖) did too, and so can you today. Do you want to repent off your sins today? Jesus is inviting you as He did to me that very day. Maybe this too is your "heuron" moment. God has searched all over for you just like that lost sheep. Please open your hearts today and ask for repentance before it's too late. 🛐.
Let's pray together and repeat these words out loud:
"Lord, please forgive me for ___<confesses sins here>___ and all I've done so far. Thank You for Jesus Christ who died and on the third day resurrected from the Cross. I repent for all my sins and invite You to come into my heart—as my Lord and Savior.🕊️. I was lost but now I'm found. I once was dead but now I am alive. And in Your grace justified by faith, please please please come into my life through Your Holy Spirit. To become more like Jesus day by day.. "
Thankyou for whoever is reading this. Some may ignore this message and move on with their day. But for those who has ears to hear, let him hear... In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
-P.S.-
Feel free to contact/message us at any time for questions regarding Christianity, need a prayer request, or just someone to talk to...at this link
"Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing work in your days
that you would not believe if told.
Habakkuk 1:5
Updated: 18/05/21 | 22/05/21 | 31/12/21 | 10/01/22 | 27/01/22
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Credits: 📷Vecteezy(lavarmsg) | 🌐heuron/heurousa/heuriskó | 📷The Lost Sheep |Luke 15:11-24 🎨 theprodigalsheepreturns| 🌐Matthew Williams | 📝ESV Study Bible| 📝KEẒAẒAH | 🌐euphrainó