Table of Contents
Introduction
The Father and His Son
The Far Country
The Revelation of What Is Real
The Freedom of Repentance
The Restoration of the Son |
Sample Text:
Introduction
One of the most important effects of sin on the spiritual life of a believer, whether we look in the Old Testament or in the New, is to be found in Luke 15:1-32. This portion of Scripture contains what could be called one parable in three parts. It is the parable of the lost sheep, a lost piece of silver, and a lost son. Though three incidents are told, there is but one underlying purpose. The value of this portion of Scripture in the present connection is in its revelation of the divine compassion that our Father has in restoring one of His children. It is a deep unveiling of the Father’s heart. For instance, the emphasis falls upon the shepherd, rather than upon the sheep; upon the woman, rather that upon the lost piece of silver; and upon the father, rather than upon the sons.
We must remember that these scriptures have to do with conditions by which God dealt with believers before the Cross. Therefore, they have to do primarily with Israel, who were the covenant people of the Old Testament, the sheep of His pasture, and their position as such was unchanged until the New Covenant was made in His blood. Being a covenant people, they could return to the blessings of their covenant on the grounds of repentance and confession if those blessings had been lost through sin. According to the Scriptures, this is true of all covenant people. Israel’s covenants are not the same in character as the New Covenant that has been made in His blood for today’s believers, but the terms of restoration into the blessings of the covenant are the same in one case as in the other. The fact is that the covenant abides through the faithfulness of God, but the blessing of the covenant may be lost through the unfaithfulness of the believer. The blessing is re deemed, too, not by forming another covenant but by restoration into the unchanging privileges of a heavenly Father who has made His promise to us and keeps it.
The writings in this book deal with God keeping His promise to His children on the basis of the blood covenant. Modern-day believers must move from the old covenant, where God expected man to do something within himself to be pleasing to Him, into the new covenant where the work is finished and Christ has done it all on our behalf and is all and all in us. |
