Jesus’ story of the Prodigal Son paints one of the most vivid pictures of the extraordinary riches of God’s grace. In Luke 15 we read:
Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. 14 When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. 16 He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. 17 But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.” 20 So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. 21 Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24 for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate (Luke 15:11-24).
MERCY AND HOPE
Our natural inclination is to want to enjoy the good things of life while keeping God at a distance. This is true of the younger son in the story Jesus told. By asking his father for his inheritance ‘now’ he was in fact saying to his father, ‘Dad, I wish you were dead. I want to get on and enjoy life while I’m young and without having to be answerable to you’.
As the story unfolds, this son squanders his inheritance on extravagant parties with good-time friends. Inevitably, he finds himself without money to live on and without friends. In desperation he takes a position feeding pigs.
Reflecting on his plight, he resolved to return home and admit his failure to his father:‘I have sinned before heaven and before you…Take me back as a ‘hired hand’’. He knew he was unworthy to be re-instated as a son.
Like most fathers, this father was aware of what his son was like, and no doubt of what he had done. But he still loved him. He had been watching for his son’s return. News came that he was coming home. Heedless of the scorn he would receive – for in running he was making a public spectacle of himself – the father ran down the road and embraced the black sheep of the family.
Totally overcome by this unexpected welcome, the son said, ‘Father, I’ve sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ Period. The son had planned to add, ‘Treat me as one of your hired servants’. But now he saw that this was not appropriate.
REPENTANCE
Repentance. He realized now that he’d never really known his father and that he had not understood what it was to have been his father’s son. His father loved him beyond measure. His father was prepared to do for him what he had not expected and certainly did not deserve. His father had given himself publicly, humiliatingly, for his sake.
Jesus wanted his hearers, and each of us, to understand that the father is like God. God has given most of us many good things to enjoy, but we, like the son, have become so preoccupied with the good things of life and our own lives in general, that we forget God.
With this parable, Jesus foreshadows another and far greater dimension and expression of God’s extraordinary love, for the shadow of his cross begins to fall across the scene. It is in and through the cross that we see more deeply into the character of God. His love triumphs over all. God loves each one of us far more than we can ever believe or deserve.
The story does not stop there. Before the younger son could catch his breath, his father was busy ordering new clothes, shoes and a ring – the best of everything. An elaborate and expensive feast was prepared and the father tells us why: “For this my son was dead, now he is alive, he was lost but now he has been found” (15:24). The wayward, rebellious boy who deserved nothing good from his father was to be reinstated as a son.
Luke 19:10 records Jesus’ words about himself and his mission: “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost”. The younger son did not just regret his folly, but in turning back to his father and admitting his failure, was truly repentant. Through his father’s extraordinary and undeserved love, he is reinstated as a ‘son’. He saw that to serve his father as a ‘hired slave’ was completely inappropriate.
You may like to consider:
the lessons to be learnt from the younger son;
2. the implications of the extraordinary grace of God in your life.
Cities have become so synonymous with evil and corruption, poverty and injustice that we tend to overlook the significance of the city in the Bible. The Scriptures often speak of the City of Zion or Jerusalem as a picture of God’s rule and his presence with his people.
In Isaiah 60:1-5 the prophet encourages God’s people that their time of darkness and despair, because they were in exile, would give way to a say of light and hope. God would establish his City – the City of Zion. He pictures the sun rising over Jerusalem – a sight that tourists today still marvel at as it lights up her walls and towers, the domes and roofs:
Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Lift up your eyes and look around; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from far away, and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses’ arms. Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice, because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you (Isaiah 60:1-5).
Historically Isaiah’s words came true, for against all odds, the Jewish people returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt it. Cyrus the Mede, as Isaiah had indicated (Isaiah 45), conquered Babylon, and in 520 BC he decreed that the Jewish people could return to their homeland.
But Isaiah was not just pointing to the city of Jerusalem that was rebuilt after the exile. He was pointing to the time when God’s rule would come down to earth. God would bring in a whole new order, a new creation. The city of which Isaiah spoke was a picture of God’s kingdom and the glory of a new and lasting city where God himself would fill the city with the light of his presence.
LIGHT AND DARKNESS
The imagery of light and darkness is often used to portray God’s creating work. In Genesis 1 we read that thick darkness covered the earth, but God’s light overcame it. Here in Isaiah 60 darkness is a metaphor for moral evil and spiritual blindness. Light is a picture of God’s coming to rescue his people. In God’s new city there will be no need of a sun or a moon, for God’s glory will shine forever.
Furthermore, God’s light will shine worldwide: Nations shall come to your light (60:3), and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Those who refuse to turn to God will perish (60:12). It is one of the ironies of history that the power of Rome that crucified Jesus in the first century, capitulated to him in the fourth, when the emperor Constantine was baptized. It is striking proof that Isaiah’s words were no dream. The power of human kingdoms will fail and the kingdoms of the world will amass their wealth, only to lay it down again at the feet of the King of kings. It is an inspiring and encouraging picture.
How much more should it encourage us, for we live on the other side of the coming of God’s King, Jesus the Messiah. With his coming we see more clearly that God’s kingdom will succeed and that God’s royal City, the new Jerusalem, will be established in glory and greatness forever.
However, we need to be realistic: God’s city lies on the other side of a cosmic discontinuity. God will need to intervene through the return of his anointed King. Only then will God’s people be delivered from the tragic consequences of the present world.
What we need to remember is that what we do now has significance – for what we do in this world can change things. Indeed, what we do in the service of Christ in this world lasts. When we know that, we know why we work, why we try to serve the city. Each day it is worth praying, ‘Lord what good things have you for me to do today in building the City to come?’
God has a purpose for us all. We are moving towards the end of time, to a new and lasting City. Let’s embrace the words of a great prophet of ancient Israel when he says, Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
You may like to consider:
1. the response of Isaiah’s first readers to the words of this chapter;
2. your response to Isaiah’s words when you feel that there’s no future for you;
3. how you can live a meaningful life now with the tension the hope of God’s new city before you and knowing that God has a purpose for you now.
Uncertain times give us pause and challenge us to ask questions. I don’t want to sound negative, but given the uncertain start to this year, economically and politically, not to speak of the rise of terrorism, many people are anxious about the future.
In times of uncertainty it is always helpful to consider what encouragements we can draw from a richer understanding of God, his interactions with men and women, and his expectations of those who trust him.
In recent weeks we have been identifying highlights of God’s promises to his people through the prophet Isaiah. More than one hundred years before it happened he prophesied the conquest of the southern kingdom Judah and the fall of Jerusalem. But Isaiah also had a message of comfort and hope for people who trusted God. This is his theme from chapter 40 onwards.
In Isaiah 49, we read of the emergence of a new figure, known as God’s ‘Servant’ whose task would be to restore God’s people. For Isaiah’s first readers, ‘restoration’ meant the restoration of God’s people to their land and their city. Against all odds this occurred from 520BC.
LIGHT
But in Isaiah 49 there is another layer to the meaning of God’s Servant: Isaiah is also speaking of the coming of Jesus Christ whose work would bring the light of God’s truth to his people and to the nations. Indeed this Servant of God – Jesus Christ – would provide the means of restoration for a broken humanity: “I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth”(Isaiah 49:6).
And there is more, for in Isaiah 49:7 there is a subtle but significant shift in the meaning of the word Israel. Israel reverts to its meaning as the people of God – not just an individual figure.
With this shift there are significant nuances. In 49:6, the ‘Servant’ is told the Lord would make him a light for the Gentiles. In 49:8 Israel is told that the Lord will not just make a covenant with them,but that they will be the means of bringing God’s light to the nations.
This is profound. Isaiah is saying that the rescue and restoration of God’s people, Israel, will be a sign of his commitment to bless the nations. As we view this through the lens of the New Testament we see this applies to the church today. God’s people who are now freed by God’s grace through Jesus Christ, from a life of captivity to sin and death, are to say to those who are still captive to their fears, ‘Come out’, and to those in darkness, be free’ (49:9).
FOCUS
As Isaiah 49 moves on, the focus is not so much on the return of the exiles from Babylon or even on their spiritual restoration, but on the mission of God’s people to the nations. Indeed, in Isaiah 49:13 there is a great shout of praise to God. It is the sound of God’s people rejoicing as people come from all nations into the light of God’s truth and salvation. It is one reason for joy in our churches today.
In this election year in the United States millions of dollars are being spent and many thousands of volunteers are involved in the election process. Consider the impact God’s people could have for good, if only one tenth of these resources of money and people were put to the mission of Jesus Christ. Yet too often we are caught up with our own concerns and anxieties rather than living as God’s light. What was it that Jesus said? “You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world; a city set on a hill cannot be hidden…” (Matthew 5:13-14).
A paradox in life is that when we serve the needs of others we often find our own anxieties will fall away.
When the going gets tough in life it’s so easy to become fainthearted. We lose our energy and drive. Indeed the reality is that many situations in life challenge us to be tough-minded, and not fainthearted. As I considered this two quotes caught my attention – George Clooney’s, ’Growing old on screen is not for the faint of heart’; and Michael Douglas, ‘Capitalism is part of our system but it is not for the faint of heart’.
Two and a half millennia ago the Jewish people were faint of heart when in 586BC Babylonian forces had rampaged through their land, razing Jerusalem and its huge temple to the ground. Political obliteration seemed inevitable as the cream of the population was taken into exile in Babylon. Yet the extraordinary thing was this – Judah’s morale was not destroyed.
ISAIAH THE PROPHET
Isaiah, one of the prophets who had spoken of God’s impending judgment in the nation, had also sounded a voice of hope. It was his words that were the key to the people of Judah surviving.
His message of hope runs as a single thread from chapter 40:1 through the rest of his writing. He had begun by declaring God’s words to his people: “Comfort, comfort, my people” (40:1). And in the following chapters Isaiah went on to speak of a ‘Servant’ God would raise up – someone who would rescue and restore God’s people.
Isaiah had spoken of the way God would first raise up Cyrus, an insignificant prince from the north of Babylonia. Indeed, Cyrus became a great leader who crushed the Babylonians and paved the way for the Persian empire under Darius. Furthermore, Cyrus used his power in Babylon in 520BC to release of the Jewish exiles, permitting them to return to Jerusalem and restore their city. This actually happened.
A GLOBAL VISION
But that was not the end of the story. For when we turn to Isaiah 49 we see the rise of another unexpected figure – a Servant. ‘Who is this servant?’ we ask. Consider Isaiah’s first words in chapter 49: Listen to me, O coastlands, pay attention, you peoples from far away!
This is strange. God’s people were crying out for forgiveness and a fresh start, but this new figure does not address them directly at all. His strident words are addressed to the world at large, the islands and distant nations. Listen to me, O coastlands, pay attention, you peoples from far away! The mission of this man is not just to God’s people, but to the nations. His vision is global.
Yes, his work will involve restoration of the people of Judah – as we read in 49:5 – And now the Lord says, who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the sight of the Lord, and my God has become my strength—
The role of this figure in Isaiah 49 is to bring God’s people back to him, so that their relationship with him is truly restored. But God’s people needed to know something else: there is a needy world out there waiting to hear the truth about God. In Isaiah 49:6, we read: He says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel…
DEALING WITH UNCERTAINTY
Too often we become faint-hearted because we fear the uncertainties of the future. We’re faint of heart because we focus too much on our own lives rather than on the needs and fears of others. The irony is that the healing of our own anxieties often begins when we stop thinking about ourselves and start looking outward to the world that God loves and that needs to know about him. Isaiah 49:6 continues, I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
As we consider Isaiah’s words through the lens of the New Testament we see that the Servant he was speaking about is Jesus Christ. Jesus not only brought light to the world through the clarity and depth of his teaching but he also served humanity in its deepest need by conquering the power of sin and death. The God of the Bible is committed to serve.
God now calls on us to join him in this work of service. But it is not for the faint-hearted. For he wants us to get involved in the conversation with others around us – about life, its meaning and the importance of sorting out our relationship with the God who is there. God calls us to serve ‘the city’ where we live with joy in our hearts. He gives us his grace and strength to do so.
‘You’re just lucky,’ a young woman said to a friend who had announced her engagement to a young, macho, Wall Street success. How many people think that so much in our lives is due to luck? The English historian, A.J.P. Taylor in his Politics in Wartime observed that a question that was often used to assess a man’s practical value was, ‘Has he luck?’
‘Luck’ becomes a form of fatalism that says things happen in life as the result of ‘the random play of chance in human affairs’. If you get caught in an earthquake in LA, a shooting in Mexico, or floods in India, it’s simply bad luck. Fatalism springs from a sense of helplessness. As the song, Que sera, sera, put it,Whatever will be, will be.
Two and a half millennia ago the Jewish people, captive in ancient Babylon, could have been drawn to the idea of fate. Their captors were the inventors of astrology. They had developed all kinds of divination including the occult. The exiled Jewish people might well have asked, ‘Where is the power of the God of Israel compared with the power and scientific advances of the Babylonians?’ With the significant advances in science and technology around us today, we too may be tempted to ask, ‘Where is God’s power?’
We can draw strength from Isaiah’s response to an implied question: The Lord, your Redeemer and Creator, says: “I am the Lord, who made all things. I alone stretched out the heavens. By myself I made the earth and everything in it. I am the one who exposes the false prophets as liars by causing events to happen that are contrary to their predictions. I cause wise people to give bad advice, thus proving them to be fools (Isaiah 44:24-25).
WHO’S IN CONTROL?
‘Who’s in control?’ Isaiah was asking. The Babylonians thought they could read their destiny in the stars. But Isaiah’s response is to ask a question, ‘Who made them? The Lord did.’ (It is often helpful to ask yourself this question in times of temptation or when someone challenges you about a matter of faith.)
Indeed, Isaiah continues, ‘God, the Lord who created everything, has power over the details of the universe. He can even say to the rivers, “Be dry!” – and they are. And don’t be impressed by the wisdom of the wise,’ Isaiah continues, ‘God foils and overturns their wisdom’.
‘Think,’ says Isaiah. ‘Rather than the academics at the university of Babylon, it is God’s servants, the prophets, who bring you the truth. You want to know what will happen, then listen: Cyrus — God’s shepherd shall surely carry out his purpose’(44:28).
It’s hard for us to imagine the impact that Isaiah’s words would have had on his readers, for he was writing two hundred years before Cyrus was born. Furthermore, Cyrus would begin life as an obscure prince in the far north of Babylon. It was humanly inconceivable that he could rise and conquer the Babylonian empire and then later, give orders for the return of the Jews to their homeland – something he did around 520BC.
For Isaiah to speak of some future unknown, insignificant prince as God’sshepherd would have invited not just ridicule, but anger. Cyrus was no relation of Abraham let alone King David. But Isaiah insisted: Cyrus would rise and wield great power, which he would use for the benefit of God’s people. It would happen because God had decreed it.
In 45:5-6 we read: “I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides me there is no god. I arm you, though you do not know me, so that they may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is no one besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other.”
God’s perspective of history is so different from ours. It’s worth thinking about Israel’s history. Archaeology tells us something of ancient Egypt’s history, but in God’s history book the most significant thing the Egyptians did was release a rabble of Semitic slaves. Or again, at the time of the Roman Empire, Pontius Pilate had a successful career in the Roman government; but in God’s book the significant thing for which he is known is his decision to crucify a man from Nazareth.
DIVINE INTERFERER
All this tells us something very significant about the stories of human affairs: God himself is involved, using human decisions to work out his greater purpose. C.S. Lewis spoke of God as the divine interferer. History is ultimately God’s story, for he is working out his plans in our fallen world.
Let’s always remember this – not least in times of social, political and economic turbulence!
Is what you believe about God important? Are you confident that God is infinitely wise as Article I of the Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles says? ‘…There is but one living and true God, everlasting,…; of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness;…’
It’s easy to doubt God’s power, wisdom and goodness because we hear of the injustices, the pain and suffering in the world. Indeed, we may doubt God because of the particular trials we are going through – an unhappy marriage or a sense of personal failure. We may feel that God is not answering our prayers and so we are tempted to wonder about him.
WHERE IS GOD?
The Israelites of whom Isaiah wrote, were in exile in Babylon. Their big question was, ‘Where is God?’ Prophets like Isaiah had warned them of God’s judgment unless they turned back to Him. However, they had listened to the popular preachers who had said all would be well. But the day did come (in 586BC) when the city and the temple were destroyed and the people were deported. Amazingly the Jewish people survived.
Isaiah 40 speaks not only of God’s power and wisdom but also of the comfort that his love and forgiveness bring when we repent. Isaiah 43:2 takes up the theme of God’s love with: When you pass through the waters I will be with you,…
GOD’S PRESENCE
God promised that he would be with his people even in the land of their exile. For us who live on the other side of Jesus’ death and resurrection, it’s an even richer promise, for we now have the evidence and reality of Emmanuel, God with us in the person of Jesus Christ.
The God of the Bible doesn’t promise to lift us out of our troubles with supernatural power. Faith is not a drug by which we escape the pain and suffering of a messed up world. The God of the Bible comes amongst us in our pain and shares in it.
This is the meaning of Bethlehem’s manger and Calvary’s cross. God doesn’t simply shout his condolences from the sky or tweet us sympathy notes. In his wisdom, God bore our grief and carried our sorrow. He descended to the lowest parts of the earth and experienced death for us.
There’s no other religion like this. There are scientists and philosophers, media commentators and gurus, but not one of them has scars in their hands. When you pass through the waters I’ll be with you… is the commitment of the all-mighty, all-wise God.
And that’s not all, for Isaiah also tells us of God’s protection: When you pass through the waters I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior (43:2ff).
King David had understood this when he penned the words of Psalm 23: When I pass through the valley of the shadow of death I fear no evil, … for you are with me.
FALLEN WORLD
This is how the only wise God works with a fallen world. He promises his people his presence and protection. He sets a limit on anything that may destroy us. It doesn’t mean we won’t encounter tough times and it doesn’t mean we won’t experience death.
We’re not promised immunity from the floods and the fires, but we are promised a definite limit to the harm that any such experience can do to us. In Job 1:9-12 we read of the limit God placed on the action of the power of evil in Job’s life.
Yes, God sometimes allows the powers of evil to act in frightening ways – as we see when Jesus was scourged and crucified. But with Jesus’ resurrection we are assured God didn’t abandon his Son to eternal death.
Paul the apostle, in 2 Corinthians 12 tells us that he felt the pain and frustration of unanswered prayer. He experienced what he calls a ‘thorn in the flesh.’ Three times he agonized in prayer, but the thorn was not removed. He came to understood God’s mind: My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Paul looked no further. If the thorn was needed to keep him from pride or success in his own strength, so be it. God could be trusted.
Do you have that kind of confidence in God? Pray then for his grace that you may know the reality of his presence and protection. Pray that God’s Spirit will take his promise deep into your heart so that you will know how precious you are to him. He has a purpose for his world, and for each one of us.
