The lost son - Luke 15:11-32

Messiah spoke of a parable regarding a lost son in Luke 15:11-24 and these are my thoughts! I have watched a few movies that are based on the lost son of Luke 15 and this is how most of the movies are played out: The younger son of two children, was no longer happy to stay on the farm with his parents and his older brother so he told his dad he wanted to leave and go his own way. It may have being that he wanted the bright lights of the city or was bored with being on the farm or his friends told him that the city is a place of opportunities and riches. His dad gave him his promised inheritance and he left for the city.

Once in the city, he enjoyed the life of spending, partying and having many friends. The grass he thought was much greener on the other side of the fence.

Unfortunately this happy times did not last long as he spent all his money, lost his possessions and then his friends left one by one.

He did not have any food or a place to stay so he went to look for work which was very  scarce at that time due to the drought in the land. He managed to get work at a pig farm looking after pigs. The pigs were eating better food then he had and he was longing for a plate of food from his mom.

He then realized what he had lost and done to his family, he understood that he did wrong (sinned) against his parents and had to repent. He returned home.

His father was so happy to see him and embraced him. The son said to his dad, "Father, I have sinned and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your servants".

But his father was so happy to have him back, he organized a feast and gave him new clothes. The father said;  his son was dead but now he is alive again, he was lost but now he is found and they rejoiced. End.

The parable by Yahusha (Jesus) from Luke 15 showed me two parts at which sometime in our life we experience: first part is the lost son, the second part is the older brother or maybe we experience both the lost son part, followed by the older brother part.

This is how I see the meanings of each part...

The parable meaning number one: 1) we live in a fallen world where we all strive to be the best, on the sport grounds, corporate business and many other areas. Satan deceives us by telling us that we do not need our Creator to help us, we can achieve everything on our own. So we go out and conquer the world of business, sport and you name it all on our own esteem and thereby became proud of the achievements and the riches we accumulate.

When all goes well, the Creator is forgotten and therefore we do not rely on Him for any help/assistance. This success only lasts awhile and then the world spits us out and we than face major problems, it's at this point that we realize the world is filled with empty promises and our selfish proud leads to disastrous events.

Then we turn to Yahuah for help as we feel ashamed of our selfishness and ask for His forgiveness. Yahuah/Yahusha does not want to lose anybody to sin, so after we repent and obey Him, He takes us back no matter what we have done wrong. Messiah's love is so big and amazing, He celebrates the return of His lost child. This is the lost son part.

Messiah is teaching us with this parable that we must look at Yahuah for guidance in everything we do. Almighty Father's love is so great, words cannot describe it. The problems of the world will still be their but spiritually with the guidance of the Set Apart (Holy) Spirit, you will be loved, accepted and be saved.

The parable meaning number two: 2) So as Messiah forgives us so must we also forgive and love those who have done us wrong. No matter how much hurt you have, you must forgive. To forgive is very difficult especially if you do not have the Set Apart (Holy) Spirit in you which we receive from  Messiah. It is close to impossible to forgive and accept in our own fleshly ways, but with a forgiving heart and the Holy Spirit, you can forgive and love again. The 2nd son (older brother) never left his father's side as what the younger son did because he made a decision to serve and obey his father, as he loved his father very much. But he was not very happy when the younger brother (the lost son) came back after deserting his father and going after the world and its entertainment. He could not understand why his father welcomed him back with open arms, and then still gave him a feast and new clothes when he gave up everything to stay on the farm and support his father.

In verse 29-30; the 2nd son said to his father he has served him all these years and never disobeyed him ever and in all this time his father never gave him special treatment. But his younger brother (the lost son) got special treatment after doing wrong and disobeying his father, how fair was this! Verse 31-32; his father said to the older son, everything that I own is all his to enjoy and to share but we together as a family need to rejoice as your lost younger brother has returned and repented, he was a lost son/brother but he is back, his alive again. This is the older brother part.

The older brother (2nd son) today are those people that have accepted the Messiah and walk a path of obedience. Yahuah has given them many blessing but the problem is they have forgotten what love is by not sharing and forgiving. They think they can now sit back and wait for the Messiah's return without doing anything, their work has being done. They believe and walk in His path and that is all they need to do. They believe that if they are obedient they are saved. Obedience is very important as we show our love to Him through our obedience but they forget that they need to imitate the Messiah by being a example by showing love, forgiveness and also to spread the good news of Messiah's Word.

Believers (second son) who have given themselves to follow the Word of Yahuah, cannot sit back and be idle, Yahuah's Word needs to be spread through love and forgiveness. Believers (second son) represent the shepherd (Yahusha) to go out to the lost sheep of Israel (the lost son).

Command 8

“You shall not steal” Exodus 20:15.

Theft is the ultimate assertion of the greedy, lustful way of life, one that emphasizes acquiring material and intangible things with no regard for the rights and feelings of others.

It scorns conventions and boundaries established by society and Yahuah. It is the highest quality of selfishness. The spiritual intent of the Commandment against stealing tells us where the battle against selfishness begins. It originates when we learn to appreciate the rights and needs of others.

The 8th Commandment safeguards everyone's right to own property.

Yahuah wants that right honored and protected. To Him it is important that generosity rather than greed motivate the choices we make. Because they are qualities of His own character, He asks that from the heart we put giving and serving ahead of having possessions on ourselves.

“Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth” Ephesians 4:28.

Directly taking another's possessions is not the only way to steal. Con artists use a great deal of worldly scams to swindle their victims. Deceptive advertisements do the same. Manufacturers who misleadingly advertise their products of substandard quality cheat their customers. Labourers who bill for more hours than they work or charge more than their services are worth are stealing from those who hire them. Then there are those who “borrow” but never return. Aren't they stealing? There are so many ways to take what is not ours that we must stay on our guard.

Employees who do not work although paid to do so are stealing from their employers. People who delight in consuming what others produce while refusing to carry their share of the labour and responsibility for their part in the production of goods and services engage in still another form of stealing.

Yahuah wants us to have confidence in the future. His Word is full of promises concerning our future in His Kingdom. If we believe those promises, we will invest our time and energy in acquiring a wealth of spiritual treasures that will last forever and treasures that no thief can take from us.

That is the advice of Yahusha Messiah (Jesus) “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust does corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust does corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal” - Matthew 6:19-20.

We need to understand and apply true values to life. We need to concentrate on building character traits that will endure beyond physical life. At the heart of it all is love.

Heavenly Father’s love defeats the desire to steal.

Command 7

“You shall not commit adultery” Exodus 20:14.

Men and women were designed to be together and to need each other. Marriage is a natural union of a man and a woman and is divinely ordained and established by Yahuah at the creation.

His laws and in particular the 7th Commandment authorize the marriage relationship and establish it as the foundation of the family, which in turn stands as the foundation and most important building block of society.

Yahuah told our first parents that, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” Genesis 2:24.

Yahuah's instruction clearly established what all future generations were supposed to learn regarding marriage and sex. As children grow old enough to shoulder the responsibilities of a family and come to love and honour someone of the opposite sex, it is natural and proper for them to marry and be joined together and create their own family apart from their parents. Only then should they “become one flesh” by physically uniting in a sexual relationship.

Messiah makes it clear that Yahuah from the very beginning intended that marriage be a monogamous and permanent relationship (Matthew 19:3-6).

Adultery is the violation of the marriage covenant by willful participation in sexual activity with someone other than one's spouse. Since Yahuah's law sanctions sexual relationships only within a legitimate marriage, the command not to commit adultery covers in principle all varieties of sexual immorality. No sexual relationship of any sort should occur outside of marriage. That is the message of this Commandment.

In much of the world sexual immorality is no longer regarded as a significant social evil. Yahuah however, categorically condemns all forms of sexual immorality. Revelation 21:8  “But as for the cowardly, and untrustworthy, and abominable, and murderers, and those who whore, and drug sorcerers, and idolaters, and all the false, their part is in the lake which burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death.”

The social and personal harm brought by sexual immorality is so pervasive that it defies our ability to quantify its toll in human suffering. Most people simply refuse to contemplate its staggering consequences.

Two prevailing views stand out. Some people assert their right to do whatever they please, “Nobody is going to tell me what I can do in my personal life.” Others rationalize virtually any kind of behavior: “It doesn't matter what I do so long as no one gets hurt.” These arguments are used to justify all sorts of sexual behavior including promiscuity. Both views ignore a fundamental reality: People do get hurt, badly hurt.

Immorality in any form is ultimately destructive. As the proverb says, “But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul” Proverbs 6:32.

Adultery's first casualty is the damage to our mind and character. Equally damaging is the personal abasement that flows from sexual immorality.

It can be denied but it cannot be avoided.

Paul told believers in the licentiously infamous city of Corinth, “Flee fornication.

Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body” 1 Corinthians 6:18.

These warnings apply equally to men and women because “Yahuah shows no partiality.” The Bible labels humanity's obsession with self gratification for what it is: lust. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of Yahuah abidethfor ever” 1 John 2:16-17.

Lust is the beginning of adultery and immorality. “You have heard that it was said by them of old time, You shall not commit adultery.” said Messiah. “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart” Matthew 5:27-28.

 Society suffers because we have lost the vision that Yahuah had for marriage from the beginning. Marriage is not a requirement for success in pleasing Yahuah. But it is tremendous blessing to couples who treat each other as Yahuah intended. Most people desire and need the benefits that come from a stable marriage.

To return to what Yahuah intended, we must give marriage the respect it deserves.

We must faithfully obey our Creator's Commandment “You shall not commit adultery.”

Paul's letters proclaim to remove the commands!

There is a quote from Paul (Saul) that proclaims: "you are not under the law but under grace" - Romans 6:14. Many think this means that the instructions (Torah or Commands) are done away with, therefore, no one has to observe the Instructions any longer.

Is this really what Paul said? In verse 15 Paul says: what then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? CERTAINLY NOT!

Not under the law means one or the other: (1) under the condemnation of the law, or (2) that this law refers to the law of sin, which means the principle of sin-doing, the carnal nature. Read Romans 7:23 but I see another law in my members, battling against the Torah (law) of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members, Romans 7:25 Thanks to Elohim, through Yahusha Messiah our Master! So then, with the mind I myself truly serve the Torah (law) of Elohim, but with the flesh the law of sin and Romans 8:2 For the Torah (law) of the Spirit of the life in Messiah Yahusha has set me free from the law of sin and of death.

Romans 6:18 and having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. Other words you stop sinning. Instead of slaves to wrong, you became slaves to right!

How do you know what is right? Firstly you need to know what is wrong! Where do you find out what wrong (sin) is! The commands of Yahauh shows us what wrong (sin) is. So to not sin, you got to look at the commands for guidance. Example: Yahuah's command says "do not commit adultery!" The command is showing us what the sin will be. Committing adultery is wrong (sin). The penalty for this sin was death. But after Messiah suffered that death penalty, He gave us grace for committing the sin. That death penalty Messiah Yahusha (Jesus) went through was given to that person that committed the adultery. If that person does not know that the command says not to commit adultery, then that person will not know that he/she did wrong (sin). The command is telling that person what sin will be! If that person believes the commands are not applicable then committing adultery will be normal and not wrong to do in his/her eyes.

Paul says in many verses that adultery/whoring is wrong! Where does he get this from? From Yahuah's commands, that is where he gets his information from.

Sin is defined as lawlessness - a violation of Yahuah's Instructions (Torah/law). When we are baptized in Messiah's name, we die to sin and are no longer subjected to the penalty of death. We turn away from our old path of sin and walk a new path without sin (sins washed away), because of the work of Messiah, we are made clean. We do not continue to be unclean.

This is the unmerited favor ("grace" as we know it) of Yahuah.

Once we have received this gift that we did not earn, we are then SUPPOSED to stay clean.

The Instructions (law) after all provides us with the way of righteous living. We not supposed to continue in lawlessness, therefore the law guides us away from sin.

That is why Paul said in Romans 6:15 What then, do we carry on sinning because of no law but only grace, the answer was "certainly not!"

To whom are you obedience: slaves to sin which brings death or slaves to righteousness which brings everlasting life - Romans 6:16.

The Old Covenant had no way to have your sins removed, they were simply covered from year to year on Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), which means to cover not remove. Now in the new/re-new Covenant Yahuah gives a way through the shed blood of Messiah to completely have the penalty of your sins removed.

The blood of Yahusha (Jesus) has freed a believer from the death penalty of their past sins, but now obeying the commands (Torah) will keep you free and where one makes a mistake he has the blood of Messiah to cover that. However if one continues to sin, it will lead to death (Romans 6:23). Sin will always lead to death.

However, if we willingly continue to obey sin after accepting this great sacrifice of the blood of the Son of Yahuah, then we are mocking the spirit of grace and our sins will not be forgiven - Read Romans 6: 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the favorable gift of Elohim is everlasting life in Messiah Yahusha our Master / Romans 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you shall live. Read also Hebrews 10:26-32 of sinning purposely (willfully) after receiving grace of Messiah's blood covering.

In Matthew 5:17 Messiah said that He did not come to take the Law (Torah) or the Prophets away.

So if Paul did say the Law (Torah/Commands) is no longer required, than the question must be asked: who do we believe, Paul, who said the commands are taken away or the Messiah, who is our savior, our King, the Almighty who said the following; And Yahusha (Jesus) said to him, “ ‘You shall love Yahuah your Elohim with all your heart, and with all your being, and with all your mind.’ “This is the first and great command. “And the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ “On these two commands hang all the commands (Torah/law) and the Prophets” - Matthew 22:37-40.

The instruction from Messiah is that all the commands including the 10 Words (commands) is about love towards Almighty Yahuah and our neighbor.

You think Paul said the commands are not applicable any longer. Let it not be!

True Yisra’Ãl - the remnant people

The scripture talks about the remnant that will return and be saved. Is all of Israel the remnant people? What does His word say!

Isaiah 10:21-22 The remnant shall return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty El. For though Your people Israel is like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of it shall return; a decisive end, overflowing with righteousness.

Romans 9:27 But Isaiah cries on behalf of Israel, "If the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant will be saved."

There will be millions upon millions of Israelites scattered abroad but only a remnant will return/be saved.

Paul stresses that Yahuah will awaken the Israelites to their true identity, that they must freely choose to accept His calling and repent of their former way of life and enter into His true covenant. But as Isaiah somberly shows only a small remnant will accept the calling and be saved.

Joel 2:32 “And it shall be that everyone who calls on the Name of Yahuah shall be delivered. For on Mount Tsiyon and in Jerusalem there shall be an escape as Yahuah has said, and among the survivors whom Yahuah calls.

Amos 9:8 “Look, the eyes of the Master Yahuah are on the sinful reign, and I shall destroy it from the face of the earth, except that, I do not completely destroy the house of Jacob,” declares Yahuah.

The name Israel was given to Jacob and means to strive (to overcome), then to rule with Elohim (Almighty). Only the small minority overcomers (Israel) are going to survive the great distress at the end.

A remnant will be saved!

In Romans 9:6 we read, “For they are not all Israel who are of Israel.”

There are Israel within an Israel, and they are called the “remnant.” Meaning not all Israel will be saved. The Israelites who believe and obey are the remnant and will be saved. These Israelites are those who are Spiritual, saved, living righteous lives.

There are many Israelites who are carnal, who are not true Israelites and not part of the remnant. Carnal means - the physical feelings and desires of the body.

In Jeremiah 9:26 Israel is strongly reproved (rebuked) because their hearts are not circumcised. True Israel are those whose hearts are circumcised, who keep the Law/Commands and believe in the Messiah!

Deuteronomy  10:12-16, “And now, Yisra’Ãl, what is Yahuah your Elohim asking of you, but to fear Yahuah your Elohim, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, and to serve Yahuah your Elohim with all your heart and with all your being, to guard the commands of Yahuah and His laws which I command you today for your good? “See, the heavens and the heaven of heavens belong to Yahuah your Elohim, also the earth with all that is in it. “Yahuah delighted only in your fathers, to love them. And He chose their seed after them, you above all peoples, as it is today. “And you shall circumcise the foreskin.

Deuteronomy 30:6-8  “And Yahuah your Elohim shall circumcise your heart and the heart of your seed, to love Yahuah your Elohim with all your heart and with all your being, so that you might live, and Yahuah your Elohim shall put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. “And you shall turn back and obey the voice of Yahuah and do all His commands which I command you today.

And the truly born again gentiles (strangers) are grafted in among these Israelites and now called Israelites who are Spiritual – those who no longer wish to sin, who no longer live according to the flesh but believe in Yahusha (Jesus) and keep the commands (Romans Chapter 6-8).

 Yisra’Ãl, though they are to be tried and refined as silver and gold is refined, will yet be chosen – again!

To the true remnant people; Revelation 3: 8-12 “I know your works – see, I have set before you an open door, and no one is able to shut it – that you have little power, yet have guarded My Word, and have not denied My Name. “See, I am giving up those of the congregation of Satan, who say they are Jews (Yahudah)  and are not, but lie. See, I am making them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. “Because you have guarded My Word of endurance, I also shall guard you from the hour of trial which shall come upon all the world, to try those who dwell on the earth. “See, I am coming speedily! Hold what you have that no one take your crown. “He who overcomes (Israel), I shall make him a supporting post in the Dwelling Place of My Elohim, and he shall by no means go out. And I shall write on him the Name of My Elohim and the name of the city of My Elohim, the renewed Jerusalem, which comes down out of the heaven from My Elohim, and My renewed Name.

The true saved ones, the overcomers, keep His Word, and they do not deny His Name!

This is what will happen to the remnant in those days; And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to fight with the remnant of her seed, those guarding the commands of Elohim and possessing the witness of Yahusha (Jesus) Messiah - Revelation 12:17.

And again: Here is the endurance of the set-apart ones (remnant), here are those guarding the commands of Elohim and the belief of Yahusha (Jesus) - Revelation 14:12.

If you are true born again, the commands are circumcised in your heart and you are keeping them and believing on Yahusha (Yah-Saves), then you are part of the remnant people.