Daily Reading: Luke 15:8-10-
“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
One of the main points of the three lost parables is to show the worth of the lost.
The candle is a picture of the effectual working of the church as the candle represents the Gospel itself; the light of Christ, this is the only way lost people can be found.
The three lost parables (of Luke 15) are all connected- meaning the lost audience what have been immersed in the story of lost things being found.
God saw our need for Him with love in His heart for you (Luke 15:20).
Our Father does five things in the parable of the lost son and His action illustrates His grace, as the number five in Greek numerology represented grace. He saw, He had compassion, He ran, He embraced, He kissed. What this tells us is that the grace of God…It’s instant, it’s complete, it’s sacrificial and it’s undeserved.
“Bring the best robe” (the robe stands for honor). The robe covers our sin and our shame. We are robed in Christ’s righteousness (Isaiah 61:10). Grace says here is your honor and it puts the robe of Jesus’ righteousness on you.
The ring stands for the Father’s authority belonging to the Son. It was a signet ring and showed that the son was given the authority of the Father and the family name. Think about our authority that comes from us being Christ’s ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20) and with Christ having all authority (Matthew 28:18). We are given the authority of Christ to carry out the Great Commission to become involved in the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18). So that as we come to and receive Father God’s love, we go out into the world and we bring others to the Father for adoption into the family where they can experience the grace and love too.
The sandals represent your standing that you are not a hired servant nor will you ever be, you are a child of God. Hired servants did not wear sandals. Only family members did.