82. MAKING PEACE WITH THE FATHERIs God really unknowable? Is that his idea or humans?
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There are some questions that just aren't asked. Perhaps it is different in some cultures, but you don’t ask a woman who appears to be between thirty and eighty years old how old she is. For some reason women don't like to be asked that question during that part of their lives. Interestingly, after a woman turns eighty it seems like she takes great pride in being old and enjoys telling you her age. Here is another sensitive topic. You don't ask a female over 11 years old how much she weighs. Yes even teen-agers can be really sensitive about that subject. It is better to not ask and not know.
In our culture there is another question that seems to go unasked. It is a lot more serious than the previous ones. The question is,
"What is God like?"
Have you ever wondered what God was like, but you were afraid to ask? Or maybe you did ask and someone told you,
"You don't ask questions like that!"
Or maybe someone said to you forthright,
"God is unknowable."
In this lesson, we will take a look at God's character, personality, and desires. Contrary to what some people say, we can know some- thing about what God is like.
For many, asking questions about God's character is foolish or disrespectful at best and outright rebellious and sinful at worst.
Is it wrong to even ask those questions?
To help us wrestle with that issue let us consider a dialogue between two people discussing whether God can be known or understood.
Emre stroked his beard between his thumb and ngers as he looked at the computer screen. He was reading a chat correspondence from his Internet girlfriend. He had never met Şükran personally because she lived in Erzurum and he was in Istanbul. But during their chats on Facebook the last few months, he had become more interested in her. Although they had not mentioned the word "marriage," they were at the point in their relationship where they were making plans for Emre to go to Erzurum and meet her in person. This particular evening while maintaining his "chat" with Şükran he was also talking with his friend Hikmet and his uncle Kerem.
Hikmet lived just two streets over from Emre and his parents. After work, they would often spend time together late into the evening because Emre had a laptop and wireless in his house. They would sit together, the three of them: Emre, Hikmet, and Şükran. One evening while they were hanging out, Emre's blind uncle Kerem came over. He was 47 years old and quite limited in his education, but he could speak and hear well. When he visited he was always by Emre's side. Kerem listened quietly to the conversation taking place between Emre and Hikmet, often waiting patiently during the long periods of silence, as Emre would divide his attention to the latest chat line sent from Şükran. Suddenly Emre looked up from his computer and looked at Hikmet intently.
"Hikmet, why are you so interested in learning about God? God is not knowable. He is so far and high above us we cannot
comprehend it. He has no similitude so you can't compare Him to anything. You can't study God, so there is no such thing as
theology. What you really study is the will of God as He reveals it."
Hikmet answered back, "But you know the names of God that de- scribe His character. Does that not reveal something about God?"
"Yes we have names of God but those adjectives only describe aspects of His will, they do not re ect anything about God's nature,"
Emre shot back.
"So you think you can't know God at all and that His names don't reveal anything about His personality or character, only His will?”
"That's right," said Emre. "Look, here is my uncle, Kerem. He is the apple of my eye. I love this man. He is like my own father. Because he has been blind since birth he has never seen anything. For example, he doesn't know what the color blue is. There is no way to describe it to him because there is no reference point. You can't tell him it is lighter than black and darker than white because he doesn't know what that is either. He can't know because he doesn't have the capacity to understand it. We don't have the capacity to understand God because we have no reference point for it. God is so different from us, there is no similarity to Him, and we have absolutely no capacity at all to understand him. We can only understand His will as given in His commands. But those commands do not reveal God Himself, they only reveal His will."
Hikmet responded, "What about God's actions, don't they reveal something about His character, His nature?"
"No. God's actions do not re ect God's nature. They only express His will. What gives unity to all God's dealings is that God wills them all. As "The One Who Wills" God may be recognized from time to time by means of the descriptions given. But God does not essentially conform to any of those descriptions," Emre said.
"So you are saying that God can act in one way in a given set of circumstances and at another time with the same given circum- stances act another way. According to what you are saying, God could be capricious because you don't know Him, you only know His command for a certain situation with known parameters."
"God is not capricious,” Emre said.
"According to what you are saying you cannot know that. You just said you couldn’t know God, so you don't know whether He is capricious or not. According to you, you only know God's will as revealed in certain commands under certain circumstances. But because you don't know the reasoning or logic of the command or the character of the Lawgiver, if the parameters change just a little bit you don't know what to do."
"Give me an example of what you are saying," Emre said.
"Okay, we are commanded not to drink wine, but it doesn't say anything about cigarettes because cigarettes were not know then. So according to you, because there is not a speci c command against it, we can smoke. According to you, we cannot know anything about the character of God to understand what His will is in this new situation. Our relationship with God is limited to blind obedience to a set of laws."
"No, we are commanded to love God," Emre replied.
"How can you love someone you don't know anything about? Do you love Şükran?"
"Yes."
"But you have never seen her. You love her because you have spent time talking with her and getting to know her. We can only love God whom we can't see if we know about His character. Don't stop your chat line with Şükran, but open a new web page and go into Facebook again."
Emre did so although he was puzzled at why Hikmet would be asking him to do that.
"O.K. let's do a search on the name 'Simay'."
Emre typed in the name "Simay" and did a search. Lot's of people's Facebook pages came up.
"O.K. now pick one."
Emre picked one and the information came up. Simay looked to be a 20 to 21 year old college student in Adana.
Hikmet said, "Do you love her?"
"What are you talking about? Of course I don't love her, I don't even know the woman!”
"That's my point. How can you love someone that you don't know anything about? Now go to the "Start" menu on your computer and select "Run." In the window type ‘cmd’."
Emre did what Hikmet said and a window appeared with a black background. There were no pictures, no color, and no graphics. It was just a black background with some white letters written in English.
Hikmet said, "This is the DOS section of your computer. You type in commands and it does certain things like listing your file directory. But let's say that instead of you typing in a command for it, it wrote out a command for you to follow. For example let's say the DOS command told you to sacri ce a sheep. Further- more, let's say the command is in Arabic. Tell me, Emre, would you love a computer that gave you instructions like that in a language you don't understand? You don't know how the computer works; you don't know anything about it. You don't know why it gives the command to sacri ce a sheep, it just tells you to do it. For each command you have to ask someone to tell you what the command is because you don't know Arabic. Can you love the computer?"
"Of course I wouldn't love the computer, it isn't a person. It is a machine."
"But the God you describe is just a machine. There is no emotion, there is no knowledge of what He is like, there is nothing but commands in a foreign language. How can you love a God like that? Look here is your uncle Kerem. Does he love you?"
Emre answered, "Of course he loves me." "How do you know he loves you?"
"He hugs me, he hangs around me, and he even tells me he loves me."
"But he has never seen you," Hikmet emphasized.
"He has never seen me, but he can hear, talk, and feel."
"That's right,” said Hikmet. "If he couldn't hear and talk and feel he would have no capacity to have a relationship with us at all. We can't see God, but God did not create us without a capacity to understand Him. Everything God does is great, is that right?"
"Yes," said Emre.
"Which do you think is better: that He created us to blindly obey commands given in a foreign language or that He created us with the ability to know, appreciate, and love His character?"
"But," Emre began to say.
However, his uncle Kerem cut him off and said, "Obeying a god's command is servitude, but love is way above that. Love is sublime."
Love is sublime, and God has chosen to reveal Himself to His creation through actions, verbal expressions, and stories. Let's look at a story told by Jesus that helped to illustrate the divine character that we may know, appreciate, and ultimately love. Let's begin our story by reading Luke chapter 15 verses 11-19:
11 Then He said: "A certain man had two sons. 12 "And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.' So he divided to them his livelihood. 13 "And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. 14 "But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. 15 "Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his elds to feed swine. 16 "And he would gladly have lled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything. 17 "But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 'I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 "and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants."'
The Father in the story represents God. We have all received talents and abilities from God. Regardless of how wealthy or happy a person may appear on the outside, every life centered on self is wasted. Anyone attempting to live apart from God is wasting his or her God- given inheritance. Like the son in the parable, those who wish to sin are trying to go far away from God by forgetting him.
In the story, the son left the safety and love of his father to search for something he thought he needed or would make life better. What he didn't know was that it was always there for him. He tried it all: parties, friends, and women. But he was only left with a huge emptiness in his heart that couldn't be lled. It led to his ruin and when he had hit rock bottom he realized how far he had gone. He thought about his father and the life he left behind.
When the son came to himself he decided that he wanted to go home. Why did he think he could go home? Didn't he view his father's rules as restricting and boring when he was younger? What made him think that he would be accepted back into his father's home?
Obviously he had some idea that there was love in his father’s house. It was this memory of love that pulled him back to his father. Isn't it the love of God and the knowledge of His mercy that holds an attraction for our own repentance and turning from sel shness?
Let's continue reading the parable in Luke chapter 15 verses 20-24:
20 "And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 "And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.' 22 "But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 'And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 'for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' And they began to be merry.
Jesus is not just revealing that God's will is for sinners to return home. Jesus is also showing the heart of the father, that is the heart of God. Everyday the father stood outside and looked into the distance to see if his son might be coming home. When he saw the son approaching from a distance he got excited and his heart was filled with joy. In the same way there is yearning in God's heart for the sinner who has spoiled his life apart from God. God is waiting with anticipation for the sinner to return to Him. In the story, the father has compassion on the son, falls on his neck, and kisses him. Without listening to the son's request to work as a hired servant, the father covers the son's rags with good clothing and puts his signet ring of authority on the young man’s nger. He then calls for a feast to celebrate the return of his lost son.
Dear reader, perhaps you have spent your life on sel sh pleasures. Just like the loving father waiting at the end of the road for his boy, you can be sure that it is God's will that you return to His embrace. God has a home of "righteousness," and He wants you in it. But there is more than just God's will, much more. God loves you, and His love is pulling you home. When you can see God's heart yearning for you to come home, when you can feel the love of God and His desire to cover all your sins, you will understand how happy He will be to call you son and restore to you your lost inheritance of eternal life; it makes coming home easier.
Have you ever had a party thrown in your honor? Perhaps all your friends and family surprised you for your birthday, or the grand mo- ment of your circumcision, or maybe your wedding. God says that if you will come home to his family, there will be great rejoicing in heaven. A party among angels! You will have thrilled the heart of God. Your steps toward righteousness thrill God, like a parent thrills at their first child's baby steps.
Let's continue with Jesus' parable in Luke chapter 15 verses 25-32:
25 "Now his older son was in the eld. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 "So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 "And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.' 28 "But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. 29 "So he answered and said to his father, 'Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. 30 'But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.' 31 "And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. 32 'It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.' "
The elder brother was not happy when he realized the feast was made for his younger brother. He looked at his own relationship with his father as one of servant to a master.
“I have been serving you all these years and you never threw a feast for me!”
Dear reader, Jesus is showing us that the servant/master idea of God is wrong. God isn’t a master who demands with threats the obedience of His servants. He is like a loving father hoping that His lost children will come home. In the parable, God is revealing something about Himself, His character. It is not only God's will that we return home, He yearns for our return.
Have you ever heard that "God does not love transgressors," or that "God does not love the ungrateful or wicked?"
Perhaps you grew up believing that "God does not love those who do wrong." But Jesus shows us that God still loves the one who has turned away from Him to a life of sin, and not only wills, but yearns for their return. God is revealing to us who He is.
Actually, God has revealed in scripture not only His will but also His heart, His personality, and His character. Here are a few examples:
"Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart."8
"The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with loving-kindness I have drawn you."9
"Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising loving- kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight," says the LORD."10
"How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred. I will not execute the erceness of My anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not man, The Holy One in your midst; And I will not come with terror."11
Job said, "Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you nd out the limits of the Almighty?"12
We cannot know God to perfection because He is infinite and we are nite. But the Bible also says,
"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law."13
It is God's will that we keep His law. But He has revealed to man that His heart is love so that we may not only do the law but also do it out of love and in appreciation for who He is, the God of love and self-sacrifice. We cannot love Him unless we understand and know Him.
During a family vacation in Antalya little 6-year-old Oktay was swimming in the sea with his uncle Faruk. They grew tired playing in the water and at last were just sitting on the sand and letting the waves lap onto their feet.
As Faruk gazed out upon the water he said to his little nephew Oktay:
"The sea is really amazing. It is sometimes wavy sometimes still. Sometimes quiet, sometimes loud. It is powerful yet calming and soothing. It provides healing. It is really deep. How deep do you think the ocean is?"
"I don't know. It goes deeper than I can go. But I know one thing," Oktay replied.
"What is that?"
"The water down there is wet and salty."
We cannot know everything about God. But just like Oktay knew seawater was wet and salty all the way to the bottom, we too can know something about God. In the Bible there is constant and con- sistent evidence of who God is through self-revelations of His
actions, expressions of what He is like, and by similitudes that he makes about Himself. If the Bible didn't contain passages related to God's feelings, character, and knowledge, there wouldn't be much left in the book!
Stop believing the lies, personal opinions, and ignorance of others. Ask God to show Himself to you in a greater way. Ask God to reveal His character to you so that you can know him better.
"Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good." (Psalm 34:8)
Discussion Questions
1. Why didn't the younger son try to live a wild life while still at home?
2. Does everyone who forgets God come to poverty? What would make a rich man want to return to God?
3. What makes us understand that the younger son was truly repentant?
4. Do you believe that God is completely unknowable? Why or why not? If your answer is "no", what do you know about God?
8 Genesis 6:5, 6
9 Jeremiah 31:3
10 Jeremiah 9:23, 24
11 Hosea 11:8, 9
12 Job 11:7
13 Deut. 29:29
In our culture there is another question that seems to go unasked. It is a lot more serious than the previous ones. The question is,
"What is God like?"
Have you ever wondered what God was like, but you were afraid to ask? Or maybe you did ask and someone told you,
"You don't ask questions like that!"
Or maybe someone said to you forthright,
"God is unknowable."
In this lesson, we will take a look at God's character, personality, and desires. Contrary to what some people say, we can know some- thing about what God is like.
For many, asking questions about God's character is foolish or disrespectful at best and outright rebellious and sinful at worst.
Is it wrong to even ask those questions?
To help us wrestle with that issue let us consider a dialogue between two people discussing whether God can be known or understood.
Emre stroked his beard between his thumb and ngers as he looked at the computer screen. He was reading a chat correspondence from his Internet girlfriend. He had never met Şükran personally because she lived in Erzurum and he was in Istanbul. But during their chats on Facebook the last few months, he had become more interested in her. Although they had not mentioned the word "marriage," they were at the point in their relationship where they were making plans for Emre to go to Erzurum and meet her in person. This particular evening while maintaining his "chat" with Şükran he was also talking with his friend Hikmet and his uncle Kerem.
Hikmet lived just two streets over from Emre and his parents. After work, they would often spend time together late into the evening because Emre had a laptop and wireless in his house. They would sit together, the three of them: Emre, Hikmet, and Şükran. One evening while they were hanging out, Emre's blind uncle Kerem came over. He was 47 years old and quite limited in his education, but he could speak and hear well. When he visited he was always by Emre's side. Kerem listened quietly to the conversation taking place between Emre and Hikmet, often waiting patiently during the long periods of silence, as Emre would divide his attention to the latest chat line sent from Şükran. Suddenly Emre looked up from his computer and looked at Hikmet intently.
"Hikmet, why are you so interested in learning about God? God is not knowable. He is so far and high above us we cannot
comprehend it. He has no similitude so you can't compare Him to anything. You can't study God, so there is no such thing as
theology. What you really study is the will of God as He reveals it."
Hikmet answered back, "But you know the names of God that de- scribe His character. Does that not reveal something about God?"
"Yes we have names of God but those adjectives only describe aspects of His will, they do not re ect anything about God's nature,"
Emre shot back.
"So you think you can't know God at all and that His names don't reveal anything about His personality or character, only His will?”
"That's right," said Emre. "Look, here is my uncle, Kerem. He is the apple of my eye. I love this man. He is like my own father. Because he has been blind since birth he has never seen anything. For example, he doesn't know what the color blue is. There is no way to describe it to him because there is no reference point. You can't tell him it is lighter than black and darker than white because he doesn't know what that is either. He can't know because he doesn't have the capacity to understand it. We don't have the capacity to understand God because we have no reference point for it. God is so different from us, there is no similarity to Him, and we have absolutely no capacity at all to understand him. We can only understand His will as given in His commands. But those commands do not reveal God Himself, they only reveal His will."
Hikmet responded, "What about God's actions, don't they reveal something about His character, His nature?"
"No. God's actions do not re ect God's nature. They only express His will. What gives unity to all God's dealings is that God wills them all. As "The One Who Wills" God may be recognized from time to time by means of the descriptions given. But God does not essentially conform to any of those descriptions," Emre said.
"So you are saying that God can act in one way in a given set of circumstances and at another time with the same given circum- stances act another way. According to what you are saying, God could be capricious because you don't know Him, you only know His command for a certain situation with known parameters."
"God is not capricious,” Emre said.
"According to what you are saying you cannot know that. You just said you couldn’t know God, so you don't know whether He is capricious or not. According to you, you only know God's will as revealed in certain commands under certain circumstances. But because you don't know the reasoning or logic of the command or the character of the Lawgiver, if the parameters change just a little bit you don't know what to do."
"Give me an example of what you are saying," Emre said.
"Okay, we are commanded not to drink wine, but it doesn't say anything about cigarettes because cigarettes were not know then. So according to you, because there is not a speci c command against it, we can smoke. According to you, we cannot know anything about the character of God to understand what His will is in this new situation. Our relationship with God is limited to blind obedience to a set of laws."
"No, we are commanded to love God," Emre replied.
"How can you love someone you don't know anything about? Do you love Şükran?"
"Yes."
"But you have never seen her. You love her because you have spent time talking with her and getting to know her. We can only love God whom we can't see if we know about His character. Don't stop your chat line with Şükran, but open a new web page and go into Facebook again."
Emre did so although he was puzzled at why Hikmet would be asking him to do that.
"O.K. let's do a search on the name 'Simay'."
Emre typed in the name "Simay" and did a search. Lot's of people's Facebook pages came up.
"O.K. now pick one."
Emre picked one and the information came up. Simay looked to be a 20 to 21 year old college student in Adana.
Hikmet said, "Do you love her?"
"What are you talking about? Of course I don't love her, I don't even know the woman!”
"That's my point. How can you love someone that you don't know anything about? Now go to the "Start" menu on your computer and select "Run." In the window type ‘cmd’."
Emre did what Hikmet said and a window appeared with a black background. There were no pictures, no color, and no graphics. It was just a black background with some white letters written in English.
Hikmet said, "This is the DOS section of your computer. You type in commands and it does certain things like listing your file directory. But let's say that instead of you typing in a command for it, it wrote out a command for you to follow. For example let's say the DOS command told you to sacri ce a sheep. Further- more, let's say the command is in Arabic. Tell me, Emre, would you love a computer that gave you instructions like that in a language you don't understand? You don't know how the computer works; you don't know anything about it. You don't know why it gives the command to sacri ce a sheep, it just tells you to do it. For each command you have to ask someone to tell you what the command is because you don't know Arabic. Can you love the computer?"
"Of course I wouldn't love the computer, it isn't a person. It is a machine."
"But the God you describe is just a machine. There is no emotion, there is no knowledge of what He is like, there is nothing but commands in a foreign language. How can you love a God like that? Look here is your uncle Kerem. Does he love you?"
Emre answered, "Of course he loves me." "How do you know he loves you?"
"He hugs me, he hangs around me, and he even tells me he loves me."
"But he has never seen you," Hikmet emphasized.
"He has never seen me, but he can hear, talk, and feel."
"That's right,” said Hikmet. "If he couldn't hear and talk and feel he would have no capacity to have a relationship with us at all. We can't see God, but God did not create us without a capacity to understand Him. Everything God does is great, is that right?"
"Yes," said Emre.
"Which do you think is better: that He created us to blindly obey commands given in a foreign language or that He created us with the ability to know, appreciate, and love His character?"
"But," Emre began to say.
However, his uncle Kerem cut him off and said, "Obeying a god's command is servitude, but love is way above that. Love is sublime."
Love is sublime, and God has chosen to reveal Himself to His creation through actions, verbal expressions, and stories. Let's look at a story told by Jesus that helped to illustrate the divine character that we may know, appreciate, and ultimately love. Let's begin our story by reading Luke chapter 15 verses 11-19:
11 Then He said: "A certain man had two sons. 12 "And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.' So he divided to them his livelihood. 13 "And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. 14 "But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. 15 "Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his elds to feed swine. 16 "And he would gladly have lled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything. 17 "But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 'I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 "and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants."'
The Father in the story represents God. We have all received talents and abilities from God. Regardless of how wealthy or happy a person may appear on the outside, every life centered on self is wasted. Anyone attempting to live apart from God is wasting his or her God- given inheritance. Like the son in the parable, those who wish to sin are trying to go far away from God by forgetting him.
In the story, the son left the safety and love of his father to search for something he thought he needed or would make life better. What he didn't know was that it was always there for him. He tried it all: parties, friends, and women. But he was only left with a huge emptiness in his heart that couldn't be lled. It led to his ruin and when he had hit rock bottom he realized how far he had gone. He thought about his father and the life he left behind.
When the son came to himself he decided that he wanted to go home. Why did he think he could go home? Didn't he view his father's rules as restricting and boring when he was younger? What made him think that he would be accepted back into his father's home?
Obviously he had some idea that there was love in his father’s house. It was this memory of love that pulled him back to his father. Isn't it the love of God and the knowledge of His mercy that holds an attraction for our own repentance and turning from sel shness?
Let's continue reading the parable in Luke chapter 15 verses 20-24:
20 "And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 "And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.' 22 "But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 'And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 'for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' And they began to be merry.
Jesus is not just revealing that God's will is for sinners to return home. Jesus is also showing the heart of the father, that is the heart of God. Everyday the father stood outside and looked into the distance to see if his son might be coming home. When he saw the son approaching from a distance he got excited and his heart was filled with joy. In the same way there is yearning in God's heart for the sinner who has spoiled his life apart from God. God is waiting with anticipation for the sinner to return to Him. In the story, the father has compassion on the son, falls on his neck, and kisses him. Without listening to the son's request to work as a hired servant, the father covers the son's rags with good clothing and puts his signet ring of authority on the young man’s nger. He then calls for a feast to celebrate the return of his lost son.
Dear reader, perhaps you have spent your life on sel sh pleasures. Just like the loving father waiting at the end of the road for his boy, you can be sure that it is God's will that you return to His embrace. God has a home of "righteousness," and He wants you in it. But there is more than just God's will, much more. God loves you, and His love is pulling you home. When you can see God's heart yearning for you to come home, when you can feel the love of God and His desire to cover all your sins, you will understand how happy He will be to call you son and restore to you your lost inheritance of eternal life; it makes coming home easier.
Have you ever had a party thrown in your honor? Perhaps all your friends and family surprised you for your birthday, or the grand mo- ment of your circumcision, or maybe your wedding. God says that if you will come home to his family, there will be great rejoicing in heaven. A party among angels! You will have thrilled the heart of God. Your steps toward righteousness thrill God, like a parent thrills at their first child's baby steps.
Let's continue with Jesus' parable in Luke chapter 15 verses 25-32:
25 "Now his older son was in the eld. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 "So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 "And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.' 28 "But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. 29 "So he answered and said to his father, 'Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. 30 'But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.' 31 "And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. 32 'It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.' "
The elder brother was not happy when he realized the feast was made for his younger brother. He looked at his own relationship with his father as one of servant to a master.
“I have been serving you all these years and you never threw a feast for me!”
Dear reader, Jesus is showing us that the servant/master idea of God is wrong. God isn’t a master who demands with threats the obedience of His servants. He is like a loving father hoping that His lost children will come home. In the parable, God is revealing something about Himself, His character. It is not only God's will that we return home, He yearns for our return.
Have you ever heard that "God does not love transgressors," or that "God does not love the ungrateful or wicked?"
Perhaps you grew up believing that "God does not love those who do wrong." But Jesus shows us that God still loves the one who has turned away from Him to a life of sin, and not only wills, but yearns for their return. God is revealing to us who He is.
Actually, God has revealed in scripture not only His will but also His heart, His personality, and His character. Here are a few examples:
"Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart."8
"The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with loving-kindness I have drawn you."9
"Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising loving- kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight," says the LORD."10
"How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred. I will not execute the erceness of My anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not man, The Holy One in your midst; And I will not come with terror."11
Job said, "Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you nd out the limits of the Almighty?"12
We cannot know God to perfection because He is infinite and we are nite. But the Bible also says,
"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law."13
It is God's will that we keep His law. But He has revealed to man that His heart is love so that we may not only do the law but also do it out of love and in appreciation for who He is, the God of love and self-sacrifice. We cannot love Him unless we understand and know Him.
During a family vacation in Antalya little 6-year-old Oktay was swimming in the sea with his uncle Faruk. They grew tired playing in the water and at last were just sitting on the sand and letting the waves lap onto their feet.
As Faruk gazed out upon the water he said to his little nephew Oktay:
"The sea is really amazing. It is sometimes wavy sometimes still. Sometimes quiet, sometimes loud. It is powerful yet calming and soothing. It provides healing. It is really deep. How deep do you think the ocean is?"
"I don't know. It goes deeper than I can go. But I know one thing," Oktay replied.
"What is that?"
"The water down there is wet and salty."
We cannot know everything about God. But just like Oktay knew seawater was wet and salty all the way to the bottom, we too can know something about God. In the Bible there is constant and con- sistent evidence of who God is through self-revelations of His
actions, expressions of what He is like, and by similitudes that he makes about Himself. If the Bible didn't contain passages related to God's feelings, character, and knowledge, there wouldn't be much left in the book!
Stop believing the lies, personal opinions, and ignorance of others. Ask God to show Himself to you in a greater way. Ask God to reveal His character to you so that you can know him better.
"Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good." (Psalm 34:8)
Discussion Questions
1. Why didn't the younger son try to live a wild life while still at home?
2. Does everyone who forgets God come to poverty? What would make a rich man want to return to God?
3. What makes us understand that the younger son was truly repentant?
4. Do you believe that God is completely unknowable? Why or why not? If your answer is "no", what do you know about God?
8 Genesis 6:5, 6
9 Jeremiah 31:3
10 Jeremiah 9:23, 24
11 Hosea 11:8, 9
12 Job 11:7
13 Deut. 29:29