In Defense of the Prodigal

In my heart there is this large, soft spot for the Prodigal.  The word itself echoes with images of someone who is lost, someone who stumbles around in the dark with no direction, someone who wastes his life far away from the incredible plans and purposes of God!  Backslider.  Loser.  Offender.  Wrongdoer.  Failure.

 Perhaps that spot in my heart aches for the Prodigal because I once was one myself.  Running as far and as fast as I could away from the shadow of His wing, independent and proud with no need of a strong tower that I could run into and be safe!  Thoughts swirling in my head of how I only needed to please myself, with no thought for anything or anyone else.  I am so very thankful for a mother who loved me unconditionally and prayed for me constantly and for a gracious, loving, heavenly Father who in his incredible mercy would follow me even into the depths of hell, his right hand holding me fast! (Psalm 139)

 My heart constantly yearns for the Prodigal and my cries go up to the Living God praying in earnest that He would not leave them that way!  But, deep down inside there is a crippling, gnawing fear that threatens to overwhelm me, that shouts out that the Prodigal is lost forever, has lost that most incredible gift.  Salvation.  The right to live with our beautiful Saviour forever!

 Ephesians 1:13 tells me this; “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise!”  Oh my!  That scripture just thrills my heart, sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise!  And Oh, what a promise, guaranteed redemption, deliverance, freedom from sin, an inheritance of everlasting life all “to the praise of His glory!”  How can we ever stop thanking the Lord!

 Sealed! Let that sink right into your soul.  Sealed.  Marked for God.  Authenticated beyond a shadow of a doubt.  Engraved with the pattern of the Holy Spirit of promise.  Guaranteed!  It is so delicious I can hardly stand it!  To know that I am sealed with the Holy Spirit himself is almost too glorious!

 Then to make it even sweeter Esther 8:8 says “You yourselves write a decree concerning the Jews, as you please in the King’s name, and seal it with the King’s signet ring; for whatever is written in the King’s name and sealed with the King’s signet ring, no-one can revoke.”  Let me say that again because I absolutely love the sound of it – whatever is sealed by the King, NO-ONE can revoke!  That seal, that promise of the Holy Spirit on your life is completely irrevocable, no-one can take that away from you, ever.

 The word seal comes from the greek word phrasso which means to stop up, to fence in, to put to silence.  Satan is silenced concerning you, concerning your sin, you are forever safe and secure, hidden from the plans of the enemy.  Job himself said “My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and you cover my iniquity” (Job 14:17).  He knew that no-one could ever open that bag, could ever break the lock of that seal and let his transgression free, it was sealed for all eternity!

 But back to the Prodigal.  Surely the Prodigal could unlock that seal, could break the engraved mark of the Holy Spirit of promise, could get out of the iron-clad seal that no-one can revoke?

 Rev 20:2-3 says “He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the devil and satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished.”  Even satan himself, that ugly, old devil, could not break the seal that was set on him and come out of that bottomless pit to continue to torment the nations.  He was sealed in, locked in, bound up, for a thousand years, only God could release him.

 No matter the rebellion, the desire to run, the blinding to the truth, the Prodigal can no more undo the seal of the Holy Spirit of promise upon his life than satan himself can undo the seal of the King of Kings that will bind him up in chains in the deepest, darkest pit!

 A promise from the King, you can take it to the bank, you can know deep down in the heart of your heart that God will never break his promise.  Even if one believer that was sealed by God somehow was lost then there would be no glory, it would be a stain upon the integrity of the One who bears no stain.  So for the Prodigal there is no fear that they have gone too far or sinned too much and broken that seal that was placed there by the Almighty God.

For me, I cannot see how it is possible for the Prodigal to lose their inheritance.  There is no way to revoke that which the King of Kings and Lord of Lords has sealed.  There is no way that they will not be found in the presence of our Redeemer and Deliverer forever and always!