Posted August 29, 2026

The Prodigal Son is the biblical story of a father who welcomes his wayward son back home with love and celebration (Luke 15:11-32). The forgiving father is a picture of God and His loving attitude toward those who are lost.  Like the Prodigal Son, when we mess up, we run from the ones we believe we have disappointed. When the Prodigal Son “came to himself”, he turned to his father. When he did, the father ran to meet him, not to condemn him. Like the father of this story, Jesus always welcomes us with acceptance and forgiveness, not condemnation. In this story, the older brother was angry that his younger rebellious brother received favor and forgiveness from their father. The older brother represents followers of the Law of condemnation, going to their father with accusations. The Prodigal Son didn’t Buy it! When people thought he should start at the bottom in his father’s eyes, he didn’t Buy it!

Don’t You Buy it, either! In Galatians 1:8-9, the Apostle Paul understands the assignment: “If we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” When someone preaches against your right standing in God’s eyes, Don’t Buy It. God has not taken away our free will, and we do make bad choices in life. Jesus paid the price for everything  we won’t get right in the future, “so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God”

(2 Corin 5:21). Jesus has completed His assignment. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one shall pluck them from my hand” (John 10:28). We have a Blessed Hope in Jesus. Nothing  that was released when Adam and Eve disobeyed God has power over you. His work for all who Believe is Finished.

As He told his disciples, Jesus is preparing a place for us. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself” (John 14:2-3). OUR work is to Rest in the assurance of our salvation, to Rest in the Blessed Hope that we will see Jesus. OUR work is to encourage others to have the same Blessed Hope and not allow the devices of the enemy – teaching and preaching “any other gospel” in this age of Grace – to change our mind. OUR work is the Great Commission, to “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). OUR work is to Occupy until He comes to carry us back with him. The Rapture is for those holding on to this Blessed Hope, when “the dead in Christ” shall rise and we who are still alive shall be “caught up together with them” in the clouds, forever with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

Jesus spoke often that His earthly ministry was for the Jews, that He was here for them. Revelations 1:3 tells us, “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him (the Jews): and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.” The Rapture will carry all true believers away from a future of suffering that we cannot even imagine, for those who are “left behind”. Jesus will touch down on the earth. It will be a time of repentance and spiritual awakening for the Jewish people who did not acknowledge Him as the Messiah when He was in the world. There will be tribulation. Our Blessed Hope is to escape a destiny of despair and destruction.

“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14).