Luke 15 contains one of the most beloved stories in all the Bible. We often call it the parable of the prodigal son, but it is as much about the loving father as it is about the wandering boy.
The son demanded his inheritance, left his father’s house and traveled into a far country. There he “wasted his substance with riotous living.” What promised freedom brought bondage. What promised pleasure produced pain. What promised satisfaction left him empty.
That is because sin always overpromises and underdelivers. It will take us farther than we intended to go, keep us longer than we intended to stay and cost us more than we intended to pay.
When the son had spent everything, a famine arose. The young man who had left a full table was soon starving beside a pigpen. Then Luke 15:17 says, “And when he came to himself.”
He remembered that there was bread enough and to spare in his father’s house. He confessed, “ I have sinned,” arose, and started home.
The most beautiful part of the story is the father’s response.
“When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran.” The son expected rejection, but he received affection. He planned to ask for a servant’s place, but the father restored him as a son.
Time does not allow me to talk about the shoes, and the ring, and the fatted calf the father bestowed upon the son! However, I would like to focus on that remarkable command issued by the father: “Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him.”
Not merely a robe. Not an ordinary robe. The best robe—the finest garment in the father’s house.
The son did not purchase it, earn it or deserve it. He came home bankrupt, dirty, and ashamed. Everything necessary for his restoration had to be supplied by the father.
That robe is a beautiful picture of the salvation God provides through Jesus Christ. Isaiah 61:10 says, “He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness.”
We cannot make ourselves righteous before a holy God. Good works, morality, church attendance, baptism and religious activity cannot erase our sin. Isaiah 64:6 reminds us that “ all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” We need a righteousness greater than our own.
Second Corinthians 5:21 explains what Christ accomplished: “ For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” Jesus took our sin upon Himself at Calvary so that everyone who trusts Him may be clothed in His righteousness.
The robe covered the evidence of the prodigal’s past and confirmed his restored position. The father declared, “This my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” The robe announced to everyone that the father had received him.
Salvation is free to the sinner, but it was costly to the Saviour. First Peter 1:18–19 says that we were redeemed, not with silver and gold, “but with the precious blood of Christ.”
Perhaps you feel that you have traveled too far, failed too greatly or sinned too deeply. Remember the prodigal. He came home guilty, but the father forgave him. He came home filthy, but the father clothed him. He came home empty, but the father filled him. He came home broken, but the father restored him. He came home unworthy, but the father received him.
The question is not whether we are worthy. We are not. The question is whether Christ is worthy—and He is.
You cannot earn the best robe. You cannot purchase it or manufacture it. You can only receive what the Father has provided through His Son.
I for one, am thankful He has clothed me in His righteousness!
Jimmy Barrett is a resident of Blackshear and pastor of Southside Baptist Church in Waycross.
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