The Godhead has reconciled believers to Himself (Col. 1:21). Our Lord’s parables in Luke 15 pictures this: the Son, in the man who recovers the lost sheep (Lk. 15:4–7); the Holy Spirit, at work in the woman who uncovers the missing coin (vv. 8–10); and the Father, represented in the welcome home for the son who “was dead and has come to life, was lost and has been found” (vv. 11–24, 32).

The last that the father saw of his son was his neck turned against him as he left home, but he has been looking out for him ever since. Now that he sees him in the distance, what yearnings of pity fill his heart! He runs, falls on that neck, and kisses him again and again. Nothing stems the full flow of his love.

The son thinks rightly about himself (vv. 18–19, 21). Despite the grief involved, “repentance to salvation” is “never to be regretted” (2 Cor. 7:10), for it is our Father’s “good pleasure” and “the glory of His grace” to take us “into favor in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:5–6). We receive the best robe, speaking of acceptance; the ring, of eternal life; and the shoes, of sonship. In the father and son making merry as they feast on the fatted calf, we see our Father fellowshipping with us in all that Christ has accomplished for God’s glory and our blessing.

What a picture of His purpose in saving sinners “according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7), but we can apply it also to the spirit in which believers who go astray but repent and return should be restored. The father’s fulsome reception of his son is reflected in Paul’s exhortation of the saints at Corinth, on behalf of their grief-stricken repentant brother: “ye should rather shew grace and encourage,” and “assure him of your love” (2 Cor. 2:7–8).