Christian Churches of God
No. 199z
Summary:
Lost Sheep and the Prodigal Son
(Edition 1.1 19970510-19990526)
The parables in Luke 15 have an extended meaning that is not well appreciated. Many apply
the parable of the prodigal son to wayward sinners but most do not understand the powerful
scope and symbolism of these parables.
Christian Churches of God
PO Box 369,
WODEN
ACT 2606,
AUSTRALIA
E-mail: secretary@ccg.org
(Copyright  1997, 1999 Wade Cox)
(Summary by Tom Hoffahrt, ed. Wade Cox)
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Summary: Lost Sheep and the Prodigal Son
Lost Sheep and the Prodigal Son
Luke 15 is directly aimed at explaining the
concept of sin and repentance to two classes
of people – both the sinners and those who
profited by them. A third class was also there
as Pharisees and thus there were sinners and
the self-righteous.
The lesson by Christ in Luke is broken into
three parts; the lost sheep; the woman and the
lost silver; and the prodigal son. Each parable
is an interlinked sector of the whole, which
explains the love and mercy and forgiveness
of God.
The Lost Sheep
The first six verses of the lost sheep tie in the
audience, namely the publicans and sinners, to
the lost sheep and the search for them that is
made by the shepherd. The self-righteous of
the Pharisees murmured against this, because
they did not see that it was necessary to
receive, or even eat with sinners (verse 2).
The text in verse 7 lifts the sense out of the
physical into the spiritual heavenly realm and
ties it into the loyal Host and the redemption
of the lost sinners. The central issue is
identified as repentance and concerns all three
parables as the real problem in issue (Luke
15:1-7).
The man in the first section is often seen to be
Christ looking for the lost sheep. He has to
leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go
in search of the lost one until he finds it. It is
the same search as the woman undertakes
from verse 8 onwards. The search extends
from the Host, that the shepherd is forced to
leave in the wilderness; a place where the
ninety-nine might feed freely and it is not
infertile.
The search continues so that the sheep is
found. Nothing is left to be lost. This extends
over the entire Host. When the sheep is found
there is rejoicing with Messiah, who comes
home with the sheep and celebrates with his
friends and neighbours. The sense of this
reconciliation is seen also in the third section
concerning the prodigal son.
The Woman and Her Treasure
Luke 15:8-10 continues into the section of
the woman who searches for her treasures.
The Holy Spirit is symbolised by the woman,
who sweeps the house clean in order to
restore her treasure to its full amount.
The use of ten pieces of silver appears to
relate to the fallen Host and their conversion.
The price for Christ was that of a slave at
thirty pieces of silver. This was a piece for
each of the 30 entities in the inner council of
the Elohim, as we see in Revelation 4 and 5.
Christ stated that a third of the Host had
fallen with Satan in the rebellion, represented
here in the ten, as a third of the thirty. The
purpose is that the Holy Spirit has to make
the house clean, in order to restore the lost
pieces.
The Prodigal Son
In the third section the man (God the Father)
is portrayed as having two sons. The
symbolism is Christ and Satan. The far-off
place is the wilderness of sin and the place of
traffic and merchandise, for which Satan was
condemned and for which he fell from grace
(see Isa. 14:12-19; Ezek. 28:12-19). So God
has a faithful and obedient son and a prodigal
or wayward son (Luke 15:11-32).
The second son could not wait for the bounty
that was to be bestowed upon him. Being in
the form of God he sought to grasp equality
with God. Christ the elder son did not seek to
grasp this equality (Phil. 2:5-8).
Satan is to be removed and changed so that
this being is not to be anymore (Ezek. 28:1219). Thus, there is a process of restoration to
deal with the Host as well in the final
judgment (see the paper The Judgment of the
Demons (No. 80)).
Christ remained steady and loyal and was
always by the side of God. Yet we saw that
he had to go away to recover the sheep that
were lost. This was only by example and selfsacrifice. We cannot read the three parables
Summary: Lost Sheep and the Prodigal Son
in isolation, as the text in Luke is the
complete sequence. The parable was not
meant to be fully understood until the demons
had the full chance to repent.
We see from Luke 15:13 that not many days
after Satan was given the power and wealth,
he went into a far country and wasted his
substance with riotous living. This essentially
is the message in Ezekiel and Isaiah. In the
full story he took a third of the Host (Rev.
12:4).
The Family at Issue
This parable in Luke shows that the ousia of
the prodigal son was wasted, but it was
derived as his inheritance from the Father.
The faithful son was always with the Father
and partook of the inheritance of the Father.
He was heir of the Father, but both sons
shared in the inheritance. In this way, all are
heirs together with the Messiah as eldest son
or prõtotokos of the creation. The Trinity is
thus completely false and the divine nature is
shared by the sons of God. The entire Host are
and were always sons of God as Christ was a
son of God.
After he had been gone many days there was a
famine in that land and the prodigal son began
to be in want (verse 14). The mighty famine
was due to the fact that it was not run
according to the laws of the Father (Deut. 28).
He joined himself to the citizens of a foreign
land as a form of slavery and was no longer a
citizen of the Father (cf. Phil. 3:20). This was
the production of the fallen Host divorced
from God and which produced the Nephilim
who have no resurrection (Isa. 26:14; and see
the paper The Nephilim (No. 154)).
He was then given to feed swine, the
symbolism being that he was unclean ritually
and spiritually. This total desolation and
hunger is a realisation that he is cut off from
his Father’s house and family.
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In the end he realises that he has sinned
against heaven and before God (v. 18). This
confession and repentance is enough to
restore him to the love of the Father. He did
not properly understand the nature of the
Father and sought merely to be as one of the
hired servants. This ignorance caused the
rebellion in the first instance. The loyal Host
showed faith even though it had not been
fully revealed to them.
All who live in the house of God, possessing
the Holy Spirit, are sons of God. The
prodigal son was to be restored to his former
condition. He was given the first robe and a
ring was put on his finger. We are all given a
robe washed in the blood of the Lamb and
that extends to the entire heavenly Host, even
up to and including Satan. In other words, the
robe of salvation washed white in the blood
of the Lamb, is of a first or uniform quality,
so that all partake equally of the citizenship
of God.
The son was seen as being dead and is alive,
was lost and is found. All were under the
death penalty and all were saved by the desire
of the Father and the efforts of the sons,
under the one who was the loyal vinedresser
in the fields.
A reproach is made to the Father for His
seeming unjust leniency. The prodigal son
has devoured the living of the Father with
harlots. This is a reference to Jude 6 and
Genesis 6:4. God answers Christ (verses 3132) and remember it is Christ speaking in the
Spirit. Compare Romans 9:4-5 and Matthew
20:14 regarding all that I have is yours.
When we are confronted with the repentance
of the Host, including Satan, make sure we
are possessed of the love of the Father and
not as a jealous elder son. Christ himself
stated and understood this point and so
should we.
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