HEAVEN’S LOST AND FOUND
“We had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found” (Lk 15:32).
Several months ago I lost my wristwatch. I really liked my Swiss Invicta moon phase watch that I had bought off of eBay for a bargain. I racked my brain where I could have left my watch, but I could never find it, even after months of searching. Coming to terms that my favorite watch was a lost cause, I looked to see how much it would cost to replace it. Ouch! It was going to cost about $200 or more. So, I obtained a cheaper watch.
However, I am happy to report that it turned up this week! Wow, I was so happy it has been found!
I then thought of Jesus’ parable of the lost coin that teaches us about how God feels about us. Jesus teaches us the supreme value that heaven places on recovering a lost soul. “What woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!’ In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Lk 15:8-10).
The woman’s desperate search with a lamp is due to oriental homes often not having a window for light. The silver coin (a drachma) was equivalent to a day’s wage. “To explain the seeming panic over the loss of a single coin, it must be understood that in Hebrew households of the time, when a woman was first married, she would string ten coins together and wear them across her forehead as a public announcement of her marriage. Because it sometimes took years to save these coins, losing one would be similar to losing the diamond out of one’s wedding ring-a loss not only because of the monetary value, but because of the sentimental value” (Courson’s Application Bible Commentary).
So, Jesus tells us that He knows that God is no less diligent in seeking lost sinners than a woman persistently searches for her precious lost coin. Jesus also confidently assures us what makes heaven happy – the recovery of a lost sinner who repents! Caird observed, “To call a man lost is to pay him a high compliment, for it means that he is precious in the sight of God” (Luke, 181).
How incredibly encouraging that the loving God of heaven sent his Son to earth on the urgent mission to “seek and to save that which was lost” (Lk 19:10). God cares enough about our soul’s welfare to send the very best of heaven to reclaim us. It is not a shameful thing to repent of sin, rather it is a cause of celebration in heaven!
So, are we willing to be rescued? The greatest spiritual challenge today is not getting people saved, but it is first getting them to realize how terribly lost in sin they are without Christ. Someone has said “repentance is the hardest command in the Bible.” God is willing to take us back, if we are humbly willing to return. Jesus said, “Except you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Lk 13:3).
By W. Frank Walton
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