THE
BIBLE PRAYER LINE – Bible Questions Answered
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Bible
Prayer Line Index
Bible Questions Answered:
“In
the prodigal son, who is the elder son?..”
Pete/
Burlington, North Carolina U.S.A.
Bible Answer:
Bible Texts:
The parable of the prodigal son:
Luke 15:11-32 NLT (Parable of the Lost Son)
11
To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man
had two sons.
12
The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate
now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth
between his sons.
13
“A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and
moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild
living.
14
About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land,
and he began to starve.
15
He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into
his fields to feed the pigs.
16
The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the
pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.
17
“When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home
even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am
dying of hunger!
18 I
will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against
both heaven and you,
19
and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on
as a hired servant.”’
20
“So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long
way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion,
he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.
21
His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and
you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’
22
“But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest
robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and
sandals for his feet.
23
And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a
feast,
24
for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was
lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.
25
“Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he
returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house,
26
and he asked one of the servants what was going on.
27
‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has
killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe
return.’
28
“The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came
out and begged him,
29
but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never
once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that
time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my
friends.
30
Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on
prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’
31
“His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed
by me, and everything I have is yours.
32
We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has
come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”
Who is the older brother in this story, Jesus plainly tells us.
Luke
15:1-3 NLT
1
Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came
to listen to Jesus teach.
2
This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain
that He was associating with such sinful people—even eating with
them!
3 So
Jesus told them this story:
Three stories:
1) The Lost Sheep Luke 15:4-7 NLT
2) The Lost Coin Luke 15:8-10 NLT
3) The Lost Son Luke 15:11-32 NLT
Our Lord is telling these three parables to....
1) Tell everyone, who He is trying to reach – The Lost Ones, and
the great joy, when one is found!
2) Tell the Pharisees, and Chief Priests, a very important message.
Jesus embraced sinners, because they were the ones He had come to
reach.
The Jewish Pharisees and Chief Priests, by virtue of their heritage
from Abraham, thought themselves in the kingdom, and others, as
sinners being cast out.
Not so, says The Lord.
Romans
8:11,12 NLT
11
And I tell you this, that many Gentiles will come from all over the
world—from east and west—and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven.
12
But many Israelites—those for whom the Kingdom was prepared—will
be thrown into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth.”
Matthew
9:13 KJV
But
go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not
sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous (self-righteous
e.d.), but sinners to repentance.
Mark
2:17 KJV
When
Jesus heard it, He saith unto them, They that are whole have no need
of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the
righteous (self-righteous),
but sinners to repentance.
Luke
5:32 KJV
I
came not to call the righteous (self-righteous),
but sinners to repentance.
Matthew 23:13 NLT (Jesus Scorns Religious Leaders vs.1-36)
What
sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees.
Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in
people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let
others enter either.
Rock
Of Ages
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Save from wrath and make me pure.
Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.
While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyes shall close in death,
When I rise to worlds unknown,
And behold Thee on Thy throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.
Author: Augustus M. Toplady
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXognn1RQLY
Prayer:
Deuteronomy
32:3,4 KJV
3
Because I will publish the name of The Lord: ascribe ye greatness
unto our God.
4 He
is The Rock, His work is perfect: for all His ways are judgment: a
God of Truth and without iniquity, Just and Right is He.
