Question:
Kindly explain the parable of the prodigal son. In Heb. 6:4-6 it seems impossible for the back slider to return, but the prodigal son seems to have returned and was received by his father.
Answer:
Hebrews 6:4-6 does not imply that the individual cannot return, but that he will not return. It says that it is impossible “to renew them;” that is, no outward inducement or persuasion of friends will bring them back to God. The desire to return is gone. The parable of the prodigal son illustrates this point clearly. No matter who they are, anyone who longs to return to their Father’s house may return and find welcome, just the same as the younger son, who had wasted his substance, found welcome with his earthly father. Every desire a backslider has to return to his Father’s house is but the echo of the pleading voice of the Spirit of God. Every longing for the good found alone in Christ is born of the love by which God calls the backslider to return. God is as much more willing to receive us than the earthly father was to receive his son, as heaven is higher than the earth (Isaiah 55:7-9).
The description of backslidden Judah and Israel in Jeremiah 2 and 3 shows God’s desire for their return, as in Jeremiah 3:22, “Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.” And again, in Jeremiah 4:1, “If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return unto Me.” The record of all God’s dealings with His people shows that He “delighteth in mercy,” and that there is nothing He longs for so much as to have the backslider and the sinner come to Him. He says, “Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11). If we come to God like the prodigal son, saying, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son,” yet with simple faith in God’s goodness, the Lord will receive us.
