Luke 15
Witness instruct throughout the Bible: H3256 yacar--to chasten, discipline,instruct, admonish, to teach
Job 4:3 Behold, thou hast instructed H3256 many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.
The Torah ...............
Deuteronomy 4:36 Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct H3256 thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.
The prophets ..................
Isaiah 8:11 For the LORD spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed H3256 me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying,
The writings ...........................
1 Chronicles 15:22 And Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was for song: he instructed H3256 about the song, because he was skilful.
Psalm 2:10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, H3256 ye judges of the earth.
Luke 15:11-32
11 And he said, A certain man had two sons: 12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. 13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. 14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. 15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. 17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, 19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. 20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. 21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. 22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: 23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. 25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. 28 And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him. 29 And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: 30 But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. 31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. 32 It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
YESHUA CAME TO RESTORE RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HOLINESS TO MANKIND
Not only did Yeshua come to reintroduce the Kingdom, but He came also to restore righteousness and holiness to mankind, both of which we lost in the Garden of Eden. Many people have the wrong idea about righteousness. They assume that being righteous means doing right things. That’s not righteousness. Righteousness has more to do with a condition of life as opposed to religious actions.
Righteousness is actually a legal term that means to be rightly positioned. A righteous person, then, is someone who is in right standing with the authorities. In a fallen world, there is no such thing as a “normal” person. God designed us for righteousness and holiness, and without them we are abnormal. We are deficient and defective, unable to function properly in the environment for which we were designed.
That is why crime exists. That is why we as a race hate each other and why we fight and kill each other. Our lack of righteousness and holiness manifests itself in our lives. We destroy each other because we don’t know why we are here, and the very environment we were created to rule ends up ruling us.
HOW DOES ONE BECOME HOLY?
The Word of God says, “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb. 9:22). “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Yeshua.” Christ, the Son of God, was Spirit, with no body or blood; Yeshua, the man, had both.
We cannot worship Christ and forget about Yeshua because without Yeshua we cannot have Christ. The blood of Yeshua cleansed our sin and created the basis for our forgiveness, making it possible for Christ to restore us to righteousness and holiness and bring us the Holy Spirit.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BLOOD OF YESHUA
In God’s Kingdom economy, blood is absolutely necessary for our restoration. That is why the Hebraic law in the Old Testament required blood sacrifices of animals.
The first thing God did to deal with Adam and Eve’s sin was to cover them with innocent blood: “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them” (Gen. 3:21). Adam and Eve had tried to cover themselves with fig leaves, but that was inadequate because no blood was involved. They were still in their sin. An animal sacrifice was only a symbol of covered sin; the death of a lamb could never truly take away the sin of man. Only a sacrifice equal in stature to man would qualify. In other words, only the shed blood of a human being would be sufficient to cleanse human sin.
Not just any human would do; it had to be a human without any sin of his own, a human who was already pure and spotless and holy. Christ, the sinless Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary, is the only person who met the requirement.
THE KINGDOM IS NOT A RELIGION
The Kingdom is not a religion because religion is man’s search for God. With the Kingdom the search is over; God has revealed Himself to man and sent His Son to set us free from our sin and restore us to Himself. The Kingdom is not a religion but a relationship, an intimate communion in which we enter into a deeply personal relationship with the living Christ.
Yeshua came to reintroduce the Kingdom of God to mankind and restore us to righteousness and holiness. He accomplished this by dying on the cross, where His shed blood had the power to cover and wash away our sin. Yeshua became sin for us so that we could become the righteousness of God (see 2 Cor. 5:21). His dead body lay in the tomb for three days, cold and lifeless.
Death could not hold Him. On the morning of that third day, He rose from the dead. Yeshua’s resurrection guarantees that all who have been washed clean of sin by His blood will also share in His life—eternal life!!!
YESHUA CAME TO RESTORE THE HOLY SPIRIT IN MAN
The third goal of Yeshua's mission on earth was to restore the Holy Spirit in the heart of man. Before this could happen, He had to accomplish the first two goals: to reintroduce the Kingdom, and to restore our righteousness and holiness through His blood. Only when we were clean and holy once again would we be fit vessels for the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence.
Why is the Holy Spirit so important? As we have seen before, He is the link, the spiritual connection between us and the Kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit could not come until Yeshua had completed His work on the crucifixion stake, risen from the dead, and applied His blood for the cleansing of man’s sin.
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Yeshua came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After He said this, He showed them His hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Yeshua said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you.” And with that He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven” (John 20:19-23).
TRAINING TO BECOME ROYALTY IN THE HEAVENLY KINGDOM
As children of God, we are part of the royal family of the Kingdom of heaven. Like any other member of royalty, we don’t just step into the role without any preparation; we must be trained. Proper and careful training is essential for rulers in the making.
We can see a perfect example of this in the British royal family in the upbringing of Prince William and his younger brother, Prince Harry. Sons of Prince Charles, the future King of England, and the late Princess Diana, the two young men have been groomed from birth for the very special place they occupy as heirs to the throne.
In the same way, we must learn how to think and act like the royal children of the heavenly King. We have spent so long in the condition and mentality of slaves in the kingdom of darkness that we automatically think and act like slaves.
If we are to exercise our full status and potential in the earthly realm as ambassadors of our Father, we must be retrained in the behavior and mindset of the Kingdom. In this task, the Holy Spirit is our tutor.
And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth.…But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you (John 14:16-17, 26).
But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.…But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come (John 16:77, 13).
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS OUR PERSONAL TUTOR
We need a tutor like the Holy Spirit because our minds and thinking are corrupt and it takes us a while to grasp and genuinely believe the truth about who we are in Christ. We are royal children of the Kingdom of God, but have spent our entire lives living in the slave quarters. Our thoughts and behavior won’t change overnight.
The Holy Spirit lives in us as a continuing abiding presence, patiently and lovingly teaching us who we are and how to think, speak, and act accordingly. One of the things the Holy Spirit teaches us is how to stand in authority as true sons and daughters of God no matter what troubles or difficulties come into our lives.
As royal children of our heavenly Father, we can take charge of our circumstances, rather than being a slave to them. We can live daily in power and victory, rather than in weakness and defeat. All it takes is training, and the Holy Spirit is our Teacher.
YESHUA CAME TO RESTORE RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HOLINESS TO MANKIND
Not only did Yeshua come to reintroduce the Kingdom, but He came also to restore righteousness and holiness to mankind, both of which we lost in the Garden of Eden. Many people have the wrong idea about righteousness. They assume that being righteous means doing right things. That’s not righteousness. Righteousness has more to do with a condition of life as opposed to religious actions.
Righteousness is actually a legal term that means to be rightly positioned. A righteous person, then, is someone who is in right standing with the authorities. In a fallen world, there is no such thing as a “normal” person. God designed us for righteousness and holiness, and without them we are abnormal. We are deficient and defective, unable to function properly in the environment for which we were designed.
That is why crime exists. That is why we as a race hate each other and why we fight and kill each other. Our lack of righteousness and holiness manifests itself in our lives. We destroy each other because we don’t know why we are here, and the very environment we were created to rule ends up ruling us.
HOW DOES ONE BECOME HOLY?
The Word of God says, “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb. 9:22). “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Yeshua.” Christ, the Son of God, was Spirit, with no body or blood; Yeshua, the man, had both.
We cannot worship Christ and forget about Yeshua because without Yeshua we cannot have Christ. The blood of Yeshua cleansed our sin and created the basis for our forgiveness, making it possible for Christ to restore us to righteousness and holiness and bring us the Holy Spirit.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BLOOD OF YESHUA
In God’s Kingdom economy, blood is absolutely necessary for our restoration. That is why the Hebraic law in the Old Testament required blood sacrifices of animals.
The first thing God did to deal with Adam and Eve’s sin was to cover them with innocent blood: “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them” (Gen. 3:21). Adam and Eve had tried to cover themselves with fig leaves, but that was inadequate because no blood was involved. They were still in their sin. An animal sacrifice was only a symbol of covered sin; the death of a lamb could never truly take away the sin of man. Only a sacrifice equal in stature to man would qualify. In other words, only the shed blood of a human being would be sufficient to cleanse human sin.
Not just any human would do; it had to be a human without any sin of his own, a human who was already pure and spotless and holy. Christ, the sinless Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary, is the only person who met the requirement.
THE KINGDOM IS NOT A RELIGION
The Kingdom is not a religion because religion is man’s search for God. With the Kingdom the search is over; God has revealed Himself to man and sent His Son to set us free from our sin and restore us to Himself. The Kingdom is not a religion but a relationship, an intimate communion in which we enter into a deeply personal relationship with the living Christ.
Yeshua came to reintroduce the Kingdom of God to mankind and restore us to righteousness and holiness. He accomplished this by dying on the cross, where His shed blood had the power to cover and wash away our sin. Yeshua became sin for us so that we could become the righteousness of God (see 2 Cor. 5:21). His dead body lay in the tomb for three days, cold and lifeless.
Death could not hold Him. On the morning of that third day, He rose from the dead. Yeshua’s resurrection guarantees that all who have been washed clean of sin by His blood will also share in His life—eternal life!!!
YESHUA CAME TO RESTORE THE HOLY SPIRIT IN MAN
The third goal of Yeshua's mission on earth was to restore the Holy Spirit in the heart of man. Before this could happen, He had to accomplish the first two goals: to reintroduce the Kingdom, and to restore our righteousness and holiness through His blood. Only when we were clean and holy once again would we be fit vessels for the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence.
Why is the Holy Spirit so important? As we have seen before, He is the link, the spiritual connection between us and the Kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit could not come until Yeshua had completed His work on the crucifixion stake, risen from the dead, and applied His blood for the cleansing of man’s sin.
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Yeshua came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After He said this, He showed them His hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Yeshua said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you.” And with that He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven” (John 20:19-23).
TRAINING TO BECOME ROYALTY IN THE HEAVENLY KINGDOM
As children of God, we are part of the royal family of the Kingdom of heaven. Like any other member of royalty, we don’t just step into the role without any preparation; we must be trained. Proper and careful training is essential for rulers in the making.
We can see a perfect example of this in the British royal family in the upbringing of Prince William and his younger brother, Prince Harry. Sons of Prince Charles, the future King of England, and the late Princess Diana, the two young men have been groomed from birth for the very special place they occupy as heirs to the throne.
In the same way, we must learn how to think and act like the royal children of the heavenly King. We have spent so long in the condition and mentality of slaves in the kingdom of darkness that we automatically think and act like slaves.
If we are to exercise our full status and potential in the earthly realm as ambassadors of our Father, we must be retrained in the behavior and mindset of the Kingdom. In this task, the Holy Spirit is our tutor.
And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth.…But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you (John 14:16-17, 26).
But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.…But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come (John 16:77, 13).
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS OUR PERSONAL TUTOR
We need a tutor like the Holy Spirit because our minds and thinking are corrupt and it takes us a while to grasp and genuinely believe the truth about who we are in Christ. We are royal children of the Kingdom of God, but have spent our entire lives living in the slave quarters. Our thoughts and behavior won’t change overnight.
The Holy Spirit lives in us as a continuing abiding presence, patiently and lovingly teaching us who we are and how to think, speak, and act accordingly. One of the things the Holy Spirit teaches us is how to stand in authority as true sons and daughters of God no matter what troubles or difficulties come into our lives.
As royal children of our heavenly Father, we can take charge of our circumstances, rather than being a slave to them. We can live daily in power and victory, rather than in weakness and defeat. All it takes is training, and the Holy Spirit is our Teacher.
Shema Selah this is our training to be royalty--our REstored place and position!!!
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