(Luke 15:11-13)
And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to
his father, Father, give me the portion of goods [substance] that
falleth to me. And he divided [distributed or parceled out] unto
them his living
[bios; duration, means, and manner of life]. 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 [zao;
the element or principle of the spirit and soul]. 1.
What was the “substance” that this prodigal son wasted? He wasted his
“time,” i.e. his “life-time.” 2.
riotous = Gk: unsavedness, i.e. (by impl.) profligacy: excess,
riot. 3.
profligate = Dict: 1. utterly and shamelessly immoral; thoroughly
dissolute (indifferent to moral restraints; licentious). 2. recklessly prodigal
(wastefully) or extravagant. 4.
(Luke 15:30) But as soon as
this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living [bios] with harlots
[strumpets, whores /// fornicators], thou hast killed for him the fatted
calf. 5.
(Eph 5:15-20) See then that
ye walk circumspectly [exactly: diligently, perfectly], not as
fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time [vs.
being prodigal sons wasting your allotted life-time in the world], because
the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding
what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk [i.e. filled] with wine [natural],
wherein is excess [unsavedness, i.e. (by impl.) profligacy: excess,
riot (riotous)]; but be filled with the Spirit [spiritual]; Speaking
to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making
melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things
unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; 6.
redeeming
= Gk: to buy up, i.e. ransom; fig. to rescue from loss (improve
opportunity):--redeem /// to go to market, i.e. (by impl.) to purchase; spec. to
redeem:--buy, redeem. OUR COMPLETE REDEMPTIONBut what precisely will the Lord’s Second Coming (David in type) fully redeem (take or seize for Himself – “and take their pledge” 1 Sam 17:18) away from the world (Goliath in type)? For born again saints, the wheat only, the Lord will fully redeem our attention-time. The full redemption of our attention-time is the continuation of our life in an eternal spiritual form, beyond this temporary natural form, excluding the “time” element which shall cease when we die. That is, the Lord Jesus will fully redeem and receive to Himself our then FULL ATTENTION, rather than our present PARTIAL ATTENTION. Our present partial attention relates to having received “the earnest” (2 Cor 1:22; 5:5; Eph 1:14) of the Holy Spirit, whereas our full attention relates to receiving the “fullness” of the Holy Spirit upon either our death or His Second Coming (1 Thes 4:17). Of course the Philistine tares will continue to worship their own father, “but the tares are the children of the wicked one” (Mat 13:38), eternally.God, who is always in control, has “divided” or allotted to each of the wheat “from the foundation of the world” (Mat 25:34; Eph 1:4,5; Rev 17:8) a certain unknowable to us specific period for our growth, or temporary embryonic life-span or life-time to be spent on this earth before we become completely “transformed” (Rom 12:2) or metamorphosed, symbolically from caterpillar to butterfly, into eternal maturity. God’s Word is the cocoon or “hedge” (Job 1:10) formed around us for our (Hebrew) “formation, protection and restraint.” (The cocoon is composed of angels who ARE God’s Word – search the Scriptures). Our allotted caterpillar living time is spent here in the prison (Isa 42:7; 61:1; Psa 68:18; Luke 4:18; Eph 4:8) of this natural world until we die. In the day that we die, thereby fulfilling the sentence of death laid upon all mankind in the loins of Adam “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen 2:17), we shall immediately exist eternally as spiritual butterflies in Heaven where “there should be time no longer” (Rev 10:6), i.e. where the effects, rule, and presence of time have ceased for us forever. It is from out of the present personal reservoir or remainder of our allotted life-time (How much time do you have left?) that we each daily “spend” out our life in the form of a continuous stream of momentary units of time which altogether are biblically reckoned to be our daily “living sacrifice” (Rom 12:1), of which most is presently being held captive, i.e. being received by Goliath. When we are not SACRIFICING a measure of our allotted time to God by serving Him in prayer, praise, worship, study, and meditation, we are by default SACRIFICING that same measure of our allotted time to Goliath, by serving him every waking moment or as 1 Samuel 17:16 has it “morning and evening,” which symbolize the times of the morning (9am) and the evening (3pm) sacrifices in the tabernacle of God.Significantly, at
the times when the Israelite armies (denominations) of God (the church in
apostasy) should have been “spending” or giving their attention-time
(sacrifices) to God, they were standing upon a mountain (pride, power, stony
ground) in disobedience
to God, because they should have been back home feeding their Father’s
sheep as was David and his four remaining brothers (the True Church – there
are two churches). But instead, the Israelite armies of God were watching
(eye gate) and listening (ear gate) and altogether interacting with the
“boisterous” (Mat 14:30) and blasphemous (1 Sam 17:26) Goliath who
symbolizes Satan, mammon, antichrist, the world - embodied and personified by television:
he talks to us (he thinks for us), and we are part of him for we see and
experience (i.e. believe) life through his conforming eyes (Rom 12:2). PRESENT YOUR BODIES A LIVING SACRIFICE – TO GOD AND NOT TO SATANMost of us who are
born-again, and therefore have access to the resident power of the Holy
Spirit, have willingly (volition) not brought “into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor 10:5). We have not
allowed our attention-time to be redeemed, although it is the will of
God, and therefore by default, we have left in pawn the majority of our
attention-time unto the captivity of Goliath “morning and evening.” We are
allowing Satan, Goliath, mammon, antichrist, the world, control of our
attention-time, which is literally our life, our caterpillar life-time.
Through our submission to the lusts of our “old man,” we give, SACRIFICE,
“morning and evening” our attention-time to Goliath (“serve us” 1 Sam
17:9 is his goal), and in return Goliath gives to us an earthly parallel
to God’s eternal blessings which are worldly transitory counterfeits to
spiritual blessings. Goliath gives to us the “cares [distractions]
and riches and pleasures of this life [bios],
and [we therefore] bring no fruit [for God] to perfection [because “Ye
cannot serve God and mammon” Luke 16:13].” (Luke 8:14). Amen |