Rather than about what the elder son has achieved as if by his own merit, I believe the parable is about two kinds of inheritance in the kingdom of Heaven; the celestial kind and the terrestrial kind.
The celestial one is where the elect are chosen to attend the Marriage Supper for abiding in His words as His disciples. They are raptured to have that place in the city of God; in our Father's House where there are many mansions. John 14:1-3 The celestial one where the elder son is always with the Father & all that is His was his as well.
The prodigal son is the one that gave up his inheritance ( the celestial one ) for wild living and was left behind; disqualified from attending the Marriage Supper and thus a castaway to be received later on as a vessel unto dishonor in His House.
The difference between the elder son and the prodigal son is that the prodigal son is not always with the Father; hence no place to call Home in the city of God, but they will have the name of their God on their forehead as well as the name of the city of God when they serve the King of kings out in the world in raising up the generations coming out of the millennium reign of Christ.
The prodigal son can never get that inheritance back, but he is still son. This is where and how the vessels unto dishonor in His House comes from as they as the prodigal son will testify to the power of God in salvation for all those that believe in His name. That is why those who break ONE OF THE LEAST OF HIS COMMANDMENTS AND TEACH OTHERS SO are called least in the kingdom of Heaven as they will have a glorified terrestrial inheritance where they are more human than celestial, but as they are physical, the second death has no power over them; those saints who come out of the great tribulation.
Whereas those that are have been made worthy and kept worthy by the Lord Jesus Christ, even those who repent seventy times seven....looking unto His mercy as they place their hope in Him to continually deliver them and keep them from their sins, will not marry nor given in marriage but be like the angels that never die.
But those of the terrestrial could die for the reason why the power of the second death has no sway over them, but on the generations coming out of the millennium reign, that power of the physical death and the second death will have sway over them when Satan has been released from the pit after a thousand years for a small season to lead some astray in staging a last rebellion against the Lord Jesus Christ at Jerusalem.
So the prodigal son aka the vessels unto dishonor will be celebrated in the House of the Lord and the elder sons that had obeyed His commandments by believing in Jesus Christ, not just as their Saviour that they are saved simply for believing in Him, but believing in Him as their Good Shepherd to help them to follow Him as His disciples in testifying of the Son in seeking His glory and by Him the glory of God the Father and none other.
That is what it means to believe the gospel as these two commandments is required for us to abide in following Him.
1 John 3:[SUP]22 [/SUP]And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.[SUP]
23 [/SUP]
And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.[SUP]
24 [/SUP]And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
So all those commandments of the New Testament as under the New Covenant falls under to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Good Shepherd to help us to follow Him since we could not save ourselves and thus by grace thru faith in Him we are saved, then neither can we follow Him except by grace thru faith in Him as our Good Shepherd.
Luke 9:[SUP]22 [/SUP]Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.[SUP]23 [/SUP]And he said to them all,
If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
So obeying the gospel is believing in Him not just as our Saviour, but as our Good Shepherd that He will help us to follow Him by the grace of God as well.
Not every one will trust the Lord as their Good Shepherd nor look to Him for hope in His mercy to deliver them from their sins, but even if they err from the truth and stop believing in Him, He still abides in them which is why the call is given out to every believer and former believer that has His seal to depart from iniquity so that they may be received as vessels unto honor in His House to the Marriage Supper at the pre trib rapture event.
See 2 Timothy 2:10-21 in the KJV at this link below for that truth at Bible Gateway.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Timothy+2:10-21&version=KJV
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That's a lot to take in Enow. Because I'm someone who has learned to rely and the grace of God In Christ I can't agree with most of this post. We never get what we deserve. And the things we get are because of His love. From everything I'm discovering it's about how much do we trust and rely on Him vs believing we are going to get our due. It's about leaning on Jesus and trusting in Him as our benefactor who wants us to follow Him. In following Him we become like Him and fulfill our mission in life.
It's those who have failed in life that have learned that they can't win without Him. The battles we are in all through life will all be lost without Jesus being the Vine and us the branches. I think the denying of self is actually realizing that we are helpless in our flesh to do anything and to give up on our own abilities and totally lean on His.
I do not believe in the man made religious mindset that says God is trying to take away all that is lovely and good from us so we can suffer in boredom and mediocrity. No. Following Christ is anything but mediocre or boring.
He is always showing us the loveliest and best and most good and He seeks to give us those things. What we have to do is follow that way. But not many will follow because they can't believe in things they have not seen or thought of themselves. We are too used to getting what we deserve so we can't handle graciousness when it's offered.
I'm striving to put off that old manner of living that depends on the flesh for getting by in life.
