I have studied many years, and have come to believe that the word must be revealed to understand its deeper meaning. I am sure most or all of you have experiences such revaluation, after reading a passage for years and hundreds of times, you read it and see words and meaning you have never seen before. In recent years, I have come to recognize the story of the Prodigal Son to be one of the most Beautiful stories in the Bible. The son, having rejected his fathers house and ways, left to do it on his own, and ended up destitute and hungry in a pig stye. His son had hit the bottom, the lowest level a "Jew" could sink -- covered with mud and pig excrement he went back home in hope of being a servant. But his Father "watching from afar" (God is watching) "Ran to meet his son" and "hugged and kissed him" (Remember he is covered in mud and excrement) and "put a robe on his shoulder, sandals on his feet, and a ring on his finger, and ordered a great fest/party" God is not waiting to judge you for the sins you have committed, "He is watching from afar, and will run to hug and kiss us when we return, and put a robe on righteous on our shoulders and sandals on our feet and a ring on our finger, and set us at the feast". I don't know about the other people, but that is the God I serve, the same God that sacrificed his son so that I might take on the mantle of his righteousness. You are righteous through Christ, he has paid for your sins, his blood can cover any sin. When we gave our lives to Christ and accepted the "gift" of his salvation, we became heirs with him and no longer servants. "I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins I will remember no more."
