Part 19 of 31 from "Christ our Righteousness".
By Carl Oluf Rosenius.
(1816-1868)
Translated from ekris.net
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” (Luke 15:20)
Unique, divine forgiveness! Didn’t the father have good reason to say: Go away, unworthy and disgraced as you are. You have ruined your inheritance, and you have wasted the rights of a child.
But no! he doesn’t, with a single word, blame the son for what he has done. Neither does he demand the least compensation.
But, right away, he puts the best robe on him, puts a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet and prepares a feast of welcome for him in the home!
Jesus has in this way described for us what God’s forgiveness is like.
It wasn’t this, that the son came home, that made the heart of the father conciliatory towards him.
No, the heart of the father was unchanged, full of forgiving love even in the absence of the son, and in his deep falls into serious sins. This were all completely reconciled in advance.
But he who went away, had no use of it, before he returned homewards.
This tell us that God has been reconciled – even with the ungodly, unbelieving and unconverted. Jesus has, in one day, removed their sins also. The forgiveness of sins and the best robe are ready, even for them, in Jesus.
The bright white robe of the righteousness of Christ has already for a long time been ready for them, and it just waits to be received.
Translation Gert Gravgaard
