God is gracious. He rejoices because one sinner repents. Heaven is not holding off the party and the celebration is going on right now. “There is a party going on in heaven all the time.” The joy in the middle of the party is the joy of God Himself.

And here is the obvious application: are you seeking to bring the lost to Christ for the joy of the father?

And then the story ends without a proper ending. What is the son’s reaction? Did the older son repent? Did he find reconciliation? The real ending was that the son beat his father to death in front of everyone there. It would be only a few months before these pharisees killed the Son of God, thinking that they were protecting righteousness and honor and the Law. As he crushes the father, he screams, “You are evil, you are evil, you are evil.”

The final, ironic twist is that the father, who should have beaten the son, is beaten by the son.

As the evening ended, MacArthur led us in singing “Grace, Grace, God’s Grace.”