"Once upon a time, there was a villain. His father worried about his way of life and wished so badly that his son should repent becoming a good man. During the days, finally, he crossed the bridge that he would not be able to cross back—He murdered. Father was so sad but hoped it would be an opportunity for his son to realize his sin and repent. He told his son, “I will take over your sin, but I hope you live a new life.” Then, the father was executed for the sin."
It is fiction. It is not a new story, but pretty well-rounded and even tedious. However, it is still worth telling, applying to what is going on in the life of many of us. In other words, we can be the villain the father died for with the hope for him to repent. Think about that. This is a parable for the relationship between God and us. The father represents God, and the son us. We were like villains in that we were sinners who did not obey the will of God. As the father did to his son, God always desired us to repent our sins and become his people. It is repentance. As the scripture says, if a sinner repents, angels in heaven praise the Lord. Repentance is what God desires absolutely of all people, all his supposed-to-be children.
The significance of the death of the father
Even with the desire of God, more people are living against it than those who comply with it. They are supposed to be children of God who should live up to His will, but they don’t accept God as their Father but rather rebel against Him by living for their fleshly desires and worldly pleasures. The wickedness of the villain represents the lifestyle of these lost children of God. The villain did not care about his father’s wish for him and put down his father’s lifelong goodwill upon him. The son’s guilt became bigger and bigger that he crossed the bridge that he could not return for himself—He killed a man. Even with such a big guilt for the son, the father’s love for his son was not weakened. His steadfast love never let his hope for his son go away. In love, he wanted to pay any price for his son to repent his sins and become a good man. The father’s wish out of his steadfast love and mercy represents God’s plan of salvation.
Therefore, the father overtook the guilt of the son. It was to get him to the ultimate opportunity for him to repent and change to be a good man. The father expected that his son would not discard his father’s wish expressed by the overtaking of his guilt of murder, which would surely put him to execution. That was the last resort of the father to give his child the ultimate opportunity to repent of his sinful life to be the good man he wished to be since his birth.
The choice of the villain
The son was set free from the guilt of murder by his father’s execution for it. It was now up to him which life to live for the rest of his life: Whether he would repent and change as his father had wished and died for him, or he would continue the life he had been living against his father’s wish.
What the father did for his villain son represents what God did for us sinners: He came in the flesh, who was Jesus and died for our sins on the cross. The death of Jesus, the sinless and faultless Son of God, was what God intended to get all of his supposed-to-be children, who were sinners like the villain, to the opportunity to repent, moved and impressed by the steadfast love and mercy of God. His death on the cross set us free from the guilt of sins we have committed so that we could take advantage of the opportunity to repent of our past wicked life and be good men.
Which Son Are You Today,
Still A Villain or A Good Man Who Repented?
After we hear the steadfast love and mercy of God in which Jesus, the incarnated God, died for us of our sins, if we do not accept His love and still live a sinful life, what would people say who know this? They will call us, “You, the villain who betrayed your father’s wish and love for you, who died for you of your sin!” It is those who have heard the gospel but still have not repented and are living the worldly life following after their worldly desires and pleasures. There is no need to say that the wrath of God is waiting for them.
Those who kill the father twice
By the way, some are worse than them. They are those who pretend to be good men even though they are still living in sin. These are those who kill the father a second time. These think like this: “Father died for me of my guilt, … now I may sin again.” These are those who are worthless and hopeless, on whom the wrath of God will fall. They are like vicious beasts living by ferocious instinct behind the human appearance.
Some will question if some are so wicked. However, surprisingly many of the church-goers believe what they believe:
“Jesus bore my sins on the cross of Calvary. Therefore, even if I sin, I get no guilt and am saved forever.”
“God cleansed the guilt of all men. Therefore, only if (we say) we believe in Jesus we are saved, and we will be cleansed again by the blood of Jesus and not lose our salvation even if we sin again. For there is no condemnation in Jesus Christ.”
“Jesus died for us of our guilt. Therefore, we will be washed again as we go to church and worship him on Sunday after we sin during weekdays.”
These are just a few examples of false ideas of those who kill Jesus twice. It is just an illusion and self-justification of those for whom God’s wrath is waiting. This is a foolish illusion of those who reject God’s steadfast love in which He died for them of their sins and self-justification to avoid the fear of the coming wrath of God. That is merely a self-satisfaction of those deceived by false teachers, who tickle their itching ears to get what they want from them. They have already lost their conscience and judgment and are being deceived and deceiving others.
What is your choice?
It is the way that God expects from man, whom he created in His image, that he repents of his past sins, moved by His steadfast love as God died for him. He, who still lives in sin, regardless of whether he by mouth acknowledges God’s love or not, is a hopeless villain. Today, which son are you, still a villain or one who lives a new life having repented?
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