John 17:24 NKJV
“Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”
The turning point in the life of the prodigal son was when, at “…last he came to his senses…got up and started back to his father” (Luk 15:17, 20 GNT). A lot had happened between the time he left home and that moment when he took the time to examine himself. Much as life had taken him farther than he had thought, and taught him lessons that were difficult to take, there was another phase of his life with a better testimony to be told. Indeed, God’s saving grace must have moved upon the lad’s heart to bring him to his senses before it was too late. Thankfully, he faced himself, put his personal defenses down, and started back to his father with a humble and repentant heart.
Like it is in our day, the Holy Scriptures have many other examples of lives that were transformed by the mercy, grace, and goodness of God. Indeed, the Psalmist rightly inquired of the LORD, saying, “If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, WHO COULD STAND?” (Psa 130:3 NIV). Simply no one! Having held a similar view in Romans chapter four—about how the righteousness we now have is purely by faith in God—Paul then observed that “…since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which WE NOW STAND” (Rom 5:1-2 NIV). Hallelujah!
Moving from the question of “who could stand” without Christ Jesus to the affirmation that “we now stand” in “this grace” of Christ powerfully highlights how God, among many blessings, is fulfilling the desire of His Son (as in our text): “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world”, said Jesus. Hallelujah! It is only in Christ Jesus that we have “…the hope and guarantee of [realizing the] glory” (Col 1:27 AMP), which He wants us to behold. Thus, with what is gloriously ahead of us in Christ, like the prodigal son, we’ll do well to always choose the compassionate care of our heavenly Father.