The Prodigal Son’s Elder Brother • Deshen Daily

Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. …. And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him. (Luke 15:25–28 KJV)

The parable of the prodigal son has three main characters: the prodigal son, the father, and the prodigal son’s elder brother. Though the primary message of this parable is the father’s love for his lost son, Jesus added the elder brother to the story to highlight a crucial truth for God’s people.

In this parable, the elder brother was offended after learning the family celebrated the prodigal’s return. When questioned by his father why he acted this way, he was honest in his response: the father had never given him anything to celebrate. But as soon as the prodigal son came back – after squandering his inheritance with harlots in reckless living—the father made a party.

The Father’s response to the elder brother is the message of this devotional and a crucial one for the Church: the elder brother was waiting for his father to give him what has always been his. Everything left in the house, after the prodigal son left, belonged to the elder brother. He never used it and never asked. He waited for the father to give him what had always been his. Besides the many sins the prodigal son committed, there was one positive trait he had: he knew how to ask for what was his, though he did not know how to use it properly.

In summary, the prodigal son’s brother had two problems. First, he was working to earn what was his. He did not know how to use the gift from His father—the law mentality. Second, he got offended when someone else benefitted from God’s kindness—the offense of grace to legalistic people. Beware of the syndrome of the prodigal son’s elder brother.

Meditate

What was the problem with the prodigal son’s elder brother?

Apply the Word

Learn to use what God has freely given to you; avoid working to earn what is yours!

Pray

Ask the Lord to help you learn to receive and enjoy what Christ has provided for you.

Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the Lord your God. And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the Lord which sanctify you. (Leviticus 20:7–8, KJV)

Jehovah Mekaddishkem showing washing gloves, cleaning fluid and sponge

As the Great I AM that I AM, God revealed Himself as the Lord who sanctifies His people in the Old Covenant—Jehovah Mekaddishkem. But this was only a shadow of something greater that was coming in the New Testament.

Jehovah Mekaddishkem is the English transliteration of the Hebrew words for “I am the Lord which sanctify you” ( “mekaddish” = sanctify, “kem” = you). Divine names and titles in the Old Testament often reveal an aspect of God in relation to His people.

There are three keywords that underlie the meaning of sanctification: “wash,” “consecrate,” and “separate.” Sanctification essentially means to make something holy. Sinlessness is a core aspect of holiness, but there is more to holiness than sinlessness. It is the very nature of God. However, when used in reference to us humans, it means to be cleaned from sin, set apart for God, and consecrated to Him.

In the passage above, God tells the people first to sanctify themselves and then reveals He is the One who sanctifies them. Thus, He gives us the two sides of sanctification—the God side and the human side. There’s something God does and something His people do for their sanctification.

This truth was only a shadow in the Old Testament. It is in Christ that we see God fully revealed as Jehovah Mekaddishkem to His people through the sanctifying work on the cross. In speaking to the Corinthians, Paul revealed,

“And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11, KJV)

This is Jehovah Mekaddishkem fulfilled in Christ: We were washed and sanctified. Note that these are in past tense, describing something God has already done. The day you received Christ, you received the bath of your life, a heavenly bath by the Spirit of God that removed every stain of sin through the precious blood of Christ. And as you continue to live on earth, the Spirit continues to sanctify you daily.

Following the sanctifying work He has already done in us, He commands us,

“For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:” (1 Thessalonians 4:3, KJV)

Now that you are clean, washed, and sanctified, He tells us to put that sanctification to work outwardly. Paul explicit states it is what God wants—His will. He gives us a very specific example of sanctification here: abstain from sexual immorality. Few things defile us, like sexual impurity. But sanctification certainly includes more than abstaining from fornication or adultery. As above, it includes living a consecrated and separated life to God daily in the way we talk, act, think, feel, and handle our bodies.

He is Jehovah Mekaddishkem, the God who has Sanctified you in Christ and continues to sanctify you every day.

Meditate

Is our sanctification completed, ongoing, or both?

Apply the Word

This is the crucial part of this devotional. Until you receive the truth that God has already sanctified you by His Spirit, you will not be empowered to be sanctified practically. Put God’s sanctification power to work in your life daily by faith in the finished work of Christ.