After exposing the vile nature of the Prodigal's sin, MacArthur turns to our sin, and removes any distinction between the prodigal and us.
The Prodigal Son is a living symbol of every sinner who has ever lived—including you and me. And therefore we need to pay careful attention to the warning Jesus gives us in this part of the parable.
All sin involves precisely this kind of irrational rebellion against a loving heavenly Father. Sin’s greatest evil lies not in the fact that it is a transgression of the Law—although it most certainly is that (1 John 3:4). But the real wickedness of sin stems from its nature as a personal affront to a good and gracious Lawgiver. Our sin is a calculated, deliberate violation of the relationship we have with our Creator. . . .
When we sin, we show disdain for God’s fatherly love as well as His holy authority. We spurn not merely His law, but also His very person. To sin is to deny God His place. It is an expression of hatred against God. It is tantamount to wishing He were dead. It is dishonoring to Him. And since all sin has at its heart this element of contempt for God, even the smallest sin has enough evil to unleash an eternity full of mischief, misfortune, and misery. The fact that the entire world of human evil all stemmed from Adam’s simple act of disobedience is vivid proof of that (Romans 5:12, 19; 1 Corinthians 15:21–22).
Moreover, sin always bears evil fruit. We cannot take the good gifts God has surrounded us with, barter them away as if they were nothing, and then not expect to reap the consequences of spiritual poverty that are the inevitable result.
Here’s a shocking reality: the Prodigal Son is not merely a picture of the worst of sinners; he is a symbol of every unredeemed sinner-alienated from God and without a hope in the world (Ephesians 2:12). He is a precise and living effigy of the entire human race—fallen, sinful, and rebellious. Worse yet, his character reflects not only the state of our fallen race as a whole but also the natural condition of every individual ever conceived by a human father since the fall of Adam. We all begin this life with our backs turned against God; desiring to flee far from Him, with no regard for His love, no appreciation of His generosity, and no respect for His honor.
It’s true: the evil motives that drove the Prodigal are the natural tendencies of every fallen human heart. “The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:7–8). We are “by nature children of wrath,” born with a sinful nature and helplessly dominated by fleshly desires (Ephesians 2:2–3).
In other words, we are all prodigal sons and daughters. Every one of us is guilty of self-indulgence, dissipation, and unrestrained lust. We have been heedless to the consequences of sin and reckless in the pursuit of evil. Apart from God’s restraining grace, every one of us would have long ago sold our birthright, wasted our lives, and squandered every blessing God has given us-trading away His bountiful, daily goodness in exchange for a brief moment of cheap self-gratification.
—John MacArthur, A Tale of Two Sons (Thomas Nelson, 2008), 78–79.
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