The searching of the Spirit
“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbours together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’ Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:8-10).
In the three parables Jesus uses in Luke 15 He gives us an insight into the heart of God displayed through God the Son, God the Spirit and God the Father. Yesterday we thought of Jesus represented as the shepherd. Today we see the searching work of the Holy Spirit in the parable of lost silver coin.
The Lord Jesus, in telling these stories, was reaching out to two audiences: those who had bad reputations, the tax collectors and sinners, and those who were self-righteous, the Pharisees and scribes. He uses language and settings both audiences understood, and they would relate to the importance of a valuable lost coin. But the Lord doesn’t present the lost silver coin in isolation. It was part of a treasured set of ten silver coins.
The shepherd is an illustration of the Person and work of the Lord Jesus. It displays His redeeming love towards each of us. The woman is an illustration of the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. His work is to glorify the Lord Jesus, and a vital part of this is bringing people to salvation.
The first thing the woman did was to light a lamp. In Psalm 119:105, the word of God is described as “a lamp for my feet, a light on my path” (NIV). In John, the Holy Spirit is called “the Spirit of Truth” (John 14:17). We read of the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” in Ephesians 6:16. The Spirit of God uses the word of God to convict people of their need of the Saviour and to bring them to salvation. The Lord also describes the woman sweeping the house. Rather like the sower, there is an expansiveness about the work of the Spirit. At the same time, there is a focus on the individual. The woman searched carefully until she found the lost coin. Here the language is the same as in the story of the lost sheep where the shepherd searched until he found the lost sheep.
Both parables end in joy. Hebrews 12: 2 speaks of Jesus as “the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God”.
The Holy Spirit has ministered ceaselessly through the day of grace to bring people to Christ. He works through the people of God and the word of God to bring the light of the Gospel into this dark world and embrace the redeemed within the body of Christ. And He connects us with the joy of heaven by filling our hearts with joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17). It is a work that should always be upon our hearts.
