THE NEW CLOTHES
THE NEW CLOTHES
I am glad of your remarks about state. I think the clothes that were put on the prodigal are state. Christ has accomplished everything for us according to the will of the Father, and the Holy Ghost begins with us at the most distant spot, and conducts us up to the finish. The prodigal received kisses, they never alter, they ever remain in the heart of the Father. The feast ever remains; whether he enjoys it or not, it remains. The clothes are put on him, they are for ever his, and they cannot be worn out; but if he does not walk in them he cannot be at the supper, he cannot feast with the Father without them, and this I call state, but it is a state given of God.
I was on the first eleven verses of Romans 5 last evening. This is the first spiritual state you should be in. It is [p. 62] because of the work done for us. It is the state the prodigal should have been in because his father had received him with so much affection. The One we had offended is now known to us in His boundless love; nothing about our side yet. The Father loves us now for ever, though no doubt the expression of His love is checked by our perverseness, but it can never alter, and the more we are in the spiritual state proper to this great reception the more shall we seek to be free of sin and all perverseness.
There is no returning to God in the man who was driven out of Eden. Still, through grace, man is compelled to come into the Father’s house, but he must come in in new clothes, not only forgiven, but in a new state. The place is so holy, that we must be holy for it. No flesh can glory in His presence. The old man must disappear; and, figuratively speaking, the feet which have crossed over are the feet to hold possession, and that is Ephesians 6. The possession can only be assured in practical holiness. The right to go over is grace, but the actuality of acquisition in possessing can only be known in holiness — created in holiness — created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
None of the offerings expressed the bruising of the serpent’s head.