GOD'S HOUSE
GOD’S HOUSE
I want to say a little at this time of the character of God’s house. This comes before us in Luke 14 and 15 in the way of parables: the parables represent the truth of it. You could not understand the parables of Scripture if the Holy Spirit were not here to expound them; but when you get the exposition, you see in how very striking a manner the truth is presented in the parables.
It is noticeable that you get the idea of the house in both these chapters: first in connection with the Supper, “Compel them to come in, that my house may be filled”; then at the close of chapter 15, “he came and drew nigh to the house”. You must divest your mind of the idea that heaven is presented in these scriptures: it is God’s house that is seen, connected with what transpires here upon earth. It has been pointed out that you would not get the elder brother in heaven; hence, from the introduction of the elder brother, it is evident that the house refers to what takes place upon earth.
I think the point of this chapter is that everything is for God: it is not a question in it of what man gets the rejoicing is on the part of God. In the first parable, the man rejoices; in the second, the woman rejoices; and there is fellowship in the rejoicing, others are led to rejoice with them; in the third parable, the Father justifies the rejoicing: “it was meet that we should make merry”.
If you take the three parts of the parable together, the idea is evidently rejoicing on the part of God. It is not a question of what the sheep, or the piece of silver, or the prodigal gained, but of what God gained, and the effect of it: all that transpires affords satisfaction to God; God has His own satisfaction in His own [p. 17] house. What comes out of that is that in chapter 15 man is everything for God: he becomes the occasion of rejoicing to God; in chapter 14, man is nothing. When man is anything in his own eyes, or thinks anything of himself, he does not come in to the Supper; it is only when he comes to the sense that he is nothing that he comes in to the Supper: he is compelled to come in. It has been said that in chapter 14 you get God’s house, and in chapter 15 the guest; but to my mind the point in chapter 14 is that man is nothing, it is his side; and in chapter 15 God is everything, and man is for God. Whilst man is brought into God’s house, all the rejoicing of God is connected with man: man becomes the subject of the rejoicing of heaven.
First let me say a word in connection with the Supper in chapter 14. I understand the Supper to be the celebration of grace. The Spirit has come down to bring us into the celebration of grace; therefore you find that wonderful things take place in the power of the Holy Spirit. The early disciples were full of joy and gladness, for the Holy Spirit was bringing the mind of man into concert with heaven. I understand the kingdom to be God’s celebration of righteousness; righteousness was accomplished in the death of Christ. The resurrection of Christ was God’s testimony of righteousness; no one is justified short of faith in the resurrection of Christ, because that is God’s testimony; no one is approved of God who does not believe in the resurrection of Christ. But you must go a point further. The disciples saw Jesus go up: a cloud received Him out of their sight, He was received up to heaven and went to the right hand of God, angels and principalities and powers being made subject to Him (1 Peter 3: 22). In verse 18 of that chapter Christ has suffered to bring us to God; righteousness was accomplished; in verse 21 you get the testimony, and the answer of a good conscience [p. 18] towards God by the resurrection of Christ: a man gets a good conscience in having accepted the testimony of resurrection. Then in verse 22 you get the celebration: the Holy Spirit has come down to report the glory of Christ, to bring man’s mind into the light of and into accord with what has been accomplished in heaven. It is the presence of the Holy Spirit which brings about the great Supper; and souls are compelled to come in, that God’s house may be filled. I think there are limits to a house: a house conveys the impression of limits, like the three measures of meal; but at the same time they are compelled to come in that God’s house may be filled.
It is of all importance, when souls have accepted the testimony of God, that they should be brought into christian fellowship, into the place where the rejoicing is. There must be a great lack on the part of people who, when they have accepted the testimony, fail to come consciously into the place where the Holy Spirit is, that is, fail to recognise God’s house. They do not get into joy, into sympathy with heaven, and I think it is because they fail to recognise God’s joy and the presence of the Holy Spirit here. If that were recognised, all misgivings would disappear, and believers would be brought by the Spirit into the mind of heaven. God’s testimony is the ground for faith; but the Holy Spirit has come down to witness to the delight which heaven has in that which has been accomplished for man here upon earth. Hence there is joy in the Holy Spirit. When people are converted they are generally carried into some sect or system — very often to sacramentalism, and come under the influence of clergy. That is not the idea of God’s house: if they were brought into the sense of God’s house and the presence of the Spirit, it is my conviction that they would very soon be [p. 20] in accord with the mind of heaven. You cannot ignore or disregard the Holy Spirit with impunity. Many christians are not [p. 19] bright because they practically ignore the presence of the Spirit. Souls can only thrive in God’s house, where God’s Spirit resides, and only in that way can they be brought into communion with heaven. The effect of it will be that they are filled with joy in the Holy Spirit. At the beginning christians did not mind suffering, they were filled with joy.
First, then, you have the accomplishment of righteousness, secondly the testimony of righteousness, and lastly the celebration of righteousness. Now if you enter the house of God, you have to be nothing. If a man is to be exalted, he has to take the lowest room: if he accepts the presence of the Spirit and the truth of God’s house, he has to come down from all high thoughts. In the latter part of chapter 14 another point comes out: if a man is going to be a disciple of Christ, he must forsake all that he has. We come into the house and get part in the joy of heaven; but having come in, we want to be disciples of Christ, that we may learn that to which Christ leads, and for this a man must forsake all that he has: his soul must be free from the control of everything down here, because Christ is going to teach him lessons which none but He can teach. It is the true position of a christian on earth; he has been compelled to come into God’s house and at the same time is a disciple of Christ, that he may learn of Christ; like Mary at the close of Luke 10, she came under the teaching of Christ.
But I pass on to the next chapter, because I want to speak a little of what is for God. I think the parables in chapter 15 present to us three persons. The first parable presents to us Christ Himself; in the second we have, it may be, the Spirit, and in the third the Father. The first parable represents the labour and service of Christ Himself in regard to the Jew. It presents the way in which the Lord vindicates Himself as to the charge brought against Him of eating with sinners; He makes manifest that He was in accord with the mind of heaven, rejoicing in the salvation of the lost sheep. In the second parable the thought is wider: the Spirit has lit up a light to search in the house for the lost piece of silver. The reason why God allows the light to be in the world is to bring to light the elect of God. The light in a sense shines upon everybody — the truth of the gospel is for all; but the object of the light is, that the elect of God may be brought to light. I do not doubt they are brought to light in those who love God: they are the called according to His purpose, and they have been brought out by the light which the Holy Spirit sheds down here. There is no doubt that God has been pleased to reveal Himself in connection with His purpose. The apostle Paul says, “I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory”. Now there is another point connected with the parable: there is the word “Rejoice with me”. The Holy Spirit looks for fellowship in the rejoicing, because He would bring souls into accord with the mind of heaven. It is really heaven rejoicing, and looking for fellowship in that rejoicing.
In the previous chapter man is nothing; he is subdued under the grace of God; and in this chapter God is everything, and man gets his place here in connection with God.
Now when you come to the third part of the parable, it is not the man nor the woman calling for fellowship in the rejoicing, but the Father justifying the rejoicing. He says, It was meet; the rejoicing is justified. The house represents the place where reconciliation has been brought to pass; you get the great idea of reconciliation in connection with God’s house. God’s house is the place where God dwells, and where christian fellowship is enjoyed; and there it is that the good of reconciliation is known. The first great principle in the house of God is that you come under [p. 21] the teaching of Christ; He teaches you the mind of God toward you; then reconciliation comes in, and the principle of that is, that where there was distance, now there is complacency, and you could not get a more suitable illustration of it than in the prodigal. The house of God is the scene of complacency. You may have also the thought of the great house: that is what christianity has become in the hands of man, but we have to get back to the moral idea, the original thought: the house is the place where God has complacency. It is a point of great moment to connect the thought of reconciliation with God’s house. The prodigal had come under the instruction of Christ, that he might know the Father’s disposition towards him. Now he was entirely suitable to the eye of the Father.
I want to show you what the secret of that is. There was one link between the prodigal in the far country and the prodigal in the father’s house; that link was conscience. There was in him the most complete change of individuality; but while there was change of individuality, there was identity of conscience. I believe identity is maintained in conscience. The prodigal, in that sense, had the conscience of what he had been; identity was maintained, but individuality was entirely changed. The prodigal in the far country was morally a different man from the man who sat at the Father’s table. Reconciliation had come to pass; the distance connected with him and the far country had gone. When be comes into the Father’s house he has neither the clothing nor anything that appertained to the prodigal and the far country; he has on him the best robe, the ring, the shoes — all that described another individuality, which is stamped upon us by the teaching of Christ. The believer has become a disciple of Christ: he is a man of a different order. Hence it is that he is suitable to the eye of the Father. I have no doubt the prodigal [p. 22] had been known in the far country as an individuality — among wicked people you will often find someone surpassingly wicked who has the peculiar individuality of being the most abandoned of the company — and I daresay the prodigal had been that, because he had means. It has often happened when a rich young man has got into the worst of company, that he goes further than the rest, because he has more money. In the case of the prodigal all was gone: there remained nothing but conscience; but he had come under the teaching of Christ. He had learned the love of God, which had stamped upon him another individuality, and that was summed up in one word — Christ. He was attired in that which was entirely grateful and acceptable to the eye of the Father, so that the Father could say, “It was meet that we should make merry and be glad”. The fatted calf was that which was reserved for great occasions, and it was a great occasion in the eye of God. In the reality of things, distance has been removed in the removal of man; for in resurrection there remains nothing but Christ Himself. The moment Christ came to earth, there was that in man which was acceptable to the eye of God. In the cross, all that was offensive was removed, and in resurrection there remains nothing but what is grateful to God. Hence we are said to have put on Christ. The prodigal was gone: he was under the eye of the Father in that which had been provided for him. In reconciliation heaven has its rejoicing: it is that which expresses the wisdom of God, how God has removed all that was offensive to Him, so that in its place there should be before Him all that in which He could be perfectly complacent. We are clothed in that which God Himself has provided. There is nothing for God but Christ; but Christ is there for God. Man has been removed; the carcase of the sin offering has been burnt without the camp; what remains is Christ, and that has to be carried out [p. 23] practically in us, in order that in us, where distance was, there complacency may be.
The teaching of the chapter is that God is and must be everything. God has found an occasion of rejoicing for Himself, and all the rejoicing which God has provided for Himself is connected with the scheme of reconciliation, which is of God’s own devising, and which He has taken in hand to effect in Christ.
I do not think you can exaggerate the importance of christian fellowship. If people do not come into the reality of it they are not much taught. It is in coming into the place where God dwells that a man gets a good conscience. I have no doubt that vast numbers of christians in the present day have not the first principle — a good conscience, by the resurrection of Christ; if they are looking only at the death of Christ, they never get a good conscience.
Having a good conscience, you come under the teaching of Christ; you become a disciple of Christ, in order that you may be instructed, as He alone can instruct you, in God’s mind and thought in regard to you. Christ teaches you the great lesson of the love of God, and then you are led on to see that your individuality is changed; that whilst you were a prodigal, you are now another individuality in Christ, in which you are perfectly acceptable and agreeable to the eye of the Father.