LUKE 15
There is a general statement here of tax-gatherers and sinners coming near to hear the Lord. It was just the kind of congregation that habitually gathered to Him and was pleasing to Him; the Lord gave such an impression of the goodness and grace of God to men as sinful, and they were interested in it. There is a note in the New Translation that indicates that it was the usual thing for this company to be gathered to hear the Lord; it was not that they only did it at that time. It was a discredit to the Lord in the eyes of the scribes and Pharisees that He should have such a company around Him and that He should receive them and eat with them. The point is to make a contrast between the mind of heaven and the mind of religious people on earth.
It was something for such persons to be told that they were of great value to God. I have often felt that we are very little imbued with the spirit of grace. We tell a man that he is lost and we mean that he is degraded and debased, and in a very unworthy condition; but the word is used in Scripture to show something of value. The Lord produced the impression of the interest of God in His creatures; it was a matter of great concern to God that He had lost His creature. It was not merely that the creature is lost, but who has lost him? We see notices sometimes about things lost, and the crier makes known sometimes that there is a reward, so we know at once that the person who has lost something is concerned about it. It is not worthless, but of value; the greater the pains the person takes to get it back, the greater the sense of the value of it. What is emphasised in this chapter is the value of the sinner to God; it is an object of concern to God that He has lost man. “What man of you having lost one sheep ... ?” It is not so much here that the sheep is lost, but that the owner has lost him.
This chapter serves to bring out the moral greatness of repentance. The one who repents according to Luke 15 is fully restored to God; the point here is the labour and trouble which divine Persons will take to bring sinners to repentance. Man, the sinner, is of great value to God; God has lost him, and He wants him recovered and restored. According to this chapter repentance is the restoration to God of the creature [p. 188] He has lost, so it gives repentance a great place. People may say that they are believers, but what moral effect has been produced in their souls? Repentance is a moral effect produced in the soul which changes the whole character of the creature in his relations to God; it is not believing certain things, but the man is changed. There is a moral effect in the soul that qualifies him to greatly appreciate God as known in grace. If God is appreciated as known in grace He has recovered His creature, and he is brought back in such a way that it is joy to heaven. So this picture of the owner going after the sheep sets forth the length to which the Son of God would go in order to bring the sinner to repentance; it does not develop what He would do for the glory of God or to make atonement for sin.
When Paul woke up to the fact that the Son of God had gone into death for him it changed all his thoughts about God. The Lord Jesus came from Godhead’s fullest glory to Calvary’s depth of woe to change our thoughts about God. It is not that God’s thoughts needed to be changed. I believe a great deal is left in our minds of the thought that Jesus came to change God’s thoughts about us, but He came to change our thoughts about God; and that is repentance. It changes our thoughts to see that He would go after what is lost because it has such value in His sight; He would go to the extreme length to bring about repentance. The Son of God would come here and go into death to bring about repentance Godward in my soul; that gives one an entirely new thought about God. He would do anything to bring me to repentance. The lost sheep is found when repentance is brought about. After that the owner takes complete charge; he has found his sheep and takes charge of it, takes all responsibility.
We set God in the true light when we preach the gospel. God has lost man, because man has all sorts of wrong ideas about God in his mind, put there by Satan, and the natural unbelief of the heart of man as fallen clings to these wrong thoughts. But Jesus has come forth in marvellous love and grace. The Son of God has gone to the extreme point; He has gone into death in order that we might see what pains, what cost, what activities divine grace would take, so that we might be brought to repentance. When this is brought about it would solve a thousand difficulties that arise in the history of souls because they have never been found. You [p. 189] can show a man he is a sinner by preaching law, and so give him the knowledge of sin; but gospel repentance is self-judgment produced by seeing God’s thoughts, and the wonderful interest that God takes in men. He would do anything, He would even give His Son to die, in order to bring men to repentance. The Shepherd has lost something and He cannot rest until He gets it back.
When the Lord gives us the moral force of the first two parables He tells us it is repentance. He says, “I say unto you, that thus there shall be joy in heaven for one repenting sinner”. The sheep found is a repenting sinner; when the sinner is brought to repentance the seeking and saving Shepherd has found him, and that has settled the whole matter. I think the finding of the sheep is repentance; when the lost one is brought to repent he is found; the sinner has now right thoughts of himself in relation to God, and of God as known in grace. From that point the Shepherd takes complete charge, puts him on His shoulder, and carries him home rejoicing; He has found His sheep and everything is settled. According to this chapter repentance is the restoration of the lost one to God; repentance is towards God.
Think of what was in the Lord’s journey. That journey involved the bearing of sins, His being made sin, being forsaken of God, all the sin-bearing of the cross, and He would go that far to bring me to repentance. It is not the effect on me in the first two parables, but the thing is seen more entirely on the divine side; in the parable of the younger son we see something of the exercises that go on in the soul. It shows how much is involved in repentance; a truly repentant soul has the sense that God has found him — the One who had lost me, wanted me, and has found me; it cost Him much to seek me but He has found me. That is a very blessed sense to have in the soul; the one lost is astonished to find that it is a happiness to God to find him. It is wonderful to have a sense that we have caused joy in heaven; not only is God interested, but every intelligence in God’s place is interested. I do not doubt there is a circle on earth sympathetic with heaven, a community of joy very different from the scribes and Pharisees. Verse 10 indicates the joy of God Himself, the joy of God in His grace which the angels have before them.
How wonderful to have the conscious joy of being recovered to God! Each repentant one would say, There is that brought [p. 190] about in my soul that has recovered me completely for God. He had lost me; now He has found me. There could be no greater joy than to think of the joy of God in having me; it breaks the back of the power of sin. Sin was that I could do very well without God; now I find that God cannot do without me, and that breaks the power of sin.
The Lord said of Paul, “Behold, he prayeth”. What joy it was to God to see the enemy and persecutor brought to pray in the light of Christ glorified; the light in which he prayed was the light of a glorified Saviour. He had been hating and persecuting Him and seeking to stamp out His Name from the face of the earth, and now he found that, instead of an impostor, He is a glorified Saviour in heaven. Saul is praying with that light in his heart, and Christ had found him; he could say, Christ has possession of me.
Some of us have just tasted for a good many years the profound joy of thinking of the interest of God and heaven over each one of us individually. We may be, in the estimation of religious people, of no account whatever, or it may even be regarded as a pollution to have anything to do with us, but whatever their thoughts of us may be we are of deepest interest to God and to heaven. It is a profound joy to us this minute, and I think I could say the joy is more to us now than when we first tasted it. True repentance should be deeper in every one of our souls now than it ever was before, and in a certain sense more joy to God and to heaven, because we thoroughly judge the state in which we were by nature, and we see the wonderful activities of divine grace. It is good to get into that atmosphere.
“What man of you having a hundred sheep, and having lost one of them, does not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after that which was lost, until he find it”. The Lord intimates that the ninety-nine are persons who have no need of repentance — they are the scribes and Pharisees really; it is their own estimate of themselves. The Lord is bringing out the heart of God and the mind of heaven: the mind of heaven is one of great interest in sinners repenting; there is not the same interest in righteous persons who do not need to repent. It does not go into the question of whether there were any such really; there may be such nominally and in their own ideas. We often say to men, If you are not sinners, there is no Saviour for you. Christ Jesus came into [p. 191] the world to save sinners, so there is no Saviour for persons who are not sinners.
The house to which the lost sheep was carried would suggest a place on earth where heaven’s interest was echoed. We are brought to what God is in grace, and that is our joy — it is all we have. As to everything else we judge and discard it; repentance is that we discard everything not deriving from God and grace, and that is perfect happiness. A great many Christians are not happy, or at any rate not as happy as they might be, because they are not in the good of Luke 15.
There is a divine Person here on earth acting through vessels in which He dwells, and there are marvellous activities of the Spirit constantly going on. It is not only the great length to which the Son of God has gone in going into death to bring us to repentance, but there are activities of the Spirit figured by the woman lighting the lamp, sweeping the house, and seeking diligently; these activities of the Spirit go on with the same end in view. It is the loss of the woman that is brought out. She has lost her piece of silver, and she says in verse 9, “I have found the piece I had lost”. A piece of silver suggests value.
I am not concerned that people should believe certain things; they often say they do, and we see no particular result; the person is not changed. If a person takes the ground of being a believer, you want to know what moral effect has been produced. Is he a self-judged person? That is the great thing. Then God is more and more before the heart and He is appreciated as known in grace, so there is the spirit of thanksgiving, and God is getting something out of that soul, and the saints are getting something, too. The activities of the Spirit are going on through the saints; that is how the Spirit works in the setting of this chapter. The Holy Spirit in a Christian sense is dwelling in a vessel; the lighting of the lamp is the preaching of the word. The word is brought to bear generally through the saints; the light of the word is brought to shine on things. What the Spirit does in that way is done through the saints. Are we available to the Spirit for this kind of service? We must not put aside this wonderful privilege. I suppose very few are brought to repentance without coming under some influence from the saints; to put it simply, there is some influence emanating from those who are indwelt by the Spirit; it is the Spirit’s activities but through the saints. Paul said, “He called you by our glad tidings”; that is, Paul preached, God was calling, and the Spirit “sweeping” — all was going on together.
It is an immense thing to get the sense of the personal character of this chapter. It is not simply that God so loved the world, but God was interested in me and wanted me. It is not the universality of grace here but the particularity of grace. God has found me, so I can tell Him I know how pleased He is to have me! It is a wonderful thing to have the consciousness that you are an object of delight to the heart of God.
I suppose this chapter would have special reference to those who have been in a place of privilege rather than to those who, like the heathen, have been without the knowledge of God altogether. The Jew was in a place of privilege; Christendom is in a place of privilege; and the children of believing parents are also. Those brought up under Christian teaching are in a place of privilege; and in such a sphere as that there are two classes. There are those who turn away from what they know of God and seek their own gratification without regard to Him; and there are others who observe certain proprieties and appear to have respect for God, but in result these are found to be farther away morally from God than the former class. The so-called prodigal represents one who distinctly turns away from what he has known; he would answer to the word in Isaiah 53: “We have turned every one to his own way”. There has been a distinct turning away from what is of God to that which pleases oneself. To be a prodigal in that sense involves that one has been in the place of privilege; this gives it a very solemn application at the present time.
Adam and Eve went away from the known and enjoyed goodness of God; the garden of Eden was a place of privilege and blessing perfectly suited to innocent creatures, and Adam and Eve distinctly turned to their own way. That is the solemnity of it; it is not just the result of Adam’s sin, but a path of departure taken by an individual who has known something of God and His goodness. To turn away from God now is more terrible than it ever was; it is dreadful to see the children of believing parents turning away when they get to sixteen or seventeen years old. They want to go their own way; they have a feeling of restraint. All they have they owe to the providence of God, but they claim it as their own, and claim a right to take it and go away from God. I was [p. 193] brought up in a Christian home with every advantage that the Scriptures and a prayerful atmosphere could give me, but I found there was a distinct desire to turn away from it all.
The elder brother represents another class. They do not turn away outwardly; they apparently respect God; they do not walk in the ways of sin openly,; they go to church, chapel or meeting room; they read the Bible; they say their prayers, and do not do anything outwardly wrong. In the circle of privilege there are many like that, and yet it is possible for them to be morally farther away from God than those who act without any regard to God at all. These things throw a flood of light on the whole position. We see certain persons who claim to use everything God has given them as a right, to use it for themselves; they do not want the restraint of the knowledge of God; they want to get a long way off from it and gratify themselves at a distance from the God they have known in the place of privilege. And there are others who lead respectable, religious lives — they would say, “I have never transgressed thy commandments” — but the result proves that they have no real knowledge of the God of the gospel of Luke, and there is more hope for the first class than the second.
We see here the ways of God in allowing us to go to the length of our tether. The path of self-gratification becomes less satisfying every day; the pleasures of sin are constantly diminishing. A young man may find great pleasure in self-gratification, but he will find less the second time, and still less the third; and so it goes on until the time comes when the very things that gratify him most do not gratify him at all — he has spent all and got to the end. I believe morally every one of us has had to come to the end of finding satisfaction at a distance from God; we have all had to go this way.
The Lord gives us the extreme case because it covers all the other cases. We have all sought self-gratification and wasted our substance, for a life lived in self-gratification is a wasted life, whether it is done in a gross form or in a refined form. We see here the whole process laid bare; the process of departure and the process of recovery are depicted by a master hand. The prodigal had spent all; he had no longer any resources to go on. We have all come that way; we went on with the pleasures of sin in some form or other until they ceased to give satisfaction, and the working of conscience gave us more misery than the self-gratification gave us pleasure.
[p. 194] The famine is sure to come when we have got to the end of our resources. We do not know anything else that we can turn to for satisfaction, and then we find that this country far from God is a place of famine. Then the prodigal goes a step lower; he joins a citizen of that country and finds himself in a place of great degradation. Very often that comes in the history of a soul; one in this case will go down to a depth of degradation that he could not have thought possible; he will get no satisfaction there, and no one will give him anything, not even swine’s food. All this is the mercy of God. You may say, It is a terrible picture of self-will and departure, but the Lord brings it out to show that it is the way of God to bring about the consummation of the supremest blessing we could ever think of.
Man would have no power to gratify himself at all but for what he has providentially from God; if he had nothing from God he would have no power of self-gratification. It is just what he has providentially — his strength, his health, his capabilities, his means, are all derived providentially from God, and he takes it up and uses it for his own gratification. He has to come to the end of it on that line and then we find there is something deeper down in his heart than self-gratification. The self-gratification was there on the top, and one might say in the middle, but right down at the bottom there is something else. It was like that with the woman of Samaria; she lived a life of self-indulgence, and all the people of Samaria thought her a very self-indulgent person, but the Lord saw something else. He saw deep down under it all the thought of the worship of God, and the Messiah, One who was coming who would give light about everything.
“When he came to himself” — the true self of the man was quite different from the self-indulgence that he had been pursuing to the last possible point. The work of grace had brought that to the top. That is how it is with those who have been in the place of privilege: they have heard of the blessed God made known in the gospel of Luke, and we find that deep down at the bottom of their heart all through a life of self-indulgence. When everything fails it comes to the top; it manifests and asserts itself. It was there in the heart of the prodigal. “When he came to himself” is a striking word. It is the true self of the man; he had to come back to his true self [p. 195] What is before the Lord here is the lost one being recovered, and all these experiences on the part of the prodigal are in the way of God to bring him to the point of repentance. The true self of the man was reached when he came to judge himself and recognise the abundance and satisfaction that there was in his father’s house; and he says, “I perish with hunger”. There is a sharp contrast. He says, I know a place where the lowest servant, lower than a bondman, has abundance. He had the sense of that which he never lost. That is the great comfort. There are people we often pray for, those boys and girls who have sat on the benches and heard the truth of the God of the gospel of Luke; one has seen many of them who have turned away from that God, and gone on their own ways seeking to gratify themselves away from God. We pray for them because we hope that down at the bottom there has been something put that the devil can never take away. Many of the children of the saints profess faith in Jesus, but the test comes when the desires of the flesh begin to assert themselves, and the world offers its attractions; then there may be a definite turning away. “We have turned every one to his own way”. It is a solemn moment, it is a heart-breaking thing, when a young man or woman comes to the point that they no longer care for the meetings; they prefer the world, its amusements and companions, and they gradually or suddenly break away. But it is a comfort to think that they are not finally lost to us; the true self may be there and an appreciation of the goodness of God. When I was a little child I had a wonderful sense in my soul of the goodness of God and the preciousness of Jesus; it was there before I began to go off to the far country, and in due time it became characteristic, it was the true self. I believe we must look at this from the side of God’s sovereignty, and the true self of the man, even though he has been wasting his substance and has come to poverty, famine and degradation, is the sense of the blessed goodness of God. It greatly comforts me to think that when the rubbish is cleared away by sorrowful experience the true self comes to light. There must be true self-judgment, for, if I have turned away from the God of the gospel of Luke, I am one of the worst of sinners. Think of actually preferring to leave that God and turn to my own way! That helps to produce such a sense of sin; it produces a thousand times deeper sense of sin than all the thunders of Sinai.
[p. 196] This is presented to us from the responsible side, the outward history, but we can discern that underneath the outward history there is a secret working of God giving a sense of divine goodness. He says, There is abundance there. It is a wonderful moment in the history of the soul when the sense is borne in upon it that the lowest person that has to do with God is infinitely better off than the highest person in the world. This is not a mere notion, like people saying God is good. The reality of the thing comes out in movement; there is a definite turning from everything that constitutes one’s life as in the world, and a turning to God. The moment that point is reached everything is accomplished. The Lord does not suggest that the prodigal took a single step. He said, I will arise and go, but we do not know that he took a step, for when he was a great way off his father saw him. It is the same word as the far country.
There is a question before a soul who has judged himself to have sinned against heaven and in God’s sight. “Sinned against heaven” is a remarkable expression. If my whole course has been contrary to the mind of heaven, and I have been sinning before God, that blessed God of the gospel of Luke, what reception am I to expect? If I have expected good from God, will He be as good as I expect Him to be? The Lord says, He will be infinitely more gracious than the largest expectation that I ever had. In the parable the father saw the prodigal a great way off, he had compassion, he ran and fell on his neck and covered him with kisses, the most ardent expression of affection. And this was before the prodigal had said a word of confession of any sort. This is the God we have to do with; there is no barrier, for as soon as we judge ourselves and expect goodness in God, He will do everything for us, lavish everything upon us, cover us with kisses. The only time that God is in a hurry is when there is a repenting sinner. The covering with kisses gives the consciousness of God’s love; that is bound up in the gift of the Spirit.
It would help us much to get a profound sense of the joy God has in seeing us turned to Himself. Everyone who has judged himself and turned to God has ministered profound joy to the heart of the blessed God. That gives strength to self-judgment. In the far country the prodigal said, “I have sinned against heaven and before thee”, but it must have been a ten times deeper self-judgment when the father’s arms were [p. 197] round his neck and he was covered with kisses. The real basis of happiness and vigour spiritually is that we know how to judge ourselves in the presence of divine grace, so that we never look for anything from self but look for everything from God — then we are happy. Have you ever had the indescribable sense of the love of God and the pleasure He has had in turning you to Himself? God delights to give it; we cannot give it to one another. I do not think anyone could tell what it is, the indescribable consciousness that He loves me and that I am an object of delight to Him because I am self-judged and repentant, and I have turned to Him. The sense of that in the soul is by the Spirit; all the love concentrated at Calvary is now diffused in millions of hearts by the Spirit, and every one of them is conscious of having been kissed. We have the same word here — “the father fell on his neck” — as in Acts 11 — “the Holy Spirit fell” on all those who heard the word in the house of Cornelius. The love of God is brought into our hearts by the Spirit, so that the disposition of God towards us is known inwardly.
The basis of it all is reconciliation, but that is not brought out in this chapter. The only intimation of it is the fatted calf being killed, which suggests the death of Christ; but it is the death of Christ as the basis of eternal joy in the house of God rather than reconciliation. It is all based on reconciliation, but reconciliation was effected in the death of Christ. There was such work wrought in the death of Christ that everything unsuitable to God was removed. Here in Luke 15 it is the experimental work in the soul by which we come into the fruit of reconciliation. All we get here is based on reconciliation. Colossians I says, “reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and irreproachable before him”. The prodigal is presented thus, “holy and unblamable and irreproachable”; it is the fruit of reconciliation. If reconciliation had not been effected in the death of Christ, we should never have had Luke 15 in our Bibles.
The best robe indicates that one is set before God in a new status. When the father kissed the prodigal nothing could be added on the father’s side; He covered him with kisses. He could do no more — the robe, the ring and the shoes are all subordinate to the kisses. If a person kisses me ardently, there is more affection in it than in giving me a coat. The kisses are the profound depth of the heart of God breaking out [p. 198] on this subject of love; the heart of God breaks out in all its fulness, and the prodigal feels that God loves him with all His heart. God covers him with kisses — what could be greater than that?
Then things are needed on the prodigal’s side, so the robe, ring and shoes come in in order that the prodigal might be invested with conscious suitability to the One who had kissed him. The best robe seems to be connected with purpose; it is there in the house, and the bondmen know where to find it. It is there in purpose; as we should say, it was there from eternity. There was everything in that best robe that could satisfy the most exacting scrutiny of the eye of God. If one is conscious of being kissed, nothing would satisfy the heart but to be conscious of suitability to the One who has kissed me; so with the best robe one is invested with conscious suitability. The person who has been kissed is now graced in the Beloved. The bondmen are there to put on the best robe; it is their work to do it; they know the wealth and resources of the house. We ought to be able to clothe the prodigals when they come back.
The character of the reception is dwelt on in the parable; it does not finish by speaking of a sinner repenting, which is the great point in the case of the sheep and silver. Of course the truth of repentance comes out in this history, but the great point is the wonderful character of the reception. One would like to have one’s soul filled with a greater sense of the wonderful reception that God accords to everyone who comes back. That is how the Lord presents the matter; we have a statement that could not possibly be made by anyone except the Son of the Father’s love. God has such profound joy in it, and He says it is right to make merry and rejoice. He justifies what He did, not on the ground of mercy and grace, but He says, “It is right”. Paul’s doctrine of the righteousness of God underlies this; that is, His grace is a matter of righteousness.
God would have us to apprehend the character of the way in which He receives us and all the perfection and blessedness of His own thoughts formed in Christ before the foundation of the world. Now spiritual history would invest us with that so that we might be presented, as Paul says, “perfect in Christ”. Paul says to the Colossians, “Christ ... whom we announce, admonishing every man, and teaching every man, in all wisdom, to the end that we may present every man perfect in Christ”.
That was Paul’s labour, and Epaphras laboured too behind the scenes, that the saints might be clothed with the best robe, the ring and the sandals. The eternal thoughts of God in Christ have fully come to light so they can be ministered to those who believe on Him. The bondmen serve the one who has come back so as to bring him through the ministry of Christ to think about himself as God thinks of him.
In the beginning of Ephesians Paul speaks of God having chosen the saints in Christ before the foundation of the world that they might be holy and without blame before Him in love. Think of such a proposal! Think of the character of holiness and blamelessness that had taken form in the thoughts of God in Christ before the foundation of the world! It is not Adam innocent or fallen, or even Adam restored, but it is the kind of suitability to God that had taken form in His thoughts and heart in Christ before the foundation of the world. This wonderful robe was there from eternity, but it could not be brought our until these precious thoughts had taken form in Christ as risen and glorified. Now these thoughts have taken form in a risen and glorified Man, and God would have us to understand that He receives every one who turns to Him in the preciousness and value and infinite blessedness of these eternal thoughts of His in Christ. When one is clothed with the best robe one divests oneself of all thoughts of self, either good or bad; and one is invested with the precious thoughts of God that took form in purpose in Christ before the foundation of the world. We start from a new point altogether. One clothed with the best robe is entirely delivered from the world, the flesh, and all the religious order of things that is found here, because he is invested with something that belongs to eternity, to the eternal thoughts of God in Christ. This is the only way of getting completely free from self. There is no other way except by being consciously invested with God’s thoughts which have taken form in Christ. The thoughts of God in Christ are ministered to us — administration and teaching and ministry are all needed but the result is that saints are presented perfect in Christ. There is nothing unreal or artificial about it; it becomes part of one’s moral being. I am conscious that nothing else will suit Him, or suit me if I love Him. Nothing is more important than that the saints should be clothed consciously with the character of holiness, blamelessness and irreproachableness such as God thought of in Christ [p. 200] before the foundation of the world. There is nothing less for us; I must have that or self; it may be good, religious, or reformed, christianised self, but self is not Christ.
Nothing is absolute on our side; things are absolute on God’s side, but only in part on our side. Even an apostle could say, “We know in part”, and it will never be otherwise; there will always be room for enlarged apprehension until we reach that which is perfect and then we shall know even as we are known. In the perfect state I shall know myself as God knows me, and that is the climax of blessedness.
The ring in Scripture seems to be connected with public honour. Joseph was given the ring by Pharaoh, and in Esther we read of the king putting his ring on Haman and then on Mordecai. It seems to suggest a place of dignity and public honour. When Pharaoh took off his ring and put it on Joseph he invested him with public honour as administrator of everything in Egypt — that is the honour that God has in view for His sons. The sons of God are to appear as those in a position of great honour with God, so that nothing that is undignified or mean would be suitable in persons who wear the ring. We could not descend to do anything of a mean or commonplace kind. We have to remember always that we are invested on God’s part with the greatest public honour which is soon going to be displayed; when the sons of God are manifested they will liberate all creation. I wonder what we should be like if we moved in the dignity of that? Paul said to the Corinthians, Do you not know that you are going to judge the world, that you are going to judge angels, and yet you are squabbling about a little money matter? It is a rebuke to them; they had not the ring. The ring would make one conscious of dignity in the wonderful place of representation. When Pharaoh gave his ring to Joseph, it was as much as to say, You are to represent me. And when the king gave his ring to Mordecai he was set up to represent the king, so that he could seal any document with the king’s seal. The ring represents the authority of the king. Think of the dignity of being set up to represent God in the universe!
We are sons of God now, and we have the same dignity with God now that we shall have in the day of glory. We shall not have dignity with God one whit greater in the day of glory than we have this minute. It will be manifested then, but now God would invest us with this dignity. We do not think [p. 201] enough about ourselves; we think about ourselves on the line of flesh and nature, or of all that which marks us by imperfection and infirmity; but God would have us think about ourselves as He thinks about us, as He cherishes in His heart His thoughts which have taken form in Christ.
As far as we can we should like to relieve sorrow at present. When the Lord was here, He was the great reliever of every sorrow and pressure — that belongs to the ring. The Lord was here to administer all the wealth of heaven, and in measure we are set up to be representatives of God, to carry His signet. Think of putting the signet of God on things, so that how we touch them is worthy of God! It is humbling to think of how little we stand in the dignity of it, but God is not glorified if we do not.
The sandals speak of how we are to move in conscious sonship. It was only sons who were allowed to wear sandals in the house. We are to move as sons of God, as persons led by the Spirit of God — “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God”. The Spirit could never lead me to do anything like a natural man; it is the greatest reproach on us if we do anything like men. It was the reproach that Paul threw at the Corinthians — “ye walk as men”. We seem to take it as a matter of course that we walk as men, but that is all wrong; if we do we have not the sandals on. There should be something about the whole bearing of one who is brought to God that marks him off as one who is in the place of affection with God.
The liberty of sonship is ours; we are invested with what belongs to new creation. It is not Adam made better, or flesh made better, but new creation in Christ, and every part of it brought about by the death of Christ. It is an order of things which does not at all belong to the old creation. The best robe, the ring, and the sandals formed no part of the prodigal’s first inheritance, but he is invested with them, and then the fatted calf is killed and they sit down and begin to make merry. I have no doubt that the blessedness of this is intensified in seeing that it all comes through the death of Christ. That will be our festivity for ever when we are in the blessedness of new creation; we shall enjoy eternally with God the thought that it has all been brought about through the death of Christ.
The fatted calf suggests Christ as the One in whom we have seen the tenderness and excellency of love that would secure [p. 202] all the thoughts of God righteously in a way suitable to God; all is secured through death. If we know in any measure what it is to be clothed with the best robe, to have the ring and the sandals, how precious it is to think with God that it is altogether the fruit of the death of His Son!
There is a great difference between the house and the field. The field represents the place of God’s providential mercies, all the good that God can bestow upon people as living on the earth. One might naturally consider that such a place was a very good place to live in; but it is not the house. In the setting of this parable I think the field would represent what would be enjoyed in the way of providential mercy. A great many people live in that place; they are thankful for the goodness of God and His mercies, for health and strength, abilities and means and all that speaks of God’s providential goodness, but that is the field, not the house. The house is where the joy of grace is, and that is something quite different from providential mercies. I might have the best of health, and be well to do as to circumstances here, and I might be thankful for God’s goodness to me, but that is not God’s grace; it is the field, not the house. The house is seen here to be the circle of the joy of grace, and we want to come into that.
We are not told that the man in the next chapter was a wicked man; we are told he was wealthy and well to do, but he died and lifted up his eyes in hell. The closing section of this chapter is very important because it depicts the condition of a great many people and it shows where they live. The question is not raised at all as to the wickedness of the elder son; his life was, as we should say, a very respectable, orderly one; he could say, “I have served thee these many years and never transgressed thy commandment”. The Lord presents him as a most exemplary man. As being in the field he is in the enjoyment of God’s goodness and mercy providentially, but he is outside the house, and as far as the parable goes, he never goes in. The house is where merrymaking is, and where the music and dancing are; it is where the joy of grace is filling the whole scene with music. Now the question for us all is, Where are we living? Are we living in the house in the festivity of divine grace, or in the field under the enjoyment of God’s mercies? In a country like England, our preaching has often to be addressed to those who are like the elder brother. The younger son had led a dissipated life, and wasted his [p. 203] substance on debauchery, but we are surrounded by a great many people who have not led that kind of life at all; they have behaved themselves respectably and religiously; they have done their duty, as they think, both to God and to their neighbour, but they do not know anything about the house.
God’s providence to the world is based on redemption; every shower of rain that falls, and every ray of sunshine, everything that grows, all the health of men and every breath they draw, are founded on redemption. If Christ had not died there would have been none of it, but that is not the house. But for the death of Christ this world would have been blotted out thousands of years ago. God gives witness in providence to His goodness; man cannot eat his dinner without having a witness to the goodness of God. People say, We get it by our own labour, but there is nothing in that. Suppose God gave no rain or sunshine, what is the good of man’s labour? He is as helpless as a grain of sand. Everything comes from God in providential goodness, but that is the field; it is not the house.
An old brother used to say to me, Why do you preachers always preach about the younger son? Why do you not preach about the elder son? The wonderful thing is that God works in order to bring even such a one as that to the knowledge of Himself in grace. God is labouring all the time to bring these religious and respectable people who have never done anything wrong to know His grace. The Lord was addressing here the Pharisees who had complained that He received sinners and ate with them, so He describes publicans and sinners in the figure of the younger son, and the scribes and Pharisees in the figure of the elder son, but then He shows that the same grace is in the heart of God towards the one as the other. The disposition of the father’s heart was precisely the same to the one as to the other — that was the object of Luke’s gospel. God has not two different minds towards man; He has the same mind towards every kind of man; that is, that every kind of man should be brought to know Him in the joy of His grace. The way that an elder brother gets convicted of sin is by being brought to the consciousness that with all his goodness, respectability and religiousness he does not know God in grace, and he does not like God as known in grace — he was angry. The father deals with the elder son in such wonderful grace; he came out and said, “Child”. There is a peculiar touch of affection in that.
[p. 204] God has fatherly feelings in regard of every proud Pharisee in this world; in a sense He has fatherly feelings towards every man in this world, for the disposition of God towards man is tender. Paul says to the Athenians, “We are his offspring”. We are slow and dull to take in the disposition of God, that such are the feelings of His heart towards one who hated him for His grace. God has the most unbounded joy in grace, and He was hated for it, and He says, as it were, I have just the same feelings of grace to you. The whole of Scripture is a testimony to the parental feelings of God in regard to His creature man. The marvellous and unspeakable grace of God never comes out with such magnificence as it does in His dealings with the elder son.
The elder son was living in his own circumstances, and the joy of grace was entirely foreign to his heart. When he heard of it he called a lad. Every lad in the house knew his father better than he did! He was altogether outside it; he was angry when he heard the music and dancing — the whole place was alive with merriment — but he was outside and had to call a lad to tell him what was going on, that his brother had come and they were killing the fatted calf for him. The elder son had no idea of his father as a giver. He said, “Thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends”. He had a circle of friends, doubtless very respectable people like himself, a kind of mutual admiration society without any joy of grace in it; it was not likely that his father would provide anything for such a merry-making. It all showed he had not one thought in common with his father. Evidently there was in the house a whole system of things that the elder son knew nothing about; he knew nothing about the merry-making, the eating and drinking and the dancing; the treasures of the house, the best robe, the ring and the sandals — he was a complete stranger to the whole thing, yet the father goes out and entreats him. God does not leave the proudest Pharisee without the beseechings of grace. What is to become of one whom grace makes angry? If he does not alter he will find himself with the rich man in the next chapter.
The sphere of the joy of grace is the sphere of God’s happiness. It is not the gain of the son who comes to Him, but God’s gain in having him — that is the joy of heaven. The joy of heaven does not consist only in poor sinners being rescued from their misery, and being set up in endless good, but the [p. 205] joy of heaven is the gain of God. If God receives a sinner who has been estranged from Him, the joy of it reverberates through heaven above, and the house below reverberates with merriment. When a person professes conversion our real interest in it is to see how much God has acquired. The real question the preacher would want to ask when he gets on his knees would be, O God, how much hast Thou received?
When a brother stands up to bless God in the joy of grace, that is like the music — now are we prepared to dance to it? Does every heart bound, dance to the music? The Lord said to some, “We have piped to you and ye have not danced”. If a note of praise to God on account of His grace is sounded in the house, do our spirits move in response? The psalmist speaks of praising God in the dance; it signifies lively movements in the affections. In the Old Testament, of course, these things were outward, but now all the music and dancing are spiritual.
The elder son says, “thy son”, not “my brother”. He was entirely out of harmony with his father; all the time the prodigal had been away he had never once sat down to listen to what his father had to say about him. He had never been in his father’s company while the prodigal had been away, to know what his father felt, for he was so surprised at his reception of the prodigal. If he had been in communion with his father, he would have known what his father’s thoughts were. The father says to him, “Child, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine”. The father in grace is, as it were, saying to him, My thought is that you should be with me; what is mine is yours, and I want you to be as much interested in this matter as I am. In spite of the hardness of heart, self-righteousness and self-centredness of the elder son the father is bent on using every means to bring him to know himself in grace, and to bring him into the communion of His joy in grace. There is nothing more touching than the way the father speaks to him; it was all there for him.
Romans brings this all out doctrinally; if we want to know the moral foundations of it we should go to Romans. We have not the doctrinal basis in Luke 15, but we have the spring of it in the heart of God disclosed — that is the great object of the gospels. In the epistles we have the gospel taught; in Acts we have it preached, and in the gospels we have it illustrated so that the youngest child can take it in. The pictures are drawn by a master hand.
[p. 206] No doubt the Jew had a certain advantage and the Pharisee too. The scribes and Pharisees had a knowledge of the Scriptures which the publicans and sinners had not. The elder son had an advantage over the younger in being outwardly at home, but we find that his real interests were in a communion which was as foreign to the joy of grace as the far country. There are two sons here both equally far from God, one outwardly near and the other a long way off from God, but when one is brought back to God the joy of the heart of God is secured.
Paul yearned over the Jews, having been an elder brother himself. The Gentile world was not a place where he could find elder brethren; he describes it in Romans I as a scene of hopeless ruin, corruption and debauchery. The Jew had the Scriptures, the temple, and all the favour of God; they were loved by the Messiah in spite of their condition and loved by God. Paul yearned over them, and his whole heart went out to them. He said, I have wished to be a curse for them; he went as far as a man could go. Paul thought, If they will not believe anybody else they will listen to me; I was standing by when the blood of the martyr Stephen was shed; they will know what a Pharisee I was, how I hated Christians and tried to stamp out that Name — they will surely listen to me. But they would not. We do not find that the elder brother listened; the father entreated and besought, but there is nothing to show that he listened.
We cannot honour God more than by thinking of Him according to truth; that is His grace to His creature. If we think of God according to truth we think of Him as the God who is set forth in Luke 15; we worship Him and praise and glorify Him, because we know Him in the truth of His grace. If I am brought to that, God has more joy in it than I have, because God knows how far away I was, and He is the only One who knows.
If there is no knowledge of God in grace, man is dead as regards God; there is not a pulsation of life; and a man who goes to God and thanks Him he is not like other men, that he has been brought up religiously and respectably — that man is dead, Suppose for a moment that the elder brother had yielded and said to his father, I have been as bad and worse than my brother, and that the father kisses him and he comes inside, and they both have the best robe and the ring and the sandals,
[p. 207] and feast on the fatted calf, there is not a trace left of the prodigal or the Pharisee. They have come in on the footing of God’s eternal thoughts of grace; there is no prodigal or Pharisee but one new man — that is the truth of the grace of God.