A VIOLENT FAMINE
[p. 273] A VIOLENT FAMINE
Amos 7:1 - 8; 8:11 - 14; Luke 15:11 - 32
JT There can be no doubt that the famine mentioned in Luke 15 is figurative of spiritual want. There is also a material side of it, but it is distinctly figurative here; accordingly, it may be linked on with the passage in Amos which says that the famine in the land was “not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Jehovah”. Chapter 7 helps us with regard to our subject, in bringing forward the service of intercession, and shows how the Spirit of Christ in the saints may prevent an occurrence or a calamity such as a famine. The Lord showed the thing beforehand to Amos who interceded for the people because they were small; and it says, “Jehovah repented for this: It shall not be, said Jehovah” (and see verse 6). This chapter helps us with regard to watchfulness, thus enabling us to see what may be threatening the people of God, and then to set ourselves by intercession to prevent the pending disaster.
AP Might the latter growth referred to in verse 1 suggest the present period?
JT I think it points to the king’s rights. After the king’s mowings had taken place, there was a further growth; and that was in danger.
AP When was the early growth — the first growth?
JT It would allude to the time of the general harvest, being the king’s mowing, and would point to the rights of the Lord; but then there is the latter growth and that is what the enemy would aim to destroy. Therefore we have to be watchful [p. 274] lest it be spoiled.
AJD Is the latter growth a ripened thing?
JT It shows sustained fruitfulness, after the king’s mowings. It says, “in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings”. It is something additional, and it is in danger.
JS In the agricultural year there are two or three crops. This would refer to a latter crop.
JT Yes; the harvest began early.
CB Is there a suggestion that if we are not careful the enemy will take away that which God intends us to have?
JT I think so; especially the latter growth.
HSD What would answer today to the excess?
JT Very much what we have in the way of recovery. It might be an unexpected thing, but I think it points to sustained fruitfulness. The presence here of the Holy Spirit implies sustained fruitfulness right up to the end. When we might look for a little, there is what is said to be a “shooting up of the latter growth”. The “shooting up” would mean that it was growing up of itself, pointing figuratively, I think, to the Spirit — to the latent power that lies in the Spirit where room is made for Him.
AFM Would this latter growth refer to what has been in evidence during the last hundred years?
JT Well, I think we might apply it in that way. The king’s mowings would allude to the grass ready for reaping, and would refer to the Lord’s rights, as stated; while the latter growth would allude to the power of the Spirit who will operate where He is given a free hand.
AP Is the aftergrowth of the same kind?
JT Yes; it shoots up; it is not cultivated, but points to latent power of fruitfulness.
JS The inherent power of life is there.
ANW You spoke of the prophet’s intercession for the people, in which he spoke of Jacob. Does that [p. 275] stand in relation to intercession for all men as in 1 Timothy 2:1?
JT Well, you hardly get the universal thought of “all men” in the Old Testament; it is rather Israel as a people, Jacob being taken up. “How shall Jacob arise? for he is small”. He was small at the outset of his history, but this refers to his smallness under the government of God.
AP Is it your thought that the arising of Jacob and the springing up of this latter growth are, in a sense, the same?
JT The arising of Jacob would be dependent upon this latter growth, i.e., the maintenance of the responsible element for God would be dependent upon the later crop. We cannot go on in the present time with a ministry of a past generation. Many are pushing it forward as though it were final, but we cannot live on that. This latter growth alludes to current ministry of the Spirit.
AJD Are we in the days of the latter growth?
JT It is just an application. We have come in at the end when things are very small, but the element of responsibility remains. I think that is the point in the reference to Jacob. “How is he to arise?” says Amos, in interceding.
AFM Something like the Lord’s word to Philadelphia, “Thou hast a little power, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name”, (Revelation 3:8).
JT That is how it would come out, and is where the latter growth is seen. The shooting up of the latter growth would synchronise with the little power — the evidence of life in the saints. This latter growth refers to what the enemy would aim at in our day; and God may allow him to do this. It would allude to the cutting off of ministry; and not only ministry, but normal growth amongst the brethren — the happy evidence of life and fruitfulness.
CAM The one that interceded had not only [p. 276] a knowledge of Jacob, but also a knowledge of God. Amos must have known that the Lord’s heart would be touched by his calling attention to the fact that there was smallness in Jacob.
JT That is how I look at it. The priestly intelligence of the prophet knew what would appeal to God — that God would feel that Jacob could not arise, and that the filling out of His purpose was bound up so much with Jacob.
ABP In the parable of Matthew 25, we are told that while the bridegroom tarried, they all grew heavy and slept. His tarrying would give opportunity for a further crop.
JT Exactly; the agricultural year is not the same as the calendar year; it is elastic and runs on after the time of the first putting of the sickle to the grass.
WGT You did not mention anything about the locusts in verse 1; they are destructive creatures.
JT They would represent, in the government of God, something allowed that would be most destructive. After their appearance, there would be nothing left; and it is well for us to face this in relation to what God may allow. We may have a time of plenty, but then conditions may arise which would require God’s withdrawing fruitfulness. Many of our brethren, alas! have turned aside and have gone into conditions where there is no latter growth. They are living on the past, if they are living at all; for if they are where there is no present growth, how can they be living according to God?
EB Would this latter growth be new light, or would it be an increase of the light that we have had in the past?
JT Growth is more than light; it is the fruit of life, really, and would include ministry; but it points to the latent power of the Spirit; He is ever ready,
[p. 277] where the opportunity is given to Him, to produce His own fruits in us.
AR Much like the ministry of John’s gospel?
JT Very much; it points to what is collective, as found amongst the brethren, and is the evidence of the fruit of the Spirit.
AFM The Spirit of God is constantly ministering to us fresh things; but are they new, or are they rather what has been recovered?
JT There is nothing new in the sense of revelation, but there is newness in the sense of recovery — new features of the truth. I believe the Holy Spirit gives new dress to things; so that you get things now in a way that perhaps the saints did not have them in the earlier days. The Lord would preserve things amongst us, so that speaking of the Spirit, He says that He “will bring to your remembrance all the things which I have said to you”, (John 14:26).
HSD Would that verse in John 14 have in view the meeting of later conditions?
JT Exactly; conditions are altered, and the truth would meet them.
ANW What you have said seems to be confirmed distinctly by the letters to the churches: “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies”.
JT Yes; I think if we keep the greatness of the Spirit before us, we may always expect something distinctive, He being who He is.
CB “He receives of mine and shall announce it to you”, (John 16:15). I suppose it would be a continuing of what went before.
JT Exactly; the Spirit of God is God Himself.
JEH I was thinking of the scripture: “In thy light shall we see light” (Psalm 36:9). Would not that fit in here? It is a question of the light being received and made use of.
JT Yes; there is always something beautiful [p. 278] about a fresh crop. It may be the same kind of crop, but it is fresh, and there is something about it that is distinctive.
CAM There is always variety in the world of vegetation; so that every evidence of life would have its own special features.
JT Growth according to God is always fresh.
AJD Would the scripture which says: “... like a man that is a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old” (Matthew 13:52), confirm our looking for fresh features of ministry?
JT Yes; “things new” are said to be in the treasure of every scribe discipled to the kingdom of the heavens; it does not say, every great gift, but “every scribe discipled to the kingdom of the heavens”. He has these things in his treasure.
AFM As to the truth of the Son of God which has been before us so helpfully of late, would you say that it is not new, but that it is presented to us in a very fresh character to meet the enemy’s opposition with regard to His Person, as well as to afford help to us?
JT I think so. The general drift of infidelity and of apostasy requires that the proof of the Lord’s Person be emphasised, as if the Lord would say, “Who do ye say that I am?” (Luke 9:20). If He were to raise that question in our day, and I am merely orthodox, I shall be saying what many are saying now, which is what has been handed down in the creeds, but then that is not answering the Lord’s question. If He says to us, “Who do ye say that I am?” we must answer Him according to the apprehension we may have of Him.
ANW The enemy is defeated as the truth is maintained according to the features the Spirit emphasises. Men view these creeds as having authority on account of their antiquity, but they overlook the fresh development of the [p. 279] Spirit.
JT It has been well said that you could drive a coach and four through any so-called creed; but the scriptural idea is to hold the truth, not in a creed, but by the Spirit. It says, “Keep, by the Holy Spirit, which dwells in us, the good deposit entrusted”, (2 Timothy 1:14). If we do that, we shall be maintained in freshness, and there will be an increase in our apprehension of the truth.
WB-w Amos was a gatherer of sycamore fruit. He gathered what was fresh.
JT Yes. In the beginning of chapter 8 it says, “Thus did Jehovah show unto me; and behold, a basket of summer-fruit”, which meant, as verse 2 shows, that the end had come; but then it had not come in decay, the summer fruit denotes that there was freshness.
RDG How do you account for the prophet’s not being able to intercede before the grass was wholly eaten up?
JT This was only in a vision. “Thus did the Lord Jehovah show unto me”. The thing itself had not yet happened; and through Amos’ intercession the Lord forbade it. He showed the thing to the prophet beforehand; and I think if we are near to Him, He will show us things, and seeing them, we will know what to ask for. This basket of summer fruit is very suggestive and points to the end, but it is in fruitfulness.
WB-w Amos says, “I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was a herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit”, (chapter 7:14).
JT He is a fruit gatherer; he is not occupied with leaves, but with full results.
JS He was a herdman, too, and so would look after the flock.
AFM Amos had no official or hereditary status, but was employed in profitable services, from which he was called of [p. 280] God.
JT His prophetic position was entirely from Jehovah. Amaziah the priest told him to leave the place. He said, “Go, flee away into the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there”. (verse 12). He wanted to get rid of God’s prophet; and that is the secret of the next chapter, where the famine of hearing the words of Jehovah is announced. If prophecy is refused, then God will send a famine of His word.
WB-w Would Amaziah the priest represent the religious system of the world?
JT Yes; “the king’s sanctuary” describes the official religious state of things in which Amos was an interferer and a disturber.
WB-w It says in chapter 5:5, “And seek not Bethel, neither go to Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba”. Would this show that the official thing had broken down?
JT These names refer to places where God has been known at one time, but is known no longer. In chapter 7:14 we get the three things that are shown to Amos; but the first two were revoked. God said, “It shall not be”. The revocation of the first two was on the ground of Amos’ intercession; but in the third case, Jehovah was standing upon a wall built by a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand, and Amos interceded no more, for the end had come, meaning that judgment may be put off by the intercession of the saints, but God will not keep putting off for ever; there is going to be an end of things. God is ministering to us bountifully at the moment, but He is not going to bear indefinitely with conditions of indifference among His people. He is standing upon a wall built by a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand, meaning that He has His own principles from which He will not deviate; and inasmuch as the people have departed from them, He will not pass by them any more, but will judge [p. 281] them. It is a very solemn thing. Amaziah would get rid of the prophet Amos, who was interfering with and disturbing the ordered religious conditions; but he ignored the fact that there was a plumb line in the hands of the Lord and that through the intercession of Amos the judgment of God had been stayed.
AFM Is the plumb line suggestive of righteousness?
JT I think so. God is infinitely accurate; we cannot build loosely; we must build plumb, or the building will come down. This principle would be set in the midst of Israel as a testimony that the judgment would be stayed no longer.
AP The plumb line is in the hands of the Lord, not in the hands of men.
JT And the wall that He was standing upon was built by a plumb line, so that He says, “I will not again pass by them any more”; everything must be according to the plumb line.
JS The wall built by the plumb line was the standard to go by.
JT Very much like the firm foundation of God today — it stands.
AP All those in Asia turned away from Paul, but he saw the latter crop coming into view, such as is spoken of in 2 Timothy, and provided for its preservation.
JT Quite so; so that you can see that the efforts of Amaziah to get rid of the prophet suggest what we have in chapter 8 — the famine; and that unless we value what God gives at any given time, we may get a famine of the word of God.
JS God may come in governmentally and bring this about in the souls of men.
WGT Amaziah made much of the “king’s sanctuary” as being “the house of the kingdom”, as if this order of things was being set aside by the teaching of [p. 282] Amos.
JT Yes; Amos was disturbing conditions. It says, “The land is not able to bear all his words”, (chapter 7:10). And then he was asked to go to Judah.
WB-w The word to Laodicea is, “I am about to spue thee out of my mouth”, (Revelation 3:16). The Lord would not pass by them any more.
HSD Do the prophet and the spiritual supply go together?
JT I think that is how it stands. If they want to get rid of Amos, then the next chapter speaks of a famine of the word of God. If we refuse what God gives, He may cease to give.
AFM “The words of Jehovah” would convey the present mind of God, at any given time, would they not?
JT Yes. “Behold, days come, saith the Lord Jehovah, when I will send a famine in the land; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Jehovah”. It would be on account of the state of the people, that there would be no hearing of the words of Jehovah. Words are very precious. It is not a general thought, but detail in words. It further says, “And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of Jehovah, and shall not find it”. They would run to and fro, but not go to the right place to find the word of Jehovah.
In coming to Luke 15 we read that there arose a violent famine throughout that country. What is to be noted is that the work of God is seen in the prodigal, but he did not run to and fro, as those referred to in Amos will do; it says of him: “... and coming to himself”. That is the effect of the work of God.
ARS Would not the running to and fro in Amos signify that those in the famine have no definite object; whereas, the prodigal had — he was going back to his [p. 283] father?
JT That is what I was thinking. The work of God makes us definite. Indefiniteness of soul, or of purpose, would indicate that God is not working in such a case.
AR Coming to himself would be something like the latter growth.
JT Yes; there is a great deal in the prodigal coming to himself. As soon as God begins to work one thinks about oneself — what one’s history has been, not of other things and of going hither and thither.
JEH The plumb line is being applied.
ANW “I will set a plumb-line in the midst of my people Israel.”.
AFM Do you think the seriousness of the far country of Luke 15 has been aggravated by the fact that Christ has been rejected by its inhabitants?
JT The far country would be the world out of which Christ has been cast; but then the coming to oneself, as was remarked, would show that a plumb-line is in the midst of God’s people, that is where it is needed. When a man comes to himself he begins to face the facts of his position, and also to see that things are not hopeless. He would say, “Why does God allow a sinful man such as I am to exist on earth? There must be some hope for me!”
CAM Wandering hither and thither will not help, it must be a personal matter in relation to God.
JT God is not far from each one of us. As soon as one comes to oneself there is hope; and so the prodigal said immediately, “How many hired servants of my father’s have abundance of bread, and I perish here by famine”.
JTJr Does Luke 15 show how we get recovered individually?
JT Yes. Instead of running hither and thither for satisfaction, as we are told they would do in Amos, it is coming to oneself and reverting to one’s [p. 284] history, to what God has been to one. The prodigal said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven”. In what way had he sinned against heaven? I believe in not giving thanks to God for all that He had given him. The bounty of heaven to men is disregarded by men generally, in that they do not give thanks to God for it.
WFK Does God use His goodness to bring men to themselves?
JT Yes. As soon as a man comes to himself, he reviews his history, and sees that things are not hopeless after all, because there is always some evidence of God’s goodness. The prodigal, instead of going hither and thither and joining himself to another citizen, begins to think of the God he once had to do with.
AJD He says, “I will rise up and go to my father”. He turns to the right source.
JT Quite so.
CB It is a great thing to know that in the Father’s house there is plenty.
JT The prodigal had light, and there is light amongst men, but they do not like to retain God in their knowledge. When God begins to work, the subject of that work reverts to that. The knowledge of God has never left this world, but it is a question of the state of man — that he does not avail himself of it; when he comes to himself, he finds that God is not far from him. He is not far from any one of us. The apostle says, “The word is near thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart”, (Romans 10:8). How encouraging to find that “the word is near thee”, and so is available for all, for the grace of God has placed it all around us.
AP That is most helpful, for although the prodigal was in the midst of the famine, there was plenty elsewhere, and he could visualise it.
WGT [p. 285] He did not blame God for his difficulties, but recalled what his father’s house had been.
JT He was blaming himself — why should he be in that far country when his father had so much? The coming to himself helped him as to that point. Think of the bounty of heaven! Every morning it bestows something in the great variety of its goodness, and yet men do not give thanks. You will not see one man in a million giving thanks to God for his food, or for anything else he partakes of. Men enjoy the bounty of heaven, yet are utterly indifferent to God about it.
ANW The prodigal took his portion and went into a far country, and dissipated it.
TA Then there arose a violent famine; but there must have been something of God with him.
JT Yes; it was what his father gave to him — the property was divided.
TA What would that represent today?
JT What God has endowed men with. It says, “Because, knowing God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful” (Romans 1:21); God is by that means shut out. But when God begins to work, then men revert to what is known of God by them.
Ques Do you think the reduction he experienced helped him to come to himself?
JT Yes; man, as having given up God, has become degraded, like the prodigal was, but as the work of God proceeds, men come to themselves and think of Him.
AR The prodigal then says, “How many hired servants of my father’s have abundance of bread”.
AFM Where would you place the gospel in this particular section of the chapter?
JT I do not know that you get it here; it is rather the effect of the work of God. The gospel would be seen in the father’s running to meet him and the provision the father made for him which was far beyond his expectation. The kisses and all that followed would be the gospel, but primarily these verses show the work of God in a man’s soul that leads him to come to himself.
AFM As in Romans 2:4, “... the goodness of God leads thee to repentance”.
JT Yes; there is nothing to indicate that anybody said anything to him in the far country. He came to himself and recalled what he had already known.
AFM As a matter of fact, the famine was in the far country, and had to be experienced by him; there was no word of grace in the far country.
RDG “No one gave to him”.
JT The spirit of Christ, the spirit of giving, was not there.
ANW I suppose the gospel was in the telling of this to the publicans and the sinners, who drew near to hear Him.
JT Just so; they were coming to hear Him.
AJD Does not this young man’s coming to himself show that when everything else fails, the work of God stands?
JT Yes; and it shows that without the gospel being formally presented the work of God is effective in a man’s soul. It is in relation to what there may be in one’s history with God; whether one is brought up by Christian parents or not, the work of God links with whatever light one may have.
AP The famine condition that God allows in souls is to make them feel their need; and would make room for the preaching of the gospel.
JT Yes; the work of God is particularly seen in the prodigal. It is not seen actively in the lost sheep or in the lost piece of silver, these are rather to bring out the interest of divine Persons in seeking [p. 287] and finding; but the third case is to bring out the effect of the subjective work of God — that it has a result without any outward presentation of light to the subject of it.
ARS It was the gnawings of hunger that led the prodigal to come to himself.
JT If it had not been for the work of God in him he would have become worse and worse, so as to become desperate, but he did not become desperate, he came to himself. Then his history comes back to him, and in that history there was light as to what he had been overlooking and disregarding, and that begins to act on him. It is not what somebody told him, but what he himself knew.
ARS Were it not for the work of God in him he might have destroyed himself.
JT Yes; the work of God in him is what the Spirit would emphasise; it operates to bring to light everything in one’s history. God has not left Himself without witness, not only in doing good to men but also in what is actually connected with the history of men.
CAM We would not think that Nebuchadnezzar would have thought of heaven, but after all he went through, at the end of the days he lifted up his eyes unto the heavens.
JT That is an illustration of the same thing. It was the effect of the work of God in Nebuchadnezzar’s soul. The work of God showed itself also in Rahab. It linked her on with the light that was current, so that she knew about the drying up of the Red Sea before Israel, and of the destruction of the two kings of the Amorites. She was living in an environment where everything was against her, but the work of God in her triumphed, for it is always true to itself.
ANW One of the thieves on the cross said, “Dost thou too not fear God?” (Luke 23:40). He [p. 288] had a sense of sinning against heaven; it was the effect of God’s work in him.
AFM The prodigal says, “I have sinned” — not only had he sinned against heaven, but he says, “before thee”. You remarked that in the first two parables there was no activity seen in the lost sheep or the lost piece of silver, but the prodigal goes back to his father with a full confession of his sinful course.
JT Yes; in the beginning of the chapter those who murmured said, “This man receives sinners” (verse 2). The publicans and sinners were drawing near to Him to hear Him. Why were they doing so? Why were they not going to the saloons and places of amusement? The chapter shows why, for it brings out the undercurrent of God’s work in men, which leads up to repentance and the Father’s embrace.
ABP In several instances in the gospels the Lord says, “Thy faith hath saved thee”. Is that a confirmation of the work of God that has taken place in the soul?
JT Yes. The publicans and sinners were said in our chapter to be coming near to hear Him. The opposers said, “This man receives sinners and eats with them”. The Lord must take up that challenge, and the chapter unfolds what is going on underneath in men, and justifies His receiving sinners, who are subjects of the work of God.
TA Why did Nicodemus come to Jesus by night?
JT For the same reason that prompted others in whom God was working.
TA There must have been some feeling of famine in his soul.
JT “We know that thou art come a teacher from God”, (John 3:2). Such a confession was a sure evidence of the work of God in him.
AFM Would this chapter be the Lord’s justification of God in what He [p. 289] is doing?
JT Yes; the whole chapter is the justification of what was alleged; it is the explanation of what is going on in men, and is a rebuke to the opposers. Why should not the Lord receive sinners? Why should not the father receive the returning prodigal? Look at him now and see what a great difference there is in him; he “was dead and has come to life again, and was lost and has been found”!
WB-w His conscience had been at work, and his whole moral being was changed.
AP The servants’ work of clothing the prodigal, etc does not come into view until the father had kissed him.
ANW The Pharisees said, the Lord not only received sinners, but ate with them.
JT What a grand exemplification of that is seen later in the chapter: “Let us eat and make merry!” How perfectly suitable it was that they should have the eating, the music and dancing! It is a marvellous answer to the opposers, and shows what God is doing.
AFM Do you regard the elder brother as a Pharisee?
JT He is just the opposer, but still in the place of outward relation to God; God owning that relation, too, and ready to bring him in also, in spite of his cavilling.
AR Is this chapter grouped with Ephesians — sonship, and the father’s house?
JT Yes; it is the greatest result presented in the gospel.
WB-w Is the result of this famine the bringing in of the Gentiles and the exposure of the apostate Jew?
JT Yes; it corresponds with Acts 10.
RAL What did the famine teach the prodigal?
JT It was used of God to remind him of what was in his father’s house, of what he possessed already [p. 290] as knowledge — not new knowledge, but knowledge neglected.
EB The Gentile, as such, was never in relationship with God; then how did he know about the father’s house?
JT The Gentiles are in relation to God as seen in Romans 3:29: “Is he not (God) of the nations also?” God made a wonderful covenant with Noah, who was the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and that covenant is not abrogated yet, for in Revelation 4:3 God reverts to it.
GMcP Cornelius, the Gentile, came into new environments.
JT Yes; but what is stated of Cornelius shows the work of God in him, and is the explanation of all that happened in Acts 10.
CB The father’s house is still on the earth, is it not?
JT Yes; the assembly answers to it.
WB-w I suppose the apostate Jew is still wandering from sea to sea as in Amos, because in the spirit of the elder brother he would not go in.
JT As to Cornelius, the point that the Spirit makes in Acts 10:44 is what God is doing. It is not simply the preaching of the gospel, but what God is doing in souls. Peter is selected for this special service, and yet he did not lay his hands on Cornelius and his company, as he did to those who believed in Samaria. “While Peter was yet speaking these words the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were hearing the word”. Mark, it was not while they were hearing Peter’s word, but the word of God. It is a question of God and the Gentiles; He virtually was receiving the prodigal.
CAM There is nothing more wonderful than the work of God; on account of it, heaven rejoices because the lost sheep, the lost piece of silver, and the depraved sinner are found. There comes a [p. 291] moment when there is the evidence of the work of God, and that is the moment which makes all heaven rejoice.
JT That is what the prodigal represents. In these three parables we have that side. The shepherd goes after the sheep, that is his side; the woman lights a candle and seeks the silver piece, that is her work; neither the lost sheep nor the lost piece of silver were doing anything, but when you come to the prodigal, he goes off and then the thought of his father’s house comes into his soul without anyone saying anything to him.
JS Is that equivalent to quickening?
JT It is the work of God in the prodigal, and its effect. I am a responsible being, but in that responsibility I look back on my history, and see what God has been to me in all that history. Divine testimony has come into it, and the work of God will link on with that.
AR Cornelius had a history before Peter saw him.
ARS Later, through Peter’s preaching, he received the word of God, which, entering into his soul, gave light.
AP Although men may turn their backs on God, He never turns His back on them. It says, “But while he was yet a long way off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell upon his neck, and covered him with kisses”.
JT God sees the movements of our hearts from the very outset of our exercises.
JEH “He is not far from each one of us”, (Acts 17:27).
AJD Would the “himself” of verse 17 correspond with what the apostle says, “I myself with the mind serve God’s law”, ([p. 292] Romans 7:25)?
JT That is right. Romans 7 is the great analytical chapter of scripture, and no one is in the assembly rightly unless he goes through it with God.
WFK Whom does the “citizen” represent?
JT One in the ordered system of things. The government that man, like Nimrod, has set up without God. Nimrod was a rebel, as his name indicates, and yet, no doubt, he would make a great deal of citizenship — his kingdom began with Babel; he followed the example of Cain, who built a city.
AFM What would the swine suggest to you?
JT They would be representative of unclean men and women; persons apart from the regenerate power of God, who swallow down everything that is presented to them. There was something in the prodigal that would refuse such food. He has not the taste, or desire of the unclean, although his hunger urged him to fill his belly with the husks.
RDG Many a man has a bad conscience in the theatre; he goes and yet is uneasy all the time he is there.
JS As soon as we revert to heaven and the father’s house the famine ceases.
JT “I will rise up and go”; there is moral power in a man who says that!
JS That is by the Spirit’s power.
JT It is the effect of the work of God. “I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee; I am no longer worthy to be called thy son”; there is definiteness in what he says to his father. The fruit of the work of God is beautiful in the eyes of heaven. God well knows it and the first evidence of it. So the Lord says in the first two parables, “Thus there shall be joy in heaven for one repenting sinner”, and, “There is joy before the angels of God for one repenting sinner”, (Luke 15:7,10). That is to call attention to the work of God and how it affects the sinner. In the prodigal it reverts to [p. 293] what he knew, and so he determines to go to his father and make a confession. The moral element is there, and every returning step he takes is delightful to heaven.
AFM The determination to go to his father would be more than new birth?
JT Yes; because there is light in his history; he reverts to light in his history, and that is what moves him, but then when the father sees him and runs to meet him and covers him with kisses, you come to the gospel — to what God is in Christ.
ABP Is that reconciliation?
JT Well, it is, and more than that; for the prodigal comes in for more. Think of the father covering him with kisses!
AJD Would you say there was a definite work of God in his soul, and that all the time that he was away from his father’s house he was really not himself?
JT I do not think he represented a converted man when he left his father’s house, but one who had been in an outward relation to God like the Gentiles, but God having begun to work in him, he comes to himself. What kind of man have I been? What has been my history? These are the questions he naturally would ask. Well, ‘God has come into my history’, he would say, and what a God! He has a house, and it is full of good things. That is the effect of the work of God.
AJD Do you not think that there was a work of God in him when he left the father’s house?
JT I think the prodigal represents the Gentiles, as having turned away from God. Then God begins to work with them, as seen in Cornelius and others.
AFM Your allusion to Acts 10 is good, because, as you were remarking, the same word ‘fell’ is used there, with regard to the Spirit, as it is used in Luke 15:20.
[p. 294] Then Peter, earlier in that chapter, saw the sheet finally taken up into heaven again; would that not convey the thought of the father’s house of Luke 15?
JT Yes; it is the fulness of the blessing. The Holy Spirit fell — mark you — not on all those that were in the house, but on all those who were hearing the word. The moral element is there, so that there is attention to the word — not Peter’s word, although it was his literally, but the word of God.
AP Do you think the cherubim in 1 Chronicles, in their looking out, were waiting for this moment?
JT Well, that is the idea. Instead of looking down on the mercy seat, these additional cherubim stood on their feet and were looking outward — their faces were toward the house.
WGT The elder brother did not understand the grace of the father; he thought he should be punitive toward the erring son.
JT Yes, which shows that the Jew does not know God.
AR It must have been a remarkable occasion for the bondmen to see and to hear all this. The father says, “For this my son was dead and has come to life, was lost and has been found”.
WB-w The prodigal had spent all. What had he to spend?
JT The knowledge of God and all that went with it. It is found in Genesis 8 and 9, for instance. God blessed Noah and his sons, and entered into a covenant with them. That has never been annulled.
CB The prodigal arose and went to his own father.
WGT His former share of the property was simply an allotment, and did not detract from the property the father originally [p. 295] had.
JT It was his share. The passage refers to what was known of God. Romans 1:19 says, “Because what is known of God is manifest among them”.
TH Wrath will fall from heaven on those who thrust the gospel from them.
JT That is right. It is already on the Jew — the elder brother. But it is coming on men as such: “There is revealed wrath of God from heaven upon all impiety, and unrighteousness of men holding the truth in unrighteousness”, (Romans 1:18).