THE threefold parable in Luke 15 gives the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in their various actings in redemption, quickening and salvation. The Lord says " this parable; " He does not call them three disjoined parables, but they are three in one. They tell of the Good Shepherd giving His life for the sheep, going as far as the cross that He might find us. Then the woman lighting a candle and sweeping the house, and searching for the lost piece of silver, represents the action of the Spirit by the Word in the quickening of the redeemed and believing soul, and thus he who was dead is made alive again, the lost i found. The father receiving the penitent, quickened, returning prodigal is God, the Father's gracious reception to his embrace and favor, to make happy with Himself those for whom the Son has laid down His life in redemption, and whom the Holy Spirit, through means of the Word, has quickened and “found." The joy of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, in saving lost sinners and receiving them to divine fellowship as worshippers, is vividly set forth in this great parable, and we lose sight of the happy son in our admiration of the merciful Father; and so we are left "giving thanks unto the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins " (Col. 1:1414In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: (Colossians 1:14)). But the father said to the servants, " Bring ant the best robe and clothe him in it, and put a ring on his hand, and sandals on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and be merry: for this my son was dead and has come to life, was lost and has been found, and they began to make merry.". The father said this to “the servants." Who are they? The house-servants, or teachers in the house of God? How very few are equal to this service, for how few present Christ for clothing and ornament to the repentant sinner, and have him suitably arrayed by that which. is found in the Father's presence, for being happily with him at his table, lost in adoration of Him whose grace has covered him with kisses on the unwashed cheek, and provided for his being in His house, so free from any thought of self as to be able to feast in fellowship with the father on the fatted calf. For if He says, " Let us be merry," what is it but the Father's joy in having the once-lost sinner with him as a worshipper, through what Christ is and has accomplished when " He, by the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God "—" loved us and delivered himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor."
We read of Israel keeping the Passover after they had crossed the Jordan, and were in the land. With what a different set of feelings would they keep it there from those with which they observed it in Egypt, before they, by divine redemption, were delivered from Pharaoh's territory and his tyrant power! But even this falls short of feasting with the Father in his own presence, where it is God the Father's love in rejoicing in His love in Christ Jesus over the lost one found, and feasted with Himself. It is most blessed, as it is most scriptural, to see how fully the work of Christ has answered for me before God as a judge, so that with a perfect conscience and a true heart, I may enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus—by the new and living way—through the veil, that is to say his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God.
The approach to God, as in Hebrews, is a grand reality; the provisions for it are all of God and divinely perfect. That which fits us for going into God's presence, and for being in the holiest with God, has come forth from God's presence. God has had no pleasure in all the sacrifices offered by the law, which could never make the worshippers perfect as pertaining to the conscience. The Son is sent a propitiation for sins. He also comes in devotedness to God's glory, as well as for the sinner's redemption and cleansing. “Wherefore when he cometh into the world he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and offerings for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will, 0 God '... by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus once for all." The will of God having been accomplished by the work of Christ, and the witness of the Holy Ghost being to the perfection of Christ's one offering once offered, giving a perfect conscience to "them that are sanctified," there is " boldness " or liberty of conscience to enter in the holiest, and the exhortation of the Word is—" Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, [having been] sprinkled as to hearts from an evil conscience, and [having been] washed as to the body with pure water." There is nothing wanting of all that the brazen altar demanded to keep me at a distance; and seeing that Christ has glorified God in His nature and character in the place of sin; offering Himself without spot to God, and perfectly glorifying Him in His nature, while accomplishing all His will for our redemption, remission, and access into His presence in the holiest as worshippers, we are also privileged to have fellowship with the Father in His own delight in His beloved Son, whose devotedness to Him has been proved and manifested even in death, and is ever rising as a sweet savor before His face in the glorious home above, to the perfect joy of which we hope ere long to be removed, when the Lord's promise to His own has been fulfilled —" I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." The communion with the rejoicing Father in His joy in saving and feasting with Himself when the fatted calf is slain, is beyond the joy the sinner finds in the divine provisions for placing him before himself with. a. perfect conscience, through the perfect sacrifice of Christ accomplishing his will and eternal redemption.
When heaven is opened in Rev. 5 (though the scene is different), the first object seen is " a lamb standing, as slain: “and the worship of heaven proceeds on the ground of this. " And they sing a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open its seals, because Thou has been slain, and past bought to God by Thy blood." But this, as I have said, is not at the level of the Father's house, and the slain "fatted calf" there. The discerning heart feels what is meant by this, and feels such delight that it would rather enjoy than try to express in words its deep, calm, heart-satisfying, and worshipping joy. “For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father " (Eph. 3:1818May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; (Ephesians 3:18)).