"It was Meet That we Should Make Merry and be Glad."

THUS closes this wonderful scene the most wonderful picture that was ever painted. What is its subject, do you ask? God laying Himself out to recover wanderers, those that are at a distance from Himself, either in immorality, or in cold, self-satisfied morality. “Yet doth he devise means that his banished be not expelled from him” (2 Sam. 14:1414For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him. (2 Samuel 14:14)). And if it were not so, “we must needs die,” die in our sins, die in our ruin and wretchedness, in our lost condition, and distant position; that position of distance to be “fixed” for all eternity, as it will be for those who hold out to the last against all His endeavors and entreaties, as we read in chapter 16, in the case of the “rich man.”
Yes, my reader, it is solemnly and sadly true, that if you refuse to go into the house, like the elder son in chapter 15, you will have to be turned into the hell so graphically, but terribly, described in chapter 16― “For the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psa. 9:1717The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. (Psalm 9:17)). And are you of the sect of modern Sadducees, or of their dupes, who deny that there is such a place as hell? Allow me to ask you, Who knows best, they and you, or the Son of God? —the One who came from the unseen world into ours that He might lift its curtain for us, and make us know the certainty of heaven and hell, the end of good and evil; and that He might deliver us at the cost of bearing judgment at the hand of a holy God, that He might deliver us from the torment of the one, and introduce us into the bliss of the other.
“A picture,” do you say? with the short-sighted logic of all such cavilers. Granted; but a picture of what? “Eastern imagery?” Granted; but of what? Pictures portray something; imagery represents something, not that which has no existence. And the picture of Luke 16:19-3119There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: 20And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, 21And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. 25But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 26And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. 27Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: 28For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. 29Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. 30And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. 31And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. (Luke 16:19‑31) portrays an awful and endless reality that we might escape it. Oh, be warned! Thank God you are not in that flame of torment, where so much as a drop of water to cool your tongue will be denied (vs. 24).
You may be where you are perishing with hunger (ch. 15:17), and I thank God if you feel it. But you are still where the fullness of the Father’s house is offered, not “bread enough and to spare,” as for a hired servant, but―the “fatted calf,” with “music and dancing”; all the delights and joys of heaven for a prodigal or a professor; and the best robe, the ring, the shoes, to fit you for the house, to remind you of your Father’s love, and to give you a standing in His favor, as well as His embrace and kiss at first meeting.
And not only is Luke 15 a picture of God’s grace in recovering the sinner, but of His joy in receiving him.
What a drama is being enacted on the vast stage of this world. And the chief actors, who are they? Wonder of wonders, God in Three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost―all engaged in the work of each individual sinner’s Salvation and reception. And what a scene is that on which the curtain falls at the close! (vss. 25-32.) Picture of God entreating and man refusing—self-righteous man, too. And soon―how soon―the curtain will indeed fall on this vast drama. God still beseeching (2 Cor. 5:2020Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:20)), man still refusing. Christ coming again from heaven will close it, and all rejecters, refusers, and neglecters will be forever excluded; the last word of the chief Actor being, “It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this my son was dead and is alive again: and was lost and is found.”
W. G. B.