Luke 15

From: Father Give Me: Meditations on Luke By: Thomas Leslie Mather

Luke 15 • 1.1 hr. read • grade level: 7

PART 1

MAN IS LOST, BUT HAS A SAVIOR

(Suggested Reading: Chapters 15 and 16)

The sun, "the greater light" of Gen. 1 which God ordained to rule the day, is indeed a mighty engine, maintaining life on the earth through careful regulation of the distance between the two bodies and giving light to a world which otherwise would be in darkness. In this respect, it is like the Bible, which, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, brings us who were dead into life and enlightens us. But, just as most people take the shining of the sun for granted, so do most Christians with the Bible. Yet scientists will tell you that the sun gives off huge bursts of energy called sun spots, which flare out from that great body for vast distances into space and which greatly interest them. Again, most people do not even know when such an event takes place. The Bible, too, has "sun spots"— huge bursts of light from the Holy Spirit, which transcend the revelation itself in brilliance, though only part of it. In the gospel of John, for example, the 17th chapter, where the Lord prays to His Father, is a "sun spot." In the gospel of Luke, the 15th and 16th chapters are "sun spots." And just as there is a reason for sun spots in nature, even so is there in revelation. The scientist devotes himself to the study of these natural phenomena. The Christian should be equally as zealous in studying the "sun spots" in the Bible. Because of the important subjects taken up in the 15th and 16th chapters, we have subdivided each chapter into three parts. With our curiosity aroused like Moses at the burning bush, we will "now turn aside and see this great sight." Ex. 3:3³And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. (Exodus 3:3).

Our first question might well be, just why we have a sun spot here in our gospel. This is readily answered. The 15th and 16th chapters are almost equidistant between Luke's history of Christ entering the world and His leaving it. The first fourteen chapters teem with the story of the glory— of how the heavenly glory burst upon this world when Jesus entered it and became a Man the beauty of His ministry to man— His rejection by man, forcing Him to take the title, "Son of Man," who was the lawful King of Israel— His certain knowledge that He was on the way to the cross to die for our sins. Then the chapters from 17 on revolve around His death and the consequences flowing from that death. It is fitting then that the 15th and 16th chapters should be the very heart of Luke's gospel. In these chapters, "the beloved physician" takes the pulse of his own gospel, so to speak. These two chapters are vibrant and throbbing with God's message to a world sick with sin.

Our second question should be— What are the broad characteristics of our "sun spot" here? The details can be examined later, but what are the leading thoughts? Unquestionably, they are the revelation of the hearts of God and man. The 15th chapter of Luke's gospel records the very beating of God's heart. It unfolds the divine bosom in all its richness and loveliness in the story of the prodigal. The necessity of the cross is made evident by the revelation that man is lost. Now the fall and depravity of man is a self-evident truth. As divine history, the fall of man is recorded at the beginning of the Bible; as human history, the sin of man has scorched this world with suffering. But what we find here is that God is interested in this problem, which is beyond human solution— so much so that He sent His Son into this world to die for our sins on the cross. Luke's record becomes fascinating when he tells us why God was so interested in our fallen race— it is because, after all, man is related to God in sonship— "a certain man had two sons"— that is, a relationship in affection. God lost much when that relationship was disturbed by sin. He wanted to restore that relationship in righteousness and the cross was the only way He could do it.

"Thy death has brought to light the Father's heart

And ours has won

And now we contemplate Thee as Thou art

God's glorious Son!

And know that we are loved with that great love

That rests on Thee in those bright courts above.”

Man Is Lost, but Not Abandoned— 15:3-10

One evening I took my wife to dinner at a restaurant called "The Dutch Sisters." Its decor was that of an old sailing ship. The "cabin," with old oak beams, rope, portholes, seemed dingy. Pictures of old sailing ships, shrouded in the mists of far-off days, hung on the walls. I looked at one and imagination gripped me. I saw the men in the rigging. How easy to fall into the sea, I thought. Then, out of the past, something came back to me. Once again I seemed to see the cold gray waters of the Atlantic. I was one of eighteen thousand men on the liner, Queen Elizabeth, which had been converted into a troopship. We were sailing out of Halifax harbor for Scotland, and the captain was speaking to all on board over the ship's public address system. I could remember snatches of what he said.... "This is the captain of the ship speaking... my orders are law in wartime... I have authority over every officer and man on board... this has been given to me by the allied governments. If you disobey my orders, you will be thrown in irons, kept in the hold, and court-martialed will be barred with steel shutters, and you will go below. If you are called on deck after this time, do not smoke, for a lighted cigarette can be seen for miles at sea. Because this ship has the capacity to transport so many troops, Hitler has offered the Iron Cross to any U-boat commander who can sink it. We sail without convoy, except for leaving and arriving escorts, and depend on our speed on the open sea to escape submarines. For this reason, if you fall overboard, we will make no attempt to rescue you— you will be left to your fate.”

When the steel shutters were battened down that night, an incredible thing took place. The fighting men of many nations aboard, almost by common consent, broke into such songs of evil that for the moment I thought I was in hell. An outburst like this did not occur again during the voyage. Most likely, the captain's speech made everybody suddenly realize they were in danger, and then, what was hidden in the depths of their hearts, came out.

I tell this story to show how the message of the Bible is self-proving. Thousands of years have rolled by since God gave man the Bible, but the hearts of God and man remain unchanged. Man is lost— the troops on board that ship confirmed that basic message of the Bible. But he is not abandoned. If you are lost, there is hope that you will be found. But if you had fallen off that troopship, no lifebelt would have been thrown to you, no attempt made to rescue you. You would have been abandoned to your hopeless fate. This is what hell is— abandonment by God. The men on board that ship avoided such a fate by obedience to the sea captain's orders. But the Lord of Glory has a voice like the sound of many waters. Not only that, but He Himself was abandoned by God on the cross that the lost might never be abandoned. That was the meaning of His cry, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" He has all authority and power— not given to Him by human governments like the sea captain, but from God, the Father, the Supreme Source of power and authority. He came to save you who are lost. Did you ever see a child who was lost, crying for its parents? Its concern is for itself, but the other side of being lost is that the parents have lost their child— its company and happiness. That is why God, the Father, is so concerned that the lost be found. But if you refuse God's offer of salvation, you will not only be lost, but abandoned forever and ever. There is a great difference between being lost and being abandoned. When you are lost, there is hope that you may be found; when you are abandoned, all hope of being saved is gone. The prodigal son in Luke 15 was lost, but later found; the rich man in Luke 16 was abandoned in hell forever. With these preliminary explanations, let us now turn to the consideration of the Lord's words.

Introductory Remarks Concerning the Lord's Parable

It was the grace poured into the lips of Christ, the One whom God has blessed forever, which attracted to Him the vile and the outcasts. Nobody else wanted them. And when such people came to Christ, the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, "this Man receiveth sinners and eateth with them." This was entirely consistent with the Lord's teaching— "when thou makest a feast call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind... for they cannot recompense thee" 14:13, 14. No wonder one of those who heard Him exclaimed, "blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God." Why, then, did the Pharisees and scribes murmur? It was because they saw themselves as more righteous than those who thronged Christ. They did not know that in God's eyes all men are lost. Because they could not endure such direct teaching, the Lord told them a parable concerning a lost sheep, a lost piece of silver, and two sons, one of whom knew that he was lost, but the other didn't.

We must understand at the very beginning that the Lord is speaking of the Jew and the Gentile in His parable. Jew and Gentile comprise the world of man. The Jew would readily have consented to the Lord's teaching that the Gentile was lost but himself? Oh, no. Well, in the parable, the lost sheep is the Gentile and the lost piece of silver, the Jew. So both Jew and Gentile are lost. Then "a certain man had two sons" —the Jew and the Gentile. Again both are shown to be lost, but this time in practice— that is, by the conduct of the prodigal and elder sons.

The Parable of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Piece of Silver

The stories of the lost sheep and the lost piece of silver are so interconnected that it is almost impossible to consider each one separately. So we will consider the teaching in the parable under different headings, as follows:... The Truth that both Jew and Gentile are Lost: Both Jew and Gentile belong to the fallen Adam race. But before Christ came, God segregated the Jew from the Gentile, gave the Jew His land, the Holy Scriptures, the Temple, the testimony of the prophets. In other words, He put the Jew in an especially favored place to see if man could produce fruit for God if divinely educated and favored. The Epistle to the Romans tells us of the failure of man when tried— "We have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin." Rom. 3:9⁹What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; (Romans 3:9). Now we will see how the lost sheep and the lost piece of silver illustrate this truth.

In one view of the parable— the one we are considering here— the lost piece of silver is the Jew— the lost sheep, the Gentile. The sheep wanders away from the fold as the Gentile did from God Acts 17:22-31²²Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. ²³For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. ²⁴God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; ²⁵Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; ²⁶And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; ²⁷That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: ²⁸For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. ²⁹Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. ³⁰And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: ³¹Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. (Acts 17:22‑31). The Jew, however, remains at home in the house.

He had Ten Commandments, like the ten pieces of silver here. But if you break just one commandment, you are lost, even if you keep the other nine as the woman did here. The piece of silver was lost in the house— figuratively, the house of God— the sheep was lost outside— figuratively, the world— and brought back to the house.

... The Truth that Man is Lost as a Creature: The truth that we belong to a fallen race from which no good can be expected is vigorously resisted by every man who has not obeyed the gospel. Every human religion has at its core some demand on man therefore, an enshrined belief that in spite of his evil nature, effort can improve man. Similarly, every newspaper editorial, student protest, etc., assumes that the other party, the other country, etc., is wrong, and all will be well if only we listen to the voice of reform, reason, etc. Not so. The Word of God says— "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Rom. 3:23²³For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23). Man is lost.

The parable illustrates this truth beautifully. There is a lost sheep and a lost piece of silver. The sheep is a living thing, the silver, dead and lifeless. So God views man as a lost sheep— living in sins as we are told in Rom. 3— dead and lifeless as a coin, dead in trespasses and sins Eph. 2. Romans is the Epistle which gives us man as he is in this world— and so 'living in sins like a lost sheep— a living thing. The coin is a lifeless thing and shows man to be dead toward God. In Ephesians, it is more God looking down from heaven to see if there are any righteous on earth, and finding none.

Who should have understood the meaning of one sheep being lost out of one hundred better than the Pharisees and scribes who boasted in Scripture? Should not the one hundred sheep have reminded them of the one hundredth Psalm— "We are His people and the sheep of His pasture"? Or of what the prophet Isaiah wrote— "all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way, and the lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all" Isa. 53:6⁶All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6). But why, in describing man's lost condition, did not the parable tell us that ninety-nine sheep and nine pieces of silver were lost? Wouldn't it have been better to reverse the figures that way and make the condemnation appear more universal? No, the illustration conveys exactly what God had in mind. Salvation is an individual matter— between your soul and God. So there is one lost sheep, one lost piece of silver, one lost son who returned, one lost son who never returned. "This man receiveth sinners." They had said it. So, if they, like the other lost sheep, will take this ground, they, too, will be received. Secondly, "and eateth with them." Here was the Son of a Father who spread a feast for any returning prodigal, be he publican, sinner, Pharisee, or scribe. He will eat with such.

... The Work of the Trinity in the Salvation of Man: The whole Trinity is active in the salvation of man. The Lord Jesus is the Good Shepherd who goes out in the world to seek the lost sheep. The Holy Spirit works inside, not outside, like the Good Shepherd. The Holy Spirit is aptly depicted as a woman, for a woman's work is inside a house. Even so, the Holy Spirit works inside the house of God. He is the light of the sanctuary— the inside place— as Christ is the light of the world— the outside place. The Spirit's work is to shine the light on the dead coin. This exposes the lost condition of the Jew, for he had the privileged position of being in the house of God, unlike the poor Gentile. The broom speaks of the energy of the Spirit in sweeping the house. The candle and the broom give us the two ways the Spirit worked with Israel. The candle shone on what was dead, exposing Israel's true moral condition before God. The broom is the energy of the Spirit, working through the prophets, etc., in all directions to reach them. A light was struck in the house, because, as already stated, the Jew had the privileged inside position— the Gentile must be sought outside by Christ, and brought back to the house.

The work of God the Father for the sinner is not given us in this opening parable. This comes out later in the following parable about the prodigal son. There we find that both the Son and the Father have come out. The Son went into the far country seeking the lost sheep— the Father went into the fields to greet the returning prodigal. God the Father's heart is not made known until it has been clearly demonstrated, not only that man is lost like the lost sheep and lost piece of silver, but that our self-centered lives confirm this— in the story of the prodigal. This is the distinction between sin and sins. Sin— the lost sheep and lost coin— is the root of the tree; sins— the life of the prodigal— its bitter fruit. It is only when the worst of man comes out that the greatness of the Father's love is made known— "for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16¹⁶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

When the lost sheep and lost piece of silver are found, there is great joy. This great joy is not confined to earth only where the lost things are found. There is joy in heaven, too. But suppose you say, "How do I know I am the lost sheep and lost piece of silver?" Well, in both cases, the Lord Jesus Christ tells us there is joy in heaven when one sinner repents. What is a sinner? He is one who does his own will, as every man does until he is saved, This will expresses itself in three ways, which are the governing principles of the world— deceit (or lies), corruption, and violence. And what is repentance? It is simply taking God's side against ourselves. It is admitting that God's view of us is correct— that we are lost— and not our view that there is some good in us which can be developed by effort— by religious exercises, ethics, etc. The latter only justify us before men. God is looking for "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" Acts 20:21²¹Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 20:21). The first movement of our heart toward God brings joy in heaven and earth. We cease our struggling and let the Lord Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, take us home to eternal blessing.

How does He do it? When the Lord Jesus was here, He Himself sought the lost. Now He gives us the privilege of seeking others out. We are to wrestle with men’s consciences to bring them to God. Inwardly man knows he is lost, but will not admit it. I remember an incident on a passenger boat many years ago which illustrates this. We had come to the end of our cruise and were approaching Toronto harbor by the Eastern gap. On the deck above, the dancing stopped with the last notes of the orchestra. The engines were slowed down and the ship gently made her approach, lapping the waves. It was a scene of great natural beauty— full moonlight, the blending of sea and sky, and the lights of the city as we came nearer the docks. This caused an abrupt hush on board. Suddenly four girls, sitting on deck chairs to the right of me, broke the silence by singing a song mocking the gospel. The chorus went— "You can't get to heaven on the Yonge Street car, for the Yonge Street car doesn't go that far." When they paused, I handed several gospel tracts to the first girl on my right and asked her to pass them on to her friends. She did. They all glanced at the title: "How the Lost Sheep Was Found," and remained silent until the ship docked. The conscience had been reached.

The Lost Sheep and Lost Piece of Silver Introduce Us to the Stories of Three

Men Who Were Lost Man is not described according to his character until the question of his guilt has been established. That is why we are first told about a lost sheep and a lost piece of silver. The Lord establishes man's condition as lost before He lets us know the consequences of this. To illustrate— the Lord first connects man to the story of the lost sheep and lost piece of silver by the word "likewise." Then He shows the sad fruit of man's lost condition by telling us the life stories of three men— the younger (or prodigal) son, the elder son, and the rich man. The unjust steward (trustee) also mentioned in the text is only an elaboration of the elder son, as we shall see later. Finally, Luke takes up the fate of each man based upon his treatment of Christ. Since these remarks are introductory, we will summarize the fate of each man below, leaving the detailed explanation to the sub-chapters which describe them.

(1) The Younger (or Prodigal) Son: He is a figure of the Gentiles running away from God and exceedingly wicked. The grace of God reaches the Gentiles, they receive salvation and heaven as their home. This is the Father's House— the inner circle.

(2) The Elder Son: He is a figure of the Jews who stayed in the house in the land God gave them. But they were unjust trustees of the divine things committed to them. Still, God says of the elder son— "all that I have is thine"— and God gives them the earth— in the millennium— the coming one thousand year rule of Christ over the world Eph. 1:10¹⁰That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (Ephesians 1:10).

(3) The Rich Man: He is a figure of unbelieving man, be he Jew or Gentile. The prodigal son got heaven as his portion, the elder son got the earth, but the rich man got hell. Instead of a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, the unbeliever is bound hand and foot. Instead of the light of the Father's House, he is cast into outer darkness. His person is rejected and he himself forsaken in death because he rejected Christ in life.

Part 2

The Story of the Prodigal Son—the Gentile

Luke is a rich story-teller. How exquisitely he records what the Lord said. How beautifully he links together the chain of events in Chapters 10 to 15 to illustrate how God loves and cares for man. This is Luke's method— the grouping of stories as well as events to illustrate great moral truths. Let us consider now the continuous linkage between the tenth and fifteenth chapters. In the tenth chapter, Luke tells us of the Good Samaritan taking the beaten man to an inn. The inn is a figure of temporary lodging and so speaks of God's care for us as we go through this world, which will soon pass away— a care which lasts until Jesus comes to take us to His Father's House.

In the tenth chapter, the Good Samaritan poured oil and wine into our wounds. In the fourteenth chapter, He would feed us as well, for that chapter tells us of the invitation to the Great Supper. Then, in the fifteenth chapter, we learn that "this Man receiveth sinners and eateth with them." The prodigal son proves the truth of this. He is the typical guest at the Great Supper. To accept this invitation a guest would have to leave his temporary abode in the inn where the Good Samaritan left him, and enter his permanent dwelling— the Father's House. There the guests feed on the fatted calf. We will now consider these thoughts in more detail, for they are the inlets to an intelligent understanding of the story of the prodigal son.

From the Inn to the Father's House

When the Good Samaritan finds the poor man in the tenth chapter, he is so badly beaten that he puts him on his own beast and takes him to the inn. Here he pays the innkeeper to look after him until he returns. Now the Good Samaritan is Christ, "his own beast" is divine power to carry us through this world, because we are powerless to go through it without help— the inn is shelter in this world— temporary provision until the Good Samaritan returns for us. Then what? Why, we leave the inn for our permanent dwelling— our Father's House in heaven.

While we are in the inn, there is no feasting, but we are still taken care of. The feasting is at the Great Supper in our Father's House. "The certain man" who made a Great Supper in the fourteenth chapter is the same as "the certain man" who had two sons in the fifteenth chapter and who threw open his house for the enjoyment of that Supper. Each guest who accepts the invitation to the Great Supper will be astonished at the menu, for the feast is more sumptuous than his most extravagant hopes. For example, the man in the fourteenth chapter looked forward to eating bread in the kingdom. "Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God" he said. And why not? God is a good provider. Wasn't Christ born in Bethlehem, which means "house of bread"? The prodigal's thoughts of God could rise no higher, either. He looked forward to eating bread in the house— "there is bread enough and to spare in my father's house." Perfectly true, but the Father's heart went far beyond providing only bread for an earthly people (the kingdom) or a heavenly people (the Father's House). It was His thought that His guests should eat the fatted calf at the Great Supper. This was the very best food that could be served at His table. The fatted calf speaks of the death of Christ. The Great Supper is at the end of the day— the celebration of a finished work.

It is beautiful to see that from the moment we are saved that is, when the Good Samaritan first finds us beaten by sin and Satan and takes us to the inn— to the moment when we enter our Father's House— the Lord cares for us. How precious when we think of how wickedly we treated Him. When He entered the world, there was no room for Him in the inn and when He left it for His Father's House, it was on a cross of shame and suffering. Yet on that very cross, He affirmed once more His care for man in the inn and the house. He said to His earthly mother— "woman behold thy son" and to John "Behold thy mother" John 19:26, 27²⁶When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! ²⁷Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. (John 19:26‑27). Thus the Apostle John became "his own beast" to take care of Mary in the inn. As for the dying thief, he got a home in heaven that very day. So Mary and the dying thief illustrate the Lord's care for man in the inn and the house. Truly the ways of God with man are wondrous. They have both made known the Father's heart and won ours. With these comments we pass on to the great thought in these chapters— the revealed Father's heart in contrast to the heart of man— and why they are so different.

The Story Opens With “a Certain Man" and His Two Sons

The Lord now commences a new story by introducing "a certain man"— a figure of God the Father— who owns much land— a figure of the world viewed as belonging entirely to God. It is a good land, as we learn later in the story of the trustee who administered its produce. It grew wheat and olive trees. Livestock grazed on it. On this rich land a fatted calf could be found and many kids. The father had two sons— who lived with him in his splendid farmhouse. Regrettably, neither son loved their father. They both knew he was wealthy. Each son wanted material things from his father out of his vast estate, but denied him the love he longed for from them as his sons.

The father knew that his sons lacked affection for him, so he was not surprised when the younger son made him a scandalous proposition: "Father give me," he said, "the share of the property that falls to me." Now an heir never inherits property until the death of his father. What the younger son was saying was that he couldn't wait for his father to die— he wanted his share of his estate while he was still young enough to enjoy it. So what does the father do? Knowing that the heart of his elder son was as wicked as that of his younger son, he divided unto them— that is, to each son— his living. It does not say he sold and divided the land, but rather he gave them equal shares of the living off the land. In this way both sons became trustees of the rich farmer's goods. However, the younger son wanted nothing of this arrangement. He gathered together everything he could find as soon as possible and left his father. Thus, he forfeited all title to his father's property. Then he took his journey into a far country and there wasted his substance in riotous living. In the Bible "the far country" may be variously interpreted as heaven or the world, depending on the context— that is, heaven viewed as far away from the world, or the world viewed as far away from heaven. Here it clearly means the world.

The Prodigal Son and His First Cry—"Father Give Me.”

“Father give me" is the first cry of the prodigal; then "Father I have sinned" the next, and "Father make me" his unuttered cry. "Father give me the share of the property that falls to me," the prodigal cried. So saying, he revealed the state of soul which caused his later fall. He was as far away from his father then as when he was in the far country. "Father give me" was really the thought in Adam's heart when he surveyed the greatness of the creation. As soon as Satan tempted him, Adam's heart responded. Surely God had held something back from him— had denied him the forbidden fruit. "Father give me" is as old as the garden in Eden. Later we will see that the elder son expressed the same thought, only in slightly different language— "you never gave me." "Father give me" implies that I am all right. I just need something added to me— some material possessions which my Father is denying me. The trouble is with my Father, not with me. As for my Father, He is insufficient in Himself to satisfy me. The truth is that nothing more was needed on man's side, but on God's side what was lacking was a revelation of the Father's heart. The prodigal's cry was the beginning of this, the stirring of two hearts— God who needed His heart made known— man who wanted something more than that heart, because he did not know what was in it. It took the prodigal's sin to show the grace in the Father's heart. Only the Lord Jesus, the Son of the Father, knew what was in the Father's heart, apart from sin. Sin had to come into the world and be put away at the cross before the Father's heart could be known.

Our language is governed by our state of soul— it reveals where we are. Take Paul, who writes, "I Paul, the prisoner of the Lord" Eph. 4:1¹I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, (Ephesians 4:1). But Paul, you say, you are Caesar's prisoner. Not so, he replies, I never look at second causes; I take my circumstances from the Lord. "Father give me" shows that the prodigal did not know his heart or his father's heart; "father make me" shows that he did not understand a son's relationship with a father; "father I have sinned" turned the key of knowledge. Before the prodigal cried, "father give me," he was dissatisfied with his father. "Godliness with contentment is great gain" 1 Tim. 6:6⁶But godliness with contentment is great gain. (1 Timothy 6:6)

The Prodigal Son Leaves His Father and Goes Away to the Far Country

“And not many days after he gathered all together." It took a few days to turn his father's goods into cash. During this waiting period, surely it should have occurred to him that his father wasn't going to hold anything back from him at all! Why did he ever leave the threshold of his father's house, then? Ah! His conscience was not awakened. So he went— he is still going, you see, for restless movement characterizes all those who leave the Father— and joined himself to a citizen of that country. When he went, he left everything worthwhile behind— his father's love, and the warmth of his father's house. There is nothing to check his lusts now. Man without God is governed entirely by his lusts and public opinion. It is not so with the believer. He has to pass through the far country, too, but his walk is governed by the sense that God is his Father and he His son. We are to walk in the far country as though we are already in our Father's House. But the prodigal is a man of the world now and the farther he gets from home, the worse his conduct is. So, in the far country, the prodigal son drops lower and lower, until there is little about him to mark him as the son of his father. We only show what we really are when we are away from home. Did the younger son have a different heart in the far country than when in his father's house? Not a bit of it! Why do soldiers and sailors stationed in other countries behave so much worse than when they are at home? Did stationing them abroad change them? Not at all. It merely gave an opportunity to show what they were really like when the influence of home was withdrawn. We are not tried when full, but when empty, when everything is against us and nothing is for us. How different the heart of man is from Christ's. He was tried by Satan after fasting forty days in a desert place and in Satan's eyes, receiving no help from His Father to sustain Him. But Christ, the Son of the Father's Love, overcame the devil in His temptation.

Famine Strikes in the Far Country

Well, the younger son was overcome in the far country. First he spent all that he had. Where did he get it from? Why, from his father. When a young man goes out in the world to seek its pleasures, he spends what God gave him, although he thinks it is his own. He spends his health in debauchery, the perils of military service, or toiling to make other men rich. He taxes his brain with studies. He gives his God-given talents up to build a world which his own eyes tell him will be torn down by succeeding generations, for, as Thomas Huxley once remarked, "all the works of man tend to dissolution." As time goes on, he finds that these pursuits do not satisfy. How much does it cost you to buy military medals in a pawnshop— medals which could have cost some man his life? Not much. Does anybody stop at your grave to inquire at which university you were educated, your professional qualifications, or how much money you were worth? No, you are forgotten. The realization of these simple truths burns a hole in the soul of the man whose hopes are confined to this life. "The things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal" 2 Cor. 4:18¹⁸While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18). A mighty famine arose in the land where the younger son was— a great famine indeed— a famine of the things the younger son had known in his father's house. The real famine in the world today is a famine of the Words of the Lord. It is need that drives us back to our Father. In John 4, we find the woman at the well thirsty. She was trying to satisfy her thirst with what she found in the world— Jacob's well. The Lord Jesus knew that her thirst was inside, and gave her a well of water inside her to satisfy her thirst at its source. So with the prodigal. There is a mighty famine, but bread in his father's house. "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled" Matt. 5:6⁶Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. (Matthew 5:6).

No wonder he began to be in want. In vain did he work to find relief. Still he had no alternative, for "no man gave to him." If you lose your health or your money in this world, you also lose those whom you thought were your friends. It is desperation that turns man to God. The plight of the younger son was such that he would gladly have filled his belly with the swine's food. Here we have a picture of man when the things he relies on for natural enjoyment crumble before his eyes. Does he like to watch television or is he an avid reader? His eyesight fails. Does he like to listen to music, the news, discuss politics? He grows deaf with advancing years. Would he like to participate in some sporting event, or march with his old regiment, perhaps? Arthritis has crippled his legs. Now the things of the world have proper and improper use. However, even if properly used, they can become idols if they are allowed to become objects for enjoyment and satisfaction, rather than God. An idol is anything which comes between the soul and God. Nothing in the world is evil in itself rather is it the use to which a thing is put which brings out good or evil. For example, the physician can use a drug to heal a man; the addict can use the same drug to ruin himself. For another example, consider nuclear energy which can either be used to generate electricity or to kill people on a giant scale. However, even if we use the things in the world properly, there is the further snare of allowing them to become idols. That happens when instead of merely being diligent in our business, we allow it to dominate all our thoughts and so shut God out of our lives. Then we feed on husks— the low-down food of the world which lacks nourishment— and like the prodigal, may not even be able to get that much. A great famine arises in the soul, since it has departed from God who alone can feed it. The Scriptures have warned us not to allow the world or the things in it to lure us away from our Father— "love not the world, neither the things that are in the world— if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him" 1 John 2:15¹⁵Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (1 John 2:15).

The prodigal had tasted the things of the world to the full and found they did not satisfy. He begins to compare himself to the servants in his father's house and the bread they ate. He had served the world— the citizens of the far country— and he couldn't even eat the food of the swine— "I perish with hunger" was his lament. The pangs of famine in the soul, its parched condition and desperate need of living water these are the things which drive men to God. He never fails us. Here the father meets the hunger of his younger son. When he returns home, he proves the truth of the Lord's words "he that cometh to Me shall never hunger and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst." John 6:35³⁵And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. (John 6:35).

Now listen to his words, for a man's words reveal his state of soul "by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned" Matt. 12:37³⁷For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. (Matthew 12:37). "I will arise and go to my father." Though he has not acted like a son, he feels instinctively that he can trust his father to act like a father. I will arise. There it is— the will. The will is the spring of sin— of self. "Ye will not come to Me that ye might have life" the Lord said John 5:40⁴⁰And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. (John 5:40). The prodigal son is finished with self now. It brought him to the pig pen. He will arise from that and go back to his father. But his thoughts accuse him. How will he explain his misconduct? He must prepare a speech— he must be ready. He will rehearse this speech for the moment when he must meet his father.

The Prodigal Son Goes Back to His Father

So the younger son retraces his footsteps to his father's house. The landmarks of the far country disappear and the road homeward comes into view. But is he thinking about the road as he walks on? Scarcely. He is thinking about meeting his father. When a sinner comes to Christ, what is happening in the world is not his concern— it is about whether God will receive him. We all have harsh thoughts about God naturally, and say in our hearts— "I feared Thee because Thou art an austere Man" 19:21. A missionary in China, the late G. C. Willis, once asked a Chinese artist to paint a picture of the prodigal son returning to his father. To make sure the painting would be accurate, he told him to read the account in Luke's gospel carefully before starting to work. When the artist turned over the canvas, the missionary was astounded to look at a picture of the father thrashing his son with a big stick.

“Why, the story doesn't say that!" he exclaimed.

“Maybe it doesn't," replied the painter, "but that's what he deserved.”

Well, if we all got what we deserved, the whole human race would be banished from God. God, being what He is, had to find a way back for man— a way which displayed His grace without sacrificing His righteousness. That was the work of the cross.

"Amazing grace! How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.”

“When we've been there ten thousand years,

Bright shining as the sun,

We've no less days to sing God's grace

Than when we first begun.”

Well, the father saw the returning son before the son saw the father. If you are not yet a Christian, did it ever occur to you that God is yearning over you, though you never even think of Him? His heart is filled with love toward you. The father saw the son, "when he was a great way off." First the father had compassion on him. No doubt the sight of his son in the rags of the far country, thin and famished from the lack of food he could supply, moved his heart. He ran to him and did not stop until he fell on his neck. He covered him with kisses before the son even had time to confess he had sinned. The father knew that by returning to him, he had really judged and forsaken his past.

The Prodigal's Last Cry Is "Father I Have Sinned" Not "Father Make Me.”

Before returning to his father, the prodigal had made up a speech to apologize for his behavior. He rehearsed it carefully— "Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants." As the father was kissing him, the son recited the first part of his speech— "Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy son." Once he admits this, the father will not permit him to say "make me as one of thy hired servants." Why? Because "Father make me" really means, "I must have lost my sonship because of my sins, so perhaps you will let me serve you to do penance for them. I will be glad to carry out your orders and show you what I can do." But when you sin, you can no longer serve God. The only way back is on the ground of pure grace and mercy. "Father make me" was just as wrong as "Father give me." The father received the prodigal back not because of what the son was, but because of what the father was. When a man realizes he is a sinner before God, his first thought is to make amends for his wrongdoing by serving him. He wants to merit salvation by works.

In the City of Lahore, India, there once lived a man whose name was Mohammedan Sahib Shah, but who was called "Sankal-Walah" (man of chains). He began putting chains on his body as a young man and welding on more and more as he grew older. At the time of his death, his chains weighed 670 pounds, which weight he carried for the last thirteen years of his life. The people considered him a very holy man because of the way he mortified his body in an effort to obtain salvation. But the Scripture teaches that it is "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us" Titus 3:5⁵Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; (Titus 3:5). Chains, penance, holy robes, are external to the body and merely express the wish for a holy life. Holiness is inside, and is only possible by the new birth which God gives to those who believe in His Son Jesus Christ— read John's gospel, chapter 3.

The elder son said, "lo these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment" (v. 29)—. thus showing he was no different from his brother who wanted to be a servant. Man wants to do works of righteousness to please God because they make him important in his own eyes. He rejects the cross because it condemns him as a sinner who can do nothing to please God. Only those who are redeemed by the blood of Christ can serve God acceptably. "His servants shall serve Him, and they shall see His face, and His Name shall be in their foreheads" Rev. 22:3, 4³And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: ⁴And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. (Revelation 22:3‑4).

Once the prodigal confesses his sin, the father will not permit him to say "make me as one of thy hired servants." From "Father give me" to "Father I have sinned," there was a work of grace in the prodigal's soul. He has truly repented, even though he still does not understand his father's heart. He cannot be received back as a servant, for he never was one. He left as a son and must be received back as a son. His first cry, "Father give me" implied that he needed possessions— the "share of the property" his father was keeping back from him. Then the thought "Father make me" shows the folly of the first cry, for he received his share of the property and was now more miserable than when he demanded it.

Thus, the prodigal has gone full circle from the father to the father. When he left the father, he began to be in want; when he returned, both he and his father began to be merry. Like man in innocence in the garden of Eden, we don't know what he was like in his father's house in the beginning. It took the fall of man— and the prodigal's life tells us the results of that— to bring out the story of redeeming grace. So now the younger son stops talking and the father starts.

The father now talks, not to his son, but to his servants— "bring forth the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet." What a contrast with the far country! When I was in the far country with the harlots, there was no music and dancing. I had rags on the outside; an empty belly on the inside. Now I have Christ on the outside, for Christ is the best robe— and Christ on the inside, for I have eaten the fatted calf. Even in the far country the only support I had came from my Father's purse which I had robbed. When that was gone, no man gave unto me. Oh, to return to my Father! On her deathbed, Lady Huntingdon exclaimed, "I shall be with my Father tonight.”

Divine Love

Only the father was concerned that the prodigal should have his old place back. The prodigal only knew that he perished with hunger. Compare him with Rahab the harlot, who "perished not with them that believed not." She was a harlot; the prodigal one who had devoured his father's living with harlots. The same grace meets both of them, for John 3:16¹⁶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) tells us that whosoever believes in the Son "should not perish." In the far country, the prodigal would gladly have filled his belly with the food of the swine— and no man gave unto him. When he returns, he eats the fatted calf— that is, partakes of the death of Christ in figure. The fatted calf is the Father's food, too— "let us eat," etc. God delights in His Son and in His finished work. Well, it is the father who gives the prodigal back a son's place— gives him gifts from his heart— justifies him before men— for the elder son had accused him— as he had been already justified before God— "it is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth?" Rom. 8:33, 4³³Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. (Romans 8:33)
⁴That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:4).

Later on we shall comment on the father's gifts to the prodigal in some detail. Here we shall be content to summarize them briefly. The first thing the prodigal got in the field when he returned was the father's heart— he covered him with kisses. Why didn't this take place before he left his father's house? Ah! When a child's heart is not right with its parents, it pushes away parental love. Not so with the True Son —the Lord Jesus— "He was daily His delight." Next the prodigal gets the best robe. The best robe is Christ, because there can be nothing better. The best robe is brought out of God's House before Christ the fatted calf is killed, because God's earliest thought was the blessing of man. That is, God replies to "Father make me" in a positive way as He did to "Father give me." He makes him, true enough, but after His Son, not like a hired servant. We shall always wear the best robe so that when the Father looks at us, He will not see us, but Christ. We are covered with what came out of the Father's House. The best robe clothes us in the field— that is, while we are still in this world.

Then there is the ring— my acceptance with my Father according to the work of Christ on the cross, in which I had no part but to believe. The shoes are standing on redemption ground. I get them while promised something better in my Father's House. I use my shoes to start walking heavenward. And what is this I hear as I near the house? Why, music and dancing. I smell the aroma of the fatted calf. This was the expression of the father's substance— eating and enjoying a portion from himself— as the kisses were the expression of his heart. Formerly the prodigal had devoured the father's substance with harlots. Eating the fatted calf is inward sustenance— music and dancing the outer expression of inner joy. It must be so, for the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. The joy comes last, because I cannot make merry in the field where the fatted calf was slain— that is, in plain language, I cannot make merry in a world which crucified my Lord. I will make merry in my Father's House. Praise the Lord I am fitted for that house now with the best robe, the ring, and the shoes. I am dressed as a son now. The servants will recognize me as a son. The Father's House is the prodigal's eternal portion. There we find the revealed Father's love— the atmosphere of the glory. In the Father's House they began to be merry. There is no record of any end to that.

The Father's House

“Oh, scenes of heavenly joy!

The Father's house above,

Where cloudless peace without alloy

Fills all that home of love.

“There glory bright and fair

Shines with celestial beam

For He who suffered once is there —

Its center and its theme.”

Part 3

The Story of the Elder Son— the Jew

At first glance, the elder son seems to be devoted to his father. Indeed, he protests to his father that he is, and compares himself favorably to his wicked brother. But he neither loves his brother nor his father, and the Scripture says, "he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" 1 John 4:20²⁰If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? (1 John 4:20). The elder son is a figure of the Jew, of whom it is written, "they please not God, and are contrary to all men" 1 Thess. 2:15¹⁵Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: (1 Thessalonians 2:15). How could the Jew say he pleased God when his fathers worshipped a golden calf and he himself refused to eat the fatted calf? Worse still, the Acts of the Apostles, the inspired history of the early Church, tells us how he opposed the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles.

The Jew might claim that the Gentiles were prodigal sons, profaning the earth with their wicked lives. However, the elder son wasn't much better. To help us understand this, Luke casts the elder son in the role of a trustee charged with embezzling a rich man's estate. This rich man is the farmer in the fourteenth chapter, the "certain man" who had two sons. Unquestionably then, both sons wasted his estate— the prodigal son in the far country— the elder son at home. The elder son, thinking that his father was unaware of the lurid sins his brother had committed, tells him all the details. The father already knew that the prodigal had devoured his living with harlots. But the father received him back, not because of what the son was, but because he was a father. This is the principle of divine grace, so disliked by the self-righteous. The elder son did not understand grace. It never occurred to him that his case only differed in degree from his brother's.

The Gentile— the prodigal son— wandered away from God. Forgetting Him, they committed carnal sins. The Jew— the elder son— remained at home in the land of Israel, where they were custodians of the Holy Scriptures and abode in God's Presence at that Temple which the Lord Himself acknowledged as His Father's House on earth. So both Jew and Gentile sinned precisely where the record says— one while away from God, the other while near Him. The sins of the Gentile were carnal— of the Jews, spiritual. We have already considered the carnal sins of the prodigal son. Now we will turn our attention to the spiritual sins of the Jew. These are abandoning the light and food found in the Holy Scriptures, and then opposing the Will of God to bless the Gentiles in the gospel. This is the general picture; now let us consider it in detail. We will reconstruct the scene in the field after the younger son had entered his father's house and study the elder son's reaction to that event.

The Elder Son's Controversy With His Father

The elder son is in the field walking toward the house. As he nears it, the sound of merry-making— music and dancing— drifts over to his ears. Strange to say, he doesn't go into the house to inquire what is happening. There had never been anything like that in the house before, so he calls one of the servants and asks him what is going on. Why didn't he go directly to his father like the prodigal? And what a son he was when a servant knew more about his father's house than he did! The servant tells him that his brother has returned and his father is so happy he is safe that he has killed the fatted calf, This makes him angry. His will is aroused and he refused to go in. So his father comes out and remonstrates with him. God the Father came out of His House, so to speak, and begged the Jews to come in through the preaching of the twelve Apostles following the day of Pentecost. This went on until they slew His ambassador, Stephen— read Acts 7— and in this way told Him definitely that they would not go in.

With the elder son, all is "I," "me" and "my." "Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment, and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends." For a man who made such high claims, how prominently he rates himself. What a revelation of his self-centered state! His younger brother was just as full of himself but in a different context, the humbling realization of his misdeeds "I perish with hunger. I will arise and go unto my father and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee... make me as one of thy hired servants." In the elder son, much iniquity is submerged. It does not surface like the prodigal until the father acts in grace. The prodigal made no claims except that he was a sinner perishing with hunger. The prodigal called on his father as a son; the elder son ignored him. The prodigal wanted to say "Father make me" that is, he hoped his father would permit him to serve him as he had once served the citizens of the far country. The elder brother, however, did serve his father. Let us now see how faithfully or poorly he did so.

“Lo These Many Years Do I Serve Thee"—the Story of the Elder Son As God's Crooked Trustee

Since the elder son made the claim of serving God, unlike his brother, the father must have weighed it carefully before replying. The Lord refutes the claim by pointing out that the Jew did indeed serve God, but did so un-righteously. This is brought out in the story of the crooked trustee. The heart of the Jew is no different from the heart of the Gentile. God gave the Jew special privileges just to prove this point. Also, because the younger son had wasted his father's property, the elder son became responsible for its administration. The record of how he discharged this responsibility is the story of the unfaithful Trustee— the Jew or elder son. The Jew stayed in the land and behaved just as badly there as the Gentile who ran away. There is a reason why the Lord told the story of the crooked trustee as an appendix to the story of the elder son. It is because He was not speaking to the Pharisees, although they eavesdropped 16:14, but to His disciples. He wanted them to understand why the elder son behaved the way he did, knowing that the Pharisees would see nothing more in the story than condemnation of their covetousness. This was exactly the case, for they derided Him.

Actually, the sin of the elder son was worse than that of his brother, for he was the trustee of the Father's things— that is, of the things of God. The figures given to convey this are oil and wheat. In the ancient world, oil was the source of light and bread (wheat) the staff of life. The oil and wheat were the produce of the rich farmer's lord— oil was burned in lamps to enlighten men; wheat to feed them. Men were indebted to God— pictured here as the rich farmer— for these things in Old Testament days, when the world lay in moral darkness and perishing with a spiritual hunger. No wonder "there arose a mighty famine in that land" where the prodigal son's feet wandered. The Jew was the unfaithful trustee of these things, and could have satisfied the hunger of the people of the far country— the Gentile nations— with the wheat— the food of the Word of God— and the oil— the light to turn them away from their darkness and ignorance of God. The Father would have been glad of that, for no man wanted in His House. All nations were to know it as a house of prayer— not just the Jews. However, the Jew valued these things lightly. In what way, though, we may ask, did the Jew write off the rich farmer's oil and wheat to his debtors? In other words, how did the Jew cause the Gentiles to lose part of the spiritual light and food God had provided for them through the Jew? The Acts of the Apostles gives us the answer. In all the Gentile lands, the Jews had synagogues in which the Scriptures were read. These synagogues were open to the Gentiles who thronged to them, seeking relief from paganism. Thus were the Gentile nations debtors to God, the rich farmer, for his oil (light) and wheat (food for their souls), administered through His Trustee, the Jew or elder son in the synagogues. But the Jews, by their traditions and customs, reduced the flow of oil to half of what it should have been and cut the wheat down, too. God had supplied the same amount of each— one hundred measures. No wonder that the farmer made the Trustee show his books, so to speak, and gave him notice that he would be fired. The Trustee's actions made a sham of the elder son's boast that he had served his father faithfully for many years. But the thought of losing his divinely appointed office greatly disturbed him. When God sent Paul into the elder son's synagogues to preach the message that Jesus is the Son of God Acts 9:20²⁰And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. (Acts 9:20) the Jew knew at last that he had lost his trusteeship of divine things. Others had taken over from him with a new, living message. He vents his anger against the new preacher who is filling his old office, opposing both the message and God who sent it.

“I Never Broke Your Law.”

This is the next claim of the elder son— "neither transgressed I at any time Thy commandment." Here is the man of law— the Jew— boasting to God that he never broke the law God gave him. How different he was from the prodigal, and yet how like each one of us naturally. A man likes to compare himself with some other man whose conduct is worse than his. This justifies him in his own eyes, but not before God. God compares us to Christ— then we see we are lost and need a Savior.

Now the Lord had previously proved that the elder son's claim was false in the story of the lost piece of silver. The Jew was in the house— that is, God's House— the Temple at Jerusalem—the place of privilege. The poor Gentile sheep were in the wilderness. Christ, as the Good Shepherd, had to go after the lost Gentile sheep— the prodigal, really— and bring him home. When the prodigal returns, his father greets him. That story links together the interest of God the Father and God the Son in one poor lost prodigal. But the Jew did not wander away like the Gentile. He was lost in the house— the very place of nearness to his Father. That is the story of the woman— the Holy Spirit in figure— striking a light to show that one piece of silver out of ten was lost. When was it, you ask, that the one piece of silver was lost? When did it drop on the floor? Think back a little. Didn't God give the Jews Ten Commandments? And didn't they break the very first commandment to love the Lord their God when they worshipped the golden calf? That was when the piece of silver was lost. To awake their consciences, the Lord brings them back in spirit to that great sin of their fathers. Had they judged it? Not at all. They were filling up the sins of their fathers. They had departed from God by worshipping a golden calf, the death of the fatted calf was the only way to bring them back to the God they had forsaken.

How the Elder Son Broke the Law by Worshipping the Golden Calf

The first commandment in the law was that Israel was to love the Lord their God with all their heart, their soul, their strength. When they lost their first love for the Lord, the way was opened for the breaking of the first commandment and the worshipping of the golden calf. Then, when Stephen addressed the Jewish Sanhedrin at the end of their sad history, he reminded them of how their fathers had worshipped the golden calf. It was for this sin God had carried them captive beyond Babylon. God did not do this as soon as they worshipped the golden calf. First, He sent them prophets and judges within and enemies without, so they might repent and seek His Face once more. Instead, their darkness increased. Israel wanted to be like the neighboring nations— multiplying horses, silver, and idols. All this idolatry stemmed from the worship of the golden calf. So they were carried captive, not only to Babylon, but beyond Babylon, as Stephen said. The Jew was scattered and dispersed among the Gentile nations long after the Babylonian captivity.

The golden calf never had life. It was only made because God's people turned away from Him in their hearts. It was formed out of the golden earrings they once wore. Now "faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God" Rom. 10:17¹⁷So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17). The golden earrings spoke of Israel's attachment to the hearing of the Word of God. They discarded this link with Jehovah, corrupted it into a golden calf, and worshipped the work of their hands. The fatted calf speaks of feasting on what God had provided— the work of God's hands. It had life— "in Him was life, and the life was the light of men" John 1:4⁴In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (John 1:4). But Christ gave His life up in obedience to His Father's Will. Disobedience to God's Will produced the golden calf; obedience to God's Will caused the death of the fatted calf. The golden calf is the expression of our hearts— the fatted calf of the Father's heart. We are commanded to "keep your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life" Prov. 4:23²³Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. (Proverbs 4:23). The Christian is to avoid idolatry, and this means much more than not worshipping a physical idol. Anything which comes between the soul and God is an idol. It might be a thing perfectly right in itself— say a computer— but if it so engrosses the heart that there is nothing left for God in one's life, then that thing becomes an idol. "Little children, keep yourselves from idols" 1 John 5:21²¹Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. (1 John 5:21). Christ is to attract our hearts— "Ephraim shall say 'what have I any more to do with idols?' I have heard Him" Hos. 14:8⁸Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found. (Hosea 14:8).

The law exposed Israel's hearts. Breaking the law by worshipping the golden calf, they let their hearts go in music and dancing. It was rejoicing in the flesh. Rejoicing in the Lord is the music and dancing of the Father's House where we eat the fatted calf— God's provision for us as lost sinners— the death of Christ. The golden calf was a figure of Israel corrupting the Word of God and turning it into a religious system suited to the flesh. The externals were there— Moses, the law, the Temple— but when Christ came among them, they reviled the blind man whose sight He restored, saying "you are His disciple but we are Moses' disciples" John 9:28²⁸Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses' disciples. (John 9:28). So they rejoiced at the work of their hands. But God showed His displeasure at the beginning when three thousand of their fathers were slain for their idolatry Ex. 32:28²⁸And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. (Exodus 32:28). However, God showed His pleasure at the work of His hands— the killing of the fatted calf— when He saved three thousand at the Day of Pentecost Acts 2:4⁴And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:4)1 The same number of souls who were once slain for worshipping the golden calf.

How the Elder Son Despised Grace by Rejecting the Fatted Calf

The last words the father spoke to the elder son were "It is fitting that we should make merry and be glad, for this thy brother was dead" like the lost piece of silver and is alive again; and was lost "like the lost sheep—" and is found. The lost sheep and lost piece of silver represent property lost and found, and so the call "rejoice with me" in both cases, is appropriate. But when the lost son returns, relationship in affection is restored, which is deeper. Christ, as the Good Shepherd, goes after the lost sheep; the Holy Spirit, as the woman sweeping the house, seeks the lost piece of silver. These figures illustrate the work of the whole Trinity in securing our salvation. Our part in salvation is returning like the prodigal— not being sought. Man is responsible to obey the gospel and must return to the God he has given up if he is to be blessed. The moment a man believes the gospel, he starts his journey to his Father's House. He has accepted the invitation to the Great Supper and is looking forward to eating the fatted calf in his Father's House in heaven.

Now the Father provided the fatted calf for both His sons. The Jew could have enjoyed it instead of complaining that his father never gave him a kid. Why not come in and feast on the calf? There would be enough on it for all to eat and celebrate. But this meant eating with publicans and sinners, as the blessed Lord had done. The prodigal son said, "Father give me"; the elder son, "You never gave me." Still, when the prodigal returned, he addressed his father as his father. The elder son ignored him. Sensitive at this treatment, the father called his eldest son "child" 15:31 because he did not act like a son. He denied both his relationship to his father and to his brother. How could the elder son say he had served his father? The law told him to love his neighbor as himself, but he did not even love his brother.

Only the Father's Friends Will Eat the Fatted Calf

Although the elder son loved neither his father nor his brother, he did have friends. But, as we might suspect, they were not the father's friends, but his own. He complained that his father never gave him a kid so he could make merry with his friends. He didn't want his father's richest gift— for the fatted calf is a figure of Christ offered up in death for us. He didn't understand that it wasn't his father's mind to celebrate in the field— this world where His beloved Son was crucified. It was only in the Father's House that they began to be merry. The elder son transgressed the Lord's teaching in wanting to make merry with his friends, as well as misunderstanding his father. The Lord said "When thou makest a dinner or a supper call not thy friends" etc. 14:12. The elder son wanted to celebrate with his friends— away from his father, just as the prodigal son made merry with his friends— the harlots of the far country, away from his father. Their friends were not the father's friends. The good shepherd called together his friends when he found the lost sheep 15:6 the woman who found the lost piece of silver called together her friends-15:9. In these two stories only property was lost and found and there was no great supper. But when the lost son is found, the Father invites guests to a Great Supper. These are the poor and maimed, the lame and blind 14:13. The prodigal is a good example of a guest invited to the Great Supper. These were the father's friends— the publicans and sinners who came to hear Christ at the beginning of chapter 15 but they were not the elder son's friends. The Jews disdained them, saying, "this Man receives sinners and eats with them." Thus, they sat in judgment on God's Son, just as in the parable they judged the Father who sent Him, saying, "as soon as this thy son is come, who has devoured your living with harlots, you have killed for him the fatted calf." Actually, the fatted calf was killed for both sons. It was not the father's fault if the elder son objected to his company and so refused to eat it with him. He even came out and begged him to change his mind.

When the Father Gives the Eldest Son a Kid, It Will Not Be to Make Merry With His Friends, but to Sacrifice As a Sin Offering

Now let us picture the history of the Jew— the elder son. He started by worshipping the golden calf and so broke the law in its very first commandment. Then God the Father, knowing his sinfulness, acted graciously to him. He invited him to come into His House and eat the fatted calf with his Gentile brother. But he would not. They closed their eyes Acts 28:27²⁷For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. (Acts 28:27) and lapsed into moral darkness for a season. God, on His part, has had to give them up until He puts an end to their controversy with Him in a future day. Then He will give them a kid, which the eldest son complained he never got from his father. But it will not be to make merry, but to offer to God as a sin offering. In this way they will be forced to admit, like their Gentile brothers, "Father I have sinned.”

Much light is given to us on the history of the elder son, as well as his future, in the following passage, "and Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob but Israel, for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed" Gen. 32:24-28²⁴And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. ²⁵And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. ²⁶And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. ²⁷And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. ²⁸And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. (Genesis 32:24‑28). This is the history of the elder son after rejecting the fatted calf— left alone wrestling with God during the night. When the day breaks, God ends the struggle and gives Jacob a new name— Israel— meaning "a prince with God." The night is the night of Israel's darkness— to us, Christianity— when they have rejected their Messiah; the daybreak, the resumption of their relationship under a new name, a prince with God" just before the world kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ is established over this world. This brings us back to the ever-recurring phrase in Num. 7, where each prince— at the dedication of the altar— had to offer to the Lord "one kid of the goats for a sin offering." The eldest son who had rejected the one and only fatted calf, must now, at the end of his history, offer kids to the Lord, not to make merry with his friends, but as a sin offering.

The most complete picture of this is the feast known as the Day of Atonement. This is described in Lev. 16 "and he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering" v. 5... "and Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats— one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat. But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness" v. 8-10. "And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness. And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited, and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness" v. 21-22. This shows us that the death of Christ is the only way God can bless man, be he Jew or Gentile. The Gentile's blessing came through the death of the fatted calf— the blessing of the Jew will come through the death of the kid the elder son wanted from his father. Of course, both the fatted calf and the kid are only pictures of the death of Christ. But Israel's night ends when they see that Christ was the goat on whom the Lord's lot fell. They see that their sins have been lost in the wilderness where the live goat has carried them, and that Jehovah remembers them no more. They cease wrestling with God. Morning breaks and Israel receives the blessing Jacob coveted.

The Father Gives the Earthly Blessing to the Elder Son— the Heavenly Blessing to the Prodigal

When finally Israel is right with God, He will remember them in the same way the father spoke to His elder son— "thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine." What did he mean by these words? Why, he acknowledged one part of the Jews' complaint by admitting "thou art ever with Me." The Jew remained in the land of promise and at God's Temple, while the Gentile lived in debauchery away from God. When the younger son returned, he had spent everything. So the Gentile righteously has no inheritance in this world. As for the Jew, he had wasted his master's goods, but some remained— half the oil, one-fifth of the wheat— and so the father says, "all that I have is thine." In the coming day of glory, the Jew will have this residual portion in the earth— that day of millennial glory when Israel will be returned to their former place of blessing. What then can the father give the younger son, seeing he has forfeited his portion? Well, he has nothing to offer him here. If he is to have a portion, it must be in the Father's House in heaven, and not on earth. And this is exactly the portion which the Church— which is predominantly Gentile— will receive. This is the more blessed portion— an inheritance in our Father's House. We were dead and are alive again, we were lost and are found.

"In Thine own house there love divine

Fills the bright courts with cloudless joy,

But 'tis the love that made us Thine,

Fills all that house without alloy.”

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