Luke 15.
WHAT we have already seen in this blessed parable does not exhaust its teaching.
The prodigal is now kissed and clothed; but that is not enough for God, though the prodigal might think it so, and there is a tendency in every heart to limit the grace of God in the reception and investment of a prodigal. God is doing good to sinners, and He must have a fuller manifestation of what is in His heart than this; so He says further, “Put a ring on his hand.” This, I believe, sets forth
DIVINE APPROVAL.
When Ahasuerus would show to wicked Haman a mark of his royal approval, he took his ring from his hand and gave it to him. Afterward Mordecai was clothed in royal apparel, set upon the king’s horse with the crown royal upon his head, and it was proclaimed before him, “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honor.” Then the ring that Haman had worn was given to Mordecai, who was to seal with it any writing that he pleased; and that which was written in the king’s name, and sealed with the king’s ring, may no man reverse. All the administration of the kingdom was thus put into his hands, and he was made the second man in the empire. This was the suggestion of Haman, supposing that he himself was the man.
Joseph also had the king’s ring given to him, and was made to ride in the second chariot, and all were summoned to “bow the knee” before him. That, I believe, is what God does for us whom He has taken from the lowest depths of iniquity. He has linked us with Him who is His Son, in relationship with Himself, and in the administration of the kingdom, raising us thus to the very highest place of creature dignity.
I think it is clear that in this sense “The Church of the first-born ones” (Heb. 12:2323To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, (Hebrews 12:23)) will occupy the place that Satan falls from. For Satan was God’s masterpiece, as we find in Ezek. 28, where it is said of him, under the figure of the king of Tyrus: “Thou realest up the sum, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty... every precious stone was thy covering... Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth, and I have set thee so.” His was the highest place of all created beings. But he falls by successive stages from his high place, until he is engulfed in the lake of fire! This is the end of beings who stand before God on the ground of responsibility., On the other hand, eg earthly, fallen, thrice-lost creature, taken up in grace, is invested with all that divine love can furnish him with, all that makes him suited to heaven, and is eventually raised to heaven. We shall have the very highest creature-place in connection with Him who is the Son of God, and this as the outcome of God’s counsels of love.
Further, the Father, says: “Put shoes on his feet!” This indicates figuratively that he was to be made
PERFECTLY AT HOME
in the Father’s presence. When Moses―observer of God’s ways―turned aside to see that great sight why the bush that burned with fire was not consumed, he heard a voice from the midst of the bush saying, “Draw not nigh hither; put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” Moses, blessed man! was not at home in the presence of Jehovah! He had to take off his shoes.
So Joshua, when he went to the Angel with his sword drawn in his hand, saying, “Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?” heard eventually, “Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place whereon thou standest is holy!” Joshua was not at home in the presence of the Captain of Jehovah’s host. He had to put off his shoe! But the Father will have the returned prodigal at home in His presence. He will put shoes on his feet. He must be made at home in His presence. He does not want him to be uncomfortable there. It is not mere deliverance and patronage. A slave thus liberated and patronized would feel perfectly miserable at the table of his patron; he would rather be a servant still; and this had been the prodigal’s thought, but it was not the Father’s. All that was necessary to put him at his ease is furnished him, and he is thus prepared to feast with his Father. The feast is spread in the Father’s house, which, in Luke, is moral and present. We are put into the enjoyment of it by the Spirit sent from the Father. Then comes
THE FEAST.
“Bring hither the fatted calf and kill it.” This is the death of Christ as a peace-offering―that which furnishes food and joy for God and man. This, like the robe, had been in reserve; and though more plainly set forth in Old Testament type in the sacrifice of the peace-offering, is now brought into full light. Man finds his portion in the One in whom God had ever found His delight, and Who had always delighted with the sons of men.
“And let us eat and be merry.” God has His portion, and we have ours, though this merrymaking is chiefly the Father’s, ― “This my son was lost, and is found,” though others share in it; there is, however, but one Father, and there is no joy like His. “And they began to be merry.” When does this merriment end? There has been no cessation of it! There never will be! The returning prodigal is the occasion of all this heavenly, divine, eternal joy! Wonderful God! The blessed (happy) God indeed!
They make merry in heaven; the Father’s joy is there; it is in
THE FATHER’S HOUSE.
But they make merry on earth also, if they hear what is going on in heaven. To this end we need the Spirit’s power, that we may listen daily at His gates, and be led up into eternal life. When in Victoria, at some distance west of Melbourne, where there is a difference of about twenty minutes in latitude, I was standing in a telegraph office talking with the lady operator. The instrument kept up a continuous rattle, in what to me was an unintelligible jargon, but which was all plain to her. Presently the noise ceased, and there came a regular beat―tick, tick, tick―like the ticking of a clock. “What is that?” I asked. “That is the ticking of the Melbourne town clock,” she replied. “How can that be?” I said. She explained: “It is necessary that all the telegraph offices in the colony should keep Melbourne time, so at one o’clock all messages cease, and the wire is switched on to the pendulum of the Melbourne Town Hall clock, and the tick of that clock is heard in every telegraph office in the colony.” “Oh then,” I said, “you hear what is going on at headquarters once a day at least?” “Yes,” she replied. “And what about heaven?” I asked, for she was a Christian. And may we not ask, What about heaven? Do we hear from the Father’s house every day? Once a day is not enough for us, unless it is all the day long. In such a case a Christian is raised above all the difficulties of this scene: he is sensibly embraced in the arms of the God of love, as his Father and his God, and makes, merry in fellowship with that Father.
To sum up, we may notice that the prodigal, who was born again and converted before he reached the Father, entered gradually into the realization of the following seven blessings afterwards, viz.: ―1. The Father’s heart, which he now becomes conscious was ever for him. 2. The kiss of reconciliation. 3. The robe, indicating that the reconciliation is on the ground of righteousness. 4. The ring of Divine approval. 5. The shoes, making him at home in the Divine presence. 6. The feast of the fatted calf. 7. The Father’s house. God invests the sinner with all that was in His heart for him, with all that suits Himself. The sinner would say, Hold! ―enough! at any stage; but God says, “Give him this, give him that, give him all that has been reserved for him from eternity;” and it is to satisfy His own heart, and to make us meet for heaven and Himself.
Now a word as to
THE ELDER BROTHER.
He was in the end in just the same state of soul as the prodigal when he left the Father’s house. The prodigal wanted his fling without his Father―so did the elder brother. I think, said a man to me once, that the Father treated that young man (the elder brother) very badly. Indeed, said I, did it ever occur to you that the Father entreated him to come in? But the merrymaking of the Father in grace was not to the, mind of a pharisee, as the very statement above quoted proved. For what did the elder son say? He did not care the snap of a finger for his Father or His joy. All he wanted was to surround himself with his own companions, and enjoy himself with them, and so he answers: “Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandments, and yet thou never gavest me a kid that I might make merry with my friends.” He wanted to make merry with his friends and shut the Father out! This is evident from the use of that big I, and MY, and ME. It was himself he had before him, and not the Father; and this was exactly the state of the prodigal at the first.
Now, dear reader, all that, in the parable the Father had for the prodigal, God has for you, if you adopt the prodigal’s resolution and come to the Father. Accept it all! Say not at any stage, Hold! enough! Go on! go on! If you have been touched by the Holy Spirit, arise and go to the Father. He awaits you; receive the kiss, the robe, the ring, the shoes, partake of the fatted calf, the merriment of the Father’s house, which never has ceased and never shall cease. That merrymaking enjoyed by the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in company with the angels and all those who, having been thrice lost, are now more than thrice saved, will be enjoyed by them forever.
Thus is the thrice-lost sinner invested! Thus is he brought to God. On the other hand, the one who never recognizes himself as lost is divested of all that would enable him to enjoy himself apart from God, and lifts up his eyes in hell being in torment!
G. J. S.