Although outwardly near, as his father owns (“son, thou art ever with me,” ver. 81), the elder son was as far off morally, “in the field” as the younger son had been in the “far country.” For “the field is the world.” (Matt. 13:38.) “He drew nigh to the house” (ver. 20), so nigh that “he heard music and dancing,” the sounds of the merry-making of the father over his son, who was dead and is alive again: was lost and is found; (ver. 24.) Picture of God’s joy—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, uniting to rejoice in what their united action had effected, the Son “come to seek and to save that which was lost” (chap, 19:10), the Holy Ghost to find (ver. 8), and the Father to receive the penitent. (Ver. 20.) As they say, “Let us eat and be merry,” that is, let us have communion and joy on the happy result of our labors.
Though the elder son is so nigh as to hear the sound of all this, and though he is informed of its meaning (verses 26, 27), he will not join 111 his father s joy. Not only had he no heart for that which, so gladdened his father’s heart, but he resents it: “he was angry and would not go in” (ver. 28). How different with the other in his destitution: for, as another has said, “he was hungry and could not stop out, while the elder was angry and would not go in.”
And thus it is ever with the worldling, whether a religious professor or an irreligious profligate. He hates grace. The elder son resents it when manifested to his confessedly (ver. 21) unworthy brother. (Verses 28, 30.) The younger son abuses the grace shown him by his father in dividing to him his living. (Ver. 12.)
And where art thou, and what art thou, my reader? Have you ever answered for yourself God’s first two great questions to man (Gen. 3:9; 4:10), the two great questions He asks of all, and would ask of you? If not, answer for thyself now to Him. The first, “Where art thou?” Away from God, in the world which is at enmity with Him (Jas. 4:4), and hiding from Him. Be assured He will have thee dragged from out thy hiding place in the day of judgment, when neither rocks nor mountains shall suffice to hide thee “ from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; [when] the great day of his wrath. is come: and who shall be able to stand?” (Rev. 6:12-17; 20:11-15.) Come forth now therefore, and whether thou art an empty professor (like him of Matt. 22:11), or a needy profligate, thou wilt find that God has a covering for thee in grace, a perfect covering, the best robe (ver. 22), His own righteousness (Rom. 4:5-22; 5:2): even as He had for thy first parents when they came forth from their lurking place (Gen. 3:21), and that on the ground of blood shedding for thee of the precious blood of Jesus which cleanses from all sin. (1 John 1:7.) The second question, “What hast thou done?” You know you have not served God and kept His commandments. (Ver. 29.) Empty hypocritical profession will—not avail thee in that day of which we have spoken. Own the truth, confess thy sin, for “if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive,” &a, (1 John 1:9); and give Him the joy of making merry over thee, and have for thyself that joy which finds but its commencement here. “And they began to be merry.” (Ver. 24.)
“Therefore came his father out and entreated him.” I am at a loss which to admire most, the “compassion” which impelled the father to run and kiss the younger son while he was yet a great way off (the same word in the original as “far” in “far country,” which shows how far the father hasted to meet him), or the desire after him which drew the father out to entreat the elder son. And can it be that you, my reader, are untouched by such varied grace? —“the grace of God that bringeth salvation [which] hath appeared to all men” (Titus 2:11)—the grace of God which has brought Him into this world, as the whole parable (ver. 3) of Luke 15 shows, to “receive sinners and eat with them?” Nay more, to seek and to entreat them, that He may find His joy in bringing salvation to them, and bringing them into it. “Eating with them” (ver. 2), making them at home in His company, and finding His joy in theirs—His “delights were with the sons of men” (Pro. 8:31), that is, wisdom’s, the Son of God, who— “Dwells in His bosom, knoweth all that in that bosom lies, and came to earth to make it known that we might share His joys.”
Can it be, I say, that you are untouched by the richness of such grace? Mark that father! The servant has returned and told him of his son’s demeanor when he heard the cause of the merriment—that “he was angry and would not go in.” Or maybe he had seen it all himself through the window. “My elder son!” he may have said to himself as he saw him approach, “I had forgotten thee in the joy of receiving my younger, my Benjamin.” Glad I am to see thou hast not forgotten the way to thy old father’s house, and thou shalt share my joy—thou [that] art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. How glad wilt thou be to give thy old father the joy of sharing it with thy long lost, new found, brother. It was right, it was meet, that we should make merry and be glad. (Yen 32.) But, ah! what do I see? Anger bespreads his face, while compassion and joy fill my heart. But that shall not kindle my wrath and resentment. I will go forth to my first-born, even as I have been forth for my last!”
“What grace! What matchless grace!
Oh, lovely attitude! He stands
With open heart, and outstretched hands.
Oh! matchless kindness, and He shows
His matchless kindness to His foes.”
And is it possible that thou, my reader, hast treated God so? In self-righteous satisfaction, despising grace, and such as feel they have no goodness of their own, only sins and unworthiness, dost thou hold aloof from Him who receiveth sinners and communes (eats) with them? Dost thou fancy thyself aught else, and that He can deal with thee on any other principle than that of grace, of free sovereign grace, of undeserved favor? Then know thou that “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” and that, He justifies “freely [undeservedly] by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus “ (Rom. 3:23, 24), and thus alone.
“Open the door, He’ll enter in,
And sup with you and you. with Him.”