October 1924
646
T H E K I N G ’ S
B U S I N E S S
1. “ Self-will” chapter (v. 12), “ written while at home.” The essence of all sin is just this,:—self- will, having one’s own way instead of God’s. The record of the first sin (Gen. John A. Hubbard 3), is a vivid illustration of this. 2. “ Squandering chapter” “ wasted his substance with riotous living,” or as another translates, “ he squandered his means in loose living.” Sin always wastes. It is ruinous to spirit, soul, and body. 3. “ Suffering Chapter” (vs. 14-16). Sin always brings suffering. “ Everything in creation works against the hap piness of the man whose will is opposed to God’s.” “ Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know, therefore, and see, that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts” (Jer. 2:19). 4. Penitent Chapter (vs. 17-19). “He came to himself.” The suffering did its work. “ He came to his senses.” This is the first bright spot in the story. Now there is hope. The heavenly Father has allowed many a prodigal child of His to suffer, and suffer keenly, in order to bring him to his senses. It is the only way some can be brought to repent ance. 5. “ Starting-back Chapter” (v. 20). “ I will arise and go” (v. 18), “ and he arose and came” (v. 20). It is not' enough to be penitent, merely saying “ I will arise;” one must actually arise and go. Compare the words of “ the Old Testament Prodigal” in Psa. 119:59, 60 “ I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. I made haste, and delayed not, to keep thy commandments-” 6. The biography is not complete without this, the Wel come-Home Chapter (vs. 20-24). This indeed, is the main point of the parable, to reveal God’s attitude of love and compassion toward the penitent wanderer. “ Now the tax- gatherers and sinners were all approaching him to listen to him, but the Pharisees and the scribes complained, ‘He welcomes sinners and eats along with them!’ So he told them this parable” (Luke 15:1-3). It is really a three fold parable, spoken to show the fault-finding Pharisees and scribes that their attitude toward lost ones was very different from God’s. There was rejoicing over the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son when they were found. “ I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.” “ Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings” (Jer. 3:22). “ I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely” (Hos. 14:4). The “ prodigal son” represents the publicans and sinners whom Jesus welcomed. The Pharisees and scribes are rep resented by the “ elder brother” (vs. 25-32), who angrily found fault with the welcome given the returning wan derer. He was a prodigal indeed, living “ in the far away country of bitterness and rebellion.” DEVOTIONAL COMMENT The Story of a Father’s Love Luke 15:11-24. Memory Verse.—-“ I will arise and go to my father.” Luke 15:18. Approach.— The little folks will be interested in a series of little sketches on blackboard or paper, picturing the dif- (Continued on page 679)
It is fitting that these parables should have been spoken in the presence of the “ publicans and sinners,” and to un derstand their teaching we should remember that they, being Israelites, were on the same ground of privilege as the Scribes and Pharisees who objected COMMENTS to them. Hence the form of the par- FROM THE ables—a sheep wandering from the COMMENTARIES flock, a piece of money out of a number V. V. Morgan of pieces in the house, a prodigal son gone from the parental roof. If the shepherd and the woman could be so concerned under the circumstances, was it suisprising that God should care for His immortal creatures, and especially His chosen people? Separating these first two parables, the first shows the activity of the Lord under the similitude of the shepherd, and the second, that of the Holy Spirit under the similitude of the woman. In other words, men are not only guilty (Rom. 3:19) as indicated by the wandering sheep, but they are by nature dead (Eph. 2:1) as seen in the lifeless coin. The Son of God removes the guilt by His death and sacrifice, and the Holy Spirit quickens the sinner. The third parable divides itself in two at v. 24. The meaning of the first part is plain, that God welcomes the penitent sinner and rejoices over him. And that of the second part also, that the murmuring Scribes and Phari sees are depicted by the elder brother. We thus learn that self-righteous people, like the latter, who is not seen to enter the father’s house, are in danger of excluding them selves from heaven through' failure to understand and delight in salvation by grace.-—Gray. The Father of this parable represents God the Father. Of course, the figure is not a perfect representation of Him who is represented; for all earthly figures of the divine Father must necessarily fall short of the reality. But it is a wonderful picture of God’s attitude toward the sinner, especially the backslider.— Torrey. V. 12. The elder son among the Jews received twice as large an inheritance as the other sons, so that this second of the two sons received one-third of his father’s property (Deut. 21:17); the remaining two-thirds was used jointly by the father and the elder brother.-—Peloubet. V. 13. This is the very essence of sin, the desire to have our own way, to be independent of our Father, God.—- Torrey. V. 14. There is always a spiritual famine, prevailing in the “ far country.” The sinner is in want. There is nothing there to quench soul thirst or to satisfy soul hunger.— Pract. Com. V. 15. Jews so abhorred swine that they would not even call them by name, but referred to a pig as “ the other thing.” To be a feeder of swine was to descend to th.e low est depths of degradation,—Peloubet. V. 16. These were the pods of the carob tree. They were six or eight inches long, an inch wide and a quarter of an inch thick, somewhat resembling the pods of the locust tree. They were used by poor people as food, but were gen erally fed to swine and other animals.—Pract. Com. V. 18. He had nothing to show his father except repent ance, and that was all his father wanted to see. “ Nothing in my hands I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling.” The sinner’s first step in repentance is to recognize that he has sinned before both man and God.—Peloubet. V. 22. The father did not wait until he was washed and dressed before l;e kissed him. Then there was “ the best robe” (Isa. 61:10; Zech 2:3-5); and “ a ring,” pledge of sonship (Eph. 1:13, 14; Gal. 4:6) and “ shoes” (Eph. 6:15). -—Sel. There is a way from the far country to the Father’s arms. The actual journey of the prodigal may have been across forbidding mountains and along caravan trails over blinding deserts. No such obstacles intervene between the returning sinner and God. The blessed Christ from whose lips fell this tender story also said, “ I am the way.” When we come to Christ we find the Father, for Christ and the Fattier are one.—C. I. Scofield, D. D.
A number of years ago a writer set forth the story of the Prodigal Son as a biography in five chapters, using the following captions:
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