3343. “The Star out of Jacob”

A Sermon Published On Thursday, February 27, 1913.

There shall come a star out of Jacob. {Nu 24:17}

1. This prophecy may have some reference to David; but we feel persuaded that the true intention of the Holy Spirit is to present an emblem of our Lord Jesus Christ. All nature, above as well as around us, is constrained to present our Lord. All the flowers of the field, and many of the beasts of the plain, and now the very orbs of heaven, are turned into metaphors and symbols by which the glory of Jesus may be revealed to us. Where God takes such pains to teach, we ought to be at pains to learn. Where he makes heaven and earth to be the pages of the book, we ought to be most ardent in our study. Oh, you who have neglected to learn of Christ, may that neglect come to an end, and may some word be spoken which shall be as the beaming of a star to the darkness of your soul, so that from now on you may be led to know Christ, and to be found in him.

2. Our Lord, then, is compared to a star, and we shall have seven reasons to give for this.

3. I. He is called a star as: — THE SYMBOL OF GOVERNMENT.

4. You will observe how evidently it is connected with a sceptre and with a conqueror. Jacob was to be blessed with a valiant leader who should become a triumphant sovereign. Very frequently in oriental literature, their great men, and especially their great deliverers, are called stars. The star has been constantly associated with monarchy, and even in our own country we still look at the star as one of the emblems of lofty rank. Behold, then, our Lord Jesus Christ as the Star of Jacob. He is the Captain of his people, the Leader of the Lord’s hosts, the King in Jeshurun, God over all, glorious and blessed for ever!

5. We may say of Jesus in this respect that he has an authority which he has inherited by right. He made all things, and by him all things consist. It is only just that he should rule over all things. Just as there is not a tongue that can move in heaven or earth, except by his permission, so it is fitting that every tongue should confess that he is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Oh, that men were just towards the Son of God! Oh that their rebellious souls would give way to the force of rectitude — that they would no longer say, “Let us break his bonds asunder, and cast his cords from us!” Unconverted men, I wish that you would yield to Jesus. He has a right to you. It is through his intercession that your forfeited life is still spared. It is by his divine goodness that you are where you are tonight. Through his mediatorial sovereignty it is, that you are permitted to be on praying ground and pleading terms with God. Give him his due then. Do not rob him of the allegiance which he so justly claims. Do not give your spirit over to that exacting tyrant who seeks to accomplish your destruction. Bow the knee and kiss the Son, even now, lest he be angry, and you perish from the way. Acknowledge him to be your Lord.

6. Our Lord as a star has an authority which he has valiantly won. Wherever Christ is king, he has had a great and a stern fight for it. Remember the dread conflict in Gethsemane, in which he says, “I have trodden the wine-press alone.” When he came red with his own gore from Calvary, he had, in fact, then and there put to flight the hosts of Bozrah and of Edom, and stained his garments with the victor’s crimson. He who, then, travelled in the greatness of his strength is still mighty to save. In every human heart where Jesus reigns, he reigns through having dislodged, by the force of grace, the old tyrant who had fixed his sovereignty there. The maintenance of that sovereignty within the heart is the result of the same powerful sceptre of his love and grace. Oh, that King Jesus would exert his power and win a throne in more hearts! Believers, do you not long to see him glorious? I know you do if you love him. You would live for this, you would die for this — that Christ might have his own, and drive the milk-white steeds of triumph through the streets of Jerusalem, all his people bowing before him and strewing his pathway with their honours. Oh sinners! oh that you would yield to him. I pray that now he may gird his sword on his thigh, and by the power of grace constrain you to bow your willing necks to his silver sceptre. Brothers and sisters, it is a mournful fact that Christ has so small a part of the world as yet in his royal power. See, the gods of the heathen stand firmly on their pedestals. The old prostitute of Rome still flaunts in her scarlet. The crescent of Mohammed wanes, but still its baleful light is cast across the nations. Why does he delay? Perhaps his finger is on the latch; it may be that he will come before long. Come quickly, Lord! our yearning hearts beseech you to come! Meanwhile, it is for you and for me to be fighting, each soldier in his rank, each man standing in his place, as his master has ordered him, contending with heart and soul and strength for the right and for the true, for faith, for holiness, for the cross, and all that that cross indicates among the sons of men. Blessed Star of Jacob! You shine with no borrowed rays; you shine with a mysterious power which no one gave to you, for it is inherently your own.

7. Before we leave this point, I will only say this kingdom of Christ, wherever it is, is most beneficial. Wherever this star of government shines, its rays scatter blessing. Jesus is no tyrant. He does not rule by oppression. The force he uses is the force of love. There was never a subject of Christ’s kingdom who complained about him. Those who have served him most have longed to serve him more. Why, even his poor martyrs in the catacombs of Rome, dying of starvation, or dragged up to the Colosseum to be devoured by wild beasts, never said a bad word about him. Certainly if it was hard for any, it seemed to be hard for them; but the more they were troubled the more they rejoiced, and there never were sweeter songs than those that came from dying lips when men were crackling on the faggots, or being dragged limb from limb at the heels of wild horses, or being sawn asunder. Just in proportion as the bodily pains became acute, the spiritual joy became intense; and while the outward man decayed, the inner man leaped up into newness of life, anticipating the joys of the firstborn before the throne. He is a good master. Young people, I wish that you would serve him! Oh! that you were enlisted in his service. It is now a good many years since I gave my heart to him, it has almost been twenty years, but I cannot say a word against him. No, but I wish I had always served him; I wish I had served him before, and I pray that he may use me to the fullest extent. If he will only make me a door-mat for his temple, I shall be only too glad. If he will let my name be cast out as evil and give my body to the dogs, I do not care as long as his truth only prospers, and his name becomes great. But alas! there is so much self in us, pride and I do not know what else besides, that we who really know the Master, have reason to ask him to bring in his great artillery and blow down the castles of our natural corruption, conquer us yet again, and rule in us by sheer force of grace, until in every part and corner of our spirits there shall be nothing but the love of Christ and the indwelling of his gracious Spirit. By the star we understand the symbol of government.

8. II. In the second place, the star is: — THE IMAGE OF BRIGHTNESS.

9. When men wish to speak of brightness they talk about the stars. Those who are righteous are as the stars, and those who turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever. Our Lord Jesus Christ is brightness itself. The star is only a poor example of his ineffable splendour. Oh! let the thought come home to you. He is the brightness of his Father’s glory — unutterably bright as the Deity. He is brightness himself in his human nature, for in him there was neither spot nor wrinkle. As Mediator, exalted on high, enjoying the reward of his pains, he is bright indeed. Observe, that our Lord as a star is a bright special star in the matter of holiness. In him was no sin. Look, and look, and look again into his star-like character. Even the lynx eyes of infidels have not been able to discover a mistake in him; and as for the attentive eyes of critics who have been believers, they have been teary-eyed again and again, and then to glisten and sparkle with delight as they have seen the blending of all the perfections in his adorable character to make up one perfection.

10. As a star, he shines also with the light of knowledge. Moses was, as it were, only a mist, but Christ is the prophet of light. “The law was given by Moses” — a thing of types and shadows — “but grace and truth come by Jesus Christ.” If any man is taught in the things of God, he must derive his light from the Star of Bethlehem. You may go as you wish to the universities, to the tomes of the learned, to the schools of the philosophers, but in spiritual things you receive no light until you look up to Jesus, and then in his light you see light, for there is transcendent brightness in him. He is the wisdom of God as well as the power of God; he is the way, the truth, and the life. Divine light has found its centre in him!

11. His light, too, is that of comfort. Oh! how many have emerged from the darkness of their souls and found peace by looking up to this Star of Jacob, the Lord Jesus Christ! Well did our hymn put it: —

   He is my soul’s bright Morning Star,

   And he my Rising Sun.

12. One glimpse of Christ and the midnight of your unbelief is over. But a sight of the five wounds and your sins are covered and your iniquities put away. Happy day, happy day, when first the soul beholds a crucified Redeemer, and gives herself up to him, relying on him for eternal salvation. Shine, sweet Star — shine into some benighted heart tonight! Give holiness, give light, give the knowledge of God, give joy and peace in believing, in believing in the precious blood!

13. When speaking on Christ as a star, “the Symbol of Government,” I said, submit to him. Now, speaking of him as a star, the Image of Brightness, I say, look to him — look to him. It is the Gospel’s precept. “Look to me, and be saved all you ends of the earth,” and well do we sing: —

   “There is life for a look at the Crucified One.”

14. Poor sinner, delay no longer. You are not asked to do anything, nor to be anything, nor to feel anything; but you are simply told to look away from self to what Christ has done, and you shall live.

   View him prostrate in the garden,

   On the ground your Maker lies;

   On the bloody tree behold him,

   Hear him cry before he dies —

         “It is finished.”

   Sinner, will not this suffice?

15. Look to him then and live.

16. III. Thirdly, our Lord is compared to a star to bring out the fact, that: — HE IS THE PATTERN OF CONSTANCY.

17. Ten thousand changes have happened since the world began, but the stars have not changed. There they remain. We dreamed at one time that they moved. Untaught imagination said that all those stars revolved around this little globe of ours. But we know better now. There they are both day and night — always the same, and we may say they have not changed since the world began, nor probably will they until, like a vesture, God shall roll up creation because it is worn out. It is very delightful to remember that the same star which I looked at last night was viewed by Abraham, perhaps with some of the very same thoughts. And when we have gone, and other generations shall have followed us, those who come after us will look up to the very same star. So with our Lord Jesus. He is the same yesterday, today, and for ever. What the prophets and apostles saw in him, we can see in him, and what he was to them, that he is to us, and shall be to generations yet unborn. Hundreds of us may be looking at the same star at the same time without knowing it. There is a meeting-place for many eyes. Some of us may move to Australia, or to Canada, or to the United States, or we may be sailing across the great deep, but we shall see the stars there. It is true that on the other side of the world we shall see another set of stars, but the stars themselves are always still the same. As far as we in this hemisphere are concerned, we shall look at the same star. So, wherever we may be, we look to the same Christ. One brother here has learning, but as he looks to Christ, he sees the same Christ as the poor unlettered woman in the aisles. And you, poor man, who have not, perhaps, a sixpence in the world, you have the same Christ to trust in as the richest man in all the world. And you who think yourself so obscure that no one knows you but your God, you look at this same star, and it shines with the same beams for you, as for the Christian who leads the vanguard in the Lord’s hosts. Jesus Christ is still the same, the same to all his people, the same in all places, the same for ever and ever. Well, therefore, may he be compared to those bright stars that shine now as they did of old and do not change.

18. IV. In the fourth place, we may trace this comparison of our Lord to a star as: — THE FOUNTAIN OF INFLUENCE.

19. The old astrologers used to believe very strongly in the influence of the stars on men’s minds. Without endorsing their exploded theories, we read in Scripture expressions like this: — “Can you bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades, or release the bands of Orion?” — alluding, no doubt, to the fact that the Pleiades are in the ascendant in the sweet months of spring, when the warm breath and gentle showers are producing the green sprout and tender blade, the foliage and the flowers of May, with all the loveliness of the season, while Orion is in the ascendant as a wintry sign, when the bands of frost are binding up the outburst of nature. But, whether there is an influence in the stars or not, as touching this world, I know there is great influence in Christ Jesus. He is the fountain of all holy influences among the sons of men. Where this star shines on the graves of men who are dead in sin, they begin to live. Where the beam of this star shines on poor imprisoned spirits, their chains drop off, the captive leaps to lose his chains. When this star gleams on a burdened Christian with its light, he begins to bud and blossom, and precious fruits are produced. When this star shines on the backslider, he begins to mend his ways, and to follow, like the eastern sages, its light until he finds his Saviour once more. This star has an influence on our nativity. It is through its benign rays that we are born again, and in our horoscope it has an influence on our death, for it is in its light that we fall asleep, believing that we shall wake up in the image of the Lord Jesus. Oh! sweet star, shine on me always! Never let me miss your rays; but may I always walk in its light, until I am found sitting in the full noontide heat of the Sun of Righteousness for ever and ever.

20. V. In the fifth place, the Lord Jesus Christ may be compared to a star: — AS A SOURCE OF GUIDANCE.

21. There are some of the stars that are extremely useful to sailors. I scarcely know how else the great wide sea would be navigated, especially if it were not for the Polar Star. Jesus is the Polar Star to us. How the poor negro in the olden times, when the curse of slavery had not been taken away, must have blessed God for that pole-star — so easy to find. Any child with only a moment’s teaching will soon know how to find it in the midst of its fellows at night, and when the negro had once learned to distinguish the star that shone over the land of freedom, how he followed it through the great dismal swamps, or along the plains which were even more dreadful; how he could ford the streams, and climb the mountains, always cheered by the sight of that pole-star. Such is Jesus Christ to the seeker. He leads to liberty; he conducts to peace. Oh! I wish you would follow him, some of you who are going about a thousand ways to find peace where you will never find it. Every Sabbath I try to speak, sometimes in gentler tones, and at other seasons with thundering notes, the simple truth that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. I do try to make it plain to you that it is not your prayers and tears, your doings, your willings, your anything, that can save you, but that all your help is laid on one who is mighty, and that you must only look to him. Yet, sinners, you are still looking to yourselves. You rake the dunghills of your human nature to find the pearl of great price which is not there. You will look beneath the ice of your natural depravity to find the flame of comfort which is not there. You might as well seek in hell itself to find heaven as look to your own works and merits to find some basis for trust. Down with them! Down with them, every one of them! Away with all those confidences of yours, for: —

   None but Jesus, none but Jesus,

   Can do helpless sinners good.

Just reverse that helm, and shift that sail, and tack about! Do not follow the wrecker’s beacon on that shore luring you to the rocks of self-delusion, but where that pole-star guides, there let your vessel sail, and pray for the favouring breezes of the blessed Spirit to guide you rightly to the port of peace.

22. VI. Our Lord is compared to a star, surely: — AS THE OBJECT OF WONDER.

23. One of the first lines which very many of you ever learned to recite was: —

   Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

   How I wonder what you are.

But that is precisely what Galileo might have said, and exactly what the greatest astronomer who ever lived might say. You have sometimes looked through a telescope and have seen the planets, but after you have looked at them you do not know much more about them; and those who are busy all day and all night long making constant observations, I think, will tell you that the result is rather that of astonishment than of intelligence. Still, it is: —

   “How I wonder what you are.”

So to those of us who are in Christ Jesus, he is a peerless star; but oh, brethren! we may well wonder what he is. We used to think when we were little ones that the stars were holes pricked in the skies, through which the light of heaven shone, or that they were little pieces of gold dust that God had strewn about. We do not think so now; we understand that they are much greater than they look to be. So, when we were carnal, and did not know King Jesus, we esteemed him to be very much like anyone else, but now we begin to know him, we find out that he is much greater, infinitely greater than we thought he was. And as we grow in grace, we find him to be even more glorious. A little star to our view at first, he has grown in our estimation into a sun now, a blazing sun, by whose beams our soul is refreshed. Ah! but when we get near to him, what will he be? Imagine yourself borne up on an angel’s wing to take a journey to a star. Travelling at an inconceivable rate, you open your eyes suddenly and say, “How wonderful! Why, what was a star just now has become as large to my vision as the sun at noonday.” “Stop,” says the angel, “you shall see greater things than these,” and, as you speed on, the disc of that orb increases, until it is equal to a hundred suns; and now you say, “But what? Am I not near it now?” “No,” says the angel, “that enormous globe is still far, far away,” and when you come to it, you would find it to be such a wonderful world, that arithmetic could not compute its size; scarcely could imagination belt it with the zone of fantasy. Now, such is Jesus Christ. I said he grows on his people here, but what must it be to see him there, where the veil is lifted, and we behold him face to face? Sometimes we long to find out what that star is, to know him, to comprehend with all saints what are the heights and depths, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge; but, meanwhile, we are compelled to sit down and sing: —

   God only knows the love of God:

   Oh that it now were shed abroad

   In this poor stony heart.

We have to confess that, —

   The first-born sons of light

   Desire in vain its depth to see;

   They cannot reach the mystery,

   The length, the breadth, the height.

24. VII. But, to conclude, the metaphor used in the text may well bear this seventh meaning. Our Lord is compared to a star as: — HE IS THE HERALD OF GLORY.

25. The bright and morning star foretells that the sun is on its way to gladden the earth with its light. Wherever Jesus comes, he is a great prophet of good. Let him come into a heart, and, as soon as he appears, you may rest assured that there is a life of eternity and joy to come. Let Jesus Christ come into a family, and what changes he makes there. Let him be preached with power in any town or city, and what a herald of good things he is there. To the whole world Christ has proclaimed good news. His coming has been full with blessings for the sons of men. Yes, the coming of Christ in the flesh is the great prophecy of the glory to be revealed in the latter days, when all nations shall bow before him, and the age of peace, the golden age, shall come, not because civilization has advanced, not because education has increased, or the world grown better, but because Christ has come. This is the first, the fairest of the stars, the prognostication of the dawn.

26. Indeed, and because Christ has come, there will be a heaven for the sons of men who believe in him. Sons of toil, because Christ has come, there shall be rest for the weary. Daughters of sorrow, because Christ has come, there shall be healing for the weak. Oh you whom chilly poverty is laying low! there shall be lifting up and sacred wealth for you, because the star has shone. Hope on! hope always! Now that Jesus has come, there is no room for despair.

27. I commend these thoughts to you, and earnestly ask you once again, if you have never looked to Christ, to trust in him now; if you have never submitted to Jesus, to submit to him now; if you have never confided in him, to confide in him now. It is a very simple matter. May God the Holy Spirit teach and guide you to disown yourselves, and to acknowledge him; cease from your own thoughts, and trust his word. When this is all done by you, there is proof positive that all is done for you by Christ. You are his, and he is yours; where he is, your portion shall be; and you shall be like him, for you shall see him as he is. It will be a day to be remembered if you are led now to give yourselves to him. I well remember when my heart yielded to his divine grace; when I could no longer look anywhere else, and was compelled to look to him. Oh, come to him! I do not know what words to use, or what persuasions to employ. For your own sake, that you may be happy now; for eternity’s sake, that you may be happy hereafter; for terror’s sake, that you may escape from hell; for mercy’s sake, that you may enter into heaven, look to Jesus. You may never be asked to do so again. This invitation may be the last, the concluding measure which shall fill up the heap of your guilt, because you reject it. Oh! do not despise the exhortation. Let the prayer go up quietly now from your spirit, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Let your soul wrestle vehemently. Let your tongue utter its mighty resolve: —

   I’ll to the gracious King approach,

      Whose sceptre pardon gives;

   Perhaps he may command my touch,

      And then the suppliant lives.

   I can but perish if I go,

      I am resolved to try;

   For, if I stay away, I know

      I must for ever die.

   But, if I die with mercy sought,

      When I the King have tried,

   That were to die, delightful thought,

      As sinner never died.

Exposition By C. H. Spurgeon {Lu 15:1-24}

1. Then all the Publicans and sinners drew near to him in order to hear him.

They were drawing near. It was not an unusual occurrence. It was their habit to draw near to Christ. The Pharisees and scribes stood in the outer ring. They did not come too near. These poor outcasts and offcasts, Publicans and sinners, drew near. They wanted to catch every word. They could not have too much of it. They took a delight in getting near to his blessed person. They drew near to hear him.

2. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, “This man receives sinners, and eats with them.”

The sinful, known to be so. This man receives them, welcomes them, admits them to an intimacy with him. What is worse, he eats with them. To teach them is bad enough, but to sit at the same table with them, making himself their company, and making them his company, this is worse and worse. And so they murmured. I am very glad that they did. We owe a great deal to the murmurings of the proud Pharisees; for our Lord graciously answered those murmurings and then he gave us some of the choicest jewels of speech that are preserved in the treasury of knowledge.

3. And he spoke this parable to them, saying,

So it is only one parable, yet it is three. Three panels making one picture. All three are necessary to make up all his teaching.

4. “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after what is lost, until he finds it?

He is justifying his looking for the lost ones. Their accusation was, that he received the sinful and false, and ate with them. “Well, well,” says Christ. “I do that. But I am a shepherd, and if I have lost one of my sheep, do you blame me if I leave the flock to go after the lost sheep?” “And he goes after what is lost until he finds it.”

5, 6. And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.’

A true picture of Christ going after those who are wilful and wayward, and therefore have taken to wandering until they are lost; lost to God, lost to society, lost to usefulness, lost to happiness, perhaps lost to hope. He goes after them. That is, in his life. He throws them on his shoulders in his death. He will bring them home rejoicing by his resurrection-life; and then throughout eternity he will make the glorified spirits in heaven glad by showing them the sheep that was lost, the soul that was saved.

7. I say to you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner who repents, more than over ninety-nine just people, who need no repentance.

If there are such, if there are some who have never wandered, and who belong to the flock, yet the unbrokenness of the flock does not by itself cause any great exuberance of joy. The overflow of delight is caused by the lost sheep when it is found. A church of godly people will give great satisfaction to Christ, but still, if there is any bell ringing, any sound of joy and gladness, it will be over the wandering one who has been restored. Here you have the Son of God himself and his relationship to the wandering souls of men. He is their shepherd; he seeks them; he brings them back to the fold, and he is glad.

Now comes the second panel picture.

8-10. Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she loses one piece, does not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls her friends and her neighbours together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.’ Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God, over one sinner who repents.”

In this second picture you have the Holy Spirit working through the Church, compared to a woman. She has lost her piece of money. She gets the candle of the gospel, she takes the broom of the law; she sweeps and searches, she raises a dust, she expends her candle until she finds her piece of money. You notice that she blames herself for its being lost, for she says, “I have found the piece which I had lost.” The shepherd did not say that about the sheep; he says, “the sheep that was lost.” That was its own doing. The church of God seems to blame herself that she has lost her hold on so many who once belonged to her. The Holy Spirit, through the church, seeks after lost souls, who bear the image of the king on them, like minted pieces of silver. It is a wonderful verse which is repeated here. “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God.” It does not say that the angels rejoice. It means that; but there is joy in their presence. Who is in their presence but God himself? the great and blessed God, whose throne they continually surround, in whose face they see joy over saved souls. And notice the joy is about one sinner — a sinner. That is all we know about him. He may have been as poor as a church mouse, and he may have made himself sick almost to death by his vice. There was joy over him when he repented. It was only one. It was not a batch of twenty; it was not a large number converted; but there is joy over one sinner. What had he done? Built a church? No. Preached a sermon? No. He had repented. That is all; but that is quite enough to set all the music of the angels’ harps pouring out the praise of God. “One sinner who repents.”

11. And he said,

And here comes the greatest of all the parables, the most instructive perhaps, and the best loved of them all. In these parables we do not find anything about a Saviour, a Mediator. Did you ever read a parable that contained all the truth? If any man were to try and make a parable that contained all truth at once, truly I say to you he would be a fool. He must fail, and fail in his object of teaching anything.

   One thing at a time, and that done well,

   Is a very good rule as many can tell.

And to teach one truth at a time is quite sufficient. It is true that the parable that we are going to read says nothing about a mediator, but it does not say anything about the father seeking his lost son, not a word. No work of the Holy Spirit. It is meant to teach one thing, and it does teach it, and if it does not teach fifty things, do not imagine that the other forty-nine are not true.

11, 12. “A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’

He would have that when his father died. Does he demand to have his inheritance in his father’s lifetime? Yes, he does. It is an unreasonable demand. Yet —

12. And he divided to them his living.

He was of a gentle mould, of a kindly heart. He did not want to have a son stay with him like a slave. He must be served willingly or not at all; so he divided to them his living.

13. And not many days after the younger son gathered it all together,

He turned the sheep and the stock and everything into money.

13. And took his journey into a far country,

We do not know where it was. It does not matter, it was a far country. He wanted to get away from his father, from his authority, from his observation. He went into a far country.

13. And there wasted his substance with riotous living.

What he did I do not know. His elder brother had heard some very bad stories about him which we shall see at the end of the chapter. They may not, however, have been all true, for rumour is greatly given to exaggeration. Beware of this exaggeration, especially of the follies of others.

14. And when he had spent it all,

Got to his last penny.

14. There arose a mighty famine in that land,

Famines generally do come when one’s money is all gone. He might not have feared a famine if he had still been wealthy. The two things come together, the two seas meet. He had spent it all, and now there was a famine.

14. And he began to be in want.

This was the first time in his life. He had always had everything he wanted, and now he began to be in want. It is an ugly kind of feeling when, for the first time, you cannot buy a loaf of bread; when, for the first time, you cannot get a night’s lodging for love or money; and do not have any money, and no one gives you any love. He began to be in want.

15. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country;

I dare say he was a member of the same company that he belonged to. He went to him and said, “Now help me. You have many a time enjoyed yourself at my house. You have drunk my champagne, now help me. I am in trouble.” Well, he had a vacant position, and that was to keep his pigs; the very worst thing a Jew could do, and what a Jew never would do unless he was at starvation point.

15. And he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

“There is a job for you. You want a job. Go into my fields and feed my swine.” The son has become a swineherd. {keeper of swine} One who fared sumptuously everyday at home, has now come to serve pigs!

16. And he would gladly have filled his belly with the husks that the swine ate:

He was so hungry, that if he could have eaten the caroba {a} which they fed on, he would have been glad to kneel at the trough and feed with the swine.

16. And no man gave to him.

No, they all seemed equally stony-hearted. When you have plenty, everyone will give you some more. When you have nothing, no one will give you a penny. “No man gave to him.”

17. And when he came to himself,

For he had been away from himself. He was beside himself, and now he came home to himself.

17. He said, ‘How many hired servants of my father’s have food enough and to spare, and I

The son whom he loves. “And I.”

17-19. Perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before you. And am no more worthy to be called your son: make me as one of your hired servants."’

Let me be anything, so that I may have something to do with you. Let me live at home. Let me eat the food from your table. Put me in the lowest place. I cannot be so low as I am now. Put me anywhere. Make me a hired servant.

20. And he arose, and came to his father. But

Blessed “but.”

20, 21. When he was still a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight, and am no more worthy to be called your son.’

He was going on with his prayer, “Make me as one of your hired servants,” when his father kissed him right on his lips and smothered that prayer. He did not intend to let him pray that, and so the father, interrupting him, stopped that legal bit of prayer.

22. But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe, and put it on him: and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:

Is this the justifying righteousness of Christ? I do not think so. No servant can put that on. God himself imputes the righteousness of Christ to us. It means just this: Receive this poor forgiven sinner into the church, and treat him like a gentleman. Do not look at him as one who is wearing rags any longer. Put the best robe on him, treat him well, take him into your favour, receive him into your company, put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.

23, 24. And bring the fatted calf here, and kill it: and let us eat, and be merry. For this son of mine was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to be merry.”

A fine old Saxon word that is “merry.” I have known some good people afraid to say, “I wish you a merry Christmas.” But I always like it, for I like these grand old Bible words. If the word “merry” means anything wrong, it is you who make it wrong; but it is right enough in the Bible. “They began to be merry.” Now, is it not a very curious thing that the father said, “Put the robe on him, put the shoes on him”; but he never said, “Now make him eat.” Why is that? He says, “Let us eat and be merry”; he does not say anything about the son eating. No, brethren, because the best way to make another man eat is to go at it yourself. It creates an appetite in him. If he is standing there looking at what you are doing (“Let us eat and be merry”), his mouth begins to water. Why, you know how hard it is if you are called on to stand when you are very hungry and see other people eat. How you want to eat! That is the best preaching in the world. If the end of the discourse is to make a man eat, the best preaching is to eat yourself. “Let us eat and be merry,” and they did that, and then this restored prodigal son found his appetite, and so feasted, too.

{a} Caroba: The fruit of an evergreen leguminous tree, Carob tree, a native of the Levant: a long flat horn-like pod containing numerous hard seeds embedded in pulp. OED.