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In this message we will cover five more aspects of the experience and enjoyment of Christ revealed in the Gospel of Luke.
In 15:3-32 the Lord Jesus spoke three parables depicting how the Divine Trinity works to bring sinners back, through the Son and by the Spirit, to the Father. In the first parable (vv. 4-7) Christ is portrayed as a sheep-finder, as a man seeking and finding the lost sheep.
“Which man of you, who has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?” (v. 4). Here the “wilderness” signifies the world. In the sight of God the world is a wild, desolate place where it is easy to get lost. The sheep-finder’s going into the wilderness to seek the lost sheep indicates that the Son has come to the world to be with men (John 1:14).
The Son came in His humanity as a sheep-finder to find the sinner as a lost sheep and to bring it back home. Concerning this Luke 15:5 and 6 say, “And when he finds it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes into his house, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.” The sheep-finder’s laying the sheep on his shoulders shows the Savior’s saving strength and His saving love.
Luke 15:22 presents Christ as the best robe. In the parable of the father receiving the returned prodigal son (vv. 11-32), the son returned to his father and said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son” (v. 21). However, while he was still speaking, the father interrupted him and said to his slaves, “Bring out quickly the best robe and put it on him” (v. 22). The definite article the used with best robe indicates that a particular robe had been prepared for this particular purpose, and the slaves knew that this was the best robe. Literally, the Greek word translated best means “first.” When the son returned to his father, he was a poor beggar dressed in rags. But after the best robe was put on him, he was covered with a splendid garment prepared especially for him. With this best robe on, he was qualified to match his father.
This robe signifies the righteousness God prepared for the returned sinners. In particular, the robe signifies Christ as the God-satisfying righteousness to cover the penitent sinner (Jer. 23:6; 1 Cor. 1:30).
As the best robe, Christ is our righteousness for us to be justified by God outwardly. Hence, putting the best robe on the returned prodigal signifies justification in Christ. As those who have Christ as the best robe, we have been justified by God.
In Luke 15:23 Christ as the inward life for nourishment is typified by the fattened calf. Here the father in the parable of the returned prodigal says, “Bring the fattened calf; slaughter it, and let us eat and be merry.” Although the prodigal was clothed with the best robe, he was still hungry and he must have been glad to hear his father speak about eating the fattened calf. Dressed in the best robe and standing in the presence of his father, the son might have said, “Father, the best robe is for your satisfaction, but I am hungry and need something to eat.” When they began to eat the fattened calf, the whole family began to be merry.
Whereas the best robe is the righteousness of God prepared for the returned sinners, the fattened calf is the portion of the life supply prepared by God for the believing sinners (1 Cor. 1:9). The fattened calf signifies the rich Christ (Eph. 3:8) killed on the cross for the believers’ enjoyment. As we eat Christ as the fattened calf, taking Him into our being, we are filled with the divine life for our enjoyment.
Whereas the best robe is for us to be justified outwardly, the fattened calf is for us to be satisfied inwardly. The robe is for wearing, but the fattened calf is for eating. Eating is the taking of something which is outside of you into you and then digesting it so that it becomes organically part of you. As the fattened calf, Christ is to be eaten, digested, and assimilated by us to become the very fibers of our being.
The parable of the returned prodigal shows us that God’s salvation is of two aspects: the outward objective aspect signified by the best robe and the inward subjective aspect signified by the fattened calf. Christ as our righteousness is for our outward salvation; Christ as our life and life supply is for our inward salvation. After coming back to his father, the prodigal son enjoyed all the riches of God’s provision in His salvation, a salvation that is not only a matter of wearing but also of eating. The best robe qualified the prodigal to match his father’s righteousness, and the fattened calf satisfied his hunger. Hence, the robe signifies the judicial aspect of God’s salvation, and the calf signifies the organic aspect of God’s salvation.
Today we are experiencing and enjoying Christ as our outward righteousness and as our inward life and life supply. Wearing Christ as our robe, we feed on Him as the fattened calf, digesting Him, assimilating Him, and being constituted with Him. As a result, we are sustained, satisfied, and strengthened, and we experience an inward, metabolic change.
Luke 17:20-24 reveals that Christ is the kingdom of God. The human Savior Himself is the essence and the element of the kingdom of God.
Regarding this, we need to consider the Lord’s word in verses 20b and 21, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, Behold, here it is! or, There! For behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” The word you here refers to the questioning Pharisees. In the Lord’s answer to the Pharisees, there is the strong indication that the kingdom of God is actually Christ Himself. The Lord Jesus was telling the Pharisees that they could not see the kingdom of God, even though it was among them. The kingdom of God was present, but they did not have the spiritual perception to see it. We need spiritual eyes to see that the kingdom of God is actually the wonderful person of Christ Himself. Wherever He is, there the kingdom of God is.
The fourth chapter of the Gospel of Mark reveals that Christ is the seed of the kingdom of God sown into the believers to develop into God’s kingdom. Verse 3 says, “Behold, the sower went out to sow.” The sower here signifies the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, who came to sow Himself as the seed of life in His word (v. 14) into men’s hearts that He might grow and live in them and be expressed from within them.
Verse 26 says, “So is the kingdom of God: as if a man cast seed on the earth.” The “man” here is the Lord Jesus as the “sower” mentioned in verse 3. The “seed” is Christ as the seed of the divine life (1 John 3:9; 1 Pet. 1:23) sown into the believers. This seed of the kingdom is not a matter of power or authority but of the divine life embodied in Christ. This seed of the kingdom, this seed of life, is Christ Himself as the basic element of the kingdom. The kingdom of God, therefore, is actually the God-man, Jesus Christ, sown as the seed of life into His believers. After this seed has been sown into them, it will grow in them and eventually develop into a kingdom.
Jesus Christ is the seed of the kingdom of God, and this seed has been sown into us, the believers. Now this seed is growing and developing within us. Eventually, this growth and development will have an issue, and this issue will be the kingdom.
As long as we have been saved and regenerated (John 3:3, 5), we are a part of the kingdom of God. We are a part of the kingdom not according to our old creation, which has nothing to do with the kingdom of God, but according to our new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). Now when we exercise the life of the new creation, the divine life received through our regeneration, we are exercising the kingdom of God. When we exercise that part of us which is the old creation, we are, in a practical way, living in the kingdom of Satan. But when we exercise that part of us which is the new creation — Christ Himself as the element of the kingdom of God — we are living in the kingdom of God.
Such a kingdom is within the believers in the church. “The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17). This verse is a strong proof that the church in the present age is the kingdom of God, because the context deals with the church life in the present age.
The kingdom of God is the sphere in which God exercises His authority so that He may express His glory for the fulfillment of His purpose. In such a kingdom, what matters is not eating and drinking but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. The kingdom within the believers in the church is thus a triangular life, a life of righteousness, peace, and joy. Righteousness denotes that which is right and proper. Those who live in the kingdom of God should be right and proper toward others, toward things, and toward God. This requires that they be strict in dealing with themselves. Peace, the fruit of righteousness (Heb. 12:11), characterizes the relationship that those who live in the kingdom of God should have with others and with God. If we are righteous toward others, toward things, and toward God, we will have a peaceful relationship with others and with God. As a result, we will have joy in the Holy Spirit and, in particular, before God. In this way we will be filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:52) and will live out righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. The more we live righteously, peacefully, and joyfully in the Holy Spirit, the more the kingdom of God will be manifested in our daily living in the church life.
The last aspect of the experience and enjoyment of Christ in the Gospel of Luke concerns His being the One prophesied in the Old Testament. Luke 24:27 says, “Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, He explained to them clearly in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” According to verse 44 the Lord Jesus said, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all the things written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and Psalms concerning Me must be fulfilled.” The Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms are the three sections of the Old Testament, that is, “all the Scriptures” (v. 27). The Savior’s word here unveils that the entire Old Testament is a revelation of Him and that He is its center and content.
Verse 47 says, “That repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name.” This verse indicates that Christ as the One prophesied in the Old Testament is for the believers to receive through repentance for forgiveness of sins.
In verse 46 the Lord Jesus said to His disciples, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise up from the dead on the third day.” This indicates that it is in Christ’s death and resurrection that we receive Him as the One prophesied in the Old Testament.
The Gospel of Luke does not seem to contain much theology. However, this book covers two mysterious items in theology — Christ’s birth, which involves the divine incarnation, and Christ’s resurrection. No one can explain fully the incarnation and resurrection of Christ. Christ is God incarnated, and He is a man resurrected. Both the incarnation and the resurrection are necessary for Christ to be Christ. Christ is Christ because He is God incarnated and a man resurrected.
The conception and birth of Christ are a great mystery. The Bible reveals that the very God in His reaching element, the Holy Spirit, came into a human virgin and was born in her and of her. Concerning this, the angel said to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore also the holy thing which is born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). As the conception was of the Holy Spirit, so what was born of that conception was a “holy thing,” something intrinsically holy. This was Jesus our Savior.
Luke 1:35 seems to indicate that the Holy Spirit would be upon Mary only as the power for her to conceive the holy child. However, Matthew 1:18 and 20 tell us that Mary “was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit” and that “that which has been begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit.” This indicates that the divine essence out of the Holy Spirit had been begotten in Mary’s womb before she delivered the child Jesus. Such a conception of the Holy Spirit in the human virgin, accomplished with the divine and human essences, constituted a mingling of the divine nature with the human nature which produced a God-man, One who is both the complete God and the perfect man, possessing the divine nature and the human nature distinctly, without a third nature being produced. This is the most wonderful and most excellent person of Jesus, who is Jehovah the Savior.
The conception of the Savior was God’s incarnation (John 1:14), constituted not only by the divine power but also of the divine essence, thus producing the God-man of two natures — divinity and humanity. Through this, God joined Himself to humanity that He might be manifested in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16) and might be a Man-Savior (Luke 2:11).
In addition to the mystery of Christ’s incarnation, Luke also speaks concerning Christ’s resurrection. He is the incarnated One and He is the resurrected One. As God He was incarnated to be a man. As a man He was put to death, and then He rose up from among the dead. Now He, the incarnated and resurrected One, is in resurrection. As the incarnated one, Christ brought God into man; as the resurrected One, He brought man into God. Today we receive Him as such a One, and we experience and enjoy the transaction whereby God comes into man and man is brought into God.
Christ, the incarnated and resurrected One, is our Savior. For our experience and enjoyment, this Savior is revealed in the Gospel of Luke as the rising sun, the light, the glory, a moneylender, a Samaritan, a sheep-finder, the best robe, the fattened calf, the kingdom of God, and the One prophesied in the Old Testament. This wonderful One is everything in God’s salvation.
