In the New Testament Parables

In the four Gospels men came to the Lord Jesus, but they did not know about eating or drinking Him. They only knew to work. Everyone, male or female, seemed to ask the same question: “Teacher, what should I do?” (Luke 10:25), or “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” (Matt. 22:36). Those who came to the Lord Jesus were bound by the concept of working and doing. The Lord Jesus said that He is the bread of life and that He came that we may have life. He said that His flesh is true food, and His blood is true drink. He also said that if we believe into Him, He will enter into us, and we will be born again. When He spoke these words, the listeners were confused. Even the aged Nicodemus was confused. He asked how an old man could enter his mother’s womb and be born again. He did not understand the Lord’s word. No one could understand. As we have been speaking concerning enjoying God, many have also considered this as a hard word. They think that this is too deep. However, if like a scribe and a teacher, I said that we should not take alcohol, play mah-jongg, or lose our temper, but we should submit to our husbands and love our wives, everyone would easily understand this. But when I say that we should not do anything, not try anything, and not consider anything, it is difficult to accept these words because we are short of the concept of eating and drinking God.

The Lord repeatedly spoke of His being food for man because He faced this concept when He was on earth. The parables in Matthew 21 and 22 illustrate this concept. At the end of Matthew 21 the Lord Jesus spoke a parable concerning a vineyard. He said that God leased a vineyard to vinedressers in order for them to work on it. However, when God came to collect the harvest, there was no fruit. This parable was meant for the Jews, and in essence the Lord was saying, “You desire to do something, and you are trying to work. But your work has no result, no fruit. You cannot do anything.” In chapter 22 the Lord spoke another parable. He compared God to a king preparing a wedding feast for his son. He had slain the oxen and the fatted cattle and made all things ready. He then invited many to come to the feast. No one who comes to a feast comes with the thought of working or doing something; instead, he goes with a mouth ready to eat. God seemed to say, “All things are ready. Come. I do not want you to come to work or to do anything. I want you to come to eat, to enjoy.” In these two parables the Lord Jesus was saying, “Even though you desire to do something, God has absolutely no intention for you to do anything. He desires that you come and eat.” The Lord was eventually slain like the oxen and given to man to eat. The cross can be compared to a big feasting table. The Lord was slain on this table and placed on it for men to eat. God has no desire for us to do anything. He has no desire for us to work. His desire is to give us His Son for our enjoyment. His Son is simply His embodiment. God wants to become food to us in the person of His Son.

This also applies to the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15. In this parable there are two sons. The younger one went astray but later repented. He resolved in himself, seeming to say, “I am no longer worthy to be called my father’s son. I will go and be his hired servant.” The meaning of being a son is to enjoy; a son enjoys all that his father has, but a hired servant works and has no share in the enjoyment. The son resolved within himself to be a servant. But when he reached home, his father saw him from afar and ran toward him and kissed him. While the son proceeded with his clumsy speech, the father interrupted him and ordered the servants to put the best robe on him. The father also said, “Bring the fattened calf; slaughter it, and let us eat and be merry” (v. 23). This is a clear description of our salvation. When the younger son came home, the joy consisted of eating the fattened calf and being merry. We should notice that the Bible speaks of a fattened calf, not an ordinary calf. Who is the fattened calf? It is the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the calf God has prepared and given to repentant sinners for their eating and enjoyment.

The Lord presented a full picture of salvation in this short parable. The father first put the best robe on the son. However, the best robe alone does not offer much joy. The son came home with an empty stomach. If the father merely said, “Come, child, let us sit down and be merry,” this rejoicing would lack something because the son’s stomach would still be empty. But the father killed the fattened calf and fed him. For a period of time the son’s longing was only for carob pods, but now suddenly he had the fattened calf. This was true merriment to him. His merriment was not merely in the best robe but in the eating and drinking.

While God’s salvation has an aspect of putting on a garment, there is also an aspect of eating. When man was in the garden of Eden, only the matter of eating was important. There was not even a question of clothing, because man had not yet fallen. Eating is God’s original intention. Clothing is a remedy for man’s fall. If man had never fallen, there would never have been a question of shame, and there would never have been a need for clothing. Spiritually speaking, this means that there would have never been a need for justification. Man was undefiled and uncorrupted when he was created. In the eyes of God he was justified and good. Therefore, he did not need clothing; he needed only to eat. However, man became fallen; he was like a prodigal son. He completely lost his standing of beauty and acceptability before the father. He became a feeder of hogs, and his clothes became ragged, old, and dirty. Consequently, it would not be enough for this prodigal son to return to his father’s house and partake of the fattened calf without first exchanging his ragged clothes for his father’s robe. Hence, he must first put on the robe of righteousness to match the fine clothing of his father. When the son matches the father, the fattened calf can be brought in. Only then will he fully match his father.

The same can be said of a sinner. When he first turns to God, he is cleansed by the blood and given the Son as his righteous robe, having been forgiven, justified, accepted, and freed from condemnation. Then he is given the Son as food for his enjoyment. It is a pity that many of us have only put on the robe; we do not know that we should eat the fattened calf. We are all properly dressed outwardly, but we are still hungry. Hence, our Christian life is weak, lifeless, and malnourished. Today in Christianity most people see only the side of justification, not the side of enjoyment. They see only the putting on of the robe, not the eating of the fattened calf. Strictly speaking, the robe is a remedial measure; God’s original intention is that we eat and drink Him. Because of our fall and defilement, we must first be cleansed and justified in order to eat and drink Him. These are remedial measures; they are the means to make us worthy to eat and enjoy Him. Putting on the robe does not make us merry; eating and drinking make us merry. When we have taken in the Son of God, when we have eaten the lamb and the fattened calf, there is genuine merriment within us. When we eat Him and drink Him, we practically enjoy the riches of salvation and are inwardly filled. Then it is so easy to live a life that is according to His will. These are the central matters of the Bible. They are the very heart and marrow of the Bible. We must realize that the focus of God’s salvation is that He wants to be our food, drink, and enjoyment.