God is the King in the parable of the marriage feast (Matt. 22:1-14). Concerning this, Matthew 22:2 says, “The kingdom of the heavens was likened to a man, a king, who made a marriage feast for his son.” The “king” here is God, and the “son” is Christ. First, according to this parable, God sent “his slaves,” the first group of the New Testament apostles, to call those who were invited to the marriage feast (v. 3). Later He sent “other slaves,” the apostles sent later by the Lord (v. 4). In verses 6 and 7 we see that the King, angry with those who mistreated His slaves and killed them, “sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.” These were the Roman troops under Titus which destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
Luke 11:5-8 speaks of a parable illustrating the persisting prayer. In this parable God to whom we pray is likened to our friend, and we are likened to His friend, indicating that in prayer God is intimate to us and we are intimate to Him in a mutual love. This picture of intimacy between friends annuls the religious concept of “reverence” in our prayer to God.
In Luke 13:6-9 we have the parable of the unfruitful fig tree. In this parable God is the Lord (v. 8). This parable indicates that God as the owner of the fig tree planted in His vineyard came in the Son to the Jewish people as a fig tree planted in God’s promised land as the vineyard to seek fruit from them. He had been seeking for three years (v. 7), and He did not find any. He wanted to cut them down, but the Son as the vinedresser prayed for them that God the Father would tolerate them until He died for them (dug the ground around the fig tree-v. 8) and gave them fertilizer (threw on manure), hoping that they would then repent and produce fruit. Otherwise, they would be cut down. The passages in Luke 11:29-32 and 42-52, unveiling the Jewish people as an evil generation, confirm this interpretation.
In this parable the Jewish people are regarded by God as a fig tree. When God did not find fruit on this tree, He was thinking to cut it down. But the vinedresser, the Lord Jesus, begged the Father not to do this until, by means of His death and resurrection, He dug around the tree and threw on manure. Then if the tree still did not bring forth fruit, it could be cut down. This is actually what took place. Because the Jews did not repent, even after the Lord Jesus died and resurrected and the Spirit came, the “fig tree” was “cut down.” This happened in A.D. 70 when Titus brought his Roman army to Jerusalem and destroyed it. That destruction of Jerusalem was the cutting down of the fig tree.
In Luke 14:15-24 God is “the master of the house” (v. 21) in the parable of the great dinner. This great dinner is different from the marriage feast in Matthew 22:2-14. That marriage feast was for the reward of the kingdom. This great dinner is for God’s full salvation. God, as the “certain man” (Luke 14:16), has prepared His full salvation as a great dinner, and He sent the first apostles as His slaves to invite the Jews (vv. 16-17). But because they were occupied by their riches, such as land, cattle, or a wife, they refused His invitation (vv. 18-20). Then God sent the apostles to invite the street people-the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. Because of their poverty and misery, they received God’s invitation (vv. 21-22a). Yet God’s salvation still had room for more. Therefore, He sent His slaves to go out further into the Gentile world, as “the roads and hedges,” to compel the Gentiles to come in and fill up the room of His salvation (vv. 22b-23; Acts 13:46-48; Rom. 11:25).
In the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) God is revealed as the loving and receiving father (vv. 20-24). The prodigal son gathered everything he received from his father and traveled into a distant country where he squandered his estate, living dissolutely (v. 13). After he had spent all of what he took from the father and had fallen into a severe famine (v. 14), he became aware of his condition and made a resolution to go back to his father (vv. 17-18). “While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion; and he ran and fell on his neck and kissed him affectionately” (v. 20). The father’s seeing the son did not happen by chance. Rather, the father went out of the house to look for his prodigal’s return. When the father saw his son, he ran to him and fell on his neck and kissed him affectionately. This indicates that God the Father runs to receive a returning sinner. What eagerness this shows! The father’s falling on his son’s neck and kissing him affectionately shows a warm and loving reception. The father then said to his slaves, “Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf; slaughter it, and let us eat and be merry; because this son of mine was dead and lives again, was lost and was found!” (Luke 15:22-24a).
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