go, the
question is not expressly decided; but its decision can be easily and
certainly gathered from the context. Both in the case of the lost sheep
and in that of the lost money the comparison is introduced by the term
"likewise" ([Greek: houto].) In this manner there is joy before the
angels; in what manner? Obviously in the manner of the rejoicing which
took place after the strayed sheep was brought home, and the piece of
money found. He who sought and found the lost, rejoiced over his gain;
but, not contented therewith, he told his neighbours about his
happiness and its cause; he manifested his joy in their presence, and
invited them to rejoice in sympathy with himself. It is after this
manner that joy in heaven over a repenting sinner begins and spreads. We
are not obliged,--we are not permitted to guess who the rejoicers are,
or how they came by the news that gladdens them. The shepherd himself,
and himself alone, knows that the strayed sheep is safe in the fold
again, for he has borne it back on his shoulder: his neighbours did not
know the fact until he told them, and invited them to participate in his
joy. It is expressly in this manner, and none other, that there shall be
joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth. The angels do not become
aware of the fact by a species of subordinate omniscience. He who saved
the sinner knows that the sinner is saved; rejoicing in the fact, he
makes it known to his attendants, and invites them to share in his joy.

The gladness that thrills in the angels is a secondary thing, caught by
sympathy from that which glows in the heart and beams in the countenance
of Jesus. The Son of God the Saviour having won a sinner by the power of
his love, and brought the wanderer back forgiven and renewed, rejoices
on his throne over this fruit of his soul's travail. Ere the ransomed
sinner has risen from his knees or wiped his tears away;--ere he has had
time to sing a hymn or sit down at the communion table on earth, the
Lord in heaven, feeling life flowing from himself into that living soul,
rejoices already in the fact, and calls upon his friends, whether the
spirits of just men or angels unfallen, or both in concert, to
participate in his joy. The Apocalyptic witness saw no sun in the new
heaven; "the Lamb is the light thereof:" from that sun the light streams
down on the sea of upturned faces that surround the throne, and the
sympathetic gladness that sparkles in the members is a refl