The Warning of the Parable of the Vineyard

You will see the word wine fat, wine fat which is an older way to spell the word wine vat. But by comparing the two, if you’re unsure what one or the other is you can compare the two and understand that they’re two words referring to the same thing. wine fat and so that’s why it’s important to compare the scriptures like that and that’ll help you gain understanding in that way.

Alright, verse 34. And when the time of the fruit drew near, he, that’s the householder, sent his servants to the husbandmen that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants and beat one and killed another and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son saying, they will reverence my son.

I don’t know if that’s a hope, a statement of hope or if it’s a statement, an actual declaration. They will reverence my son. Maybe that’s what it means. I don’t know which it is. Either way it works. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, this is the error. Come, let us kill him and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him and cast him out of the vineyard and slew him.

When the Lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto him, he will miserably destroy those wicked men and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen which shall render unto him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus saith unto them, did you never read in the scriptures the stone which the builders rejected the same has become the head of the corner?

This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken. But on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. And when the chief priests and the Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.

But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude because they took him for a prophet. Would you pray with me tonight? Our fathers, we come to your word. First we thank you for your word. We thank you for the truth of it. Open our eyes and our minds as we study it. Lord help it. Allow this passage of scripture, these truths, Lord to be a help to your people.

Enlighten our understanding and help us to be good students of your word, to receive it but also to apply it. And Lord, your Holy Spirit, you have the power to apply the scriptures in many and diverse ways, Lord, for each person’s individual needs. So Lord, we pray that you would do that tonight. Help me, Lord, to say the things that you want me to say and to not say the things you do not want said, Lord, because we need to understand the truth.

We need to know what just and only just what you want us to know. So please help us, we pray. And bless your word to our hearts as we study it in Jesus’ name. Amen. And so you see in verse number 33, the Lord continues his conversation with the chief priest and elders by bringing up the parable of the vineyard. Now it’s important to establish the elements of this parable and what the meanings of the individual people that are mentioned, the characters, if you will, in this parable.

Take a peek, if you would, at Isaiah 51. I’m sorry, Isaiah 5. Isaiah chapter 5. Isaiah 5 verse number 1, the Bible says this. If you’ll get there and just wait a minute, I’m going to read verse 33 in our text again. And I want you to note the similarity. In Matthew it says this, here another parable. There was a certain householder which planted a vineyard and hedged it round and round and digged a winepress and built a tower and let it out to husbandmen and went into a far country.

So here’s what you have. You have a vineyard. You have a hedge, which is essentially a fence. You have a winepress and you have a tower. All right, so you have four elements of this parable. Now back in Isaiah 5, you’ll notice this, verse 1 says this. Now I will sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill.

Notice what it says. He fenced it. That’s like a hedge, right? And gathered out the stones thereof and planted it with the choicest vine and built a tower in the midst of it and also made a winepress therein. And he looked that it should bring forth grapes and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.

What could I have done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Wherefore when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes. And now go to, I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away the hedge thereof and it shall be eaten up and break down the wall thereof and it shall be trodden down.

And I will lay it waste. It shall not be pruned nor digged, but there shall come up briars and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. Now listen to this, this is the key, because in Isaiah chapter 5 is a parable also. It’s an illustration. And in verse 7, the prophet gives us the meaning. So we don’t have to wonder what the vineyard refers to.

Verse 7, for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah his pleasant plant. And he looked for judgment, but behold oppression, for righteousness, but behold a cry. Now what’s interesting is this passage and the passage that we’re looking at tonight overlap, the description of the vineyard overlap remarkably. And so when we get to Matthew 21, our natural question is what is this vineyard?

What does it refer to? Because you have the householder, there’s several people here, the householder, verse 33, there’s the vineyard, and then we meet the husbandmen, and then we see some servants, and these are all the different elements of this vineyard. And when we try to figure out what the Lord is talking about, we look at the context, but we also look at the passages that are similar, and Isaiah 5 is one of those in particular.

Now notice in verse 33, and we’ll get into the symbolism in just a minute, notice the householder, of course just like in Isaiah 5, the householder refers to God himself. And God planted a vineyard, and the vineyard represents Israel. Make sure you get this. He planted a vineyard, and notice what he does, he hedged it, that’s to give protection, and digged a wine press in it, that’s a place to bestow the fruits, and built a tower, again we’re talking about protection, we’re talking about the different things you would do to prepare a vineyard.

In other words, you would not want to have a vineyard that had no protection because the animals could come in and spoil the vines, just like we have deer in the corn fields and the different vegetable gardens, you’ve got to keep the deer out, well the same is true here. And so this householder, he plants a vineyard, but I want you to notice that this householder, which represents the Lord, plants the vineyard, and he prepares the various things necessary to have a fruitful vineyard, so it bears fruit unto him, right, because he is the owner.

And he does everything that’s needed, everything that a householder or a farmer would do, he is doing. He has made all the preparations, he has left nothing out to provide for success for this vineyard. Now, in Isaiah chapter 5, the emphasis was not on the husbandmen, that wasn’t mentioned at all. In Isaiah 5, the emphasis was on the fact that even though the owner of the vineyard had prepared it in every way possible, yet the vine did not bring forth good fruit.

Here, however, the emphasis is not on the vine’s fruit, the emphasis is on the husbandmen, that is the people who are taking care of it. Now, when you think about God and Israel, and remember, the householder, in verse 33, he planned out the vineyard, he dug the winepress, built the tower, built the hedge, and all of the other things to provide for success, and he did all of that while he was still present in the vineyard, right, before he left, because it says in verse 33 he went to a far country, so he’s about to leave and go on a journey, and he’s not going to be, he’s actually, Luke says he’s going to go for a long time, and so he’s leaving.

But before he leaves, while he’s present, he’s preparing everything that’s needed for this vineyard. You think about what the Lord has done when God himself, in person, presently, rescued Israel out of the land of Egypt, right, and how God led them, the Bible says, like a flock out of Egypt, and through the blood of the Lamb, and under the Red Sea, right, picturing baptism, and then going into the wilderness, and God led them into the wilderness to Mount Sinai, and once they were at Mount Sinai, God provided something that he had provided no other people on this earth. He provided them with a holy law, right, a righteous law, moral laws, but not only moral laws, he also provided them civil laws to govern their civil society, and he gave those laws from Mount Sinai, not only that, were there moral laws and civil laws, but he also provided a means, and various instruments, and various implements and such, to worship him, like the tabernacle, and the sacrifices, and he had a method, he had a priesthood, and he had a method whereby, through the priesthood, those people could worship God, and could provide, and give the sacrifices, and all that would be necessary to maintain their relationship to God. These are all things God did at the very beginning of the history of Israel. Everybody still with me? This is like the Lord preparing the vineyard, and so Israel, not only that, after that, he provides them, he leads them through the wilderness, and eventually, he completes his promise to them, and he leads them into the land of Canaan, and so they have all the different ways to worship God, they have all of his laws, they have his priesthood, they have all the way to approach him, and everything, God has done everything, and then he gives them their land, right? And once they have their land, they have a permanent place, a temple, and they have a land that is flowing with milk and honey, a land that God has promised them, and they dwell every man under his vine, and under his fig tree, like you remember. What has God not done to prepare the people of Israel to live for him, and serve him, and bear fruit unto him? He’s done everything that’s necessary while he was present with them. He gave them so many blessings, he gave them comfort, and he promised them if they would obey, he would even rid them of disease.

He would even rid them of things like miscarriages. That’s what he promised. God has done everything, God did everything needed to make Israel successful, to bear fruit unto him, and so the Lord expects, the Lord expected therefore his vineyard to give him fruit because it is his vineyard. And then we see in verse number 33, he let it out to husbandmen. Now what is a husbandman? A husbandman is basically a worker, a farmer. In other words, he owned the vineyard, he prepared the vineyard, and then he hired people to come and take care of it, to farm the land, like a sharecropper, a hired hand to take care of the actual vineyard, one who actually cultivates the soil, and that’s what a husbandman is. Now you’ve got to keep in mind here that the husbandman does not own the vineyard. He works the vineyard. It is not his vineyard.

And so the husbandman has a job from the householder. And in this particular case, the husbandman in this passage, notice in verse number 45, notice what it says, and when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. Now we know in the parable that the husbandman, it doesn’t end well for them. So the husbandmen therefore refer to the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. That’s who they represent. And so this is the religious and civil leaders of Israel in the time of Christ. That is the people to whom the Lord is speaking at this moment. He’s talking to the leaders of Israel in this passage. And he has a message for them, because they’re the ones that God had tasked. Remember there’s one place where the Bible says that the Pharisees and the scribes sit in Moses’ seat. You know what that means? That means that they occupy the place of authority in the nation, like and similar to the way Moses occupied it. And so they were supposed, these chief priests, they were the ones who God told that they were supposed to teach Israel. And the scribes were the ones who were supposed to teach Israel, like Ezra, the ready scribe of the law of God. He was the teacher of Israel. The priests were supposed to teach. These leaders, the council, the elders were supposed to be the ones who set the example and gave guidance to the people of Israel. And that’s what they’re supposed to be doing. They’re supposed to be taking care of the vineyard. Now notice in verse number 34, and when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen that they might receive the fruits thereof, the fruits of it. Now notice he mentioned servants instead of husbandmen. Now the servants are not the ones that take care of the vineyard.

The servants are special messengers sent from the place of the householder, from the owner of the vineyard, to go check on the vineyard. They don’t have a job to oversee the vineyard. They’re not the leaders. And in verse 35 it says this, and the husbandmen took his servants and beat one and killed another and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first and they did unto them likewise. They ill-treated the servants. And the servants in this passage, as you’ll see, who are repeatedly beaten and killed, notice the repetition, throughout this period of time, this long period of time, they were the husbandmen, the householders not present, they represent the prophets that God had sent.

In fact you actually see this frequently in scripture, this terminology, his servants the prophets, his servants the prophets. Here they’re called servants. Now it’s important to remember that the husbandmen do not represent Israel. Israel is the vineyard, but they represent those tasked with taking care of the vineyard, the leadership, the leadership of Israel. And so the servants, the husbandmen, the householder rather, sends the servants from where he is to them. So he has a mission for them and they’re to go check on the work that’s being done in the vineyard to see how the vineyard is faring. And they are mistreated, they are killed, they are stoned, and they are beaten. And this is a recurring, and it’s a very recurring theme in the scripture from the prophets. Look if you would, let’s look at several places. Look at 2 Chronicles 36. 2 Chronicles 36. We’ll just go through these really quick and you can maybe note down the references as we go. 2 Chronicles 36 verse 15 says this. This is one of those summary statements that kind of summarizes the history in a few verses. Verse 15, and the Lord God of their fathers sent to them his messengers, rising up at times and sending, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God and despised his words and misused his prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people till there was no remedy. Look forward there at Jeremiah chapter 5, chapter 3 rather. Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 2. Verse 30. It says this. God says to them, in vain have I smitten your children. They receive no correction. Okay I am not looking at the right. Jeremiah 2. I’m in Jeremiah. I’m in the wrong. What’s that? Yes I initially said 5. I don’t know how I could have gotten that wrong. Ah okay. Pardon me. I’m confused. Okay we’re in the right verse. Chapter 2 verse 30. In vain have I smitten your children. They receive no correction. Your own sword hath devoured your prophets like a destroying lion. Israel killing the zeal of the people is the messengers and servants God has sent to them. Look at the book of Nehemiah now.

We’re looking at this chronologically so we went to Jeremiah which was before the captivity. Now we’re going to look at Nehemiah which is after the captivity. Nehemiah 9 verse 26. Nehemiah 9.26 says this. Nevertheless they were disobedient and rebelled against thee and cast thy law behind their backs and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee and they wrought great provocations. Now let’s move to the New Testament.

Matthew chapter 5. Some of this we’ve already covered but we can review real quick. Matthew chapter 5 verse number 12. In the Beatitudes here, Matthew 5 verse 12. It says this. Rejoice talking about persecution in verse 11. Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. See that? Go to Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11. Luke 11 verse 49. Luke 11 verse 49. Luke 11 verse 49. Luke 11 verse 50. Therefore also said the wisdom of God I will send them prophets and apostles and some of them they shall slay and persecute that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation. Now go back to Matthew. We’re close to our text here. Matthew chapter 23. Matthew chapter 23. Matthew 23. After Matthew 23 we have one more passage in the epistles. Matthew 23 verse number 31.

This is of course the words of our Lord again. He says verse 31. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Then verse 37 says something similar. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets. And notice stonest them. That’s actually in Matthew 21. Stonest them which are sent unto thee. How often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen as a hen gathered, gathereth her chicks, chickens under her wings and ye would not. And lastly look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. So we’re in the first chapter of the book of the Bible.

Verse 14 says this. For ye brethren became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus. For ye also have suffered the like things of your own countrymen even as they have of the Jews who the Jews both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets and have persecuted us and they please not God and are contrary to all men. So going back to Matthew 21 to our passage here. These in verse 34 and verse 35 these servants, verse 36, these servants refer to the prophets that God had repeatedly sent through the years to Israel to turn them and their leaders back to himself. And at every, at every time they rejected and killed and persecuted and stoned the prophets of God. Jeremiah was in prison, Ahab and Jezebel were known for killing the prophets of God. Even good kings like King Asa put prophets of God in prison. And you can go on and on. They were killed in various and sundry ways. They were the object of oppression by the people of Israel. And so this is what this is referring to here. Now look at verse 37. But last of all he sent unto them his son. So in the process of time you’ll notice the Lord sends these prophets, he sends the prophets to Israel to turn them, specifically to turn the leaders back to God and to turn Israel back to God. And at every case they oppress them and kill them and so last of all, in other words at the very end they send his son. Now notice this verse, you know this verse Hebrews 1 verse 1 it says this, God who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, that’s the servants, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son whom he hath appointed heir, which is in this passage also, of all things by whom also he made the worlds. And of course so it’s no stretch, it’s not hard to understand that this son mentioned in verse 37 who is the son of the householder. So if the householder is the Lord himself who planted the vineyard then the son of the householder is the Lord Jesus, exactly. Now notice in verse number 38 it says this, but when the husbandmen saw the son they said among themselves, notice this is the heir, this is the heir. So because this man is the son of the householder he is the heir and because he is the heir this vineyard is his vineyard. You get that? So the son owns the vineyard and it’s further evidenced because it says in verse 38 they say this is the heir, come let us kill him and let us seize on his inheritance. So the idea being that if they kill the one who is the heir then they can have the property, it’ll be theirs, it’ll be theirs. And see the thoughts of these husbandmen reveal in this parable are very telling. You see they wanted to kill and this is speaking of the leaders of the Jews now, the chief priests, the scribes, the elders, they thought that they would kill the heir and then take his inheritance and so by killing him there would be no Lord, no owner of the vineyard anymore because they killed him. And if there’s no owner of the vineyard that means that the husbandmen then own the vineyard. And this says they would rule the vineyard without anyone over them. And this shows us how wicked and spiritually depraved were these Jewish rulers. You see what they want and what the Lord is revealing in this parable is they desired to live outside of God’s rule over them. They wanted to live in such a way that God did not tell them what to do. God was not their Lord. They wanted to rule the vineyard, that is Israel, they wanted to rule the vineyard with nobody over them. They could do what they wanted and really that’s what it was all about. Now remember what we’re talking about now is we’re talking about this group of leaders that are contemporary with Christ that he is speaking to. You see they did not keep God’s law. They claimed to keep God’s law, they said they kept God’s law but they did not actually keep God’s law. And they wanted to live independent of God ruling over them. And the proof of that is the fact that in every instance where God sent prophets to them, in every era of the history of Israel, they killed those prophets and they killed those prophets and they killed those prophets and lastly they killed the son of God who was sent from God showing that they, their hatred and their contempt for God himself.

And so what the Lord is doing in this passage is he is indicting them. This is a big deal in the storyline, in the narrative. This is the last week of Christ’s life. He is about to be crucified by these very people. And so to their face he is indicting them that he is going to be crucified by them for the grave wickedness that is in their heart. And you can see it because they wanted to lay hands on him in this last verse. You can see it. You see it was the Jewish leaders that were primarily responsible for murdering the Lord Jesus Christ. Take a peek at Acts chapter 7. This is the sermon of Stephen, verse number 52, Acts 7, verse 52, or verse 51 to kind of pick up the context here, Acts 7, verse 51. And really it’s no wonder that Stephen, the preacher Stephen, it’s no wonder that he in chapter 7 of Acts his main theme is how Israel rejected everyone that is sent to them. And then finally culminating with of course the rejection of Christ, look at verse 51. He says to them in the climax of his sermon, ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost, as your fathers did so do ye.

Now let me ask you, to whom is Stephen speaking in Acts chapter 7? He’s not speaking to the crowd in the temple. He’s speaking to the council. That is this same group of people, many of the actual same human beings as Jesus stood before. He says in verse 52, which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted, the servants, and have slain them which showed before the coming of the just one of whom, now notice Stephen is speaking to the council, to the elders. He says of whom ye elders have been now the betrayers and the bishops of the murderers who have received the law by the disposition of angels and have not kept it.

You know what Stephen is doing? Same thing the Lord did. He is laying at their feet the primary responsibility for the murder of Christ. Not on Israel in general although they were guilty also but the primary guilt rested not on the Romans but on the leaders of Israel. That’s what this parable is about. Remember in Matthew, go ahead and look at this as well, Matthew 26, we’re right near there. You can look at Matthew 26 verse 65. Matthew 26 verse 65. He says this, then the high priest rent his clothes, we’re talking about the chief priests, and saying he hath spoken blasphemy, what in further need have we of witnesses?

Behold now have we heard his blasphemy. What think ye? Who’s the ye? It’s the council, the elders. What think ye? They answered and said he is guilty of death. Not only that but in chapter 27 on the next page verse 20, look what it says. Now we know Pilate wanted to let the Lord go. He was looking for a reason, being warned by his wife. He did not believe Jesus posed a threat. He knew that and he was determined to let him go and probably would have except for 27 verse 20. But the chief priests and elders, that’s the same two groups mentioned in Matthew 21. The chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas and destroy Jesus. You see the leaders of Israel, these husbandmen were the ones who had the blood of Christ mostly on their hands. Now go forward a little bit further at one other place which is Acts chapter 4. Now in chapter 4, we read Acts chapter 4 is Peter now. We’ve seen Stephen standing before the council, the same council.

We’ve seen the Lord Jesus being tried by the council and now we’re going to see Peter standing before the council. What did Peter say to this same council? In Acts 4 verse number 10 he says the same thing. He says to the council, be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him does this man stand here before you whole.

This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders. You builders. Who’s he talking about? Who are the builders? He’s referring to the council, the leaders of Israel which has become the head of the corner. See how Peter lays at their feet the responsibility for rejecting Christ. So going back to Matthew 21 to our text, we see that these husbandmen who are the leaders of Israel, it says verse 39, they caught him and cast him out of the vineyard. Jesus was caught, he was arrested, he was crucified outside of the city gate by at the instigation of these men. Verse 40, when the Lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? You see there’s a day of reckoning coming.

Now I said we’re going to do a Bible study tonight. There is a day of reckoning coming for the Jewish people in general, but there’s a day of reckoning coming for these people, this particular people who contemporary with Christ. Because they were the ones who did all these things. Who seized the son, tried him, threw him out of the city and killed him. That was these people to whom the Lord is speaking. In fact if you look at Luke, you can look at Luke 13, Luke 19, we won’t go there for time, Luke 21, you can see that these Jewish leaders were the ones primarily responsible for what happened to Jesus. And so the Lord asked them, what will he do unto those husbandmen? And he gives them a chance to name their own judgment. So they’re condemning themselves and defining their own punishment.

And they say, he will miserably destroy those wicked men and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render unto him the fruits in their seasons. Look if you would at Luke, I know we’re going to a lot of verses tonight, but hang with me if you would, Luke chapter 13, Luke 13 verse 35, The Lord says to Jerusalem, Jerusalem, he says, behold your house is left unto you desolate. Your house is left unto you desolate. This is a prediction of what’s coming on these very people because of what they have done to the Lord Jesus. Look at Luke 19 verse 43, says this, for the day shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee round and keep thee on every side, keep the end on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground and thy children within thee. And they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

This is talking about the destruction of Jerusalem, which happened about 40 years-ish, not quite 40 years after Christ. Why? Why was Jerusalem destroyed? Simple, because they rejected and murdered God’s Son. That’s why. Look at Luke 21, just a couple pages over, verse 34, verse 20, he says this, and when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains, let them which are in the midst of it depart out, and let not them that are in the countries enter therein too. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. Some people think, well this is talking about the second coming of Christ, but verse 24 says this, and they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. So there’s a lot of time left in there, the times of the Gentiles. So this is talking about the literal judgment of the Jews, the Jews who lived and condemned Christ. He is confronting them directly. Back in Matthew 21, as we wrap this up, look at what the Lord says in verse number 42. He is quoting Psalm 118, verse 22, Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures the stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. What the Lord is saying here, He is bringing this whole parable down for a landing. And here’s what He’s saying. He’s saying, you leaders, in this case you builders, have rejected the one who is the headstone of the corner.

You have rejected him, and Psalm 18, 22, and 23 tell us that that was going to happen. He tells us that the builders of the nation would reject the cornerstone. What is a cornerstone? That’s not something we talk about or use a lot. It’s not decorative. Like we’ll have a cornerstone sometime on a building, it’ll be etched with people’s names or what not. That’s not what we’re talking about here. A cornerstone is a large stone, a very large stone that very much care and consideration is taken into placing this stone just so, just at the right angle, the right level, because it is the first stone that is laid in a building. And based upon an orientation to that stone, the rest of the building is built. So really, the whole building, although not directly built on top of that stone, the whole building is built in relationship to that first cornerstone. So it is the most important stone. That’s what we’re talking about here.

And so the Lord’s point of this parable is to identify Himself as this stone that they have rejected, which is part of the prophecy, that the one that they rejected would be the foundation. And so we go to verse 43. 43. Therefore I say unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. You see this? Israel was offered the kingdom of God and they rejected it. Israel was offered Christ and they rejected it. And so Christ took it away. He took it away. To give it to another nation, another people.

1 Peter 2, 9 says this, But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. This nation, in verse 43, that is given the kingdom of God is talking about the church. And it’s not actually a nation like a people group, like Israel is a single ethnic group. It’s a nation in the sense of 1 Peter 2, 9. A holy nation made up of many, many nations. And so the Jews thought that they were right with God and they had their relationship to God because of their birth. And yet God is taking the kingdom of God away from them and giving it and He gives it to the church. So think about the Jews now. Okay? Because of this, the Jews now are in this, are in the midst of this, are alienated from God. The Jewish people, the ethnic Jewish people now are alienated from God. They have all of their religious exercises. They read their Torah every Sabbath day. Right? They have their rituals. They have their Purim and they have their Yom Kippur and they have all of their holidays, the Passover and all that they do. And they try to follow the dietary laws and kosher laws and all of those things. They do that all the way up until this very day and they have no relationship to God at all. They are aliens and enemies of God. God took that offer away and He gave it to the church. He gave it to another nation.

That’s what He says here. But that doesn’t mean, however, that because God took the kingdom of God away from the Jews, that one day He will not offer it to them again. Indeed, He will. Because there’s a host of promises that are written in scripture that the church does not magically inherit but are still left unfulfilled. But God who cannot lie, He has to fulfill them. He will. By His oath, He will fulfill them. So, the Jewish people, the Jews, the Jews. And so even though God has removed the kingdom of God from Israel and has given it to the church, He will when the time comes, those promises that God made to Israel, He will fulfill to Israel. But it will only be when they trust in this same cornerstone that they have rejected. That is when they repent. And so we go to verse 44 to finish.

And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken. But on whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder. Behold the goodness and severity of the Lord. The same stone does both. You notice that? The same one who is the Savior is the same one who is the judge. The same one that He said, the same cornerstone, He is the cornerstone, the foundation stone of the church, right? He is the basis. Man, what a beautiful picture of the cornerstone.

Beautiful picture of Christ as He’s called the cornerstone. And of course we know in 1 Corinthians He uses that picture to describe the church as a building, right? But just like that cornerstone is laid, it is the first stone that is laid. Christ, the foundation is laid. He is the foundation, right? We say amen to that. But you know the church is built all in relationship and orientated toward Christ. It’s not about our religion. It’s not about our faith. It’s not about the outward form. It’s not about our processes and procedures and our rituals and all this. No, no. The church of God is built upon Christ. He is the cornerstone. He is the foundation stone. And everything is supposed to be in relation to Him, built upon Him and in relation to Him. It’s all about Him. The building is built on Him. He is everything. He is everything. Everything, but not only as the church of God, but as you and me, as individual Christians. You know our whole life is supposed to be built upon and constructed in relationship. You know, okay, put it like this. We’re supposed to pull our tape measure on Him. Does that make sense? To use modern terminology? When we’re measuring our life, it’s all based upon the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s what it means that He is the cornerstone of this nation, the kingdom of God given to us. Verse 44 says, whosoever shall fall on this same stone, that rejected stone, and now the cornerstone, the foundation stone, the most important stone, if one voluntarily casts themselves upon Him, they will be saved. Right? But to the one who rejects Christ like these Jews did, upon that person He will fall. The same stone. The one that is salvation for one becomes judgment to another. So behold the goodness and severity of the Lord. God will judge the world. God will grind His enemies to powder if, you know, you got this idea of the stone falling. What was in my mind is the coming of Christ, the second coming of, the second advent of Christ. When He comes, you got the idea of the stone coming out of the sky, the idea of the stone falling, right? But those that that day, those that have not cast themselves upon the great cornerstone, that stone will fall on them and He will grind them to powder.

It’s frightful to think of the severity of the Lord. The same Lord, the same one who is a lamb that looked as if He had been slain in Revelation is the same one who has fire in His eyes when it comes time to judge. And so in this passage, this parable has particular application to these people because this is a one-time event in history. These particular leaders on this council, these priests that lived in this time, they will, they indeed bore their judgment, I guess will in the future also bear their judgment for what they did at that point in history. And so Christ directly appears in this parable. And so Christ is in history. And so Christ directly addresses them. And they got the message. He might have been speaking in a parable, but they got the message. The last verse, next to the last verse tells us they understood He was talking about them. What a warning. What a warning.

I wonder if that affected any of them on the council. I wonder if some of them decided after that they were like, hmm, maybe I’ll just sit this one out, right? When it came time for that illegal trial a few days later. Let’s pray together.