Matthew 21:33-41

Matthew 21:33: “Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:”

This is a really interesting parable. This, of course, refers to God’s creation of the world. God created it, turned it into a beautiful place, put people in it, and then left (in the sense that the physical form of God no longer walks in the garden in the cool of the day, as He used to). Then:

Matthew 21:34: “And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.
35 And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.
36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.”

God sent countless prophets to the Israelites, urging them to repent. However, instead of repenting they abused and killed them. The Israelites owed God a great deal but they were not interested in giving God His due. So they just murdered the messengers that God sent.

Therefore, God upped the ante:

Matthew 21:37: “But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.”

You see, it is true that Jesus did come to die, but the Jews did not have to be a part of it. They could have accepted Him as their Messiah. Had they done that, Jesus would have established His millennial kingdom after the crucifixion, and history would have been entirely different. But instead of accepting Jesus they chose to reject Him:

Matthew 21:38: “But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.
39 And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.”

Notice that the husbandmen recognized the identity of the son. They didn’t confuse Him with someone else; they knew exactly who He was. In fact, the whole reason they killed him was because of who he was! The chief priests knew exactly what they were doing. They deliberately, knowingly rejected the Messiah.

(Yes, Jesus did say “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” But it is very possible that He was referring to the Romans, who had no idea who Jesus was. Remember, when the centurion saw what happened he glorified God. The Jews knew; the Romans did not. What adds credence to this is that Jesus never said anything remotely like “forgive them” when He talked to the Pharisees; instead He said things like “you have committed the unforgivable sin, which can never be forgiven”.)

The consequences of the son’s murder were severe:

Matthew 21:40: “When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?
41 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.”

Jesus was very clear: because of what they had done, the Lord would come to them, kill them all, and give the “vineyard” to others. And that is what happened: the Romans came, destroyed Jerusalem, killed more than a million people, slaughtered the priests, and destroyed the temple. The Church was born, and many Gentiles accepted Jesus – whereas the Jews, to this day, do not. Their rebellion is what God used to give rise to the Church – and their sin cost them the kingdom (or, at least, postponed it for millennia).

Now, this condition is not permanent. God is still going to save the Jews. At the end of the Tribulation they will be saved and will finally enter the Millennium. The Church will be completed first, though, and then the Jews will be saved.

This is not to say that God hates the Jews, or that they are no longer His people, or that they no longer deserve the land of Israel. However, those are all separate subjects, and since I have dealt with them elsewhere I will not repeat it here.