The Last Will Be First
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2014 · 6 July 2014
One of the great prophets of the Old Testament was Ezekiel. And Ezekiel spoke to the people of God who were in Babylonian exile. One of his emphasis was to remind them of the sins of Judah, which caused the 70 years of exile. Among those sins was one which he points out in his prophesy, Ezekiel 18, where twice in that chapter he says this:
Ezekiel 18:25, "Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is not fair. Hear now, oh house of Israel, is it not My way which is fair, and your ways which are not fair?" Israel had accused God of being unfair. And Ezekiel said, "That's one of your sins. You have said God is not fair." That sin has since been committed many times by many people, who when things in their life don't go the way they think they ought to go, accuse God of being unfair.
It is that very issue which is the theme of Matthew 20. And God defends Himself against this accusation a number of times in Scripture. And at least half a dozen times in the New Testament He defends Himself against this accusation by saying He is no respecter of persons. He treats all people equally. It is sin for believers to accuse God of being inequitable in His treatment of His own. Let's begin in Matthew 19, the last verse, which should be the first verse of Matthew 20.
Matthew 19:30,"But many who are first will be last and the last first." Matthew 20: 1-16, “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise.
“6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.’ 8 “So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’ 9 And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. 10 But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius.”
“11 And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, 12 saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’ 13 But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. 15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’ 16 So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.”
So you see this parable is bracketed by the same statement, "The last shall be first, the first be last." That set of brackets defines what the parable in the middle is about. It's all about being last and being first. Now in examining this passage there are four things we should remember. The proverb itself, the parable which illustrates it, the point of it, and then some principles.
Let's look at the proverb. It is a truism, and the Lord apparently coined this proverb and likely used it very frequently. Look at Luke 13:30 for another use of it. Now the parable is a riddle in a sense and so is the proverb. When you read the proverb, you might say, "What does that mean?" And reading the parable explains the riddle with just some basic things to understand.
Now the only way for the last to be first and the first to be last would be if they all crossed the finish line in a dead heat. Right? If you're last, you're last. But if you're last and first, and if you're first and last, that means you all end in a dead heat. If there are ten people in a race and they're all first and they're all last, it means everybody finishes the same.
And that is the intent of the parable. It is to demonstrate that everyone will finish equally, that God is no respecter of his own, that God treats all of his own equally. Verse 1, "For the kingdom of heaven." Now remember again, this is the sphere of salvation where God rules over the redeemed, where God rules through the grace of salvation. So He is illustrating how it is among the saved, among the redeemed, among God's people in his Kingdom.
It's like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. The scene is very real to the Jewish listeners. In fact, in the fertile plain areas the grain field was the major enterprise. But on the mountain slopes which dominate the land of Israel, the vineyard was the most valuable property and also required the greatest amount of labor. The steepness of the slopes on which the vines grew best greatly increased the labor it took to maintain and harvest it. And in Israel this is still going on.
Now a Jewish workday started at 6:00 a.m. and it ended at 6:00 p.m. They had a 12-hour workday and they did it six days. So at the start of the long workday, the owner went to find laborers for his harvest. Obviously, he wouldn't have enough in his normal workforce to do this kind of intense labor that had to be gathered so rapidly.
Hired laborers in ancient Israel were the lowest people on the social ladder. They were basically unskilled. They were untrained and they were unemployed except for a day at a time. Life for them frankly was somewhat desperate and precarious because if they did not work they did not eat. And if they didn't work neither did their families eat.
It was an iniquity not to pay that man at the end of the day in which he did his work. So this parable is a vivid story that could happen in any Jewish town on any day during the harvest. Hired laborers would do this. They would congregate at some point in the marketplace, around the marketplace, and they would wait there for someone to come along and hire them. That sets the stage.
This man went out early in the morning before 6:00 to hire laborers for his vineyard. And verse 2 says, "When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard." Now a denarius was not normal day worker’s pay. It was better than that. In fact, it was a very generous wage. It was standard pay for a skilled employee or a Roman soldier. And both owner and workers agreed on this wage.
And so he sent them into the vineyard at 6:00 a.m. to get to work. And then verse 3 he says, "He went out about the third hour and saw others standing in the marketplace." It's now 9:00 a.m. and he realizes by now that it's going to take more men. So he returns to the marketplace because he needs more help. And he finds some men standing idle because nobody has a need for them.
And to those, in verse 4 he said, "You also go into the vineyard and whatever is right I will give you. And they went." This is no time to be negotiating, they are just glad there is work. Oh, they knew what he had agreed to pay those earlier ones if they had been there from the beginning. They're willing to take whatever this very generous man will give them. They are filled with joy just to be paid something.
Well, it gets to be noon and the man is in need of more. So verse 5 says, "Again he went out and about that sixth hour (that would be noon) and then the ninth hour (that's three in the afternoon) and he did the same thing. The process is repeated and you can be sure that these men were really glad this late in the day to have this kind of opportunity to earn something, the day fast passing them by.
And then, verse 6-7, "And about the eleventh hour he went out." This would be 5:00 in the afternoon. "Why have you been standing here idle all day long?" 7 They said to him, "Because no one hired us." He said to them, "You also, go into the vineyard." And then verse 8, "And when evening had come." It's now 6:00 PM. "The owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages.'" Let's stop there for a minute.
This man is going to follow the prescription of the Old Testament, Leviticus 19 and Deuteronomy 24. The day has ended. He calls the steward who manages the labor force and says, "Get them in line in accord with the Mosaic Law, and we are going to pay them “beginning with the last and then moving to the first." So start with the ones that worked an hour and then pay those that worked more until the ones who worked 12 hours.
So now we are getting to the proverb and its meaning. The first, go to the last part of the line and the last come to paid first. Here's where proverb and parable touch. So he pays those who started at 5:00, and then he pays those who began at 3:00, and those who worked six hours, having begun at noon, and those who worked nine hours, having begun at 9:00. And the last group who started at 6:00 are last. The normal rule, which we like to live by, first come, first serve is not the way God does it.
It becomes shocking in verse 9, "When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius." Wow, one denarius a day is incredible, but one denarius an hour, that's mind-boggling. And everyone who came at different times were all paid the same. Generosity is wonderful. Now, those who started early in the morning are starting to get excited. "What are we going to get?"
Verse 10, "But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius.” So verse 11-12 says, "And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, 12 saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.”
But he answered, in verse 13-14, and said to one of them, "Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you.” The only issue here was jealousy, envy. In verse 15, "Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?”
Does my compassionate kindness to others irritate you? And then the Lord reiterates the proverb in verse 16, "The last shall be first and the first last." Everybody got the same pay. So you understand the proverb and you understand how the parable illustrates it. What's the point? What's the spiritual message here? What's it teaching us?
Well, this is a parable about the Kingdom. It is not an allegory. It is a simple illustration made to make one spiritual point. The householder is God. The vineyard is the Kingdom. The laborers are believers in the Kingdom. The day of work is time given to us. The evening is eternity when we receive our reward. The wage is eternal life. The steward is Jesus Christ who was given the task of rewarding His own.
All who come into Christ's Kingdom to serve Him no matter how long, no matter how short, no matter how hard, no matter how easy the circumstance, will in the end equally receive the same full reward. What is that reward? Eternal life, eternal glory and eternal Christ likeness. Those who come first to God will receive no more than those who come last. Those who come last will receive no less than those who come first.
It's a tremendously encouraging thing. Life may be inequitable, but God isn't. And eternity won't be either. Every believer, no matter when converted or what manner of service or for how long will receive the crown which is eternal life spoken of in James 1:12 and will receive the crown of righteousness spoken of in 2 Timothy 4.
How wonderful it is to realize that the same glorious eternal life will be given to the penitent thief as was given to the faithful apostles. The same eternal life will be given to that sinner who near death turns from a life of wickedness to embrace Christ as is given to that missionary who spent 50 years in a jungle in deprivation and difficult labor. The person who received Christ on a deathbed after a life of wickedness will receive the same glorious eternity as one who all his life served Christ and died a martyr.
Do you remember that after that Peter spoke back in Matthew 19:27, Peter said to Jesus, "Behold we have left everything and followed You. What then will there be for us?" These guys said, we left everything to follow you. Surely the implication is there's something more for us than these other folks that you're evangelizing.
And Jesus responded to that by showing Peter and the rest of them that no matter whether they had left everything and followed Him for a long time or whether they came to Him at the very end of life, they would all receive the same eternal reward. They knew it was a Kingdom. Certainly they loved Jesus and believed in Him and continued to follow Him. But they were still pretty shallow and very selfish.
This is about the reality of eternal life. Rewards are discussed later. But they are not on the basis of the time of service and they are not on the basis of the difficulty of service. They are on the basis of the motive. How do we know that? 1 Corinthians 4:5, "the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts.”
With God it is equality, we all receive eternal life. Tax gatherers and harlots who come in at the end of their life are going to stand with missionaries and martyrs who gave their all. All believers will be equally given the blessedness of glory. We will all live in the Father's house and inherit the whole inheritance. We will all become like Christ. How good is God!
God initiates salvation sovereignly. Jesus said in John 15:16, "You have not chosen me. I have chosen you." God establishes the terms. And God is continually calling people into his Kingdom. God redeems those who are willing especially those who have no resources. All who came into the vineyard worked. There were no deadbeats, no freeloaders. And what is the work? Evangelism.
Another principle is that God gives all of us more than we deserve. The lesson is that humility and a sense of unworthiness is the only right attitude. There's no place for envy. It is absolutely ludicrous to say, "I hope when I get to Heaven I will have more than you." But that's what the disciples of Jesus were doing.
And then the last point and the main point. All eternal reward is by grace. Length of service, difficulty of service, no factor. Works are irrelevant in the matter of eternal life. Some of you are saying, "Oh, but what about my crowns?" Well, you will get a crown which is life and a crown which is righteousness and a crown which is incorruptible. And the truth is in the end it puts God's great grace on display. He is glorified by His generosity. Let’s pray.