Judgment on Unbelievers
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2014 · 14 September 2014
Now keep in mind that this is the last week of our Lord's life. His time on earth is coming to an end. Friday He will die. This is Wednesday and on this morning Jesus is in the temple and He is teaching about the kingdom and preaching the gospel. The day before, He cleansed the temple. The day before that on Monday, He rode on a donkey into the city to the hosannas of the multitude, many of them believed He might be the Messiah.
Now the religious leaders, chief priests, scribes, elders, including the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Herodians and all of those who were in responsibility for the religious life of the nation and the temple itself were infuriated at His teaching because everything was contrary to what they taught, because He taught things that were internal and their religion was all external. And because He unmasked their hypocrisy and their pretense.
And so we find in Matthew 21:23 that they ask Him by what authority does He do these things and where did He get that authority. They want to see His ordination certificate. The Lord replies to them with a trilogy of parables. And for this evening, let us look at parable number two as an illustration of a great spiritual truth. Here is another parable about judgment.
So Jesus says in verse 33, "There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.” This is a very common scene in Israel. And Jesus took something that was well known to explain something that was unknown, something that otherwise was beyond the grasp of people. And so He talks about planting a vineyard.
Vineyards were vulnerable to wild animals and robbers and so they was always a hedge around it. The point being, the man took care in protecting the vineyard. Then it says he dug a winepress in it, where the grapes could be turned into juice. And as the grapes were crushed, the juice would flow down and be collected and put into wineskins and jars. That was the way that they turned their grapes into grape juice and wine.
Then He tells us that the man built a tower for security, shelter and storage. Now the point of all of that is to demonstrate that the man took great care in doing it right. And then it says he leased it out to tenant farmers and went into a far country. Now this is also common. He works out an arrangement with the people who are leasing it. And they are to give him a certain portion of the crop each year. The remainder of which belongs to them for their own livelihood.
Then verse 34. "Now when vintage-time drew near He sent his servants to the vinedressers that they might receive its fruits." So at harvest time he wants to collect his portion so he sent his servants to them to receive from them what was due to him. They may have given it to him in currency, having sold what was produced. They may have given it to him in terms of grapes or in terms of wine which could have been then transferred at the marketplace into cash. Whatever, he came to collect what was rightly his.
But then a shocking series of events takes place in the parable. Verse 35, "And the vinedressers took his servants and beat one, killed one and stoned another." These tenant farmers had become independent, possessive and now they wanted everything. But look how gracious the owner is. Most people after sending the first guy would have taken some pretty strong action. But the owner sent one, then sends another and then another. Look at verse 36, "Again, he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them." They killed them all.
Some critics have said at this point, "Well, this makes the parable a little farfetched. Nobody would keep sending servants if they just are being killed." And the reply to that is, that's correct. This is where the parable becomes really uncommon. And it is the heinousness of such a thing, the incredulity of it that where our Lord is making His point.
And so they have killed all the servants. And verse 37 says, "Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.” That phrase "last of all," is full of emotion and sadness. Here is a grieved man and now he has only got his son left. In fact, in Mark 12:6, the parallel passage, it says he is his only son. He says I will send him, surely they will respect my son.
But verse 38-39 says, "But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance. 39 So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.” They knew exactly who he was. They planned his murder, it was premeditated, the result of careful planning with full knowledge of who he was. And they committed murder so they could control everything.
Now the people are very interested. They know it's a parable. They know He has a spiritual point in mind. But the story itself is so captivating that even without the interpretation they are captivated by the evil of these men and the sadness of the father who lost all his servants and his son. And so we move from the illustration to the conclusion. And in a very traditional rabbinic way, Jesus leads them down the path and makes them conclude the story themselves.
Verse 40, "Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?” Now the assumption here is that the owner has forces and resources that the servants didn't have and while he could protect himself, they cannot. So when he gets there, what is he going to do? It's pretty obvious what he would do. And those self-righteous religious leaders are ready to give their answer and show their righteousness.
And so in, verse 41, "They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.” They love to feel so irate at injustice and evil. This feeds their hypocrisy. Luke 20:16 tells us that some people cried saying, "God forbid, no, no, no,” as if they were unable to imagine what he would do to those evil men.
Now two things are said in verse 41 out of the mouths of these leaders where they condemn themselves. "He will destroy those wicked men miserably," that's number one, and this is number two, "And will lease his vineyard to other farmers who shall render to him the fruits in their seasons." First is judgment, second is replacement, remember that. So with their own mouths they have concluded the illustration.
Now let us see the explanation, because this is missed by many people. Jesus explains the parable but in a veiled way. Watch verse 42, "Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes’? It doesn't seem to be much of an explanation at first, does it? And it's amazing how many commentators pass it off and say, "Well, Jesus is moving to another idea here."
It is a quote out of Psalm 118:22-23, the same Psalm from which the hosannas had come that had been offered to Christ two days before and even the day before by the children in the temple. Psalm 118 was familiar to these leaders and they knew that verse that said the stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, this is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. And it is that prophecy that the Lord uses to explain the parable.
Now the heart of what Psalm 118:22-23 is saying when builders want to build a building, they need a corner stone. The corner stone is the most important stone for many reasons. It's key in the foundation and it sets the angles for the walls. And so a cornerstone is the most carefully selected stone of that the building to set-up its walls and to make sure its form is in perfect order. And cornerstones were usually massive stones.
The psalmist said that there was a stone that the builders rejected. They thought that it is not the right stone, it was not perfect in their opinion and they rejected it. But the stone that they rejected became later the corner stone. Who did it? "It is the Lord's doing and it is a wonder in our eyes." In other words, God brings back a stone that men reject and puts it in the place of the most significance.
In the Psalm Israel was a stone which the empire builders of the world rejected. This is the historic sense of the Psalm. The empire builders of the world saw Israel as insignificant and unimportant. They had no place for Israel in the building of their great empires. But not so the Lord, for the stone Israel which indeed is the cornerstone of the redemptive history of the world, was despised and rejected, but God sets back in the place of significance in the building of His redemptive plan, right?
But there was something even more important that give us a Messianic perspective where there is a double fulfillment that is intended to go far beyond the nation Israel and to talk about one who comes out of the loins of that nation. Peter is preaching in Jerusalem addressing the leaders of Israel, the Sanhedrin, the same group that Jesus is talking to now, in Acts 4:10 says, “let it be known to 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, by Him this man stands here before you whole.”
Now look at the next verses in Acts 4:11-12, "This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ 12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” So who is the stone then of Psalm 118? Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified. The rejected stone is the crucified Christ, the restored cornerstone is the resurrected Christ.
Peter reiterates the same message in 1 Peter 2:6. Christ is the cornerstone. Paul says it in Ephesians 2:19-20, where he says, “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone.”
Now listen carefully, the men in the vineyard parable killed the son. And these leaders say, "Well, the landowner is going to destroy those wicked people and take away the vineyard from them." And the Lord is saying by quoting Psalm 118:22-23, "The stone which the builders rejected, that same stone is now the cornerstone.” And what that means is that Jesus Christ whom you rejected is the only way you can be saved. This foretells the rejection of Israel.
So here is the explanation of the parable. The stone is the son. The builders are the farmers. They rejected the son like the builders rejected the stone. The stone is Christ, and the builders represent Israel and its religious leaders. The parable then is telling us that the son is Christ. And the landowner that sent the son is God. And the vineyard is the sphere of God's blessing, the world we live in. And the servants that were sent and murdered? They were the prophets.
This is one of the most missed and yet most clear claims to deity that our Lord ever gave. He says here God sent you prophets and then God sent a son. And Mark 12:6 says, the only son. And so Christ distinguishes Himself as the Son of God, sent from God as being different than the prophets. He is the Son of God, this is a claim to deity. They knew who He was. They saw His miracles. They heard His words. They knew who He was but they wanted Him dead because they wanted to possess the Kingdom on their own terms.
Do you realize that Jesus is here telling them to their face that He knows they will kill Him? There is no surprise to Him. He said in John 10:18, “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” Notice also verse 39 in the parable where they took the son out of the vineyard to kill him. And that is consistent too because Christ was crucified it says in Hebrews 13:12-13, outside the gate of Jerusalem, right?
Now the application, verse 43, “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.” And what are those fruits? What John the Baptist talked about in Matthew 3:7, the fruits of repentance, righteousness that comes out of a life that repents from sin. God turned away from Israel.
Will they ever come back?" Yes they will, God will graft them in, all Israel then will be saved. The day will come, says Zechariah, when they will look on Him whom they have pierced and mourn for Him as an only Son. Salvation will come to Israel. But for now, they are set aside and Romans 9:25 says a people which were not My people are now My people. A new people, a new nation, a holy nation, not ethnically defined, but defined by faith in Christ.
I will give it to a nation. What nation? Well, the word means "people." What people? Well, the same nation of which Peter speaks in 1 Peter 2:9, "A holy nation." It is the church, the redeemed of this age. We are that nation, praise the Lord. We bring forth the fruit of repentance, the fruit of righteousness by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are the new channel to bring the gospel of salvation to a world that needs it so much. So, verse 43 brings up the replacement idea.
Then verse 44 is the result of the judgment. They themselves said the landowner will destroy those wicked men. And that is exactly what the Lord says, listen to verse 44: "And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” He is saying whoever tries to seize the Lord Jesus Christ to do harm to Him shall be broken into pieces. And then in the final judgment when He falls on you, you will be crushed to powder. That is what it says. Oh such strong words.
That brings us to their reaction, verses 45-46, "Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them. 46 But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.” They knew He was talking about them, they understood the whole thing. They knew they were the ones who killed the prophets and tried to take over the vineyard and would kill the son.
What have we learned about God? We learn about His grace to men, giving them privilege, blessing, giving them a hope of promise, giving them potential great reward, giving them a vineyard of blessing in which they can live. We learn about His patience with men. We learn about His love for men because He not only sent messengers, He sent His Son.
We also learn about the judgment of God. He will come in destruction against those who destroyed Christ. Those leaders have just heard the truth about themselves, but they could care less and they still tried to put Him in prison. This is characteristic of all unbelievers who reject against the truth. What are you doing for God? Are you working the vineyard for His glory? Or are you hating and wanting to kill the messenger? Remember that God loves you and that He is waiting for you to come back. Let's bow in prayer.