SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/2/2023 8:01 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “The Participants in Kingdom
Equality”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
19:30-20:7
Message of the verses: “30 “But many who
are first will be last; and the last, first.
1 "For
the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to
hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 “When he had agreed with the laborers for a
denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 “And he went out about
the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; 4 and to those
he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’
And so they went. 5 “Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth
hour, and did the same thing. 6 “And about the eleventh hour he went out
and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘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 go into the vineyard too.’”
Let us first of all talk about 19:30 “30 “But many who are first will be last; and the
last, first.”
Perhaps this was a common proverb and that is why Jesus said this, however
since He used it on several occasions and it is not found in any other
literature, it seems more likely that He originated the expression Himself.
I
have learned that verse 30 should have been included in chapter 20, but since
chapters are not something that God did, but man did when translating the
different books of the Bible perhaps those who translated Matthew should have
included it in chapter 20. Now the
parable that follows in chapter 20, Jesus illustrated His intended application
of the proverb in 19:30. Jesus states
plainly that the theme of the parable is the kingdom of heaven, and this is the
subject that He had been dealing with since the rich young ruler approached Him
earlier found in chapter 19. That young
man wanted to know how to receive eternal life as found in 19:16, which every
Jew knew was equivalent to the hope of salvation and heavenly citizenship. Now Jesus followed up on that incident as He
warned His disciples about the great barrier that riches can be to entering the
kingdom. He then declared the
impossibility of entering by man’s own resources and efforts and the possibility
of entering only by God’s gracious power as seen in 19:23-29, something we looked
it in great detail in earlier SD’s.
This
parable that Jesus spoke to His disciples teaches a magnificent and blessed
truth about the kingdom of heaven. Jesus
begins by saying "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went
out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.” John MacArthur writes “He is giving an
illustration of the spiritual realm where God sovereignly reigns in
righteousness and grace, and in particular, an illustration of the equal and
just basis of which it is entered through His grace. As He often did, He used a common earthly
story to illustrate a heavenly truth.”
I
want to talk about verse 19:30 for just a moment in closing this SD. “But many who are first will be last;
and the last, first. Think about
this in the way of a race, perhaps runners running kind of race. If the last becomes first and the first
become last then they all finish the same.
I hope that this definition makes sense to all.
4/2/2023 8:26 AM
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