SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/15/2023 9:21 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “The Illustration”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 21:33-39
Message of the verses: “33 "Listen to another parable. There was a landowner
who PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT AND DUG A WINE PRESS IN IT, AND
BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers, and went on a journey. 34 “And
when the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to
receive his produce. 35 “And the vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and
killed another, and stoned a third. 36 “Again he sent another group of slaves
larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them. 37 “But afterward
he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 “But when the
vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come,
let us kill him, and seize his inheritance.’ 39 “And they took him, and threw
him out of the vineyard, and killed him.’”
We have to fast-forward three months when the
harvest time approached, the owner then sent his slaves to the vine-growers to
receive his agreed-upon percentage of the produce. However instead of paying what they owed the
owner, the vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and
stoned a third. MacArthur writes “As he
did with the story of the fig tree (21:18-21; cf. Mark 11:12-14, 20-21),
Matthew under Holy Spirit inspiration, here condensed several episodes into
one. From Mark’s account we learn that
Jesus said the first three slaves came separately, one after another (Mark
12:2-5). The wicked growers beat, or
scourged, the first slave, leaving him bruised and bloody. The second slave they killed outright and
then stoned a third. If the stoning
referred to the kind used in Jewish executions, that slave was probably killed
as well. After that, the owner sent
another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to
them. 37 “But afterward he sent his son to them, beating some and killing
others” (Mark 12:5).”
If
one thinks about this they could come up with a conclusion different that the
one in this parable that Jesus gives.
The conclusion would be that these tenant farmers really had a good
thing going, and all they had to do was to continue living there and working
with the vineyard in order to make money doing something that they really loved
to do. So what is the basis of their
problem, and why did they do what they did?
Well I can answer that question with one word SIN. Yes sin is the common denominator of all
things evil in this world. Every person
born into this world are born with a sin-nature, something we got from Adam,
and actually not from Eve. I guess that
after we continue to study this entire passage and Jesus gives an explanation
to His parable then we will be able to understand that although sin was the
basic problem, that other things are seen in this parable that are very
important to understand.
Now
after the brutal rejection of his servants, the owner then sent his son to
them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.”
That certainly did not happen, for on the contrary, that act simply
drove the growers to greater greed and more scandalous deceitfulness. “But when
the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir;
come, let us kill him, and seize his inheritance.’ 39 “And they took him, and
threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.”
I think that there first thought was to just keep all the prophets from
the vineyard, but now as the plot thickens they decide to confiscate the entire
vineyard.
Lord
willing we will finish up this section of Scripture in our next SD. If anyone who read my SD from yesterday I
mentioned having breakfast with two longtime friends hoping to share Christ
with one of them, well it seemed to go well, but I think it will still take
some time.
7/15/2023 9:51 AM
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