PT-1 "The Application" (Matt. 21:43-44)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/21/2023 9:52 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                          Focus:  PT-1 “The Application”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matt. 21:43-44

 

            Message of the verses:  “43 "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it. 44 “And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.’”

 

            I have to say as I read over these two verses that there are some very harsh words of warning that Jesus gives to this group of Jewish leaders, and the truth of it is that they all came true.  These are straightforward, unambiguous words, as Jesus removed whatever uncertainty may have remained in the minds of the chief priests and elders about exactly what He was saying to them.  It can be seen in the first half of verse 43 and in verse 44, the Lord reiterated the judgment on unbelieving Israel and her ungodly leaders; in the second half of verse 43 Jesus reiterated their replacement by believing Gentiles, that is the Church.

 

            I think that as Jesus spoke the following 43 "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you,” that He probably was looking them right in their eyes in order for them not to miss what He was saying to them.  MacArthur writes “In their stead the kingdom would be given to a nation producing the fruit of it.” 

 

            I want now to go back to Matthew 3:7-8  verses that was from the mouth of John the Baptist “7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”  MacArthur adds “The fruit of the kingdom is the demonstrated righteousness produced out of a life turned from sin (see Phil. 1:11; Col. 1:10).  The unbelieving religious leaders would not turn from their sin and repent, and therefore they could not produce kingdom fruit (genuinely righteous behavior).  They were spiritual barren, and because of that willful barrenness they were cursed, like the fig tree that had leaves but no figs (21:18-19).”

 

            In my study of the book of Zechariah for teaching Sunday school there are some prophetic promises that show that Israel truly does have a future.  Paul writes to the Romans in 11:26 that there will be a time “when all Israel will be saved.”  The way that this will happen is the way that anyone is saved, and that is to realize that they were born sinners, and sin because they are born sinners.  Next they will confess to the Lord and realize that when Jesus died on the cross that their sins were paid for if they realize this truth.  Next invite Jesus into their hearts in order to have a relationship with Him, and then you will be saved.

 

7/21/2023 10:18 AM

PT-3 "The Explanation" (Matt. 21:42)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/20/2023 10:53 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus:  PT-3 “The Explanation”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  “Matthew 21:42

 

            Message of the verse:  “42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: "‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes’? (NIV)

 

            I want to begin with something that Peter wrote that actually reiterates the same truth as this verse, found in 1 Peter 2:6-8)  “6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” 7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense.” They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed” (NKJV).  Now we move to something that Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:19-20 “19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, 20  having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone.”

 

            Now I want to look at the answer that the Jewish leaders gave to Jesus in verse 41 “They said to Him, "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers, who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons."  I have mentioned that with this answer that these men gave that they were actually judging themselves, and they did it in the same way that David did after hearing a story from Nathan, but the difference is that David would repent, but these men would not.  The answer that David gave to Nathan that condemned him is seen in 2 Samuel 12:5-7 “5 Then David’s anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, surely the man who has done this deserves to die. 6 “He must make restitution for the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and had no compassion." 7 Nathan then said to David, "You are the man! Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘It is I who anointed you king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul.”  Just in case that you may have forgotten the story that Nathan told to David it was about a man who had only one lamb, which he took great care of but a rich man came and took the lamb from him and killed it, this only lamb that he had.  David took the wife of his great friend and then went about and had him killed and that is why Nathan told this story to David.

 

            MacArthur writes “Jesus, in effect, had said to the chief priests and elders, ‘You are the men! You are the wretched vine-growers who, by your own declaration, deserve a wretched end for beating and killing the vineyard owner’s servants and then killing his son.  Don’t you realize that the owner is God, the vineyard is His kingdom, the servants were His prophets, and I am His Son?  You have just judged yourselves guilty of condemning to death not only the prophets but even God’s own Son.’”

 

            Later on in that day Jesus said something to the Jewish leaders in regard to killing the prophets found in Matthew 23:29-31 “29 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 “So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.” 

 

            John MacArthur writes “God had prepared a place of great beauty and blessing and then graciously given stewardship of it to His people Israel.  It was a place of promise, hope, deliverance, salvation, and security.  But Israel misappropriated all those blessing for herself, robbing God of the gratitude, glory and honor due Him. She persecuted the prophets He patiently and lovingly sent to call her to repentance and forgiveness.  Jewish tradition held that Isaiah had been sawed in two with a wooden saw (cf. Heb. 11:37).  From Scripture we know that Jeremiah was thrown into a pit of slime, and tradition held that he was eventually stoned to death.  Ezekiel was rejected, Elijah and Amos had to run for their lives, Micah was smashed in the face by who refused to hear his message (1 Kings 22:24; cf. Matt. 23:25).  Old Testament history bore witness to their murderous hearts, whose wickedness would culminate in killing the Son of God.”  This is showing briefly the history of God’s people, and it all got worse with the killing of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

            In telling this parable and its explanation Jesus presented one of His clearest claims of divinity.  This parable even alludes to the detail of His being crucified outside the city of Jerusalem as can be seen in Hebrews 13:12, “Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate.”  Similarly in the parable the vine-owners son was cast out of the vineyard before being murdered.

 

            We can see from the parable that Jesus makes it clear that the Jewish leaders who rejected Him were without excuse that, like the evil vine-growers, they knew He was God’s Son bu refused to accept and honor Him as such.  They wanted Him dead not because He was evil and ungodly but because what He was doing was threatening their evil and ungodly control of the Temple and of the entire Jewish religious system.

 

            Here is the final point to this parable, a point that if you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, then please listen to this final quote from MacArthur’s commentary.  “Throughout history, and still today, many people refuse to receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord not because of lack of evidence but because they refuse to believe the evidence.  They do not believe simply because they do not want to believe.”  If you realize that Jesus Christ is God’s Son and came to die for you, to take your place on the cross, then confess to Him that you are a sinner because you were born a sinner, and because of that you sin.  Then realize that He died for you and invite Him into to your life to save you and then to cause you to grow in grace through the Word of God and the indwelling Spirit of God.  You will never regret it.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can see the same things that happened to Israel happening to our once great country as wrong has become right and right has become wrong.  Good has become evil and evil has become good.  I believe that we are very close to the second coming of Jesus Christ and that is what the Bible foretells will happen before He comes.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To tell others through word of mouth and also through the Spiritual Diaries that I write each day on how to truly become a born-again believer so that when the Rapture comes that you will go to be with the Lord forever.

 

7/20/2023 11:41 AM

PT-2 "The Explanation" (Matt. 21:42)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/19/2023 7:47 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                          Focus: PT-2 “The Explanation”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matthew 21:42

 

            Message of the verse:  “42 Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES’?”

 

            I’m sorry that this will be another short SD as I again have a very full day as our family is getting ready to help us celebrate 50 years of marriage.

 

            We have been talking about Israel being the chief cornerstone, but they have been rejected and been actually taken advantage of.  However the nation will one day receive salvation as seen in passages like Romans 11:26 “and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.’”

 

            MacArthur writes “But the figure has even greater significance than that.  Peter declared in Jerusalem before the religious rulers shortly after Pentecost, “Let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead…He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the very corner stone.  And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:10-12).  The greater stone than Israel is Jesus Christ and the builders who rejected Him were the Jewish leaders, representing all Israel, and in a fuller sense the entire unbelieving world.  The stone…rejected was the crucified Christ, and the restored chief corner stone is the resurrected Christ.”  That is a very impressive paragraph to read and to understand.

 

            What Jesus did was tie that messianic psalm to the parable in order to reinforce His point.  I remember while listening to the sermon that goes along with this section that MacArthur stated that many people who read through this parable have no idea of why this quotation for Psalm 118 is in His parable.  The rejected Son and the rejected stone both refer to Christ.  The verse from Psalm 118:22 goes beyond the parable to allude also to the resurrection of the Son, something the parable could not cover and still maintain its simple naturalness.

 

7/19/2023 8:08 AM

PT-1 "The Explanation" (Matt. 21:42)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/18/2023 6:46 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Reference: PT-1 “The Explanation”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 21:42

 

            Message of the verse:  “42 Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES’?” 

 

            As we first look at this verse one could conclude that it does not have any place in the parable that Jesus is speaking to the Jewish leaders.  However the Lord was using a familiar passage from the Old Testament to reinforce the parable’s point, and in doing so He changed metaphors.  MacArthur writes “In a sarcastic query He asked the self-appointed authorities of the Old Testament, “Did you never read in the Scriptures?” and then cited the well-known words of Psalm 118:22).”         

 

            Jesus is quoting the same psalm from which were taken the acclamations of the multitude in His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when He was hailed by the multitude in His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when He was hailed by the messianic title, Son of David see in Matt. 21:9.  It was in fact for His accepting that messianic praise that Jesus was rebuked by the Pharisees (Luke 19:39).  Now, from the same section of the psalm, Jesus reminded the religious leaders of the stone which the builder rejected that because the chief cornerstone.

 

            One may ask “What exactly is a corner stone?”  MacArthur writes A cornerstone was the most basic and essential part of a building, from which the proper placement and alignment of every other part was determined.  If the cornerstone was imperfectly cut or placed, the symmetry and stability of the entire building would be adversely affected.  Sometimes the builders rejected a number of stones before the right one was selected.  In this account, one such rejected stone eventually became the chief corner stone.”

 

            It is fair that for years that Israel had been the stone which the empire builders of the world had rejected as insignificant and despised fit only for exploiting and then discarding.  But in the Lord’s divine plan, Israel was chosen to be the chief corner stone in redemptive history of the world, the nation through which salvation would come.

 

            This is something that I had not put together before, and am thankful for the explanation that MacArthur gives for this verse.  Lord willing we will continue on in this section tomorrow.

 

7/18/2023 7:12 AM

"The Conclusion" (Matt. 21:40-41)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/17/2023 10:14 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                   Focus:  “The Conclusion”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matt. 21:40-41

 

            Message of the verses:  “40 “Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?" 41 They said to Him, "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers, who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.’”

 

            Today’s SD will be very short, but then in the next SD I think that it will take a few days to get through that topic.  We are working our way through the second of three parables that the Lord gave to His listeners during the last week of His life on planet earth, and the next parable that will be looked at comes from the first part of chapter 22.

 

            In this second parable that Jesus gave it seems to me that the story he told about the vine-growers was used to trap the Jewish leaders, which is exactly what it did.  I guess what happened is that these Jewish leaders after hearing the parable put their foot in their mouth.  They opened their mouths before engaging their brains. 

 

            John MacArthur writes “In typical rabbinical fashion, Jesus led His hearers to finish the story themselves, asking “What will he do to those vine-growers?”  The chief priests and elders readily replied with moral indignation, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers, who will pay him the proceeds at the proper season.”  They no doubt were highly pleased with this unusual opportunity to parade their self-righteousness before Jesus.  They rightly assessed the proper ending of the parable, that the irate owner would first severely punish the wicked growers and then replace them with others who were reliable.  They were completely unaware that, as they fed their pride on Jesus’ baited question, they sprang the trap on their own condemnation.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is my desire to be a reliable servant of the Lord doing the things that are pleasing to Him, living a life so that when I meet the Lord He will say to me “Well done my good and faithful servant.” 

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to trust the Lord to get me through what looks like a very busy week, that He will give me wisdom to get the things done that need to be done for the cause of Christ.

 

7/17/2023 10:37 AM

PT-3 "The Illustration" (Matt. 21:33-39)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/16/2023 7:55 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  Pt-3 “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.”

 

            Well it’s Sunday morning and I am up early in order to get my devotions done before I go to teach our Sunday school class, and today it is on the seventh verse of the first chapter of Zechariah.  Zechariah is a difficult book to understand, but it is a great book to learn from, things like comfort, and mostly learning about Jesus Christ.  Yes Jesus Christ is a theme in the book of Zechariah as He is the theme of the entire Bible, but Zechariah has much to say about Him in this next to last book of the Old Testament.

 

            Let us now go on and talk about the cold blooded murder of the son in our verses from Matthew 21.  Yes it was a cold blooded murder, a planned murder by the tenant farmers in order to seize the vineyard from the owner.  The owner had no other children to give it to.  These growers did not mistake the son for another slave but knew exactly who he was.  As stated it was the very reason that he was the son that they planned his murder in order to seize his inheritance.

 

            MacArthur writes “By the end of this startling and dramatic parable, the interest of the Jewish leaders and the many bystanders was thoroughly piqued (upset).  The story generated great pity for the betrayed, grieving owner and resentful rage at the heartless, brutal growers.

 

            “In fact, the patience of the owner and the brutality of the growers are so absolutely astounding, so unrealistic and abnormal, that some critics say Jesus overdrew the story or that the gospel writers exaggerated His original version. But these extremes are essential to the parable’s point.  It was the very uncommonness of the owner’s patience and of the growers’ wickedness that Jesus wanted His hearers to notice.”

 

7/16/2023 8:11 AM

PT-2 "The Illustration" (Matt. 21:33-39)

 

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