Biblestudy: Matthew (Part Twenty-Eight)

Matthew 21:33 - 22:45
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John W. Ritenbaugh (1932-2023)
Given 11-Aug-82; 83 minutes

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Chapter 21 begins with Jesus entering Jerusalem. He is on His final approach (you might call it) toward His crucifixion. And so, He comes into Jerusalem amid the acclaim of the whole city. They did not realize it of course, but they were choosing Him as the sacrificial lamb. As I told you the last time, He came in there on the 10th day of the first month. And of course, He being sacrificed on the 14th day of the first month, was actually a literal fulfillment of all of the types of the Passover lambs that were chosen on the 10th of the first month, and sacrificed on the Passover.

Then after that occurred, He then went into the Temple, overturned the tables, chased the money changers out. He went out from there, and then came the incident of cursing the fig tree; then the lesson regarding prayer, and faith.

Now we are going to jump all the way down to verse 33 because that is where we are going to begin. And I am going to be reading all the way through to the end of the chapter. Then we will go back and begin to pick up the individual parts of this parable.

Matthew 21:33-45 "Hear another parable: 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. Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.' So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?"

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." 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'? "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 whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder." Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them. But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.

Now, let us go back to the book of Isaiah. This parable is a little bit different than most parables that Jesus gave in that most of the parables only have one point that it is given to get across. And this particular parable is more of an allegory than it is a parable. In an allegory there is a great deal of symbolism where the things given are really representative of other things that may not be seen on the surface. In this case, almost every part of this parable is allegorical. It actually stands for other things that are really very clear once we begin to get the picture.

Isaiah 5:1 Now let me sing to my Well-beloved a song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: My Well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.

We are going to receive a description of the vineyard, and at the same time, see where Jesus got His basis for the parable that He just gave.

Isaiah 5:2 He dug it up and cleared out its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst, and also made a winepress in it; so He expected it to bring forth good grapes; but it brought forth wild grapes.

You see, there is almost an exact parallel between Matthew 21:33 and Isaiah 5:2.

Isaiah 5:3-4 "And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge, please, between Me and My vineyard. What more could have been done to My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes?”

You see, when He looked to get fruit from it, instead He got something that was not of good quality, something that had not been well cultivated.

Isaiah 5:5-7 “And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned; and break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned or dug, but there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it." For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; for righteousness, but behold, a cry for help.

Back to Matthew 21 with that piece of biblical information: We can begin to fit the pieces together. Here, there was a certain householder. Now that householder had to be God because He planted a vineyard, exactly as was done back in Isaiah 5. And that vineyard, of course was Israel and Judah.

Matthew 21:33 “. . . and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. [we will get back to these things in just a little bit] And he leased it to vinedressers.”

Some translators say cultivators. But what it amounts to is those officials who are responsible for the education and guidance of the nation. They were the ones responsible for providing the means to produce fruit, just as a farmer does. You see, he plows the land; he cultivates the land; and if it does not rain, he irrigates the land. He does everything necessary to bring forth fruit. And so these were people who are in positions of leadership. Of course, because of whom He was speaking to, He is intending primarily the religious people who provide the teaching regarding a way of life.

And then, “He went to a far country,” and it says [verse 34] that He, the landowner, sent His servants. Now, the servants, of course, were the prophets. Again, modern translations might even use the word slaves, because that is literally what the word is in the Greek. Doulos means slave.

We find that in the various elements here, there is a great deal of teaching for you and me. There was, first of all, the teaching for their particular instance and those leaders that Jesus was speaking to got the point because they perceived that He meant them, and that they were being rejected as it were for the Kingdom of God because of their failure to carry out their responsibilities as a sharecropper. Now, that is what this husbandman was. He was a sharecropper in more modern terminology. He was supposed to use the ground and share the fruits of the ground with the owner; the owner was supposed to get a certain percentage.

If we look at this in terms of tithing, and you and I we are sharecroppers on this earth. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. God allows us to have the use of 90% of the money, but He wants 10% of the produce to come back to Him for His work. Are we as diligent as we should be in this area of responsibility? Do you get the parallel here, although tithing is not the main issue here?

We see that the householder periodically sent servants of his to collect what was due him. And in each case, these people were persecuted. Now if you get the background of the story that Jesus is telling here, we see that in the history of Israel, there was a long space of time between the establishment of Israel as God's nation, and the final rejection of Israel. I should not say final—the rejection of Israel as the nation that would be God's nation.

Now, there is a very good lesson here for you and me; a principle that we should understand and use in application to the work of God. I want you to notice that throughout this parable, God did not intervene all that often as we might think He would. In other words, what I am saying is that He allowed these people to use their free moral agency to a tremendous extent. He did not intervene even when His own servants were persecuted, sometimes to death. At least He seemingly did not intervene.

What does that mean to you and me? If we apply the principles of this parable to the church, it is something that Mr. Armstrong taught from time to time, and that is: God allows us a great deal of latitude in the way that we do the work. There might have been, I have heard Mr. Armstrong say, dozens of different means [ways] that we might have approached the preaching of the gospel. We might have done a lot of things differently, but God has backed up the way that has been chosen to go. He has blessed it very, very mightily.

Now it shows the latitude that we have. It shows God's patience as well in dealing both with Israel and with the church. But there is something else here in verse 41—when He asked the question about what is God going to do to these people in regard to the way they are treating His servants, persecuting them, putting some of them to death? We find then Jesus steps into another area, and that is that God's judgment is absolute. It is sure. He will even throw off, as it were, an entire nation of people from doing His work, if need be. He will be very patient; He will allow them the great deal of latitude. But if they do not get the responsibility done, He will reject the entire nation. His judgment is absolute.

Again, there is a powerful lesson there for you and me. Oftentimes we are deluded into thinking that God has gone way off somewhere, and that He is not paying attention; that His interest is not focused either on His work, or on us as individuals.

I will tell you this: If we are His children, His attention is focused on us. He is not a neglectful parent. And He is going to be responsible for doing His part in seeing that we are properly reared. And He may allow us a great deal of latitude in the conduct of our lives. But do not fooled! God is not mocked! You are going to reap what you sow, and so His judgment will come down.

Perhaps we have sunk to our lowest level whenever He takes away a task that He meant for us to do, and gives it to somebody else. He says here He going to take this responsibility away from Israel and give it to a nation that will bring forth the fruits. Brethren, we are that nation! He took it away from Israel. He gave it to the church. And if He did it once (that is, in taking it away), He will take it away again.

Remember John the Baptist warning to the scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees? He told them that they ought to repent, and to bring forth fruits meet for repentance. And then a little bit earlier, He said that God can bring forth sons of Abraham from the very stones of the ground.

Those things are there to prod us, and motivate us, not to beat us over the head with, but just to be sobering reminders that we are where we are by the choice of God. With the grace of God comes also the responsibility for fulfilling the task that He has called us to do.

There are other lessons here. One of them shows us our privilege. I was just talking a little bit about this; with the grace of God comes a responsibility and that responsibility is actually a privilege. But I want you to notice that when God planted the vineyard, He included with it a hedge, a winepress, and a tower. Now, they are all symbolic of something.

Now, we could find symbolism in other parts of the Bible that could teach us a great deal. We do not have the time to do all of that right now. But what they stand for is that whenever God gives a responsibility, He also gives us all the tools and equipment that we need to produce fruit—to carry it out.

These husbandmen, though they were given the equipment to do the job, did not use it properly. They did not produce the fruit, and therefore God rejected them. And so, our privilege carries with it the additional tools that we need to carry it out. So, He has not left us alone. And of course, above all, He has given us His Spirit, which enables us to produce the fruit, first of all, in our own lives, and also in the preaching of the gospel.

Second, this has to do a great deal with something else that I mentioned a little bit earlier. Remember, I said that God does not intervene. He allows a great deal of latitude in carrying out the responsibilities that He gives us to do. So what this tends to show me is that we have a great deal of freedom in how we do things; that God is not a tyrannical taskmaster. He is not somebody that stands over you with a whip, but rather, He gives the responsibility, gives the tools to do the job, and then, as it were, He steps back to see how we are going to do it. He has given us a mind; He has given us free moral agency, He educates us. He wants to see what we are going to do with what we have been given.

Now, if He intervenes too freely, then we become—well, we never really grow up. We become too dependent in the wrong way. You see, you know what will happen: We will constantly be ending up praying to God, asking Him to solve every difficulty. Remember, God is calling us to be kings and priests. A king is an administrator. A king solves problems. A king is supposed to solve the problems of society. He has to administer the laws of God. And because people are imperfect, they are going to create a great number of problems. So God gives us time in this life to be able to learn how to solve problems in our own lives. And from those principles, we learn principles of proper governance, using the laws of God, using His way of life.

So in order for us to properly learn, we have to be given free moral agency. He has to step back and let us hit our finger, and our thumb with a hammer, which we do a great deal.

The third thing has to do with something else that I mentioned briefly a little bit earlier: It shows that the husbandmen were answerable. They were accountable to the responsibility given. There is a day of reckoning. You know, one of the ways that we can tempt God, in fact, I think possibly this is the way that we tempt Him most frequently is to allow a problem to drag on and drag on and drag on without resolving it. And what we do is we tempt Him to intervene. And when He takes things into His hands, and we have not solved the problem, brethren, it is going to hurt, because He is going to use stern measures. He has got to figuratively grab us by our collar and straighten us up. He will give us a lot of latitude, but there is a day of reckoning, if we do not get ourselves straightened out and follow the laws and principles that are laid down in His Word.

Number four, there is something very sobering here. I hope that it does not apply to us in too many cases, but it shows at least in regard to Israel that their sins were deliberate. I want you to notice they knew who the Son was. That is very plainly shown in the parable. They knew who the Son was. They said this is the heir; let us kill him. And that opens up a whole world of thinking in regard to man's accountability, and God's mercy. God is still willing to forgive, despite the fact that a great number of our sins are deliberate. We know better, and we still do it. Again, please be sobered, and remember that there is a day of reckoning. The judgment of God will come. So they knew that Jesus was more than a prophet; He knew what lay ahead.

Let us consider the stone. Jesus actually quoted here from four different scriptures. We have a composite view of the stone as it is symbolically used in the Old Testament. First of all, I want you to turn with me back to Psalm 118:

Psalm 118:22-23 The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.

If you read all of Psalm 118, and you see those verses in their context, you would see that the stone there in that context literally applies to the nation of Israel.

What Jesus did was give its primary application to show that He is the stone. But Israel is also a stone. What happened literally was that the world rejected Israel.

This is a little bit of a digression. On the one hand, we see in the Bible that Israel rejected God, that they refused to carry out the responsibility that was given to them. This, of course, took place over hundreds of years of time. They gradually drifted away from the high purpose of their calling that began really with David. I mean, that is when it was finally really established as a nation that would be enabled to carry out its responsibilities. After about two-thirds, or three-quarters of Solomon's reign, the nation began a decline that eventually led them into oblivion.

But what we see here is that the builders in Psalm 118 are literally the other nations. And in building their society, they rejected the witness, the knowledge, the understanding, the wisdom, the laws of God as given to Israel.

So we see the world was guilty of a rejection as well. They rejected God's way, even as much as Israel was able to give them.

Well, here in Matthew 21 we have Jesus giving it a very personal application to Himself. And what it means is that men, despite the fact that they have rejected the witness of Jesus Christ, are going to find that He is the most important personage who has ever lived.

What we find here is, you might say, pictures within pictures: The stone originally being Israel, and being rejected by the world. Then we find Jesus Christ is the stone, and the nation of Israel rejects Him.

Now we find in verse 44 the picture is shifting to a different set of scriptures, but also using the symbolism of a stone. Now this time, let us go back to Isaiah 8.

Isaiah 8:13-15 The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow; let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. He will be as a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble; they shall fall and be broken, be snared and taken."

From here, I want you to go to Daniel 2. We are going to skip one of the pictures in Isaiah 28:16, the stone is used there as well. But in Daniel the second chapter, verse 44 we find the Kingdom of God is the stone. But Jesus took the imagery out of this verse and applied it to Himself.

Daniel 2:44-45 “And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure."

Now, if you go back to Matthew 21 you will find that Jesus used bits and pieces of every one of those verses. What is He saying? Remember back in Matthew 21 to whom He was speaking? He was speaking to these scribes and Pharisees, to the leadership of Israel. They are the husbandmen, and they are in the process deliberately rejecting Jesus the Son of God. So what He is making very clear to them using scriptures that they knew well is that they were in the process of condemning themselves too.

When we pick up the imagery from Isaiah 8, He was saying, “Look, I’m the stone that the builders rejected. Now, if you accept Me, I will be for you a place of refuge.” You see, a sanctuary. “I will be for you a place of refuge. And when the storms of life come, then I will be there to help you out. And above all, when the nation of Israel falls [as it will do in 70 AD], I will be a real sanctuary for you; I will take you to a place of safety.”

We know that the church escaped the problems in Jerusalem. So He was telling them, “Look, I can be for you one of two things if you will accept Me: I will be your sanctuary. But if you reject me, I am the heir, I am the Son, I am the stone, I am the foundation on which all of the future of mankind is going to be built. If you reject Me, then I am going to grind you to pieces.”

Now, we know that literally they are going to burn up in the Lake of Fire. So He was giving them very vivid instruction regarding what they should do; that it was still not too late for them to repent, to change their mind. This whole parable at the tail end of it is filled with somber warnings regarding what was going to happen to them.

Now let us go to Ephesians 2.

Ephesians 2:19 Now, therefore, you [Gentiles who have become part of the church] are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

Remember the householder? The household is a family. And so, God is inviting us, as it were, to become part of His household, not just a sharecropper.

Ephesians 2:20 Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone.

Now, Jesus is the stone on which everything in God's plan regarding the Kingdom of God is built. And what is so necessary for us is our allegiance to Him. To reject His way is almost, you might say literally or figuratively, to batter one's head against the walls of God's law. And in the end, you see, you are going to be crushed out of life. Now, that is what He was telling those people—that stone was going to grind them to pieces.

That is some very sobering lessons there. They did not miss the lesson, they did not miss the point, but they reacted very carnally. And rather than humbly repenting, they got angry. All He wanted to do was to save them, but they rejected Him.

Let us go on now to chapter 22. I think the chapter break is rather unfortunate because Jesus is continuing to respond to their reaction to the parable. And He carries His sobering message another step further.

Matthew 22:1-10 And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. Again, he sent out other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding."' But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.' So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.

Here we have a very clear picture of the rejection of the invitation. Remember I just said that in that last parable, at the tail end of it, Jesus was actually inviting them to repent. He said, “Now look, here is a sobering warning that if you will found your life upon Me, upon My laws, upon my principles, then I will be for you a sanctuary in the terrible times to come. And not only that, you will be in the Kingdom. But if you do not, then this stone is going to be something that is going to grind you to pieces.” That is very vivid imagery there.

Now, what is so important here to you and me is that, well, let us just say the overall point of the parable is we know historically, and we know also from the parable that those people did reject Christ. And so the lesson has become very vivid for you and me. What is that lesson for you and me? We might say that the lesson is do not reject God's calling, but it leads into something more timely for us.

Notice what He said right in the middle of the parable. What was it that caused them to reject it? They were distracted; that they did not get prepared. Now, what is the kind of terminology that the Bible uses rather than “distracted”? What was it that distracted them? The cares of the world!

Now, this is important! And please get it! You see, the things that distracted them were not evil. There is nothing wrong with a man taking care of his business. God expects that. He expects us to do our responsibilities and to do them well. He says here that one went to his farm, and another to his business. But you see what happened is that they gave things the wrong priority and the Kingdom of God got shoved to the background. The things of the way of God became relegated to something that they did when they went to church, and they made the appearance of being Christian. But what really got the time and attention in their lives was carnal things. And so they made things the end and not a means to an end.

God wants us to do a good job in our businesses. But He also wants us to know that business had better not come first. Spiritual things come first. Prayer comes first. Bible study comes first. Meditating on God's Word comes first, so that we will know how to apply the laws and principles of God.

There are many things that are more important than a business, or a job. Men, your wives are exceedingly more important than your job. We in the United States seem to have things turned around. A man spends his time working to get things for his wife. That is the wrong approach.

What the wife needs is the man, not the things that he is providing; she needs to be one with him, and he needs to be one with her. They need to cleave to one another, not just sleep together. We get our priorities all mixed up, and your mate is the most important physical thing in your life, not your job. You can come by many jobs in your lifetime. You might have 10 or 20 of them. But it is God's will He only allots you one wife, one husband. That is it. And you better take care of it.

Your children and your relationship with them are exceedingly more important than a job. I will tell you, if we took care of our relationship with our children, there would not be any juvenile delinquency, because families would communicate with one another. They would know one another. They would respect one another. They would love one another. They would honor one another. But because the job, social things, entertainments, or whatever, get top priority, then the family falls apart. (I did not mean to get off on that.) But it was the cares of the world, worldly things, which really amounts to getting our priorities crossed up, which was what caused these people to neglect their salvation, and of course, to lose it.

How can we ensure that we will spend our time, give our energies over to the right priorities? There is a way, but I will tell you it is a way that we by nature do not want to live. We do not want to direct our minds in this direction, but there is a way of doing it, and often times it is a very difficult way to do. It may cause you or lead you to a great number of sacrifices, and maybe throw your mind into consternation from time to time.

Let us realize something back in John 15, verse 5.

John 15:5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

Now in my Bible, I underlined that “we are nothing.” I want to remember that. I want to have that impressed on my mind; drilled in it. I want to understand it every day.

When we become attached to Jesus Christ, when He becomes the foundation of our life, He expects that the emphasis in our life will shift from that which is carnal to that which is spiritual. We can produce all kinds of things carnally. We can use our abilities, our time, and energy to produce wealth. But God has not had any part of that. We did that with our own energies. God provided this earth with all the minerals and the resources that are there; the laws, forces, and energies that work automatically. Men can do tremendous things using the laws and the resources that God has built into the earth. And God has not had a thing to do with it.

When it comes to the things that Jesus is Creator of, that our Father is trying to create in us, without Him, we can do nothing. This is where prayer and Bible study become absolutely essential things. They are our life blood into the Kingdom of God. Our relationship with God is something that we cannot afford to ever break. Because everything that God hopes to build in us, His righteousness is built as a result of our relationship to Him through His Holy Spirit. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts—how? By His Spirit.

Now, that is just a principle. If the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by His Holy Spirit, so also is His joy, His peace, His gentleness, His goodness, His meekness, His faith, His self-control—everything. Everything that is a part of the character, the righteousness of God comes as a result of our relationship with Him.

Now, there is something that you and I have to do on our part though. You will find that in II Corinthians 5:7. This is the thing, the element that makes Christians different. We walk by faith, not by sight.

What you and I have to do is walk by faith. That is what I meant. When I said, there is something that we have to do that sometimes is very difficult to do; that sometimes may cause us a great deal of sacrifice. We have to take God's Word at face value, and by faith, set our will to follow it. We have the free moral agency, we have the tools to do it, if we will do it, if we will yield to Him, if we will go in that direction. Many of us are doing it, and we are growing, and that is very good. But that is the element that will keep you from setting the wrong priorities, if you are willing to walk by faith. So when you see instruction in God's Word that we ought to be doing something, your faith is on the line.

If by faith, you decide to do it, then a bit more of the character, the mind of Christ is going to begin to be developed within you. If you decide to walk by sight, because the world around you looks so real, and because of the pressures that come on as a result of maybe the way that you feel, let us say in terms of healing, of your pocketbook, in terms of money. And if you begin to look at those things, you are going to think carnally, and you are going to set the wrong priority. The cares of this world are going to get you.

There was one other thing that I said that I was going to tell you. It is very interesting, and it helps you to understand partly where Jesus got this idea that He used for the parable. Whenever the Hebrews at that time became engaged, the father and the mother would announce their impending marriage but would not announce the date of the marriage. They would just tell the people that these two people are betrothed to one another, and they are going to marry. Now, you can see that in the case of Joseph and Mary. They were already considered married, but they had not yet come together. And apparently, oftentimes, there was a period in which they were considered married that might last for a year or more, sometimes many years. And then suddenly everything would be ready, and the father and mother would say we are going to have the marriage in one week or two.

And you would be expected, if you had been told beforehand, to be ready for it. See, that is where He was getting this illustration. And the Jews could relate to that very well. They could understand because it was their custom to do it that way.

We do not do it like that. We may plan on marrying, but by the time the invitation is given, we know when the date of the wedding is going to be.

Now when God invited you to His wedding, did He tell you when it is going to be? You do not know when the Marriage Supper of the Lamb is going to be, do you? See, He has invited you to it. He said it is going to happen, get prepared for it, and He will tell you later on when it is going to be. It is a very pretty picture; very, very sharp once you begin to see that.

Matthew 22:11-14 "But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' "For many are called, but few are chosen."

Now the theme here is to be prepared. You see, we do not know when the wedding is actually going to occur. And so when it is finally announced, of course, it will be announced by a series of events that takes place before that. By the time we are invited to go to the place of safety, we will know that the wedding supper of the Lamb is not very far off, but still maybe 3.5 years away, but still not very far off. And so what He is saying by this is: Be prepared at all times, because you never know for sure exactly when the announcement is going to go forth.

These people in the parable were not prepared. Now, this one man in particular was not prepared, and it is shown in the lack of clothing, that is, the lack of proper clothing. Clothing is used symbolically throughout the Bible as a symbol of righteousness. Clean and white clothing equals clean and pure character, or the righteousness of God. Dirty clothing, soiled clothing, filthy clothing equals man's filthy rags, his own carnal righteousness.

Now this person came to the wedding supper prepared with his own carnal righteousness. He did not have the righteousness of God. And so the lesson here is: Get prepared by showing respect for God's calling.

The lack of proper clothing showed the man's attitude. It showed that he did not respect what was given to him, and therefore did not carry out his responsibility.

Now two things here for you and me: It shows very clearly that when God invites, a man cannot go on living his former life, there have to be changes to get in harmony with God. And the way you can do that, as I said previously, is to live by faith, walk by faith.

Secondly, it shows that the way in which a man comes to an event demonstrates his attitude or spirit. Now, in this case, his clothing revealed his disrespect.

Now, when we come to understand this in its application to our life, we come to understand it is not really the clothing that matters. But what does matter is your respect for others. That is very important to God. Remember that God says very plainly in Romans 13, we are to give honor to whom honor is due; custom, to whom custom; tribute to whom tribute. And that God does not expect us in any way, shape, or form to be disrespectful of any other human being. And so it is this principle that Mr. Armstrong was talking about in an article several months ago regarding what we wear to services. We need to show respect for God and His institutions in this regard.

You know, there is another application here that we could also make. It has to do with our approach to God when we do come before Him. If our attitude is disrespectful, then we are going to be skeptical, doubtful, and cynical regarding the teaching that is given. But, if we are respectful toward Him, then we will come open minded; willing to consider; and willing to analyze, turnover, and humbly submit where we see that we need to.

Matthew 22:15-22 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk. And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men. Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why do you test Me, you hypocrites? Show Me the tax money." So they brought Him a denarius. And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?" They said to Him, "Caesar's." And He said to them, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.

This is really the beginning of a new chapter here. If I had my way, this is where I would begin it, because there is a break here. It goes all the way from Matthew 21. Jesus was on the attack, if we can use it that way, that He was showing very clear evidence to these people that He was indeed the Messiah, and that they were in the process of rejecting Him, the Son of God. And He gave them illustration after illustration to show what was occurring. Those illustrations began all the way back about the mid-part after the fig tree incident of chapter 21. And so He gave the parable about the man who had two sons. He gave the parable about the householder who had the vineyard. He gave the parable about the husbandman who invited the people to the wedding.

Now, after that, the Jews gathered their forces together, and we have a very unlikely combination of forces who gather together, ally themselves with one another to attack a common enemy.

It is very interesting here because it says that the first group that came was composed of Pharisees and Herodians. I mean, this was the extreme right, and the extreme left, who got together. It was not quite the extreme right, actually. There was one group that was even further to the right of the Pharisees, and that was the Zealots.

But the Pharisees and the Herodians were natural enemies. The Herodians were so named because they owed their allegiance to Herod; and Herod owed his allegiance to Rome. And so the Herodians curried the favor of Herod. That is, they got good things from him—political plums, and so forth, because he was the ruling power in that area, ruling at the behest of Rome.

Therefore, the Herodians would do everything in their power to support Rome's cause, because as long as Rome was doing well, Herod would probably stay in power. Therefore, they would receive their favors from Herod.

The Sadducees, on the other hand, hated the Romans. They wanted to kick the bums out and were always this far from rebelling. The Zealots were this far from rebelling, and revolting.

And so we have the Herodians on the left. We have the Pharisees on the right. But they have a common enemy and so they get together.

Now, the Romans levied three taxes. Remember we were talking the last time about the Temple tax, and how God required that these people give roughly a day's wages. Actually, it was about two days wages for the support and maintenance of the Temple.

Well, in addition to that, the Romans also levied taxes on the people—three of them. The one was a ground tax. And what this simply meant was that the Romans taxed that which was produced out of the ground. If you produced barley or grain, and let us say you were a sharecropper, a certain part of your produce went to the actual landowner, but one-tenth of what you produced in grain went to Rome. You could pay that in either kind, or money. If you want to turn it into money, you could do that. But they got one-tenth. If you had an olive grove, they got one-fifth of that—pretty stiff taxation for people who really were not all that well off.

Now in addition to that, they paid an income tax. Their income was taxed, but it was very light by comparison to the United States, only one percent. I do not know whether they got any deductions for charitable contributions or not, but it was only one percent.

In addition to that, there was a poll tax. In this case, every male between the ages of 14 and 65, and every female between the ages of 12 and 65 (why the difference between the men and the women, I do not know) had to pay four pence. Now that was equal (this was in one year) four pence. And if you will recall the last time, and I was showing you how much money this amounted to, a little over one day's wages for each person between those ages in that family.

This was the tax that was in question here. Now, how did Jesus solve it? Well, what He did was lay down a principle that is very important to you and me. And it may yet have a very powerful influence on your life. Some people have already been very greatly affected by this principle. And that is, He said, look, a Christian has a dual citizenship.

Let us look at this. He said, render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and render unto God that which is God's.

That puts you and me, in a sense, in the middle. Now, that answer could not possibly have satisfied either the Pharisees or the Herodians. The Herodians would have wanted to say, give Caesar everything that he wants. The Pharisees would have said, do not give Caesar a penny, but Jesus went right down the middle. And He soon said give to both of them their due.

Let us go to Philippians 3.

Philippians 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven.

That Greek word is polituma, which is the word from which we get our English word politics. Our politics is in heaven. Most modern translations have chosen to translate that word conversation in the King James, into citizenship. Our citizenship is in heaven.

Now in II Corinthians 5:20 Paul says we are ambassadors for Christ. You begin to see a doctrine very clearly evolving here, beginning to take shape. Jesus established it. It was something new at that time that a Christian is going to have a dual citizenship. He is going to be in the world, but his real citizenship is in the Kingdom of Heaven. However, that does not relieve him of his obligation to his own native land.

Let us go a little bit further. In Romans 13 we find there very clear instruction:

Romans 13:1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.

Paul makes a New Testament application of a principle that was in the Old Testament. But here he makes it very clear for Christians that we are to be subject to the governments of this world. We have to live here; we have to be subject to their laws. And we find that what Paul did was make very clear that these governments are ordained of God—He established them. And he says in verses 6 and 7:

Romans 13:6-7 For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.

Back in I Peter 2:

I Peter 2:17 Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

So a Christian is to be subject. He is not to be a rebel. He is not to be one leading a revolt or participating in a revolt.

However, as will occur from time to time, there comes a clash between the laws of God and the laws of man; that Caesar will require something of us that is contrary to the laws of God.

In Acts 5, verse 29 Peter has the solution.

Acts 5:29 But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: "We ought to obey God rather than men.”

When a clash occurs between the two sets of laws, our loyalties are to go to God, regardless of what men might do to us.

Now, God's law says very plainly, you shall not kill. That has ramifications for you and me in that it puts us into a position where if we are going to obey that law, we cannot participate in things military, we cannot support the army in being a part of it. We cannot allow ourselves to be part of that kind of organization. We would have to withdraw from it. And I know that you are very well aware of that. Many of our young men have had to apply for conscientious objection. And I know some personally who ended up going to jail for four or five years, because the draft board would not accept their explanation; thought that they were being hypocritical and threw them in the klink. So they had to suffer the penalty of the law.

Now, you see in that kind of a case, the Christian is carrying out his responsibility to the full. He obeys God in not being a part of that kind of an organization. And he is also subject to the laws of men in that he submits to the penalty that men's law requires. So you see, he is actually satisfying both. And he gives place to both of them.

Last night, it was asked in Augusta [GA] while we were there, what would happen if President Reagan was converted? Could he continue to be president? The answer to that is absolutely not. Well, then the question came back saying, would it not be better for him to continue into the office, and have them impeach him than it would be to resign? I do not know. You see, there is a difference, and this confuses a lot of people in the world. There is a difference between the circumstance in the Old Testament, and the church in the New Testament.

Turn to John 18. People who are, in all sincerity, feeling that they are Christians become very socially active in the United States. They become part of the political process. They become part of trying in all sincerity to clean up society, to save society, to straighten things out in society, and so forth.

But Jesus said in verse 36 of John 18, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”

In the days of ancient Israel, Israel was a kingdom of this world, and as such, God permitted them worldly activities. They went to war. They participated as a government of this world. David was a king. David could not be a king today and be a Christian. The circumstances changed. He has called His Kingdom out of this world. We are not to get involved in the political processes. We are to carry out our responsibilities as a good citizen, but we are not here to change things yet. When we do change things, we will turn this world upside down, and inside out. And then we will have the power and the authority and the right character, the experience and the wisdom to do it.

Right now, all we would do would be to add to the confusion. That is all we would do. We would just confuse things more. So, the best thing to do is to prepare, be a good citizen, and prepare for the World Tomorrow.

Matthew 22:23-28 The same day the Sadducees [see, the Herodians got their problem straightened out, or did they?], who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying: "Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were with us seven brothers. The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother. Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh. Last of all, the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her."

Now, the Sadducees were the aristocrats in Hebrew society. They were the priestly class for the most part; they held the high priest position. They tended to be by far and away, the best educated in all of the society. And the more research that I do, and we do, we find out they were a lot more correct on more things by far than the Pharisees were.

However, they had a failing. And that is, they only believed that the Pentateuch was inspired and that all of the other books—Joshua, Judges, I and II Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Psalms, and all the others—were not in the same category, were not to be considered as Scripture. And so they based their doctrines only on what they found in the five books of Moses.

Now, they said that the resurrection could not be proved from the books of Moses. And since it could not be proved from the books of Moses, they would not believe it.

The Pharisees said, that is ridiculous, there is a resurrection. The Sadducees said, “No, there is not. Prove it out of the first five books.” And so a Sadducees came up with this trick question, and it was based on Deuteronomy 25:1-5, what today by the scholars is called the “Levirate Marriage,” where if a man died leaving his wife a widow, his next brother in line who was eligible to marry was required to marry his widow, have children, and that those children would actually be considered the children of the man who died.

Their trick question was, what if seven brothers have the same woman? In the resurrection whose wife is she going to be? I will tell you, Jesus smashed that thing to pieces. And He did it so simply that it left them gasping. He just dismissed their whole question as irrelevant. Now, what made it irrelevant? It was that their whole question was based on an assumption. The assumption was, first of all, that life in the resurrection is going to be like life as it is now. The second factor was that the resurrection is mentioned in the first five books.

Jesus says where it is in these verses. He tells you. He does not tell you book and verse, but if you can remember where those verses are, you will know where the resurrection is mentioned in the five books of Moses. What was Jesus’ answer? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, mentioned in Exodus 3 when God was talking to Moses out of the burning bush.

Now what Jesus says is that God is the God of the living. See, back in Exodus 3, God identifies himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Therefore, the only conclusion you can reach is that since Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are dead, they are going to be resurrected. Just a little bit of logical deduction. Therefore, the resurrection is mentioned in the first five books.

Poof! There went their argument! This question was stumping the Pharisees for hundreds of years, and Jesus just destroyed it in one minute. And so, they went away, hanging their heads. Actually, they got angry because He destroyed it.

Matthew 22:32-34 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching. But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.

Now we will not go to Mark's account of this. But Mark shows a little bit different angle and he adds a little bit of information that gives a little bit more insight. When you put the two together, you find that what happened is that the lawyer came and left with different attitudes. He came tempting him, but he left convinced that Jesus was right.

Let us go on.

Matthew 22:36-40 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

What Mark adds is that the Pharisee said, “You have said well, for these two are the great commandments.” And Jesus said that you are not far from the Kingdom of heaven or the Kingdom of God, which meant that the man was on his way to repent.

Now, there is a little bit of information here that does not present itself very clearly. And that is that we have to understand that we are to love man as we love ourselves. However, this love of man hinges upon, or flows from, or issues from the love of God. And this is one of the things that make the other commandment, that is, love God with all your heart, mind, and everything, the greatest of the commandments. Because without loving God, we cannot love man, because it is the love of God shed abroad in our hearts that enables us to love man. Jesus admitted back in Matthew 4 that it is possible for a man to love those who love him. But the requirement of God is that we love our enemies. And this is not possible for a carnal man to do. It is only the love of God that enables a man to love the unlovable. And so the only way that we can have the love of God, or the love for man, is to get that love as a result of God's Spirit being in us. And since repentance is toward God, it is the beginning and the fountainhead of this process. So it is greater than the second commandment.

Matthew 22:41-46 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?" They said to Him, "The Son of David." He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit [by inspiration] call Him 'Lord,' saying: 'The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool"'? If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?" And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.

Jesus made one last attempt, here, at this time anyway, at this occasion, to redefine their thinking in regard to the Messiah. They had tunnel vision in regard to the Messiah that He was the son of David. And as such, He would be a conquering king; that He would throw the buggers out, and they would have freedom, and Israel would become a great nation.

Now, the question that Jesus posed to them was this: “The Messiah is David's son, right? But He is also David's Lord,” and He is quoting here Psalm 110:2. “Now, if this be so how then can David call his own son, Lord?” And that is what he said. Normally a man would not call his son, Lord, it would be son, but David is calling his own son, Lord.

He wanted them to think about the relationship. And He wanted them to think about how they were regarding the Messiah. So He was continuing, then, to redefine His role in life and that He wanted them to see that the Messiah was not limited to being a conquering hero, but also trying to help them see Him in terms of sacrificial love.

JWR/rwu/drm