And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.
In the vineyard parable the owner is God, the vineyard is Israel planted in Canaan under covenant blessing, the husbandmen are its priests and leaders entrusted to cultivate it for Him, and the servants are His prophets sent in season to receive its fruit and call to obedience. Their beating, killing and stoning pictures how those leaders treated messenger after messenger with contempt, persecution and death because they hated reproof, would not turn from unfaithfulness, and selfishly used God's gifts for themselves. Christ told it so the Pharisees would condemn themselves and admit the justice of the judgment to fall on them, that the kingdom would be taken from the unfaithful nation and given to a people who would bear its fruit, ending in desolation of temple, city and nation. The assaults on the servants lead up to and foreshadow the rejection and killing of the owner's Son after the messengers were slain. The parable applies not only to the Jewish nation but to God's people in every generation to the present, warning all who receive light that they cannot expect His blessing while refusing to walk in His ways, and that unfaithful stewardship will be removed and given to those who will honor the trust and work it.
Parable Setting and Symbols
The verse belongs to the parable of the vineyard, which shows that God richly blessed Israel and claimed their obedience, and that failure to fulfill His purpose meant forfeiting His blessing and bringing ruin upon itself. It stands in the twenty-first chapter of Matthew, the chapter of Christ's journey to Jerusalem at His triumphal entry, a powerful chapter to be studied and understood. That chapter gives warning from the lesson of the pretentious fig tree that bore no fruit, representing those who profess to serve God and have their names on the church books but bear no fruit in their lives to the glory of God, while pointing forward to the despised and rejected Christ crowned and seated upon His throne.
The householder or owner is God, and the vineyard is the Jewish nation, the whole house of Israel, the church brought as a vine out of Egypt and planted in the Holy Land in the land of Canaan under covenant blessings. It was entrusted to cultivate the vineyard for God and to represent His kingdom, with privileges carrying the duty of obedience, and its violence toward the servants portrays its rejection and persecution of God's messengers and exposes its spiritual condition despite spiritual and temporal advantages given it. The union that should exist between Christ and the church is that of vine and branches, with Christ the vine and His people the branches. The vineyard is also the world and God's work in general, especially the neglected cities and countries and barren wastes, put into the hands of men and of the people of the world, who have brought little return to Him for it.
The husbandmen or tenants are the Jewish nation, especially its leaders, priests, teachers, scribes, Pharisees and elders, appointed to cultivate His vineyard and entrusted with sacred duties, the Lord's goods and enriched land. The servants beaten, killed and stoned are God's prophets, teachers and messengers, sent at His appointed time and at different times to seek and receive the fruit and revenue due to Him in its season at the specified time. They were sent to call Israel to render to Him His dues, to remind them of responsibility because they were not heeding His word, and to bring warnings, reproof, appeals and invitations, finding everything appropriated to a wrong use. Their mistreatment depicts the people's rejection of God's messengers despite the blessings and opportunities He had given them, with the owner's repeated sending underscoring that rejection before he sends his son.
The whole vineyard belonged to the Lord, and as owner He had a right to expect revenue from it. The fruit He expects is what people hold in trust, their possessions, abilities and resources including tithes and offerings, to be used for God and faithfully and unselfishly returned in their season for the advancement of His kingdom and the glory of His name under a covenant requiring loyalty. Faithfulness is a well-cultivated vineyard bearing fruit in every part, using the Lord's money, blessings and facilities to the best advantage for the whole field, and it is for the husbandmen's own advantage to render the fruits.
Israel's Rejection of Messengers
The beating of one servant, the killing of another, and the stoning of another pictures the methods and practices of the Jewish leaders toward God's servants. The servants are the prophets, teachers and messengers God sent at appointed times and at different times to seek and receive the fruit and revenue due to Him in its season, to remind Israel of responsibility and to bring warnings, reproof, appeals and invitations. Their violent treatment arose because the people rejected reproof and would not turn from unfaithfulness, and those meant to provide the fruit treated the messengers as impostors.
God sent messenger after messenger, and still other messengers, but each was shamefully abused, persecuted and killed with the same violence and with still more determined hatred. The repeated attacks reveal the nation's unrighteousness despite great light received, and they led up to God sending His Son after the servants were slain. Through the whole Jewish economy the messengers found everything appropriated to a wrong use and warned of unfaithfulness and misappropriation of the Lord's portion, but entreaties and arguments were of no avail. There were cruel mockings and scourgings and bonds and imprisonment and torture and death, with destitution, affliction, wandering in sheepskins and goatskins, and banishment. Jeremiah suffered the severest persecution from his own countrymen because he bore a faithful message from God, and Isaiah was sawn asunder because he faithfully reproved the sins of the nation, and others were stoned, sawn asunder, tempted, slain with the sword, left destitute, afflicted and tormented, cruelly treated and banished, men of whom the world was not worthy (Hebrews 11:36-38).
The violence arose because the people hated reproof, were convicted of their unrighteous course yet would not yield or turn from unfaithfulness, but grew more stubborn when convicted. They perverted Scripture and did not faithfully serve God, exalted themselves and persisted in sin, misrepresented Him, neglected privileges and opportunities, and resisted grace. They had become selfish and covetous, systematically using His gifts and means for their own benefit while robbing Him of the means and facilities entrusted to them for carrying on His work. Those meant to provide fruit treated the messengers as impostors and enemies, meeting those God sent with contempt, injustice and cruelty.
For centuries God looked with patience, forbearance, mercy, compassion, love and care on this cruel treatment of His ambassadors, while His holy law lay prostrate, despised and trampled underfoot. After the exile the people repeated the sins of earlier generations, and prophets sent to correct wrongs met suspicion and scorn, so that rejecting the messengers increased guilt across the generations. Their long disobedience to the covenant and worship of other gods forged bonds of bondage that no human power could break.
Self-Condemnation and Coming Judgment
Christ told the story to force the Pharisees to condemn themselves, so that from their own lips they would admit the justice of the punishment about to fall on them. The beating of one servant, the killing of another, and the stoning of another lays bare the past history of the Jews and their true religious character, picturing the very methods and practices of the Jewish leaders toward God's servants. Their hatred and murderous intent toward Christ Himself showed that they recognized themselves in the picture and were ready to carry it on.
The priests and elders afterward recalled the parable and saw in the crimes of the tenants their own treatment of God's messengers, understanding that the parable pointed to them. The sentence they themselves had pronounced against the wicked tenants was their own just doom. That recognition filled them with anger, and they would have laid hands on Christ to silence Him, but they feared the people.
The punishment was the taking away of national privileges and of the kingdom from the Jewish nation and from the Jewish church that had separated itself from God. The vineyard, with its blessings and privileges so long abused, was to be transferred from them to others, to the Gentiles and to a people who would obey its Ruler and bear its fruit. The same rejection that exposed their purpose against the heir, Christ, whom they cruelly slew, brought the warning that the kingdom would be given to other husbandmen.
That loss ends in the destruction of temple and city, in the dispersion of the nation, in desolation, calamity and ruin. Israel's failure to fulfill God's purpose after being so richly blessed and claimed for obedience meant forfeiting His blessing and bringing ruin upon itself, proving unfaithful to its trust as though there were no God. Such ingratitude and rejection that brought destruction on Israel also brings ruin on the world.
God forgives the repentant, but He withdraws His favor and support from the unrepentant who reject His commandments, exalt themselves and persist in sin. No one who receives light from God can expect His blessing and support while refusing to walk in His ways and keep His commandments. Terrible judgments follow those who misrepresent Him and break trust toward Him and the messengers He sent. Yet though the vine was bruised and trampled, despised and sought to be destroyed, God planted it beyond human reach, where its branches can still be joined to it.
Foreshadowing Rejection of Christ
The beating of one servant, the killing of another, and the stoning of another was not an isolated outbreak but the repeated rejection of prophets sent again and again to receive the fruit due to the owner in its season with reproof, warning, appeal and invitation. The tenants are the Jewish leaders and the servants are God's messengers, and messenger after messenger was shamefully abused, persecuted and slain before God sent His Son. That violence against the prophets foreshadowed and led up to the rejection and killing of the owner's Son, revealing wickedness that called for judgment and culminating in condemning Jesus to death and preparing to kill Him.
The picture set forth the past history of the Jews and the true methods and practices of their religious character toward God's servants. Christ used it to make the Pharisees condemn themselves and admit the justice of the punishment soon to fall in the taking away of national privileges. Their hatred and murderous intent showed they recognized themselves in the picture and were ready to continue it, for the entrusted caretakers were already making plans to crucify Him to whom He came. That resistance to righteousness continued the same pattern and culminated in condemning and crucifying Christ, the Lord of glory.
Behind the treatment of the prophets Satan was striving to gain control of the human mind that he might wreak his hatred and revenge on the only-begotten Son of God, and the beating and killing of the servants led on to the last act of the tragedy when the Son would be killed by the unfaithful stewards. Though men were dependent on Christ for life, the husbandmen poured ignominy, shame and disgrace upon Him when He could have saved Himself from it all, because He came to receive fruit from His vineyard, and the same corrupt sentiments of antichrist work in the children of disobedience to their ruin still. Jeremiah suffered the severest persecution from his own countrymen for bearing a faithful message, Isaiah was sawn asunder for faithfully reproving sin, and others were stoned, tempted, slain with the sword, left destitute, afflicted, tormented, wandering in sheepskins and goatskins, cruelly treated and banished as men of whom the world was not worthy. The parable thus exposes their purpose against the heir, Christ, whom they cruelly slew, with warning that the kingdom would be taken from them and given to a people bearing its fruit.
Warning to Church Today
The vineyard parable is not confined to the Jewish nation but reaches to the church in every generation and to God's people from that time to the present, who receive great privileges and blessings with the expectation of a corresponding return. The husbandmen are both ancient Israel and God's people all the way to the present day, entrusted with God's vineyard under covenant blessing. God revealed Himself to ancient Israel in great power and gave great advantages, designing that through them His name should be magnified in all parts of the world.
The husbandmen represent religious leaders who withhold from God the fruits He claims and turn people away from His word and service. In Israel they were the priests and teachers who by misleading the people withheld what God claimed and turned the nation against Christ. The same pattern is repeated when teachers lead people to disregard God's commandments and oppose messengers who call for obedience, and such teachers are unfaithful servants.
The beating, stoning, and killing of the servants exposes a sinful breach of trust by a people who had received light, for the servants are messengers sent to receive the fruit owed to God. The parable therefore warns all who receive light from God that they cannot expect His blessing and support while refusing to walk in His ways and keep His commandments. The abuse of the servants is inseparable from misuse of what God entrusts, since instead of advancing His work people use gifts and resources for themselves and hinder it.
That same spirit appears in rich people who treat possessions as their own, neglect God as rightful owner, and withhold help from the oppressed and suffering. Such conduct is robbery of God and failure of stewardship, answering His claim with abuse rather than faithful service and laying up judgment. Stewards in responsible positions and institutions entrusted with work and means mistreat servants by failing to respond, selfishly closing doors God has opened and shutting back His blessings.
The vineyard is God's work, especially neglected cities, countries and barren wastes, and returning fruit in due season means unselfishly doing the entrusted work, cultivating neglected parts, sowing truth, planting the standard where the warning was never heard, cooperating intelligently with God, and giving means to His messengers to carry the work forward. Unfaithfulness is appropriating all facilities to the portion under one's own supervision while leaving other parts barren, unworked, desolate and bare, with no plants made, no way prepared and no paths made straight, thereby binding about a worldwide work. Selfish and covetous appropriation continues even while message after message and servants are sent to oversee the vineyard, and words spoken against His servants make their message largely of no effect, mingling His service with selfishness and dishonoring Him. Faithfulness, by contrast, is a well-cultivated vineyard bearing fruit in every part, using the Lord's money, blessings and facilities to best advantage for the whole field, which is for the husbandmen's own advantage in advancing His kingdom and glorifying His name.
God calls refusal to return fruit unfaithful stewardship and will take the trust from those who prove untrustworthy. He removes His gifts from unfaithful stewards, leaves their institutions barren of resources, passes to other agencies, finds another way to accomplish His purpose, and gives the vineyard to those who will honor the trust and work it. The wicked husbandmen first occupied God's vineyard year after year while God looked in vain for fruit, shamefully treating His messengers while appropriating entrusted goods to their own use and selfishly enjoying all benefits without return. That first application was the Jewish church that separated itself from God and crucified the Lord of glory, so that abused blessings and privileges were transferred to the Gentiles.
The same verse warns the church of today, for professing Christians who follow the wicked husbandmen reject God by rejecting His truth. They hate the light of the pure doctrines Christ enforced, are stirred to anger when the claims of God's law are kept before them, and under Satan's converting work continue warfare against God and His truth. New ways are repeatedly devised to turn people from the truth and from the message of mercy and reconciliation through Christ, and the conflict grows. Where ambition rules and messengers are rejected, love and fear of God depart. Then the sacred trust committed to them will be taken from them and given to others.
The verse thus shows the past and future history of Christ's church: God looked for His vineyard to bring forth grapes and fulfill His purpose, but the husbandmen failed. When He sent messengers to receive fruit, instead of being welcomed they were treated as enemies, persecuted and killed. When still other messengers were sent, they received the same treatment as the first, only with still more determined hatred.
Faithful Fruit-Bearing Required
God looks for fruit from His vineyard, produced through the work of His laborers, and He expects a corresponding return for the great privileges and blessings given to His people in every generation. Responsibility for the vineyard is not limited to priests and rulers, for talents are entrusted to everyone from the least influential to the greatest, and faithful, diligent use of gifts great or small should produce a return for God. He appoints honest stewards over His vineyard to return its fruits to Him, requiring those who have received light and advantages and know the truth to reflect that light by precept and example and to be decidedly and intensely earnest in drawing fellow men from destruction, while those who never had light will not answer for light they never had. Everyone who believes has work to do and no true Christian can be idle, and those charged with establishing the work in foreign fields should have special and abundant advantages and should not be hindered.
The vineyard's produce represents what people hold in trust, and possessions, abilities and resources are to be used for God and faithfully returned to Him. That trust includes tithes and offerings returned so that others may benefit, and faithful stewardship in this is approved. True fruit-bearing is benevolence returning to God His due by sustaining every good work, required of everyone who has received His great gift to reveal the power of truth in counterworking selfishness and self-indulgence. Appreciation of the rich endowment of God's gifts leads the converted soul to great benevolence, character cannot be complete unless that benevolence is expressed, and liberality in lines that advance the kingdom is the very best tangible evidence of sincerity of faith, with love expressed in deeds.
Faithfulness is a well-cultivated vineyard bearing fruit in every part, using the Lord's money, blessings and facilities to best advantage for the whole field, and it is for the husbandmen's own advantage to render the fruits in their season for the advancement of His kingdom and the glory of His name. Returning fruit in due season means unselfishly doing the entrusted work, cultivating neglected parts, sowing seeds of truth, planting the standard where the warning was never heard, cooperating intelligently with God, and giving means to His messengers to carry the work forward. Unfaithfulness is appropriating all facilities to the portion under one's own supervision and centering every advantage in a few places, while leaving other parts barren, unworked, desolate and bare, with no plants made, no way prepared and no paths made straight, so fruit capable of being borne is not gathered and His name is not glorified, thereby binding about a worldwide work. This the Owner calls unfaithful stewardship, and failing to respond by selfishly closing doors He opened and shutting back His blessings is mistreatment of His servants.
The husbandmen's work of rendering fruits is to labor for souls in darkness, help them perfect Christian character, and through earnest work and fervent prayer awaken churches to responsibility and the world from worldliness. The work in the vineyard is varied and hard, needing different kinds of plowing to produce a harvest of different kinds of fruit, and in and through Christ by the discipline of work God's people learn how to gain the true riches and perfect a character after the divine likeness. That complete character in Jesus Christ is the only treasure taken into the heavenly courts and the future life. The whole vineyard belongs to the Lord as owner with right to expect revenue, the vineyard being the whole house of Israel brought as a vine out of Egypt and planted in the Holy Land, and the union that should exist between Christ and the church is that of vine and branches, with Christ the vine and His people the branches. The parable thus teaches solemn waiting and earnest, vigilant work in preparation for Christ's second coming.
In the vineyard parable the owner is God, the vineyard is Israel planted in Canaan under covenant blessing, the husbandmen are its priests and leaders entrusted to cultivate it for Him, and the servants are His prophets sent in season to receive its fruit and call to obedience. Their beating, killing and stoning pictures how those leaders treated messenger after messenger with contempt, persecution and death because they hated reproof, would not turn from unfaithfulness, and selfishly used God's gifts for themselves. Christ told it so the Pharisees would condemn themselves and admit the justice of the judgment to fall on them, that the kingdom would be taken from the unfaithful nation and given to a people who would bear its fruit, ending in desolation of temple, city and nation. The assaults on the servants lead up to and foreshadow the rejection and killing of the owner's Son after the messengers were slain. The parable applies not only to the Jewish nation but to God's people in every generation to the present, warning all who receive light that they cannot expect His blessing while refusing to walk in His ways, and that unfaithful stewardship will be removed and given to those who will honor the trust and work it.
Parable Setting and Symbols
The verse belongs to the parable of the vineyard, which shows that God richly blessed Israel and claimed their obedience, and that failure to fulfill His purpose meant forfeiting His blessing and bringing ruin upon itself. It stands in the twenty-first chapter of Matthew, the chapter of Christ's journey to Jerusalem at His triumphal entry, a powerful chapter to be studied and understood. That chapter gives warning from the lesson of the pretentious fig tree that bore no fruit, representing those who profess to serve God and have their names on the church books but bear no fruit in their lives to the glory of God, while pointing forward to the despised and rejected Christ crowned and seated upon His throne.
The householder or owner is God, and the vineyard is the Jewish nation, the whole house of Israel, the church brought as a vine out of Egypt and planted in the Holy Land in the land of Canaan under covenant blessings. It was entrusted to cultivate the vineyard for God and to represent His kingdom, with privileges carrying the duty of obedience, and its violence toward the servants portrays its rejection and persecution of God's messengers and exposes its spiritual condition despite spiritual and temporal advantages given it. The union that should exist between Christ and the church is that of vine and branches, with Christ the vine and His people the branches. The vineyard is also the world and God's work in general, especially the neglected cities and countries and barren wastes, put into the hands of men and of the people of the world, who have brought little return to Him for it.
The husbandmen or tenants are the Jewish nation, especially its leaders, priests, teachers, scribes, Pharisees and elders, appointed to cultivate His vineyard and entrusted with sacred duties, the Lord's goods and enriched land. The servants beaten, killed and stoned are God's prophets, teachers and messengers, sent at His appointed time and at different times to seek and receive the fruit and revenue due to Him in its season at the specified time. They were sent to call Israel to render to Him His dues, to remind them of responsibility because they were not heeding His word, and to bring warnings, reproof, appeals and invitations, finding everything appropriated to a wrong use. Their mistreatment depicts the people's rejection of God's messengers despite the blessings and opportunities He had given them, with the owner's repeated sending underscoring that rejection before he sends his son.
The whole vineyard belonged to the Lord, and as owner He had a right to expect revenue from it. The fruit He expects is what people hold in trust, their possessions, abilities and resources including tithes and offerings, to be used for God and faithfully and unselfishly returned in their season for the advancement of His kingdom and the glory of His name under a covenant requiring loyalty. Faithfulness is a well-cultivated vineyard bearing fruit in every part, using the Lord's money, blessings and facilities to the best advantage for the whole field, and it is for the husbandmen's own advantage to render the fruits.
Israel's Rejection of Messengers
The beating of one servant, the killing of another, and the stoning of another pictures the methods and practices of the Jewish leaders toward God's servants. The servants are the prophets, teachers and messengers God sent at appointed times and at different times to seek and receive the fruit and revenue due to Him in its season, to remind Israel of responsibility and to bring warnings, reproof, appeals and invitations. Their violent treatment arose because the people rejected reproof and would not turn from unfaithfulness, and those meant to provide the fruit treated the messengers as impostors.
God sent messenger after messenger, and still other messengers, but each was shamefully abused, persecuted and killed with the same violence and with still more determined hatred. The repeated attacks reveal the nation's unrighteousness despite great light received, and they led up to God sending His Son after the servants were slain. Through the whole Jewish economy the messengers found everything appropriated to a wrong use and warned of unfaithfulness and misappropriation of the Lord's portion, but entreaties and arguments were of no avail. There were cruel mockings and scourgings and bonds and imprisonment and torture and death, with destitution, affliction, wandering in sheepskins and goatskins, and banishment. Jeremiah suffered the severest persecution from his own countrymen because he bore a faithful message from God, and Isaiah was sawn asunder because he faithfully reproved the sins of the nation, and others were stoned, sawn asunder, tempted, slain with the sword, left destitute, afflicted and tormented, cruelly treated and banished, men of whom the world was not worthy (Hebrews 11:36-38).
The violence arose because the people hated reproof, were convicted of their unrighteous course yet would not yield or turn from unfaithfulness, but grew more stubborn when convicted. They perverted Scripture and did not faithfully serve God, exalted themselves and persisted in sin, misrepresented Him, neglected privileges and opportunities, and resisted grace. They had become selfish and covetous, systematically using His gifts and means for their own benefit while robbing Him of the means and facilities entrusted to them for carrying on His work. Those meant to provide fruit treated the messengers as impostors and enemies, meeting those God sent with contempt, injustice and cruelty.
For centuries God looked with patience, forbearance, mercy, compassion, love and care on this cruel treatment of His ambassadors, while His holy law lay prostrate, despised and trampled underfoot. After the exile the people repeated the sins of earlier generations, and prophets sent to correct wrongs met suspicion and scorn, so that rejecting the messengers increased guilt across the generations. Their long disobedience to the covenant and worship of other gods forged bonds of bondage that no human power could break.
Self-Condemnation and Coming Judgment
Christ told the story to force the Pharisees to condemn themselves, so that from their own lips they would admit the justice of the punishment about to fall on them. The beating of one servant, the killing of another, and the stoning of another lays bare the past history of the Jews and their true religious character, picturing the very methods and practices of the Jewish leaders toward God's servants. Their hatred and murderous intent toward Christ Himself showed that they recognized themselves in the picture and were ready to carry it on.
The priests and elders afterward recalled the parable and saw in the crimes of the tenants their own treatment of God's messengers, understanding that the parable pointed to them. The sentence they themselves had pronounced against the wicked tenants was their own just doom. That recognition filled them with anger, and they would have laid hands on Christ to silence Him, but they feared the people.
The punishment was the taking away of national privileges and of the kingdom from the Jewish nation and from the Jewish church that had separated itself from God. The vineyard, with its blessings and privileges so long abused, was to be transferred from them to others, to the Gentiles and to a people who would obey its Ruler and bear its fruit. The same rejection that exposed their purpose against the heir, Christ, whom they cruelly slew, brought the warning that the kingdom would be given to other husbandmen.
That loss ends in the destruction of temple and city, in the dispersion of the nation, in desolation, calamity and ruin. Israel's failure to fulfill God's purpose after being so richly blessed and claimed for obedience meant forfeiting His blessing and bringing ruin upon itself, proving unfaithful to its trust as though there were no God. Such ingratitude and rejection that brought destruction on Israel also brings ruin on the world.
God forgives the repentant, but He withdraws His favor and support from the unrepentant who reject His commandments, exalt themselves and persist in sin. No one who receives light from God can expect His blessing and support while refusing to walk in His ways and keep His commandments. Terrible judgments follow those who misrepresent Him and break trust toward Him and the messengers He sent. Yet though the vine was bruised and trampled, despised and sought to be destroyed, God planted it beyond human reach, where its branches can still be joined to it.
Foreshadowing Rejection of Christ
The beating of one servant, the killing of another, and the stoning of another was not an isolated outbreak but the repeated rejection of prophets sent again and again to receive the fruit due to the owner in its season with reproof, warning, appeal and invitation. The tenants are the Jewish leaders and the servants are God's messengers, and messenger after messenger was shamefully abused, persecuted and slain before God sent His Son. That violence against the prophets foreshadowed and led up to the rejection and killing of the owner's Son, revealing wickedness that called for judgment and culminating in condemning Jesus to death and preparing to kill Him.
The picture set forth the past history of the Jews and the true methods and practices of their religious character toward God's servants. Christ used it to make the Pharisees condemn themselves and admit the justice of the punishment soon to fall in the taking away of national privileges. Their hatred and murderous intent showed they recognized themselves in the picture and were ready to continue it, for the entrusted caretakers were already making plans to crucify Him to whom He came. That resistance to righteousness continued the same pattern and culminated in condemning and crucifying Christ, the Lord of glory.
Behind the treatment of the prophets Satan was striving to gain control of the human mind that he might wreak his hatred and revenge on the only-begotten Son of God, and the beating and killing of the servants led on to the last act of the tragedy when the Son would be killed by the unfaithful stewards. Though men were dependent on Christ for life, the husbandmen poured ignominy, shame and disgrace upon Him when He could have saved Himself from it all, because He came to receive fruit from His vineyard, and the same corrupt sentiments of antichrist work in the children of disobedience to their ruin still. Jeremiah suffered the severest persecution from his own countrymen for bearing a faithful message, Isaiah was sawn asunder for faithfully reproving sin, and others were stoned, tempted, slain with the sword, left destitute, afflicted, tormented, wandering in sheepskins and goatskins, cruelly treated and banished as men of whom the world was not worthy. The parable thus exposes their purpose against the heir, Christ, whom they cruelly slew, with warning that the kingdom would be taken from them and given to a people bearing its fruit.
Warning to Church Today
The vineyard parable is not confined to the Jewish nation but reaches to the church in every generation and to God's people from that time to the present, who receive great privileges and blessings with the expectation of a corresponding return. The husbandmen are both ancient Israel and God's people all the way to the present day, entrusted with God's vineyard under covenant blessing. God revealed Himself to ancient Israel in great power and gave great advantages, designing that through them His name should be magnified in all parts of the world.
The husbandmen represent religious leaders who withhold from God the fruits He claims and turn people away from His word and service. In Israel they were the priests and teachers who by misleading the people withheld what God claimed and turned the nation against Christ. The same pattern is repeated when teachers lead people to disregard God's commandments and oppose messengers who call for obedience, and such teachers are unfaithful servants.
The beating, stoning, and killing of the servants exposes a sinful breach of trust by a people who had received light, for the servants are messengers sent to receive the fruit owed to God. The parable therefore warns all who receive light from God that they cannot expect His blessing and support while refusing to walk in His ways and keep His commandments. The abuse of the servants is inseparable from misuse of what God entrusts, since instead of advancing His work people use gifts and resources for themselves and hinder it.
That same spirit appears in rich people who treat possessions as their own, neglect God as rightful owner, and withhold help from the oppressed and suffering. Such conduct is robbery of God and failure of stewardship, answering His claim with abuse rather than faithful service and laying up judgment. Stewards in responsible positions and institutions entrusted with work and means mistreat servants by failing to respond, selfishly closing doors God has opened and shutting back His blessings.
The vineyard is God's work, especially neglected cities, countries and barren wastes, and returning fruit in due season means unselfishly doing the entrusted work, cultivating neglected parts, sowing truth, planting the standard where the warning was never heard, cooperating intelligently with God, and giving means to His messengers to carry the work forward. Unfaithfulness is appropriating all facilities to the portion under one's own supervision while leaving other parts barren, unworked, desolate and bare, with no plants made, no way prepared and no paths made straight, thereby binding about a worldwide work. Selfish and covetous appropriation continues even while message after message and servants are sent to oversee the vineyard, and words spoken against His servants make their message largely of no effect, mingling His service with selfishness and dishonoring Him. Faithfulness, by contrast, is a well-cultivated vineyard bearing fruit in every part, using the Lord's money, blessings and facilities to best advantage for the whole field, which is for the husbandmen's own advantage in advancing His kingdom and glorifying His name.
God calls refusal to return fruit unfaithful stewardship and will take the trust from those who prove untrustworthy. He removes His gifts from unfaithful stewards, leaves their institutions barren of resources, passes to other agencies, finds another way to accomplish His purpose, and gives the vineyard to those who will honor the trust and work it. The wicked husbandmen first occupied God's vineyard year after year while God looked in vain for fruit, shamefully treating His messengers while appropriating entrusted goods to their own use and selfishly enjoying all benefits without return. That first application was the Jewish church that separated itself from God and crucified the Lord of glory, so that abused blessings and privileges were transferred to the Gentiles.
The same verse warns the church of today, for professing Christians who follow the wicked husbandmen reject God by rejecting His truth. They hate the light of the pure doctrines Christ enforced, are stirred to anger when the claims of God's law are kept before them, and under Satan's converting work continue warfare against God and His truth. New ways are repeatedly devised to turn people from the truth and from the message of mercy and reconciliation through Christ, and the conflict grows. Where ambition rules and messengers are rejected, love and fear of God depart. Then the sacred trust committed to them will be taken from them and given to others.
The verse thus shows the past and future history of Christ's church: God looked for His vineyard to bring forth grapes and fulfill His purpose, but the husbandmen failed. When He sent messengers to receive fruit, instead of being welcomed they were treated as enemies, persecuted and killed. When still other messengers were sent, they received the same treatment as the first, only with still more determined hatred.
Faithful Fruit-Bearing Required
God looks for fruit from His vineyard, produced through the work of His laborers, and He expects a corresponding return for the great privileges and blessings given to His people in every generation. Responsibility for the vineyard is not limited to priests and rulers, for talents are entrusted to everyone from the least influential to the greatest, and faithful, diligent use of gifts great or small should produce a return for God. He appoints honest stewards over His vineyard to return its fruits to Him, requiring those who have received light and advantages and know the truth to reflect that light by precept and example and to be decidedly and intensely earnest in drawing fellow men from destruction, while those who never had light will not answer for light they never had. Everyone who believes has work to do and no true Christian can be idle, and those charged with establishing the work in foreign fields should have special and abundant advantages and should not be hindered.
The vineyard's produce represents what people hold in trust, and possessions, abilities and resources are to be used for God and faithfully returned to Him. That trust includes tithes and offerings returned so that others may benefit, and faithful stewardship in this is approved. True fruit-bearing is benevolence returning to God His due by sustaining every good work, required of everyone who has received His great gift to reveal the power of truth in counterworking selfishness and self-indulgence. Appreciation of the rich endowment of God's gifts leads the converted soul to great benevolence, character cannot be complete unless that benevolence is expressed, and liberality in lines that advance the kingdom is the very best tangible evidence of sincerity of faith, with love expressed in deeds.
Faithfulness is a well-cultivated vineyard bearing fruit in every part, using the Lord's money, blessings and facilities to best advantage for the whole field, and it is for the husbandmen's own advantage to render the fruits in their season for the advancement of His kingdom and the glory of His name. Returning fruit in due season means unselfishly doing the entrusted work, cultivating neglected parts, sowing seeds of truth, planting the standard where the warning was never heard, cooperating intelligently with God, and giving means to His messengers to carry the work forward. Unfaithfulness is appropriating all facilities to the portion under one's own supervision and centering every advantage in a few places, while leaving other parts barren, unworked, desolate and bare, with no plants made, no way prepared and no paths made straight, so fruit capable of being borne is not gathered and His name is not glorified, thereby binding about a worldwide work. This the Owner calls unfaithful stewardship, and failing to respond by selfishly closing doors He opened and shutting back His blessings is mistreatment of His servants.
The husbandmen's work of rendering fruits is to labor for souls in darkness, help them perfect Christian character, and through earnest work and fervent prayer awaken churches to responsibility and the world from worldliness. The work in the vineyard is varied and hard, needing different kinds of plowing to produce a harvest of different kinds of fruit, and in and through Christ by the discipline of work God's people learn how to gain the true riches and perfect a character after the divine likeness. That complete character in Jesus Christ is the only treasure taken into the heavenly courts and the future life. The whole vineyard belongs to the Lord as owner with right to expect revenue, the vineyard being the whole house of Israel brought as a vine out of Egypt and planted in the Holy Land, and the union that should exist between Christ and the church is that of vine and branches, with Christ the vine and His people the branches. The parable thus teaches solemn waiting and earnest, vigilant work in preparation for Christ's second coming.