21:41Matthew 21:41

In the parable the listeners themselves declare what the owner will do when his tenants have beaten his servants and killed his son, that he will destroy those wicked men and entrust the vineyard to others who will give him its fruit in its season.DA 589+1 Without seeing themselves in the story, the priests and rulers plotting Christ's death thus pronounce their own sentence and admit the justice of the judgment about to fall on them.PK 711.4–712.2+3 The vineyard is Israel, the people God planted and richly blessed, the owner is God, His servants are the prophets they rejected, His son is Christ, and the unfaithful husbandmen are Israel's rulers and teachers entrusted with His work.PK 711.4–712.2+4 Their destruction means condemnation and loss of national privilege in the ruin of city and temple and dispersion of the nation, while the kingdom and sacred trust are taken from the fruitless stewards and given to others, to the Gentiles and to a people bringing forth its fruits.ST Feb 17, 1898+4 The fruit God required was obedience, gratitude and holiness revealing His character to the world, and the same warning rests on His church today, which having received great light must render corresponding returns or likewise lose the trust.COL 284.2–285.1+4

Matthew 21:41 is the hearers' own answer in the parable of the vineyard to what the owner will do, that he will destroy the wicked tenants and lease the vineyard to other husbandmen who will give him its fruit at the proper times.DA 589+1 The wicked husbandmen will be destroyed and the vineyard entrusted to others who will produce its fruit in due season, which in Christ's application means the kingdom of God is taken from those who reject Him and given to a people who bear its fruits.Ms 149, 1898, par. 4–5 The verse belongs to the account of Christ's journey to Jerusalem at the time of His triumphal entry.Lt 82, 1907, par. 9 In that same setting the warning about the pretentious, fruitless fig tree applies to people who profess to serve God and are listed as church members but bear no fruit in their lives to God's glory.Lt 82, 1907, par. 9

The verse belongs to the vineyard parable showing that Israel had received rich blessings and was responsible to obey God and fulfill His purpose.COL 284.1 Failure meant forfeiting God's blessing and bringing ruin upon itself.COL 284.1 God took Israel from Egypt and planted them in Canaan as His vineyard, nourishing and caring for them and looking for the fruit of obedience, gratitude and holiness.ST Feb 27, 1896

He sent prophets to warn them and gave the sacrificial system to keep before them the one great Sacrifice.ST Feb 27, 1896 Christ planted and cared for Israel as God's vineyard, sent servants to nurture it, and finally came Himself still hoping to save it from destruction.GC 19.1–2 Despite this care it produced wild grapes instead of the fruit God sought.GC 19.1–2

The vineyard is Israel, the Jewish nation, the people God chose and richly blessed, and their sacred trust from Him.PK 711.4–712.2+4 The wicked tenants who abused His messengers and killed His Son would be destroyed, and the vineyard would be taken from those who rejected His purpose and entrusted to others who would produce its fruit in its proper seasons.PK 711.4–712.2+4 The householder is God, the vineyard is the Jewish nation, the servants are the prophets whom the people killed, and the son is Jesus, whom the leaders were plotting to kill.DA 596.1–597.4 The judgment pictured is the loss of Israel's national privileges, ending in the destruction of the temple and city and the dispersion of the nation.DA 596.1–597.4

The vineyard is also described as the world.FE 512.4 The whole vineyard is the Lord's, comprising the whole house of Israel, and as Owner He has a right to expect revenue from it, with husbandmen as stewards bound by terms to return a certain amount of fruit in its season.Lt 127, 1899, par. 2–3 The church is a vine brought out of Egypt and planted in the Holy Land, and the vine and the branches show the union that should exist between Christ and the church.Lt 127, 1899, par. 2–3 His vineyard, His work and institutions and goods, are entrusted to men to trade upon them and develop character, with servants sent message after message as to ancient Israel to oversee it and gather fruit.Lt 127, 1899, par. 10–11 The earth belongs to God by creation and redemption, though it is now in the usurper's hands, and the world's blessings are His gifts, yet people selfishly use them for wealth, position, pleasure and greed instead of returning service to Him.COL 301.3–302.2 God as Owner entrusts His work to men in responsible positions and to institutions as stewards, expecting them to return fruit in due season by unselfishly doing the entrusted work, cultivating barren wastes and neglected parts, sowing truth, planting the standard in cities and countries never warned, cooperating with Him, and giving means to His messengers to carry the work forward.Ms 173, 1901, par. 14–15

The husbandmen are Israel's rulers, priests, teachers and leaders, entrusted with God's work, who represent the unfaithful leaders who rejected God's messengers and then rejected and killed Christ, the Son sent to claim the Owner's rights.ST Apr 11, 1878+4 By misleading the people and rejecting Christ they withheld its fruit from its lord, kept God from receiving the service He required, turned the nation away from Him, and brought responsibility for its sin and ruin.COL 304.3–305.1 Because they treated His messengers cruelly and killed the Son, the vineyard would be taken from them, they would face severe punishment, and it would be entrusted to other husbandmen who would give its fruits at the proper times.ST Dec 12, 1900 Those keepers were especially unfaithful because they had pledged to teach God's word and obey it themselves, yet failed to teach His goodness and His claim to love and service, sought their own glory, and tried to appropriate the vineyard's fruit.COL 292.1–3 By distorting Scripture and imposing human rules they burdened the people and helped turn them from God's commandments, and by treating entrusted resources as their own instead of using them to advance His work their greed misrepresented God and His kingdom to the Gentiles.COL 292.1–3

The wicked husbandmen also represent the keepers of the vineyard who, after the exile, repeated the failures of earlier generations, again came into conflict with surrounding nations, and treated God's correcting prophets with suspicion and scorn, adding to their guilt.PK 17.2

The priests, rulers, Pharisees and other hearers, including the very men then plotting to take His life, followed the story with deep interest without seeing its relation to themselves, so engrossed in the narrative that they did not realize its application to themselves.PK 711.4–712.2+3 By denouncing the husbandmen they unwittingly pronounced their own doom, declaring that the lord of the vineyard would destroy those wicked men who killed the owner's servants and son and would entrust the vineyard to other husbandmen who would render its fruit in its season and at the appointed times.PK 711.4–712.2+4 Christ had asked what the lord of the vineyard would do in order that they would pronounce their own sentence and admit the justice of the punishment soon to fall on them, and Jesus then fastened the guilt where it belonged by applying their own words to them.ST Feb 17, 1898+1 Their verdict declares the justice of taking away their national privileges, a work already commenced that would end in the destruction of their temple and city and the dispersion of the nation.ST Feb 17, 1898

The destruction means condemnation from heaven and separation from God, fulfilled in the doom of the Jewish nation when more than one million perished in the siege of Jerusalem.Ms 23, 1900, par. 10–12 The entrusting to others means the kingdom would be taken from the Jews who cherished themselves as the favorites of heaven and the church of God and given to a nation bringing forth its fruits, for the vineyard represents Israel and the judgment means its blessings and responsibility will be taken from those who reject God's purpose and given to a people who bear its fruit.PK 711.4–712.2+1 The doom would have been averted if the people had received Christ, but envy and jealousy made them reject the Light of the world, leaving their souls surrounded with darkness as midnight.Ms 23, 1900, par. 10–12 Carried away by the striking figures and always ready to condemn others, they answered as Jesus meant them to answer and condemned the very course they themselves were pursuing.ST Feb 17, 1898+1

Christ was making application of the Word to their own hearts and showing before the people that they were the ones He was illustrating, and though they recognized their own methods and practices in His plain rebuke their self-condemnation decided the case of the Jews as a nation.ST Feb 17, 1898+1 They knew the parable referred to them and that in their own answer they had pronounced their own sentence, and when the truth in His illustrations reached their hearts they often became enraged.Ms 78, 1897, par. 12+2 They did not repent but were filled with hatred and murder and were ready themselves to fulfill the parable by killing the heir, restrained only by God's power and heavenly angels attending Christ and guarding His life from being taken despite repeated attempts, and by fear of the multitude who took Jesus for a prophet.ST Feb 17, 1898+1

The tenants' refusal to give the vineyard's fruit, abuse of the lord's servants, and killing of his son mirror the leaders' rejection of God's claim and treatment of God's messengers and Christ, so they face the destruction with fearful severity they pronounced.GC 643.3–4+2 At Christ's return, those who rejected God's claim, abused His messengers and killed His Son will recognize their own conduct and course in the parable and see that its sentence is their just doom.GC 643.3–4+1 Their cry of anguish will acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God and the true Messiah.GC88 643.1–4

The destruction the hearers pronounced means condemnation from heaven and separation from God, punishment with fearful severity.Ms 23, 1900, par. 10–12+2 It portrays the cloud of retributive judgment about to burst upon them in unrestrained fury.ST Feb 27, 1896 Their verdict declares the justice of taking away their national privileges, a work already commenced that would end in the destruction of their temple and city and the dispersion of the nation.ST Feb 17, 1898+1 That doom was fulfilled when more than one million perished in the siege of Jerusalem.Ms 23, 1900, par. 10–12 Their unfaithfulness to the trust, failure to care faithfully for the vineyard and to render its fruits, is why desolation and calamity overtook them.Ms 73, 1901, par. 5–6

The entrusting of the vineyard to others means the kingdom, blessings, privileges and sacred trust abused by the Jews would be taken from them because they rejected God.Ms 23, 1900, par. 10–12+4 They had cherished themselves as heaven's favorites and as the church of God, yet the kingdom would be given to the Gentiles and to a nation and people bringing forth its fruits in their seasons.Ms 23, 1900, par. 10–12+1 In Christ's application, the kingdom of God is taken from those who reject Him and given to a people who bear its fruits.Ms 149, 1898, par. 4–5+1 The vineyard represents God's people and their sacred trust, and the tenants represent the leaders who rejected God's messengers and plotted to kill His Son, so their own answer foretold the loss of their stewardship and the transfer of the kingdom to those who would produce its fruits.Ms 110, 1899, par. 26–32+1 Their privileges would be taken away and given to others who would return the required fruit, and because they treated God's messengers cruelly and killed the Son they would face severe punishment while the vineyard was entrusted to other husbandmen who would give its fruits at the proper times.Ms 138, 1899, par. 40–42+1

The vineyard work first purposed for Israel is to be accomplished through God's church on earth, His covenant-keeping people.PK 713.1 These faithful representatives are spiritual Israel, to whom the covenant promises made to ancient Israel will be fulfilled.PK 713.1 They are identified with a goodly remnant through whom God carries out His plan and fulfills His covenant promises, with His continuing care and His purpose to gather fruit from all nations.PK 22.1 Though the vine is cast out and trampled through rejection of God's purpose, God preserves it by planting it beyond the reach of those who would destroy it, where branches and grafts can still be joined to it.PK 17.3

God punishes those entrusted with His work when they disregard His requirements and misuse what He has given them.ST Oct 31, 1900 He removes unrepentant stewards and gives their place to others who will represent Him faithfully and render the fruits He requires and honor the trust.ST Oct 31, 1900+1 Returning fruit means unselfishly doing the entrusted work, cultivating barren wastes and neglected parts of the vineyard, sowing the seeds of truth, planting the standard of truth in cities and countries that have never heard the message of warning, cooperating intelligently with God, and giving means to His messengers to carry the work forward.Ms 173, 1901, par. 14–15 If stewards refuse, fail to respond, and selfishly close the doors God has opened, God will remove His gifts from the unfaithful stewards, leave them barren of resources, pass the work to other agencies who will honor the trust, and find another way to accomplish His purpose.Ms 173, 1901, par. 14–15

The doom would have been averted if the people had received Christ.Ms 23, 1900, par. 10–12 But envy and jealousy, selfishness and ambitious desires, made them reject the Light of the world until love and fear of God departed from them, leaving their souls surrounded with darkness as midnight.Ms 23, 1900, par. 10–12+2 Their accumulated iniquity brought retributive judgment, and their disobedience brought the loss of God's blessing and ruin upon the nation.Ms 138, 1899, par. 40–42+1 Through ingratitude and grace resisted, with hollow formalism full of Pharisaical pride, self-exaltation and cruelty, they multiplied transgression for a thousand years, resisted grace, refused mercy and opportunity, neglected opportunities and despised the servants sent to seek the vineyard's fruit, until the vineyard became fruitless and a wasteland.ST Feb 27, 1896+1

The Jewish religious rulers had served their day and their stewardship of the vineyard would be taken and given to other husbandmen because they resisted righteousness.Ms 111, 1897, par. 16–18 Claiming to have the only true religion in the world, they turned from the truth itself and rejected and condemned Christ who was the Light of the world shining amid moral darkness.Ms 111, 1897, par. 16–18 Their religion had become a religion of oppression unable to reform them, exalting valueless tradition and rites above the Word of God.Ms 111, 1897, par. 16–18 They crucified the One who was the truth because He bore witness against their evil works, while injustice and fraud triumphed and the darkness did not comprehend the light.Ms 111, 1897, par. 16–18

The fruit expected from Israel was to honor God, to reveal the principles of His kingdom, and to represent His character in a fallen world.COL 284.2–285.1 That fruit was a life matching the sacred privileges He had given, lived in obedience, gratitude and holiness.COL 284.2–285.1+1 The husbandmen stand guilty when they withhold such fruit from the owner.COL 305.2–306.1+1 In Israel the priests and teachers were those husbandmen, for by misleading the people and rejecting Christ they kept God from receiving the service He required, turned the nation away from Him, and brought upon themselves responsibility for its sin and ruin.COL 304.3–305.1

The fruits God claims are love, humility and self-sacrificing service, produced through obedience to His word.COL 305.2–306.1 Those who lead people to disregard His law prevent them from bearing fruit to His glory and prove unfaithful servants.COL 305.2–306.1 The fruits of the vineyard also mean faithful stewardship, including returning tithes and offerings for His work and for those who do not know Him.Ms 164, 1899, par. 17–18 They include support of the ministry and relief for the poor and suffering, cultivated so the vineyard yields its due rather than being used as men please.RH Jul 17, 1900 Their true nature is benevolence returning to God His due to sustain every good work and advance His kingdom, counterworking selfishness and self-indulgence.Ms 12, 1900, par. 21–23 Such liberality, with love expressed in tangible deeds, is the very best evidence of sincere faith, and without it character cannot be complete.Ms 12, 1900, par. 21–23

God expects fruit from His vineyard as the result of His laborers' work.Lt 92, 1902, par. 18–19 Every believer in Christ has work to do for Him, and no true Christian should be idle.Lt 92, 1902, par. 18–19 The responsibility rests not only on priests and rulers but on every person whatever influence or ability may be possessed.Ms 126, 1899, par. 9+1 Diligently using God-given talents brings the returns He expects as His portion from the vineyard.Ms 126, 1899, par. 9 Israel had received exceptional covenant blessings and the land of Canaan to cultivate for Him so they could serve as representatives of His kingdom, and the gift tested their obedience unto spiritual and material prosperity upon meeting His conditions.Ms 135, 1899, par. 15–16

The parable therefore calls for earnest, vigilant work in preparing for Christ's second coming, laboring for people in darkness, helping them perfect Christian character, and arousing the churches to their responsibilities so the world is awakened from worldliness.Ms 139, 1899, par. 1 Those who have received light are to reflect it 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.Lt 109, 1899, par. 33–34 The fruit requires varied, hard work, different kinds of ploughing that the ground may produce different kinds of fruit, reaching not only outcasts but those in high honor who know not God and keep not His commandments, following Christ who came to save lost, fallen humanity, with idleness and pleasure-loving never excused.Lt 109, 1899, par. 33–34 In and through Christ, by the discipline of work, His people learn how to gain true riches and may perfect a character after the divine likeness, a sample of Christ's character, which alone can be taken into the future life and the heavenly courts.Lt 109, 1899, par. 33–34

Returning the produce at the proper time is for the caretakers' own advantage, because a well-cultivated vineyard proves the caretaker faithful.Lt 127, 1899, par. 6–7 Faithfulness means unselfish, honest work for every part of the field rather than binding up blessings and facilities in the portion under one's own supervision while leaving other parts barren and unworked.Lt 127, 1899, par. 6–7 It means cultivating barren wastes and neglected parts, sowing the seeds of truth, planting the standard of truth in cities and countries that have never heard the warning, cooperating intelligently with God, and giving means to His messengers to carry the work forward.Ms 173, 1901, par. 14–15 Centering every advantage, facility and money in a few places while leaving other portions desolate, bare and unplanted, so that fruit cannot be gathered from the trees of His planting, is selfishness and covetousness and unfaithful stewardship which God sees.Lt 127, 1899, par. 6–7+1 God wants the neglected parts worked with constant watchfulness for improvements and best use of His money, and because of such unfaithfulness continued from ancient Israel to the present He takes away the trust from those who prove untrustworthy, removes His gifts, leaves them barren of resources, passes the work to other agencies who will honor it, and finds another way to accomplish His purpose.Lt 127, 1899, par. 6–7+2

The means entrusted to people are to be used in His service so that the vineyard does not remain barren.RH Oct 8, 1901 Using those gifts for self-gratification hinders the work.RH Oct 8, 1901 God tests His stewards as He tested ancient Israel.RH Oct 8, 1901 Yet the Lord's vineyard in the use of the people of the world has brought Him little in return.Ms 52, 1900, par. 33–35

The parable exposes the chosen people's breach of trust and warns all who receive light from God and claim to belong to Him that He will not continue to bless and sustain those who persist in sin, exalt themselves, and misrepresent Him.ST Oct 31, 1900+1 Unless they obey His commandments He withdraws His favor, while He forgives those who repent; terrible judgments fall on those whose misleading example claims His favor while dishonoring Him.Ms 110, 1899, par. 33–35 The unfaithful keepers face destruction and the vineyard is entrusted to others who will produce its fruits.ST Oct 31, 1900+1

The vineyard parable applies not only to the Jewish nation but also to the church in the present generation, to which God has granted great privileges and blessings and from which He expects corresponding returns.COL 296.2 Those entrusted with God's truth and gifts are accountable to return the fruit He requires, and privilege becomes condemnation when they are disobedient and unthankful.RH Jul 17, 1900 The husbandmen condemned themselves when they said the owner would destroy the wicked tenants and entrust the vineyard to others who would give its fruit in season, and that answer meant the kingdom would be taken from the Jewish leaders because they rejected God's messengers and killed His Son and given to a people who would produce its fruits.RH Jul 17, 1900

The same verdict applies now to professing Christians who follow in those steps.Ms 23, 1900, par. 13–14 The Jewish church had occupied God's vineyard year after year while God looked in vain for fruit, shamefully treated His messengers, selfishly appropriated and enjoyed the goods entrusted to them, returned no fruit, and crucified His beloved Son, so the blessings, privileges, and sacred trust they abused would be taken from them and given to the Gentiles and to others who render fruit in their seasons.Ms 23, 1900, par. 13–14 Those today who are stirred to anger when the claims of the law of God and the light of the pure doctrines Christ enforced are kept before them, who under Satan's working continue warfare against God and His truth, and who reject God by rejecting His truth, will likewise have the sacred trust taken from them and given to others.Ms 23, 1900, par. 13–14

God comes as the great Proprietor to His vineyard to receive its fruit, and the earth belongs to Him by creation and redemption though now in the usurper's hands.COL 301.3–302.2+1 He keeps His searching eye upon rich, proud, self-indulgent, unfaithful stewards who do not relate to Him as accountable, who exalt self as independent because of land and wealth, estimate character by riches, worship self and not God, and rob their Lord by withholding relief from the poor and oppressed and by misusing His goods for self.Ms 85, 1899, par. 3–4 The world's blessings are His gifts, but people selfishly use them for wealth, position, pleasure, and greed instead of returning service to Him.COL 301.3–302.2 He weighs all things in His scales of eternal justice and will reward every man according as his works shall be, and continued robbery lays up wrath against the day of wrath for every unfaithful steward who puts justice and mercy out of mind for avarice and strife, for He loves righteousness but hates iniquity.Ms 85, 1899, par. 3–4 Israel's ingratitude, neglect of opportunity, and misuse of God's gifts brought destruction, and the same sin brings ruin upon the world today.COL 301.3–302.2

The world is represented as a vineyard in the Saviour's parables, and that vineyard figure is to be studied and put into practice in schools through faithful cultivation of the land and disinterested care of buildings, which removes the love of sports and amusements that causes perplexity in school work.Ms 99, 1907, par. 3 The Master of the vineyard parable is the one to whom workers should bring their needs, and the vineyard work is to be carried out by workers who are supported in completing the purpose for which the work was begun.CNA 140.2