Matthew 21

Read Matthew 21:1-11

I heavily encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage prior to reading my comments. It is impossible to understand the passage if you do not read the passage. The setting of this story is at Rosh Hashanah, which falls in September. It is the festival of the coronation of the king. The Christian church places this story one week prior to Easter. This is most likely due to the traditional time that the Catholic church set Palm Sunday according to their calendar. When we disregard the Jewish Festivals, ignore their calendar, and rely solely upon guesswork, it is easy to get dates wrong. The problem with this is not just the date. It runs much deeper than that. We are missing a teaching on Rosh Hashanah and the way that the Messiah relates to that festival. Let’s discuss Rosh Hashanah for a moment.

Rosh Hashanah lands on the first two days of the Jewish month of Tishrei. This lands somewhere around September. The significance of this celebration is incredible for all believers in the Messiah. There are a few aspects of the celebration that we will discuss.

The first aspect of the festival is that it is the head of the year. This is the time when the traditional Jewish new year begins. The first day of Tishrei is often referred to as Yom Teruah which we call the Feast of Trumpets. The Jewish horn, the Shofar is blown 100 times at this festival.  Paul teaches that Yeshua will return when the last trumpet sounds, He is most likely talking about this day (1 Cor 15:52). This passage takes on new meaning if you consider that the last trumpet shall sound on the first day of the year. The time that death is finally defeated will be on the day of the feast of trumpets. This victory will take place when Yeshua sets up His eternal kingdom.

On this same note. The festival takes place on the first day of the month. The way that the Jewish calendar works is the month does not start until a sliver of the new moon shows. This resulted in a period of one to two days between months where they waited expectantly for the new moon to show. There was a Jewish saying concerning this time of the month, “no man knows the day nor the hour”. Sound familiar? Since time and date were told by the moon, both waited until the new moon shown. The new month did not start until the moon was visible. The new year did not start until it was visible. Yeshua said no one knows the day or hour of His return (Matt 24:36; Mark 13:32). Could this also be a verification that the return of our Messiah will take place on Rosh Hashanah when the coronation of the King takes place? It makes sense that the King will return when He takes office.

The second aspect that we are going to consider is the coronation of the king. Psalm 98 is one Messianic psalm that looks forward to this day and to the day that Yeshua finally stands as King. He is identified as “YHVH has made known His Yeshua”, literally translated, “The Lord has made known His Salvation”. The Psalm discusses the coronation of the King of the Universe. Trumpets (Shofar’s) will announce the King (Ps 98:6). Notice the last verses, the elements of the world, rivers and mountains will clap for joy (Ps 98:7-8). Yeshua is coming to judge the world with righteousness (Ps 78:9). Why is this important? Luke in his account of this festival quoted Yeshua saying that if the people did not shout, the rocks would start shouting (Luke 19:40).

Matthew 21:2 The problem of the two animals, a donkey and a colt:

When we hear the story told, the poor donkey is often left out of the story. Both animals are important due to the prophecy found in Zechariah:

Zechariah 9:9 (KJV)

⁹ “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.”

Matthew makes it clear that both the donkey and the foal were both saddled with coats. Yeshua sat on the coats. The text gives you the impression that He was riding both animals at once since both are saddled. I do not believe that He would have sat on both animals. The symbolic nature of the two animals is what is important. The mature donkey that He was riding on symbolized the current day when He was celebrated as King by the people. The colt looked forward to a future day when Yeshua returns to take up His reign on His earthly kingdom. That’s my opinion only. This is a for-what-its-worth statement. But I believe it is well worth considering.

The second aspect that is important from this prophecy is the reference to the King having “salvation”. Yeshua’s name literally means “salvation”. The King of prophecy is spoken of as the King that has “salvation”. This is extremely important since it ties Yeshua to the day of coronation.

Matthew 21:5 The verse quoted also alludes to Isaiah 62:11:

Isaiah 62:10–12 (KJV)

¹⁰ “Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. ¹¹ Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. ¹² And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.”

Once again, the identifier of Yeshua is from verse 11. Yeshua is named in this verse where Isaiah states “Your Yeshua (salvation) comes”. This was the coronation day of Yeshua. The passage reveals this when the people spread their garments on the road in front of Him. This took place another time when Jehu became king (2 Ki 9:12-13). Palm branches increased the significance of the action. They were used as an act of worship during the festival of tabernacles (Sukkot) (Lev 23:40).

The verse quoted by the people also refers to a Psalm that is directly about the God of Salvation and particularly about the God of Grace (Ps 118). The word for Salvation in the psalm is the word/name Yeshua (Psalm 118:14, 15, 21). Later we see light coming as a result of the horns of the altar (Ps 118:27). The Horns are incredibly significant since they were to be coated with the blood of the sacrificial offering (Lev 4:7; Eze 43:20). The rest of the blood is poured out on the ground. Light or “life” is contained in the blood (Lev 17:11-16). Yeshua stated that if we do not participate in His blood, we will not have eternal life (John 6:53-58). When the Jewish people quoted directly from Psalm 118, they were recognizing that Yeshua was the King that was promised (Matt 21:9; Ps 118:26). I challenge you to read through Psalm 118 and consider the messianic nature of the Psalm.

As an interesting side note: When I was raised Roman Catholic, we had an interesting tradition associated with this holiday. It was to save the palm fonds that were used in worship. If you encountered great distress or trouble, such as a tornado watch, or other natural disaster, you would burn some of the fonds for protection. This tradition came directly from the Roman goddess Nike. She was the goddess of victory. By burning the palm fonds, the tradition was to appeal to Nike for victory. This is a pagan worship tradition that has been incorporated into Catholic tradition. It is in no way associated with the story from Matthew. With respect to my Roman Catholic roots, I wish that there was a better explanation to this tradition. Understanding the roots of our traditions will help us to discard pagan traditions from our lives.

Read Matthew 21:12-13

Remember, context! The context of the passage so far is in relation to the Coronation of the King. Yeshua is recognized by the crowds as the prophesied King of Israel. As King, He begins to clean house and establish more messianic prophecies.

This is one of the few events that is recorded by all four Gospel writers. John described the incident of one that was particularly violent and gives the longest account of it (John 2:12-16).  He also placed the incident occurring just prior to Passover. Another difference between John’s account and Matthew’s is John’s account takes place at the very beginning of Yeshua’s ministry, while Matthew’s takes place at the end of His ministry. Due to that, we may be looking at two different events. I am convinced that this is the case since the story that John gives is radically different than the other Gospel writers. I will leave it up to you to decide.

When Yeshua drove out the merchants, no one stopped Him. There is no record of anyone raising an objection to His actions. It causes you to wonder if the religious leaders and teachers were in silent agreement with His actions. With that said, let’s dig into the meat of the story.

One of the focuses of Matthew was the Messiah reached out to Jew and Gentile. Let’s look at the reference that Yeshua gave in context of Isaiah’s passage:

Isaiah 56:1 (NLT)

¹ This is what the Lord says: “Be just and fair to all. Do what is right and good, for I am coming soon to rescue you and to display my righteousness among you.

Isaiah 56:6–8 (NLT)

⁶ “I will also bless the foreigners who commit themselves to the Lord, who serve him and love his name, who worship him and do not desecrate the Sabbath day of rest, and who hold fast to my covenant. ⁷ I will bring them to my holy mountain of Jerusalem and will fill them with joy in my house of prayer. I will accept their burnt offerings and sacrifices, because my Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations. ⁸ For the Sovereign Lord, who brings back the outcasts of Israel, says: I will bring others, too, besides my people Israel.”

Isaiah identifies Yeshua by name in Isaiah 56:1. The word for “rescue” is the word “Yeshua” in the Hebrew language. If we were to translate this using the Gentile name for Yeshua, we could insert “Jesus” into Isaiah 56:1. The message of the passage speaks directly to the Gentiles who have come over to know the Lord. The first group of people addressed by Isaiah’s passage is the eunuch’s and the second group is the mass of foreigners. Both of these groups joined themselves to the Lord and have become faithful in following Torah. They both focus upon the Sabbath and following righteousness… Righteousness according to the Hebrew way of thinking is easily defined. Those who follow Torah and the commandments of God are righteous. Those who do not follow Torah are unrighteous. Righteousness is only found in following what is right.

As the passage goes on, Isaiah adds a third group of people to this prophecy. This is the dispersed or disporia of the Jews. These are the Jewish people who were dispersed among the nations. This took place several times during the history of the Jews. The most significant time was during the Babylonian captivity. The Jewish people who were taken into captivity were dispersed among the nation and blended. This was a common tactic that was utilized during the time. The Babylonian Captivity was one of the most radical. Isaiah addressed an issue that was currently a problem and an issue that is an ongoing problem through Jewish history. Through the many conquerors that took over the Jewish people it seems a common trend for the people to be dispersed among the nations.

In my opinion, the dispersion was not an accident. It was certainly an attack on the people, but I believe God had an ulterior motive. He allowed His people to become dispersed so that they could draw all nations to Him. They were to be witnesses to the world and bring God’s instructions to all nations. God never intended for His people to become a private community. He wanted His people to evangelize the world. If you disagree with this, let’s consider what happened in Acts when the stoning of Steven took place. God dispersed the core group to all nations (Acts 6-7). History records that these men and the remaining disciples were scattered through the known world to establish churches worldwide. God did not intend for His teaching to be kept in house.

Back to Isaiah: The nations of the world are referred to through the passage. Isaiah referred to the Jewish community in the passage as blind watchmen and shepherds with no understanding. They were not aware of the incredible hunger that the gentile dogs had for righteousness. There is an interesting twist in the passage where the Jewish people are referred to as mute dogs while the Gentiles are referred to as hungry dogs who desire more (Isa 56:9-11).

The core teaching of this passage is that God intended for His house to be a house of prayer for all nations. Read through Isaiah 56, there is no doubt to the context of the passage. Yeshua knew this when He taught a brutal message by driving out the money changers and merchants.

The second reference that He used was to the robbers den (Jer 7:11).  Jeremiah’s prophecy addresses a people who have abandoned God’s Torah to blend with the gods of the nations. They have compromised His teaching to the point that they emulate the ways of the world instead of following Torah. This is addressed when God promises if they return to Torah, they will dwell in the temple and land forever (Jer 7:5-6).  Robbing the Lord in the context of the passage is where the teaching of Torah is abandoned, and the people make their own rules for following Him. The main focus of the passage is on the temple.

Looking at that reference, it was referring to phony practices in the Old Testament where the people were offering to Baal, and other gods, then they came into the temple to offer sacrifices before the Lord.  Jesus equated the merchants with the sin of Baal worship.  The gravity of the accusation can only be found by reading the entire chapter of Jeremiah 7. Jeremiah is told not to even pray for the people because He will not answer the prayer (Jer 7:16). The verdict of God’s sentence follows that they abandoned Torah and hardened their hearts so that they could not hear the message of God because of their traditions (Jer 7:27-28). The reason behind this may have been because the true intention of the heart toward worshipping God was missing.  They were approaching the temple as an institution, where they purchased the sacrifices and only fulfilled the requirements of the law.  In other words, it had gone from being a relationship with God to a religion.  I am convinced that God dislikes religion in any form, wanting His people to have a personal relationship with Him and not following an institutional view of Him.

It is a general view of most of the commentators that the merchants were charging unfair prices for their wares, causing the worshipers to pay high prices for their services.  From the context of the Isaiah and Jeremiah passages that Yehsua referred to, I think the commentators missed the mark.

Read Matthew 21:14-17

Yeshua threw in another messianic prophecy to validate His stand as King. He literally fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy:

Isaiah 35:4–6 (NLT)

⁴ Say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, and do not fear, for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you.” ⁵ And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind and unplug the ears of the deaf. ⁶ The lame will leap like a deer, and those who cannot speak will sing for joy! Springs will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams will water the wasteland.

The chief priests and scribes were indignant when they observed Yeshua taking glory from the children. The reason for this was simple. Only God was to be bowed down to and worshipped. Since Yeshua was receiving praise from the children, He was placing Himself in the place of God. “Hosanna” literally meant praise and repeated the praise of the people (Psalm 118:26; Matt 21:9). The children continued to praise Him. The important factor here is that He received the worship and justified it. He quoted from Psalm 8:

Psalm 8:1–2 (NLT)

¹ O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens. ² You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength, silencing your enemies and all who oppose you.

When we look at the context of Psalm 8, the message that Yeshua gives is astounding. The teachers and leaders of the Jews were opposing Him and the children were praising Him. The Messianic prophecy focused upon Yeshua as both God and King.

Through this entire passage from Matthew 1-12, Yeshua receives praise from the people. We have touched on this point in several places. I want to reiterate the concept for a moment. The only person to receive worship is God. Yeshua never rebuked the people or stopped them from worshipping Him. The message that Matthew gives in this passage is that Yeshua is the God of the Old Testament become flesh. The religious people missed this, but the common people did not.

Matthew 21:18–22 (NET)

¹⁸ Now early in the morning, as he returned to the city, he was hungry. ¹⁹ After noticing a fig tree by the road he went to it, but found nothing on it except leaves. He said to it, “Never again will there be fruit from you!” And the fig tree withered at once. ²⁰ When the disciples saw it they were amazed, saying, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” ²¹ Jesus answered them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. ²² And whatever you ask in prayer, if you believe, you will receive.”

I have often wondered about this story. What does the fig tree have to do with anything? Why did Yeshua curse the fig tree? It seems like a story that is out of character and out of the norm. Let’s look to biblical prophecy and see what this story implies.

Jeremiah prophesied about a fig tree that bore no fruit:

Jeremiah 8:11–13 (NET)

¹¹ They offer only superficial help for the hurt my dear people have suffered. They say, “Everything will be all right!” But everything is not all right! ¹² Are they ashamed because they have done such disgusting things? No, they are not at all ashamed! They do not even know how to blush! So they will die just like others have died. They will be brought to ruin when I punish them, says the Lord. ¹³ I will take away their harvests, says the Lord. There will be no grapes on their vines. There will be no figs on their fig trees. Even the leaves on their trees will wither. The crops that I gave them will be taken away.’ ”

Jeremiah spoke out against the continual apostasy where Israel embraced deceit, wickedness and error that resulted from a failure to follow Torah (Jer 8:1-8). Teachers of the Jews were not teaching pure Torah, but rather deceitful messages (Jer 8:8-10). The dirge of deceit and bad teaching is summed up in the final part of the chapter where Jeremiah reveals the heart of the Lord:

Jeremiah 8:18–22 (NET)

¹⁸ Then I said, “There is no cure for my grief! I am sick at heart! ¹⁹ I hear my dear people crying out throughout the length and breadth of the land. They are crying, ‘Is the Lord no longer in Zion? Is her divine King no longer there?’ ” The Lord answers, “Why then do they provoke me to anger with their images, with their worthless foreign idols?” ²⁰ “They cry, ‘Harvest time has come and gone, and the summer is over, and still we have not been delivered.’ ²¹ My heart is crushed because my dear people are being crushed. I go about crying and grieving. I am overwhelmed with dismay. ²² There is still medicinal ointment available in Gilead! There is still a physician there! Why then have my dear people not been restored to health?

With this in mind, let’s now return to the story of the fig tree. The odd prophecy about the fig tree was literally fulfilled before the disciples. It was done to establish that God had sent the Messiah to return His people to Himself. Figs in the Bible often represent health and prosperity. Yeshua was sending a message that carried the context of the passage. The religious community was not feeding Israel with true instructions from God. Their teachings were perverted and twisted. I believe that He gave the example of withering the fig tree for two reasons.

First: The Messianic prophecy contained in Jeremiah 8 needed to be brought to light. This prophecy spoke directly to the problem of twisted teachings of the religious teachers of the day. This message is embellished in the following scenario where the religious leaders are questioning His authority (Matt 21:23ff).

Second: Yeshua was teaching the disciples a lesson regarding faith. The disciples did not ask why Yeshua cursed the fig tree. They marveled at the results of Yeshua’s statement.

Yeshua spoke to the fig tree knowing the prophecy from Jeremiah. He spoke the truth from the scripture to the fig tree and it withered just like the prophecy from the scripture said it would. Faith is speaking or acting upon the Word of God knowing that the promises in the Word are true regardless of our feelings, thoughts, or actions.

The reality of mountain moving faith is beyond most of our experiences. Are we confident when we pray that our prayers are rooted in the assurance that God will certainly answer our prayers? Can we confidently say that we know God will answer the prayers?

Let me give a little story from personal experience. When I visited the Philippines on the medical mission, we prayed for many people. Almost everyone that we prayed for was healed. Why? In my opinion, their faith and belief that God would heal them was rewarded. They felt confident that God had sent us as healers to relieve their distress. When we prayed, our prayers was augmented by the faith of the one’s receiving the prayer. Their faith was exercised along with our faith and miracles took place.

I recently had someone criticize the trip saying that God does not work that way in America. I challenged him to a test. The next person that we prayed for had some serious dizziness and headache problems. My theory is that in America we doubt that God will heal and hold reservation in our hearts that He will work. We prayed for the person, God healed her completely. I turned to my friend and pointed to the proof. It is not that God will not work the miraculous in America. It is because we as American Christians do not take Him at His word and exercise faith based upon His word that He will certainly work.

Going forward? I suppose that each of us would be wise to check our beliefs. Are we asking for things according to the truth of the Word? Yeshua cursed the fig tree according to the prophecy from Jeremiah as a character study for the disciples. The prayer worked, the fig tree withered. The apostles were so amazed by the result that they missed the message. No matter though, this concept is embellished upon through the rest of the chapter.

Read Matthew 21:23-27

The Chief priests and elders approached Yeshua to question Him about His authority. As a matter of review, let’s look at the recent things that took place in which His authority was exercised. Matt 21:1-11 Yeshua rode into town on a donkey and the people had a coronation ceremony on the feast of Rosh Hashana, the birth of the year. Matthew 21:12-13 Yeshua drove out those who were profaning the temple. Matthew 21:14-17 Great healing was taking place and children were singing worship songs to Yeshua. Matthew 21:18-22 Yeshua commanded the fig tree to wither, it did. You can be certain that the disciples were not the only ones who were aware of this. From the time of His coronation, the Chief Priests and elders understood that He was displaying power and authority that was not present in the normal man. It is possible that they were also asking the question, “Could Yeshua be the Messiah, The Christ that was prophesied?” Yet, Yeshua knew that their hearts were devious and an affirmative answer would most likely accelerate His crucifixion prior to the intended time.

The question that Yeshua proposed to the people was not one of a bargain, but one of repentance. John the Baptist had a powerful ministry which encouraged people to return to Torah. His message was not new, it was one of being immersed and changing their lives to follow the instructions of the scriptures. We have evidence from the scriptures that the Chief Priests and Elders were present as observers, but were not involved in his ministry. In other words, they acknowledged his ministry but did not officially endorse him as a minister.

Here is the problem that they faced. They were in a position of authority. Each of them had gained a prestigious position that carried authority among the people. They selfishly guarded their positions and did not want anyone else challenging their positions. John the Baptist was a rouge preacher that was raised up on an authority outside of the religious system. He was regarded by the people as a prophet. By the leaders, he was considered a nuisance. He bucked the religious system and moved forward as a “lone ranger” declaring the truth of the Lord outside of the parameters of established religion. In other words, he was not liked by them since he did not follow the “rules” that they were comfortable living by.

This is not a problem that plagued only these Chief Priests and Elders. It is common in almost every church that is established today. The office of any form of leader in a church or elder position is guarded by those in those positions. They move from being servants of the people to becoming little lords over the people. If you want to be a part of their prestigious club, you must follow the rules of the club to get there. If you buck the system, be assured, your time in that church will be very short.

When Yeshua presented them with the question, He opened the door for repentance. They had the opportunity at this time to endorse John the Baptist and recognize that His authority came from God. Remember, this was a post-mortem declaration. Acknowledging the source of John’s power would not have an effect on his ministry. He was dead! The problem of acknowledging his source of power was that they would have to publicly announce that they endorsed his ministry and acknowledged that he was a minister of God. In other words, they would have to change their attitude toward John and allow that John spoke the truth of the scriptures. This could have created an endorsement for his teachings and allowed for the possibility that many would be led to repentance. The end result, the religious system would be challenged. Their positions would be on shaky ground. Remember, John worked outside of the established religious system that they had set up.

Rather than taking the road of repentance, they took the road of safety. They did not want to answer the question that they knew Yeshua would follow the acknowledgment of John’s ministry with. “Then why did you not believe him?” (Matt 21:25b) They also knew that the general consensus among the people was that they considered John to be a prophet of God (Matt 21:26). They knew the right answer, but by admitting to that answer it placed their authority in jeopardy. The safest route that would not challenge their authority and the fact that they had missed an opportunity to endorse a minister of God was to claim ignorance (Matt 21:27).

Their unwillingness to repent made it impossible for Yeshua to move forward with them. Their hearts were not open to change. Yeshua was working outside of the religious system. He in a huge way was a minister that was just like John the Baptist. If the religious authorities acknowledged John as a minister of God, they would also have to acknowledge that Yeshua was certainly a minister of God. This was not a place they wanted to travel.

Yeshua’s answer was simple, since they would not answer the question, He would not go forward with them in the discussion. Instead, Yeshua taught them with a short story that expounded upon their problem.

Read Matthew 21:28-32

Matt 21:28-29 The two sons were sent into the vineyard. The first son refused to go, but repented of his decision and went to the vineyard to work. This son was the multitude of sinners that refuse to follow God’s instructions but later repent and join God in the work. In the case of this parable, this is the tax collectors and prostitutes.

Matt 21:30 The second son made a statement that he would follow the will of his father and go to work the vineyard. Yet, he did not go. This son was representative of the Chief Priests and Elders who refused to change their position. They were ordained ministers of God who were commissioned to carry out the will of God. They claimed to be willing workers of the vineyard. However, when God called them to work with John the Baptist, they refused since God had brought in another worker that challenged their authority.

Matt 21:31-32 Yeshua explains the parable. They answered that the first man, the one who refused to work did the will of the father. Yeshua acknowledged their answer as correct. Then He turned the table on them.

They knew that John was preaching righteousness and they saw the evidence of the multitudes of sinners being drawn back to the true instruction of God. Their response was to refuse to acknowledge John since he worked outside of the system. They had an opportunity to change their minds about John and join him in the ministry. But they refused to do so. They refused to enter into the work of the vineyard. His final statement was cutting “they did not even feel sorry for your position and join John in the ministry”; shame on you.

Apparently the Chief Priest and Elders missed the point. Yeshua told  a second parable to help them understand:

Read Matthew 21:33-39; Isaiah 5:1-7

We have discussed this illustration that spoke of the vineyard previously (Matt 20:1-16 see comments). He takes the illustration of the vineyard that they are well familiar with and personalizes the responsibility of the Chief Priests and elders in this passage.

The Parable is changed slightly from the discussion in Matthew 20. The focus in this parable is on the workers who are called to harvest the produce of the vineyard. The vine-growers represents the Chief Priests and Elders. Their chief job in the kingdom is to create a situation where the people in their flock grow to maturity in order to produce fruit. John the Baptist was a slave or servant of God who was called to harvest the fruit. By rejecting John’s ministry and failing to endorse him, they were equally responsible for not protecting him as a harvester. When he was slaughtered by Herod, they bore responsibility for failing to protect a minister of God. This was typical of prophets that God called to harvest His vineyard.

God sent the prophets to the world in order to help them understand what God’s will is for man.  Yet the religious system took the prophets and killed them, for a person to take on the role of prophet could easily end in death by any number of means.  If you consider the number of prophets that God sent in the Old Testament, the Major and Minor Prophets are only the tip of the iceberg, there were many prophets who went unnamed.  And there were hundreds killed at a time during the captivities, and during the reign of Saul.  A few references on this that establish that the prophets were not listened to: (2 Chron. 24:19, 21; Jeremiah 7:25-26; Jeremiah 20:2; 25:24; 26:21-23; Neh 9:26).

The Son is obvious to us since we are looking back at the parable and know the outcome of Yeshua’s earthly ministry. The religious system killed Yeshua since He did not comply with the wishes of the vine-growers. Yeshua did not fit into the religious system that the Chief Priests and Elders endorsed. They eventually would look for an opportunity to have Him eliminated.

Yeshua posed a question to them. What would the owner do when he found out about the attitude of the vine-growers? The Chief Priests and Elders answered His question correctly. The owner of the vineyard would certainly terminate the services of the vine-growers and bring judgment on them. Then the owner would hire new vine-growers to take their place.

Once again, they missed the implication of their answer. They completely missed the application of the parable.

Read Matthew 21:42-44

Perhaps baseball has had good rules. Three strikes and you are out! Yeshua teaches them with a passage from Psalm 118:22-23. In order to completely understand this message, read Psalm 118 so that you can see the verses that He quoted in context. Remember, “lovingkindness” in the Old Testament is the same as “grace” in the New Testament. It is intriguing, Psalm 118:21 ends in this statement “And you have become my salvation”. Hebrew for salvation is Yeshua, modern day translation Jesus.  Yeshua identified himself as the corner stone that the builders rejected. He also implied that John the Baptist was a stone that was rejected.

Yeshua pronounced judgment on the religious system of the day. He stated simply that since they had rejected the corner stone, God would reject their system. The system would be completely destroyed and scattered since it rejected the corner stone. This took place shortly after the death and resurrection of Yeshua when Jerusalem fell in 70 A.D.

The system was to be revamped to bring in true Torah and embrace the instructions of God. Some refer to this as the “church age”. I encourage caution on this statement. The church has created a similar system that is much more religious than the Jewish system ever was. The church has embraced many pagan gods and incorporated their teaching into Christian teaching. Many of the concepts that we teach and embrace as Christians come from the Greek philosophers and not from the Biblical text!

One thing that has happened in the “church age” is many people have come to know the Lord. His prophecy that the system that was destroyed would bring in much harvest has been true. This imperfect system is laden with problems as is evidenced by many thousands of Christian denominations. It will not be completely revamped until God joins both the Jewish system with the Christian system to build a new system that is based upon the complete instructions of God (Eph 2, focus Eph 2:15-16).

The gentile church system has certainly harvested the vineyard. The problem is that since they have thrown out the vine-growers, we have deviated into many different paths. Once we return to the ancient paths and restore the vineyard as God intended it to be grown, we will see tremendous growth that is beyond our wildest imagination (Jer 6:16; 18:15).  When we embrace the Jewish roots, correct the form of worship to include the feasts and festivals of the Lord, and blend that with the truth and life that Yeshua taught, we will soon see the completed vineyard growing as it was originally intended (Lev 23).

The messianic viewpoint is that eventually the Jewishness of worship will be restored. This system will throw off the dead traditions of the Jews that were inherited by many of the well meaning rabbi’s. It will also throw off the dead traditions of the Christians who have blended Christianity with paganism. The perfect worship system will be drawn exclusively from the scriptures and focus on the scriptures in their entirety. This is the system that the prophets speak of when God restores the feast, festivals and Sabbath during the Millennial reign of our Messiah.  None of the prophesies regarding the reign of the Messiah carry the earmarks of Christianity. They carry the earmarks of Judaism. Back to the passage:

Matthew 21:45-46 The Chief Priests and Pharisees finally understood. The truth that He had been teaching was pointed directly at them. They rejected John the Baptist, they would also reject the Messiah. They botched up their job by failing to embrace God’s prophets. They were soon to be judged.

Their reaction was to eliminate Yeshua. They were restrained because they knew that the people considered Yeshua to be a prophet. This is exactly what Yeshua was teaching them when He opened the question regarding John the Baptist. Their hearts had not changed.

This is the close of this chapter, all comments are welcomed.

Joe Turner.