MATTHEW 20

MATITYAHUW 20

1 For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.

The Master is hiring servants.

The existence of the Word in our midst, is evidence of this. What infatuation to disregard or treat coolly the call. We may be of the number of that glorious company that will spring into being at "the manifestation of the sons of God;" but we must be like them.

We must be men of faith, men of service, men of benevolent hearts; for those who are not of living hearts are not of God; and men and women of good consciences, who would not do wrong to save their lives.

Persevering in this line of character during our brief struggle with evil, realise the joy of being made one of a multitude of that description, whom no man can number, and whose former ills and frailties are all swallowed up in the glorious and deathless nature of the spirit in which there is no more sorrow or sighing.

Look at that multitude, filled with everlasting joy; think that the Lamb dwells in the midst of them-the central sun that lighteneth every man of them that entereth that bright world.

Behold them come to Zion and plant themselves in the seat of honour and power. Consider that they constitute the ruling brotherhood of the world, in whose righteous hands all the property and the power and the law, and the honour and glory of the world will be vested, for the promotion of glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and goodwill to men!

Is a place in that illustrious body not worth any trial? What infatuated creatures those men and women must be, who, having put their hands to the plough, look back, and allow their hearts to be taken and their hands weakened by the ephemeral interests of this life, which, at its best, supposing we could do all that we wished, are "vanity," ending ultimately in the grave.

How perfectly suicidal for those who have such a glorious destiny before them, to slacken their hands and become lukewarm in relation to the duties they owe to their Lord and Master.

Let us beware.

The bright side is pleasant to contemplate, but we must accept the dark side in present duty and reproach. We must carry the cross if we mean to wear the crown.

Seasons 2.2.

6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?

At the eleventh hour of our dispensation, the Master is hiring servants. The existence of the Word in our midst, is evidence of this. What infatuation to disregard or treat coolly the call. We may be of the number of that glorious company that will spring into being at "the manifestation of the sons of God;" but we must be like them.

Brother Roberts

13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?

The paying of the penny is a mere part of the drapery of the parable, but if a specific counterpart to it is insisted on, it is found in the fact that the Lord is just, and will give all that the holders of the covenant can justly claim to receive -- which is merely resurrection. Everything beyond this is favour-grace: and the Lord bestows this of His own bounty, and only where men find favour in His eyes.

Nazareth Revisited Ch 30

15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?

It is not fitting that any class of the saved should be represented by those who "murmur against the good man of the house," or who have an "evil eye."

What then is the teaching of the parable? That not every one who labours in the vineyard will receive the Lord's favour at the last; that not even the forsaking of houses and lands and relations, or the bearing of the burden and heat of the day, will commend to God a man who is a murmurer, or has an evil eye, or who is great in his own eyes: that it is a necessity that a man recognise the absolute sovereignty of the Lord of the vineyard, both as to possession and the right to do as he wills, uncontrolled by any will, or wish or whim, on the part of those whom he favours with employment: in a word, that "except a man humble himself as a little child, he shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven."

Nazareth Revisited Ch 30.

16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

As the labourers represent the "called," this makes it certain that they are not intended to stand indiscriminately for the saved. They stand for the called -- not for the chosen, though they include the chosen.

The parable is employed expressly to teach that it is not everyone casually employed that is selected as a permanent servant by the owner of the vineyard.

If salvation primarily depended on "works" no man could be saved: for "all have sinned, and the wages of sin is death." One sin is quite enough to ensure death, as shown in the case of Adam in Eden. Salvation, to be possible at all, has to be "by grace," by favour. This favour takes the form of the forgiveness of sins, by which a man becomes justified in the sight of God, and an heir of life eternal. But forgiveness is on conditions.

The preaching of the Gospel is a proclamation of the conditions. The conditions not only determine the question of forgiveness or no forgiveness, but they also affect the question of how high in glory those who are forgiven will rise, for there are degrees of attainment in Christ: and it is here where the element of "account" comes in. It is here where "works" will determine a man's position. The man who in this connection exclaims "Not of works" does not "rightly divide the word of truth," but wrests it to his own destruction.

Nothing is more plainly or more frequently indicated than that the called will be judged with reference to their works, and that their position will depend upon their account. Let these examples suffice: --

"Behold I come quickly, and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be" (Rev. xxii. 12); "The Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works" (Matt. xvi. 27); "Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour" (1 Cor. iii. 8); "He that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully" (2 Cor. ix. 6); "Have thou authority over ten cities ... be thou over five cities" (Luke xix. 17-19).

Nazareth Revisited Ch 30.

23 And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but ["it shall be given to them" italics destroy the sense - Bro Sulley] for whom it is prepared of my Father.

The Division of the land

...it may be inferred that Abraham and Jacob are the two referred to by Jesus Christ when He said :

To sit on My right hand, and on My left, is not mine to give,* but for whom it is prepared of my Father. (Matt. xx. 23.)

* The italics in this passage destroy the sense. To Christ belongs

the assignment of every position in His kingdom. This is given to Him by the Father, subject to a pre-arranged order.

Christ will give the right and the left-hand position in His kingdom to those for whom it is foreordained. Abraham residing at the south of the Temple would be on His (Christ's) right hand in the administration of the kingdom, and Jacob on the north would be at His left.

Further, the life experience of Isaac also becomes interesting when considered from the position of the Holy Oblation. The Lord said unto him :

Go not down into Egypt ; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of, Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee ; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father ; and I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries ; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. (Gen. xxvi. 2-4.)

Isaac was at Gerar when thus addressed, sojourning with Abimelech, king of the Philistines. By a series of incidents, driven from one place in the land to another, he is caused to take up his abode at Beer-sheba. As soon as he does this, the Lord appears to him, and comforts

him in his fears, and promises a future blessing. God had previously said,

" Dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of,"

and directly he arrives at the right place the promise of blessing is renewed. Isaac evidently

understood the renewal of the promise on the same night when he arrived at Beer-sheba as an indication that he had come to the place of his inheritance, for there he builded an altar (verse 25) and called upon the name of the Lord.

It was at this place that he pitched his tent after much wandering, and afterwards made a covenant with Abimelech. Probably he lived there during the greater part of his life. Afterwards he had removed to Hebron, possibly, in order to be " gathered unto his fathers "

i.e., to be buried in their sepulchres.

Since Isaac is a co-heir with Abraham his sojourn at Beersheba, and the erection by him of an altar at that place, point to the conclusion that when the promises made unto the fathers are fulfilled, Isaac will have jurisdiction over the southern portion of the holy square.

The exact site of this Beer-sheba seems to be uncertain. No doubt it falls within the holy square in that section of it in which is to be erected the wonderful city called " Yahweh shammah", a city to be served by all the tribes of Israel, a city suitable for a lodging place for worshippers who come up from year to year " to worship the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem "—a city which will, if the suggestion herein made is realized, have for its governor a prince fitted by previous experience to entertain a multitude of people.

These three immortalised men of extended experience, together with the twelve apostles who are to sit upon the twelve tribal thrones (seven to the north and five to the south of the holy oblation), also fitly prepared for their great functions in the age to come, may be

described as "seven shepherds and eight principal men" raised by the Deity and His Son in order to take a prominent part in the deliverance of Israel from the Assyrian invader when he comes into the land. (Micah v. 5).

6.1. The Temple of Ezekiel's prophecy