MATTHEW 20

MATITYAHUW 20

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.

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.

Seasons 2.2.

10 But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.

They were envious and objected to the kindness extended to someone else - the natural mind in its smallness.

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

14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.

Depart from me. If we selfishly take our stand upon the claims of justice, we are lost. If we question the extension of mercy to others; if we are too small to sincerely rejoice with them when others seem to be more abundantly blessed than ourselves (and perhaps, it seems, for less cause), then we stand with these unlovely murmurers who are told to take what is theirs and go their way - paid in full for their ill-humored service - leaving the fruits of love and mercy to those they despised as "these last."

...They failed entirely to realize that they had been given the greatest blessing of the longest and earliest joy of service in the vineyard. Instead of petty, self-pitying envy, their hearts should have been uplifted and enlarged with a gratitude that would overflow in the joy of seeing unearned blessings showered upon others, regardless of how little their opportunity of service.

Bro Growcott - What shall we have therefore?

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.

Many be called, but few chosen

In all the "times of the Gentiles" the saints are a mixed community, in which are found fish of all sorts, good, bad, and indifferent. The good are answerable to the "few who are chosen, 'and find eternal life (Matt. 20:16; 7:14): while the bad and indifferent are those who "begin in the Spirit" and end in the flesh - those who at the outset of their career seemed to "run well," but were hindered from a "patient continuance in well-doing," or "obeying the truth," in being "bewitched" by the sorcery of designing knaves, who

"by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple" (Gal. 3:1,3,7; Rom. 16:18).

In our generation, as in that of the apostles, the ecclesia or general assembly of the many, who are called, is composed of these heterogeneous materials. It has been thus in all generations before and since Satan, in the days of Job, mingled with the Sons of the Deity when they presented themselves in the Divine presence (Job 1:6). The satanic element has ever been among them with its "depths as they speak" (ch 2:24), corrupting and perverting the weak.

In the wisdom of the Deity Satan has been permitted to practice, and to deceive the hearts of the simple, who are ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Tim 3:7) without judicial interference. The Satanic element in an ecclesia is always prompt and vivacious for mischief. If it fears to attack openly the most prominent advocate of the truth, it has recourse to underhanded and secret influences. Handling the word of the Deity deceitfully, deceiving, and being deceived are its characteristics.

While inspired with personal hatreds, it affects zeal destroying it, or making it of none effect by the traditions of its monstrous ignorance and folly. Yet "the Judge of the living and the dead" is profoundly silent save in the word of his law and testimony. There are reasons for this.

The truth as it is in Jesus is entrusted to the ecclesia, or House of the Deity, which is the Pillar and foundation support of the truth . The members of this house are held responsible and accountable for their relations to this, as a treasure committed to them to be contended for earnestly, and to be upheld at all hazards in their day and generation. This house being furnished with vessels of' all sorts, some to honour and some to dishonour, the truth receives a characteristic treatment at the hands of each sort.

The vessels fitted to capture and destruction set forth traditions, or heresies which nullify the Word. If men speak or write upon the things of the Spirit, they are commanded to do so as "oracles of the Deity;" and if they disobey this injunction it is because "there is no light in them ". Nevertheless, they will give utterance to their folly. This cannot be helped, Fools will be fools come what may.

From these premises it is inevitable that, as Paul says, "there must be heresies among you" They are permitted to exist , though not approved. Their existence arouses the flagging energies of sterling and faithful men, "who are able to teach others" (2 Tim. 2:2). It sets them to contending more earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 2), which manifests them as the approved, who are grounded and settled in the faith, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel (1 Cor. 11:19; Col. 1:23).

This manifestation of the approved after this process is one reason why Yahweh keeps silence, and permits Satan to continue their Operations among the Sons of the Deity, without any present judicial interference.

There is also another very good reason for present non-intervention, and this is, because He has appointed a set time, styled by that infallible and incomparable exponent of the truth the Lord Jesus, "a Day of Judgment," hemera kriseos (Matt. 12:36); and by the no less accurate Paul,

"THE DAY when the Deity shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to the gospel"

Paul preached: "therefore," saith he, "judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come; who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness' and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts;" and

"who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and kingdom" (Rom. 2:16; 1 Cor. 4:5; 2 Tim. 4:1)

and styled by the earnest and faithful Peter, "the Day of Inspection", hemera episkopes (1 Pet. 2:12) "the time that the judgment begins at the house of the Deity" (ch. 4:17); when, as James testifies, the saints shall be judged by the law of liberty (ch 2:12)

Eureka (Apoc 15 'The Sign in Heaven')

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