Stewards of God’s Vineyard (Mat 21:33-46)

Class Outline:

Sunday October 5, 2025

 

Intro: God is Sovereign over all things. 

 

Universal kingdom of God.

       

Before creation - Trinity; a kingdom of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

       

Rebellion - EZE 28:11-19; ISA 14:12-14. Rebelled against authority.

 

Why does God plant a Theocratic kingdom in a world where rebellion has already occurred, which will make His kingdom vulnerable due to human frailty? 

 

Greatest story ever told.

 

MAT 21:33-46

 

Parable of the Tenants:

 

Head of the house is an obvious reference to God the Father (ISA 5:1-2).

The tenants are the leadership.

The vineyard is Israel.

The vines are the people.

The slaves are the prophets in Israel.

 

Every parable has one main theme: The leadership in Israel disobeyed God and did not care for God’s vineyard, Israel.

 

And when pressed to produce fruit by God’s sent prophets, they abused and killed them, and when God sent more, they did the same (God’s patience and grace and desire).

 

HEB 11:32-38

And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; 36 and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated 38 (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.

 

And when God sent them His Son, they took Him outside the gates and slew Him.

 

HEB 13:11-14

For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp. 12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. 13 So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. 14 For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.

 

In God’s theocratic kingdom, the leaders represent God to the people. When they fail it is as if God fails.

 

The did not teach, did not lead, did not care for the sheep (vines), they were not servants of God. (JER 23:1-8)

 

ISA 5:1-2

 

God: Planted.

Them: Received.

 

God: Hedge, wine press, tower.

Them: Beat, killed, stoned.

 

God: Gracious giving.

Them: Greed.

 

Summary of Theocratic kingdom (from slide) and the story of the prophets.

 

After Satan’s rebellion God planted His kingdom in Eden.

GEN 4:1

"I have gotten a manchild, the Lord."[literal; Luther]

 

Then instituted human government as the medium through which the theocratic kingdom was administered.

 

The theocratic kingdom under the patriarchs. 

 

“Theocracy is a government of the State by the immedi­ate direction of God; Jehovah condescended to reign over Israel in the same direct manner in which an earthly king reigns over his people … God Himself becomes their King.” [Pentecost quoting Peters]

 

Moses, Joshua, Judges

 

Kings through the captivity (~500 years) and to these failing rulers prophets are sent (hundreds of them; more than the ones we know).

 

And in the midst of the kings, God made a promise to David.

 

The Theocracy and Davidic kingdom, in virtue of a special and peculiar covenant re­lationship between the two, were regarded as one, and in the future so identical in destiny that they are inseparably linked together.

 

The slaves sent by the head of the house to tenants of the vineyard are the prophets sent by God to warn, convict, admonish - and they were all treated harshly, some killed, by the kings and priests.

 

“The prophets were the divinely appoint­ed spokesmen for God, who relayed God’s message to the kings, who sometimes obeyed, but with greater frequency did not. King and priest were to yield to the authority of the Prophet, simply because the latter directly revealed the will of the Supreme King” [Pentecost].

 

Question.

 

The Lord will then ask them to evaluate and judge the tenants so their own conscience can move into the parable.

 

Their blindness from self-absorption, fear, and pride will not yet allow them to see that they are the tenants and that Jesus is asking them to judge as God.

 

MAT 21:41

"He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons."

 

Your failure, my failure, to care for God’s gifts is never a mental or physical deficiency, but a lack of faith and understanding.

 

You need both faith and understanding.

 

Also, you must be cautious. That truth can be taken too far and you begin to think that some things depend far too much on you.

 

Our age is a unique mystery - an interim time in which we proclaim the excellencies of our High Priest. The church is not an earthly kingdom, it is not a spiritual one either. We are spiritual, and are members of the kingdom to come, citizens of heaven.

 

Church age Application:

 

1. Let God condescend to rule your life.

 

2. Care for all the things that God has put under your charge, and do so His way. You are a steward of many things.

 

Caring for them will be hard work. Stay in contact with the Father through the Son. Get wiser and wiser (study the Word, ask questions, seek and find).

 

Yes, it is hard work to care for the things of God. People, church, work, self, marriage, family, etc. The reward is the joy of the harvest (wine press).

 

Grapes were pressed to cries of jubilation and songs (ISA 16:9 f.; JER 48:33). Pressing was fun and messy (as life should be) barefoot, like a mosh pit, 2-5 people at a time, stomping, smashing, and singing psalms together as they await the delicious harvest. That is life in the church age, and one that cannot be forfeited or destroyed because you and I are not the vinedressers. God the Father is.

 

The wine harvest is a joyous feast, and the filling and overflowing of the vats (Joel 2:24; 33:17) is the epitome of rich blessing.

 

Communion

 

Prophecy:

MAT 21:42

 Jesus said to them, "Did you never [strong negative] read in the Scriptures,

 

'The stone which the builders rejected,

This became the chief corner stone;

This came about from the Lord,

And it is marvelous in our eyes'?

 

“Did you never read” (6x, 12:3, 5; 19:4; 21:16; 22:31.) - they’ve sung it several times in the last several days. It’s Jesus’ way of telling them that they have read it but haven’t.

 

Psa 118, familiar, and on the lips and in the ears of all who are at Passover. They sung it was Jesus entered the city. They sing it every Passover (very familiar).

 

It shows an entrance into a new state (“became the head corner stone”) that is directly followed by a declaration of the resultant state (“and it is marvelous in our eyes”).

 

The builders are the leaders, unfortunately, these very ones in that generation. Many leaders did terribly (kings, priests, etc.) but these were the only ones to confront the Rock in person.

 

Despite them, the stone became the most important stone, which builds the house - the fulfilled theocratic kingdom (not the church).

 

The present tense: It IS marvelous in our eyes speaks of that generation of Israel who says from their hears, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” (Psa 118; MAT 23:39).

 

The cornerstone is a messianic metaphor (PSA 118:22-23; ISA 28:16) and it is also used for His high priesthood to the church (1Pe 2).   

 

The Messiah will be a sure foundation to the church and Israel to come and those who accept Him will marvel, but those who reject Him will be crushed and broken.