God’s Oath Unbroken: Christ is Israel’s Glory and the World’s (Mat 21:28-22:14).Wednesday April 16, 2025
Mat 21:28-22:14 [Three parables about Christ’s rejection]
Imagine life as attending the wedding feast of the Son of God. You run into wheat and tares, but it is not always obvious who is who. What would, or should, be your desire for the different kinds of people you meet?
Introduction:
The prophecy of Palm Sunday:
Mat 21:4-5 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: 5 "SAY TO THE DAUGHTER OF ZION, 'BEHOLD YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU, GENTLE, AND MOUNTED ON A DONKEY, EVEN ON A COLT, THE FOAL OF A BEAST OF BURDEN.'"
This with Isa 62:11 depict the entrance into Jerusalem of her humble King, but who would take the ultimate rule of the earth. That generation, however, rejected Him.
Luk 19:42-44 "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. 43 "For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, 44 and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation."
The next line to the prophecy in Zec 9:9 has yet to be fulfilled. Zec 9:9 has been fulfilled. The King came, mounted on a donkey.
Zec 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
The rest of the prophecy (vs. 10) remains to be fulfilled.
Zec 9:10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim And the horse from Jerusalem; And the bow of war will be cut off. And He will speak peace to the nations; And His dominion will be from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth.
This is the fulfillment of the land covenant made to Abraham, a part of the Abrahamic Covenant, sometimes labeled the Palestinian Covenant.
The Messiah is presented, declared, revealed, but He is rejected. That does not nullify the fulfillment of the covenant promises to Israel.
Main Idea: Though Israel of Christ’s generation rejected Him, the covenants to Israel will still be fulfilled in all their promised glory.
Rejection in Three Parables:
The two sons: Mat 21:28-32.
Jesus begins by pointing out, with this simple parable, that the rulers rejected John’s witness of Jesus as the Messiah. Remember, John was the prophesied forerunner of the Messiah.
The leadership witnessed plainly that John’s impact on people. Many who were living lifestyles against the law of Moses had actually repented.
The church are members of a kingdom not yet here. That does mean that they are inducted into the ways of the kingdom, which are most certainly spiritual.
Parable of the Wicked Farmers: Mat 21:33-46.
The servants look a lot like the prophets (Mat 23:29-30).
The son of the vineyard owner is certainly the Lord Jesus, the Son of God.
The judgment is much like the parable of the wheat and tares. Mat 21:44 "And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust."
Jesus does not interpret, so we have to take only what we can know. The main point of the parable is clear. A future generation of Israel will receive the kingdom of God and produce the fruit of it.
The future generation of Israel who will say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Mat 23:37-39 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. 38 "Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! 39 "For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, 'BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!'" [Psa 118 yet again]
Parable of the Marriage Feast: 22:1-14.
Parable 1 (sons): lack of belief and unwillingness as opposed to the sinners who repented. Parable 2 (vineyard): rejection of the prophets, rejection of Christ, and that generation loses the kingdom, culmination in the smiting stone.
Parable 3 again reveals rejection but with a different analogy.
Here the kingdom of heaven is like a king (a man king) who gave a marriage feast for His son.
The first part: “they would not come” - that generation.
The second set of servants: Like the vineyard owner, servants are sent but rejected (in this case they are busy with other trivial things [sower]) and they mistreat and kill the servants. This could be the prophets, and it also could be a reference to the apostles.
The next part fits this interpretation: “burned up their city.” (70 AD).
The wedding feast itself looks something like the field of wheat and tares.
The first (that generation) said no. The second (possibly the very first generation of Jews in the church age) mistreated and killed the apostles. The third: all others in the world (those along the highways) both bad and good.
If we interpret the bad and good as the tares and the wheat, then the field is like the wedding feast - containing good and bad. And like the wheat and tares, there is judgment at the end.
And, the King finds a bad one. The intruder seems at first to fit in, or at least mingle in. Is he a wedding crasher? Like the tares look like wheat so this one seems to fit, but on closer inspection by the King, he is not properly dressed.
Application 1:
This is not a new concept: Isa 61:10 I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
Psa 45:10-12 Listen, O daughter, give attention and incline your ear: Forget your people and your father's house; 11 Then the King will desire your beauty. Because He is your Lord, bow down to Him. 12 The daughter of Tyre will come with a gift; The rich among the people will seek your favor.
Psa 45:14-15 She will be led to the King in embroidered work; The virgins, her companions who follow her, Will be brought to You. 15 They will be led forth with gladness and rejoicing; They will enter into the King's palace.
There is only one guest in the parable who is without attire. But remember, it is a parable. Jesus is painting a memorable picture that implants its truth on our souls. There are many who are pretending to be religious, pretending to know God, pretending to know life and what’s good, putting on masks, facades, costumes while within they are lost and lonely and miserable. Every person does this. There are many tares. Some pretend, fail, and turn to many distractions so as not to deal with it: from drugs to social media, to entertainment on phones, to whatever checks them out of reality.
Application to us:
Believe the Son and go and do.
Produce the fruit of Him (Holy Spirit).
Be salt and light at the feast (lifetime).
In the meantime we are witnesses of this truth. Imagine life as you attending the wedding feast of the Son of God. You meet and talk with wheat and tares (not always obvious who is who).
Jesus Christ was rejected by His generation, but He will still fulfill His promises to Israel, and through them, to the world.
God made His promises to Abraham and David and Israel by chesed, steadfast, covenant love (often “lovingkindness”) and He will not break them. They are unconditional - meaning that they do not depend on the actions or faith of mankind.
God has made promises to you. He will not break them. He has place you under His New Covenant.
In the meantime, the mystery age of God’s kingdom program, we are to be lights to the world of the faithfulness of God who so loved the world that He gave His Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall never perish, but have eternal life.
You are the salt of the earth in this time. Reach out and love in fellowship with even your enemies. (Pursue Christ, and in Him, the faith and understanding of His love.)
You are the light of the world - Let your light shine that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
You are not trying to fix the world’s problems. If you can, legitimately, then by all means do the good and right thing, but do not be concerned with fixing the world. Your mission is to save souls, make disciples of all men.
We do not make the kingdom on earth. It is coming. Our hope is that we convince that wedding guest to put on wedding clothes, which the King will freely give to him.
Gal 3:26-29 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise.
The feast will not go on forever.
The real wedding feast is coming.
Stand on the promises of God: The present earth will never be converted into the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom must come with Christ who alone will establish it and then His will be done. We are a light to the world that there is another kingdom, of peace and righteousness, that is only entered by faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ who died for the sins of the world and who saves all who come to Him in faith and gives them eternal life. Our good works, our love, our faith are the light unto this deceived world, of which all of us were once a part, but are no more thanks to the sacrifice of our Lord.
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