CHAPTER 20

(A.D. 33)

AUTHORITY

¹And it came to pass, that on one of those days (probably was Monday; He was arrested Wednesday night, for the new day began at the going down of the sun rather than midnight as we now reckon time), as He taught the people in the Temple, and preached the Gospel (preaching and teaching are still Gods Way of proclaiming the Word), the Chief Priests and the Scribes came upon Him with the Elders (they were very angry with Him for several reasons, but the greatest reason of all was that they were full of the Devil),

²And spoke unto Him, saying, Tell us, by what authority do You these things? (This is a trap designed to force Him to openly claim a Divine Commission.) or who is he who gave You this authority? (They knew He claimed God as His sole Authority, but they wanted Him to say it publicly in the Temple. Of course, they did not believe His Source was God. Yet it was very difficult for them to explain away the miracles; therefore, they attributed these to Satan, which, in fact, was Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit [Mat. 12:24-32].)

³And He answered and said unto them, I will also ask you one thing; and answer Me (in demanding an answer from them, the Lord was claiming an answer from authorized teachers, which they claimed to be; so the tables were now turned, with Him putting them on the spot):

⁴The baptism of John, was it from Heaven, or of men? (His question was not a trick question as theirs had been, but rather a legitimate question, with a legitimate and obvious answer pointing to the Source of His Authority.)

⁵And they reasoned with themselves (they went into a huddle; they were on the horns of a dilemma!), saying, If we shall say, From Heaven; He will say, Why then believed you him not? (If they acknowledged that John was a true Prophet of God, then they would have to acknowledge his Message, and more importantly the One he introduced, the Lord Jesus Christ.)

⁶But and if we say, Of men; all the people will stone us: for they be persuaded that John was a Prophet (concerns the people being far ahead of their spiritual leaders).

⁷And they answered, that they could not tell whence it was (in fact, they were the very ones who were supposed to be able to answer such a question; their lame answer showed that they had no spirituality at all; what a cop-out!).

⁸And Jesus said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.

THE WICKED HUSBANDMEN

⁹Then began He to speak to the people this Parable (will outline in graphic detail the answer to the question these religious leaders had asked); A certain man (God) planted a Vineyard (Israel), and let it forth to husbandmen (referred to the religious leaders of Israel, whomever they were, and for the entire time of the nation), and went into a far country for a long time (pertains from the time of Abraham up to Christ).

¹⁰And at the season He sent a servant to the husbandmen (speaks of the Prophets who were sent at intervals), that they should give Him of the fruit of the vineyard: but the husbandmen beat him, and sent him away empty (concerns the treatment of the Prophets).

¹¹And again He sent another servant (another Prophet): and they beat him also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty.

¹²And again He sent a third: and they wounded him also, and cast him out.

¹³Then said the Lord of the Vineyard, What shall I do? (The question does not lack knowledge on the part of God as to what He will do, but, in effect, actually states what will be done.)I will send My Beloved Son (the Lord Jesus Christ): it may be they will reverence Him when they see Him (the Son was the Heir, therefore, the Vineyard belonged to Him).

¹⁴But when the husbandmen saw Him, they reasoned among themselves (exactly as the religious leaders did), saying, This is the Heir (proclaims, in no uncertain terms, that the Scribes and Pharisees knew exactly Who Jesus really was): come, let us kill Him (even though they knew Who He was, their response to Him was one of murder), that the inheritance may be ours (untold millions have said the same thing; they do not want the Plan of God for this world and for their lives; they desire to chart their own course, which always leads to destruction; they have done nothing but wreck the inheritance).

¹⁵So they cast Him out of the Vineyard, and killed Him (says, in no uncertain terms, exactly what they would do and, in fact, did do!). What therefore shall the Lord of the Vineyard do unto them? (Even though they are warned, even as the next Verse proclaims, they would not listen.)

¹⁶He shall come and destroy these husbandmen (it happened some thirty-seven years later, exactly as He said it would, as Rome destroyed Jerusalem and did so completely), and shall give the Vineyard to others (has reference to the Gentile Church). And when they heard it, they said, God forbid (proclaims that they knew exactly what Jesus was saying, and exactly what He meant; their answer was God forbid, meaning, God will not allow such!; their answer should have been, God have mercy on us).

¹⁷And He beheld them, and said, What is this then that is written (Ps. 118:22), The Stone which the builders rejected (that Stone is Christ), the same is become the Head of the Corner? (Israels rejection of Christ did not abrogate His position as Cornerstone. He is that to the Church, and will ultimately be that to Israel.)

¹⁸Whosoever shall fall upon that Stone shall be broken (speaks of Israel, and any nation or people, or a person for that matter, who sets out to destroy Christ, i.e., set Him aside; instead, they are broken themselves; this is a battle that no one can win, for Jesus is God!); but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder (speaks of Christ ultimately smashing the kingdoms of this world, which He will do at the Second Coming, making them His Own [Dan. 2:35]; Jesus presents Himself here as the principal figure of the entirety of humanity and the world, and proclaims their rise or fall based on their acceptance or rejection of Him).

TRIBUTE MONEY

¹⁹And the Chief Priests and the Scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on Him (they were incensed at the Parable He had just related to them, and especially Him speaking of Himself as the Stone, i.e., Cornerstone); and they feared the people: for they perceived that He had spoken this Parable against them (so what they did was not at all in ignorance, but rather from the position of rebellion).

²⁰And they watched Him (refers to the fact that they were trying to catch Him in His Words in order to level a charge of treason against Him), and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of His words (how foolish they were), that so they might deliver Him unto the power and authority of the Governor (Pilate).

²¹And they asked Him, saying, Master, we know that You say and teach rightly, neither do You accept the person of any, but teach the Way of God truly (all of this was true, but they didnt believe it, only saying these words in order to attempt to snare Him):

²²Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar, or no? (This tribute was tax levied by Rome on every person in Israel at a Denarius a head. If He said yes, He would be labeled a traitor by Israel, because they abhorred this tax inasmuch as it proclaimed them a subject of Rome. If He said no, He could be branded an insurrectionist by Rome. So in their minds, either way He answered would incriminate Him.)

²³But He perceived their craftiness (He instantly recognized their treachery and trickery), and said unto them, Why do you tempt Me? (He lets them know that He knows exactly what theyre doing, and their hypocrisy.)

²⁴Show Me a penny (the Roman Denarius; such was not normally brought into the Temple because there was an inscription of Caesar on its face). Whose image and superscription has it? They answered and said, Caesars.

²⁵And He said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesars, and unto God the things which be Gods (Jesus is saying that debts to man and debts to God are both to be discharged, and the two spheres of duty are at once distinct and reconcilable; in effect, Jesus was teaching here in its beginning forms the separation of Church and State).

²⁶And they could not take hold of His words before the people (His answer was so perfect that they had no rebuttal): and they marvelled at His answer, and held their peace (in their trickery, they were positive that His Answer would incriminate Him in one way or the other, but to their amazement, it served no purpose at all for their evil designs).

THE RESURRECTION

²⁷Then came to Him certain of the Sadducees (the Modernists of Israel of that day, and who mostly controlled the High Priesthood and the Sanhedrin), which deny that there is any Resurrection (their false interpretation of the Word of God ruled out an afterlife, consequently reducing the Plan of God to mere window dressing); and they asked Him,

²⁸Saying, Master, Moses wrote unto us, If any mans brother die, having a wife, and he die without children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother ([Deut. 25:5], they claimed to believe Genesis through Deuteronomy, but placed no credence in the balance of the Bible of that day, which was Joshua through Malachi).

²⁹There were therefore seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and died without children.

³⁰And the second took her to wife, and he died childless.

³¹And the third took her; and in like manner the seven also: and they left no children, and died.

³²Last of all the woman died also.

³³Therefore in the Resurrection whose wife of them is she? for seven had her to wife (Deuteronomy does not contain this illustration, at least in this fashion; this is a hypothetical situation conjured up by the Sadducees, which they thought sealed their argument that there was no such thing as a Resurrection).

³⁴And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world (this life before death) marry, and are given in marriage (this places the institution of marriage solely in this present world, and not in the world to come):

³⁵But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world (Eternal Life, brought about by the Born-again experience), and the Resurrection from the dead (proclaims unequivocally that there will be a Resurrection), neither marry, nor are given in marriage (this pertains to those who have part in the First Resurrection, which will include every Believer who has ever lived up unto the conclusion of the Great Tribulation):

³⁶Neither can they die any more (at that time, all Saints of God will have Glorified bodies; there will be no more death among them): for they are equal unto the Angels (speaking only of immortality); and are the Children of God, being the Children of the Resurrection (all Believers will be Children of the Resurrection, simply because they are Children of God through the Born-Again experience [Jn. 3:3]).

³⁷Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush (takes the Sadducees to the very part of the Bible they claim to believe), when he called the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (presents a solid truth concerning life after death, which the next Verse will explain).

³⁸For He is not a God of the dead (meaning that there is life after death, whether in Heaven or Hell), but of the living (in effect, Moses was saying that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were even then alive, even though they had physically died many years before; it is the same with all Believers): for all live unto Him (He is not a God of dead beings, but of living beings; God cannot be the God of a being who does not exist).

THE INCARNATION

³⁹Then certain of the Scribes answering said, Master, You have well said (the Scribes were Pharisees, and did believe in the Resurrection).

⁴⁰And after that they do not ask Him any question at all (both Pharisees and Sadducees gave up this method of attack).

⁴¹And He said unto them, How say they that Christ is Davids son? (Christ means Anointed One or Messiah. This question, posed by Christ, had to do with the Incarnation.)

⁴²And David himself said in the Book of Psalms, The LORD said unto My Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand ([Ps. 110:1] this statement proclaims Deity on the part of the Messiah, which struck at the heart of the false belief of the Jews concerning Jesus, who expected their Messiah to be merely a beloved man; in essence, God the Father says to God the Son...),

⁴³Till I make your enemies your footstool (Jesus did this through the Cross [Col. 2:14-15]).

⁴⁴David therefore called Him Lord, how is He then His Son? (With this question, Jesus placed the Incarnation, God becoming man, squarely before the Pharisees. Jesus is Davids Lord because He is God. He is Davids Son, in respect to His Humanity, God becoming man.)

⁴⁵Then in the audience of all the people He said unto His Disciples (said the following in the hearing of all the people),

⁴⁶Beware of the Scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the Synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts (their religion was a show, and contained no substance; but yet, they were the Pastors of the people);

⁴⁷Which devour widows houses, and for a show make long prayers (prayed these prayers in the presence of these particular women in order to get their money): the same shall receive greater damnation (refers to judgment; Hell will be the hottest for this type, who are mere professers, but do not actually possess).