Heir, August 7

“This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.”—Matthew 21:38JNN 233.1

In the parable of the vineyard Jesus brought before the Jews their real condition. The householder represented God, the vineyard the Jewish nation hedged in by divine law which was calculated to preserve them as a people separate and distinct from all other nations of the earth. The tower built in the vineyard represented their temple....JNN 233.2

The Lord of the vineyard required of His husbandmen a due proportion of the fruit; so God required of the Jews a life corresponding with the sacred privileges He had given them. But as the servants who demanded fruit in their master’s name were put to death by the unfaithful husbandmen, so had the Jews slain the prophets who had come to them with messages from God. Not only were these rejected, but when He sent His only Son to them, the destined Heir to the vineyard, thinking to preserve the vineyard to themselves, and to secure the honor and profit accruing therefrom, the haughty Jews, the unfaithful servants, reasoned among themselves, saying, “This is the Heir; come, let us kill Him.” Thus Jesus revealed in His parable the dark purposes of the Jews against Himself.JNN 233.3

After Jesus had heard them pronounce sentence upon themselves in their condemnation of the wicked husbandmen, He looked pityingly upon them and continued: “Did ye never read in the Scriptures, the stone which the builders rejected the same has become the head of the corner; this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.”JNN 233.4

The Jews had often repeated the words of this prophecy while teaching the people in the synagogues, applying it to the coming Messiah. But Jesus connected the heir so cruelly slain with the stone which the builders rejected, but which eventually became the principal stone of the whole building. Christ himself was the originator of the Jewish system, the very foundation of the costly temple, the antitype to whom all the sacrificial services pointed.—The Spirit of Prophecy 3:34, 35.JNN 233.5

Further Reflection: Could I one day reject the very Son of God, as the Pharisees had?JNN 233.6