Today's Passage - Matthew 21:33-41

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Matthew 21:33-41    "Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.' So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end," they replied, "and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time."   When Jesus was preaching this parable, the Pharisees knew right away that He was talking about them, because Lord was telling them a familiar story in a background that is familiar to them. The landowner in this story is Father God, and the tenants are the generations of leaders among the Israelites. God gave them a mission and asked them to fulfill His will by accomplish the mission. The servants are the generations of prophets sent by God to the Israelites, who revealed God's will on His behalf. The prophets condemned the sins of the Israelites, but the Israelites refused to repent. They even killed the servants, who were the prophets of God. That's why the Lord said in Matthew 23:35-36: "And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation."   Jesus then talked about the son of the landowner, who represents Himself. The Lord was sent to the world so that Israelites can turn back to God; however, they ended up killing the son of the landowner. The Lord prophesied that He would be killed, and when the Pharisees heard it they knew that Jesus was rebuking them. They nevertheless didn't repent, but their hearts became even harder. May God have mercy on us; when He rebukes us, let us have a softened heart; help us not to be like the Pharisees, whose hearts hardened when the Lord rebuked them, and ended up falling and perishing on God's path. Let us turn back to Him and repent our sins, welcome the Holy Spirit to come in and renew us, and let us once again turn back to God.   Pray with Pastor Tong     Lord, we thank you because you often remind us and rebuke us with the prophets, and you correct us with your word. May the Lord grant us a softened heart, so that we will turn back to you and let your will be done in our lives. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!