In this video we will take a look at the parable of the wicked husbandmen found in Matthew 21:33-46. After learning that unbelieving Jews were cut off from the natural olive tree and Gentiles of faith were grafted into the natural olive tree as we read in Romans 11, we can understand this parable in light of those truths. We must read this parable of Jesus in light of what we read in Isaiah 5:1-7 which this parable is founded upon.

We should come to understand the following:

-The Householder is referring to God.
-The Vineyard is referring to the house of Israel and men of Judah.
-The husbandmen are referring to the religious leaders of Israel that God entrusted his vineyard (people) to.
-Servants refer to the prophets (messengers).
-Fruit of the vineyard is referring to fruit of righteousness and dedication to God that should have been produced by the people of Israel (moral fruit).
-Slaying of the Son is referring to the crucifixion of Jesus outside the gates of Jerusalem.
-Letting out the vineyard to other husbandmen represents opening up the gospel to the Gentiles.

The unbelieving chief priests and Pharisees sealed their fate in acknowledging that the householder should destroy the husbandmen and give it to others who would produce fruit. Jesus then tells them in Matthew 21:43 that the kingdom would be taken away from national Israel (the unbelieving) who would be cut off from the natural olive tree and it would be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. This nation is the New Covenant church (a holy nation as we read about in 1 Peter 2:9) made up of both Jew and Gentile in one body of Christ by faith.

Jesus never said the kingdom would ever return back to national Israel (Israel after the flesh), but every natural Israelite would have to enter the kingdom of God the same way through faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38). It becomes abundantly clear in this parable, keeping in mind what we've learned so far in this series, that God took the kingdom from national Israel (after the flesh) who rejected Jesus Christ and gave it to another nation (a holy nation which is the church under the New Covenant). Both Jews and Gentiles of faith are part of this kingdom of God by new birth. It's a spiritual/heavenly kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. A kingdom of victory by the Spirit through God's grace. We learn in Ephesians 2:6 that if we have been born again we are seated with Christ in heavenly places (a place of victory and dominion). We learn in Colossians 1:13 that if we have been born again, we have been translated into the kingdom of Jesus Christ!

The Jews as a nation were stripped of the kingdom and the blessings they could have had, while the True Israel of God was going to be given the kingdom by faith. The entire leadership of the first century New Covenant church and most of the elders were clearly Jewish, but they became True Israel by faith in Jesus Christ. They stopped keeping the Sabbath and abandoned the Mosaic Law system of Judaism and instead looked to Jesus Christ as their eternal rest and they gathered together as believers and worshipped God in Spirit and in truth.

All (both Jew and Gentile) must enter the kingdom of God by faith. The kingdom of God is the church (a place of victory and dominion in the Spirit). There is only one way for anyone to ever be saved and that is through Jesus Christ. There is only one gospel that must be obeyed under the New Covenant that is to be preached to both Jew and Gentile in order for someone to be born again and enter the kingdom of God. That gospel is found in Acts 2:38.