WHO LOST THE KINGDOM—AND WHO RECEIVED IT?

Common Objections Answered — Chapter 36

When Jesus said the kingdom of God would be taken away and given to another people, was He announcing the rejection of Israel, the postponement of the kingdom, or judgment upon those who rejected Him?

1. WHAT DID JESUS ACTUALLY SAY?

Read Matthew 21:33–46.

Some Bible teachers argue that Jesus came offering the kingdom to Israel, but Israel rejected Him. As a result, they believe the promised earthly kingdom was postponed until a future time.

Others believe Jesus established His kingdom through His death, resurrection, and exaltation, and that His warning concerned those who rejected His authority.

Not everyone who expects a future earthly kingdom believes God's plan failed or that the church was an unexpected substitute. Some understand Christ's kingdom as present now while also expecting a future earthly fulfillment of certain promises.

We should represent these views fairly.

But before deciding which interpretation is correct, we need to examine what Jesus actually said.

In Matthew 21:43, Jesus declares:

"Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits."

That statement raises several questions.

Who are the people Jesus addresses?

What does it mean for the kingdom to be taken away?

Who receives it?

And does the passage say anything about postponing the kingdom?

To answer these questions, we must begin with the parable Jesus had just told.

2. WHY DID JESUS TELL A STORY ABOUT A VINEYARD?

Read Matthew 21:33–39.

Jesus describes a landowner who plants a vineyard.

He surrounds it with a fence, digs a winepress, and builds a watchtower.

Then he leases the vineyard to tenants and goes away.

When harvest time arrives, the owner sends servants to collect his fruit.

But the tenants mistreat them.

They beat one servant, kill another, and stone another.

The owner sends more servants.

They receive similar treatment.

Finally, he sends his son, expecting the tenants to respect him.

Instead, the tenants recognize the son as the heir.

They decide to kill him and seize his inheritance.

The story is not primarily about farming.

It is about people who have been entrusted with something belonging to another person.

The vineyard belongs to the landowner.

The tenants are responsible for caring for it and producing fruit.

But instead of honoring the owner, they reject his authority.

And when his son comes, they kill him.

Jesus is preparing His listeners to recognize a serious failure in their relationship with God.

3. WHERE DID JESUS GET THE VINEYARD PICTURE?

Read Isaiah 5:1–7.

Jesus' description closely resembles Isaiah's song about God's vineyard.

Isaiah describes a vineyard carefully prepared by its owner.

The owner plants choice vines, builds a watchtower, and prepares a winepress.

He expects good grapes.

Instead, the vineyard produces bad fruit.

Isaiah then explains the picture.

The vineyard represents the house of Israel and the people of Judah.

God had cared for His people and expected justice and righteousness.

Instead, He found bloodshed and oppression.

This background is important.

Jesus' listeners were familiar with Scripture.

His description of a carefully prepared vineyard would naturally recall Isaiah's warning.

But there is also an important difference.

In Isaiah 5, the vineyard itself is judged for producing bad fruit.

In Matthew 21, Jesus focuses on the wicked tenants who refuse to give the owner his fruit.

The tenants are removed, and the vineyard is entrusted to others.

We should not overlook that difference.

The central problem in Jesus' parable is the unfaithfulness of those entrusted with responsibility.

The vineyard remains the owner's property.

The tenants do not have the right to seize it for themselves.

4. WHO ARE THE WICKED TENANTS?

Read Matthew 21:23–27 and 21:45–46.

The context gives us an unusually clear answer.

Before telling the parable, Jesus is challenged by the chief priests and elders.

They question His authority.

Jesus responds by asking them about the authority of John's baptism.

They refuse to answer.

He then tells the parable of the two sons, followed by the parable of the wicked tenants.

Afterward, Matthew records:

"When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them." (Matthew 21:45)

The religious leaders understood that Jesus was confronting them.

They were among those responsible for teaching and guiding God's people.

But they had resisted God's messengers.

They rejected John the Baptist.

They challenged Jesus' authority.

And Jesus' parable anticipated the rejection and killing of the Son.

This does not mean every Jewish person rejected Jesus.

Jesus Himself was Jewish.

His apostles were Jewish.

Many of His earliest followers were Jewish.

The first believers who proclaimed His resurrection were Jews.

The immediate target of Jesus' warning was the unfaithful leadership confronting Him.

The warning also reaches beyond those particular leaders because it concerns the consequences of rejecting God's Son.

But we should not turn a judgment against unbelief into a condemnation of an entire ethnic people.

Matthew does not authorize that conclusion.

5. WHAT HAPPENS TO THE WICKED TENANTS?

Read Matthew 21:40–41.

Jesus asks what the owner will do when he returns.

His listeners answer that the owner will destroy the wicked tenants and lease the vineyard to others who will give him its fruit.

Notice what happens.

The vineyard is not abandoned.

The owner does not announce that he will stop growing grapes until some distant future.

He removes the unfaithful tenants.

Then he entrusts the vineyard to others who will produce its fruit.

This is the central movement of the parable.

Unfaithful tenants lose their responsibility. Others receive it.

The picture concerns judgment and transfer.

It does not describe postponement.

However, we should be precise.

The parable does not provide a complete explanation of every future event involving Israel or the kingdom.

It addresses the rejection of God's messengers and Son, and the consequences for those responsible.

We should draw the conclusion Jesus' words support without asking the parable to answer questions it was not intended to settle.

6. WHY DOES JESUS QUOTE THE REJECTED STONE?

Read Matthew 21:42 and Psalm 118:22–23.

After the parable, Jesus quotes Scripture:

"The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone."

The image changes from farming to building.

But the message remains closely related.

The builders reject a stone.

Yet God makes that rejected stone the cornerstone.

In the parable, the tenants reject and kill the owner's son.

In the quotation, the builders reject the stone that God chooses.

Jesus is identifying Himself as the rejected Son and the rejected stone.

The religious leaders may reject Him.

But their rejection will not prevent God from accomplishing His purpose.

Peter later uses the same passage in Acts 4:10–12.

Speaking to Israel's rulers and elders, Peter identifies Jesus as the one they crucified and God raised from the dead.

He then quotes the rejected-stone passage.

The rejected Jesus has become the cornerstone.

This is a powerful connection.

Human rejection does not overturn God's choice.

The people responsible for rejecting Jesus do not determine whether God's purpose succeeds.

God raises and exalts the One they rejected.

That is essential to understanding what follows in Matthew 21.

7. WHAT DOES IT MEAN THAT THE KINGDOM WILL BE TAKEN AWAY?

Read Matthew 21:43.

Jesus says:

"The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits."

We should examine the wording carefully.

Jesus does not say the kingdom will be destroyed.

He does not say it will be canceled.

He does not say it will be placed in storage until a future generation accepts it.

He says it will be taken away from one group and given to another.

This fits the parable.

The tenants lose their responsibility because they refuse to give the owner his fruit.

Others receive what the unfaithful tenants have lost.

But what exactly is being transferred?

The language of the parable suggests kingdom privilege and responsibility: participation in God's kingdom under His authority, with the expectation of producing fruit.

The leaders who reject God's Son cannot claim the kingdom as their possession while refusing its rightful King.

The kingdom belongs to God.

He determines who shares in its blessings.

The emphasis is not on the kingdom disappearing, but on the consequences of rejecting its King.

We should also recognize a limit.

Matthew 21:43 does not provide a detailed description of the kingdom's future location or political organization.

It does not settle every question about a future millennium.

Those questions require additional passages.

But the verse itself describes transfer, not postponement.

8. WHO ARE THE PEOPLE WHO RECEIVE THE KINGDOM?

This is one of the most important questions in the chapter.

Jesus says the kingdom will be given to a people producing its fruits.

The Greek word translated people is ethnos.

Depending on its context, the word can refer to a nation, a people, or a group sharing a common identity.

It is sometimes used for Gentile nations.

But the word does not automatically mean Gentiles in every passage.

Therefore, we should not simply read Matthew 21:43 as saying:

"The kingdom will be taken from all Jews and given to Gentiles."

That is not what Jesus explicitly says.

He identifies the recipients by their fruit.

They are a people who produce what God requires.

Who might such people be?

The New Testament describes a community gathered around Jesus Christ.

It begins with Jewish disciples who believe in Him.

Then Gentiles are brought into fellowship through the same Lord.

Acts 2 describes thousands of Jews responding to Peter's message.

Acts 10 describes Gentiles receiving the gospel.

Ephesians 2:11–22 explains that Christ brings believing Jews and Gentiles together into one new humanity.

First Peter 2:9–10 describes believers as a chosen people and a holy nation.

These passages help us understand the people formed around Christ.

But we should distinguish the evidence.

Matthew 21:43 directly identifies the recipients as a people producing the kingdom's fruit.

The later New Testament helps us recognize the community that belongs to Christ and shares in His promises.

The passage does not teach that Gentile ethnicity replaces Jewish ethnicity as the basis of acceptance with God.

The issue is belonging to Christ and producing the fruit appropriate to His kingdom.

9. WHAT KIND OF FRUIT DOES GOD EXPECT?

Read Matthew 3:7–10; 7:15–23; and 21:28–32.

The word fruit is important throughout Matthew.

John the Baptist warned the Pharisees and Sadducees to produce fruit consistent with repentance.

He also warned them not to rely on their descent from Abraham.

God could raise up children for Abraham from stones.

In Matthew 7, Jesus says people are recognized by their fruit.

He warns that merely calling Him "Lord" does not replace doing the Father's will.

Immediately before the vineyard parable, Jesus tells the story of two sons.

One initially refuses to obey his father but later changes his mind and goes.

The other promises obedience but does not go.

Jesus uses that story to confront religious leaders who refused to believe John, while tax collectors and prostitutes responded to his message.

The connection is clear.

The fruit God requires is not merely religious appearance.

It includes repentance, faith, obedience, justice, and a life consistent with God's will.

This does not mean people earn a place in God's kingdom through flawless performance.

The New Testament teaches salvation through God's grace in Christ.

But genuine faith is not presented as an excuse for refusing God's authority.

The people of the kingdom are expected to respond to its King.

The tenants failed because they rejected the owner's authority and refused to give him his fruit.

The new tenants are described as people who will produce it.

10. HAD JESUS ALREADY WARNED THAT SOME WOULD LOSE THEIR EXPECTED PLACE?

Read Matthew 8:5–13.

A Roman centurion approaches Jesus because his servant is suffering.

Jesus offers to come and heal him.

But the centurion says Jesus needs only to speak the word.

He recognizes Jesus' authority.

Jesus marvels at his faith.

Then Jesus announces that many will come from east and west and sit with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

But some who expected to inherit the kingdom will be excluded.

This statement is important.

Jesus pictures people coming from outside Israel to share in blessings associated with Israel's patriarchs.

At the same time, He warns that physical descent does not guarantee participation.

This does not mean Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lose their place.

They remain part of the promised kingdom.

The warning concerns those who presume they belong while rejecting the faith and authority that the kingdom requires.

Matthew 8 therefore prepares us for Matthew 21.

The kingdom's blessings are not guaranteed by ancestry alone.

Faith matters.

And the coming of Gentiles does not require the exclusion of believing Jews.

Both may share in the same promised blessings.

11. DID THE REJECTION OF JESUS INTERRUPT GOD'S PLAN?

Read Acts 2:22–24; Luke 24:25–27; and Acts 4:27–28.

The New Testament does not present Jesus' death as an unexpected disaster that forced God to invent another plan.

Peter says Jesus was delivered up according to God's definite plan and foreknowledge.

Yet he also holds those responsible for His crucifixion accountable.

Both truths appear in the same passage.

God's purpose was being accomplished.

Human beings were responsible for their wicked actions.

After His resurrection, Jesus explained that the Messiah had to suffer before entering His glory.

Acts 4 likewise connects the actions of Herod, Pontius Pilate, Gentiles, and Israel's people with what God's hand and purpose had determined beforehand.

These passages establish that Christ's suffering and death were not accidental interruptions of God's saving purpose.

But we should avoid making an argument stronger than the evidence.

The fact that the cross was planned does not, by itself, answer every question about the timing of all kingdom promises.

Some Christians who expect a future earthly reign fully agree that the cross was always part of God's plan.

Therefore, we should not accuse them of believing God's plan failed unless they actually teach that.

The stronger conclusion is this:

The rejection and crucifixion of Jesus did not surprise God or defeat His saving purpose.

And Matthew 21:43 describes judgment and transfer rather than the cancellation of the kingdom.

Those are conclusions we can demonstrate from the text.

12. DID THE APOSTLES TEACH THAT GOD HAD REJECTED ALL JEWS?

Read Romans 11:1–24.

Paul directly asks whether God has rejected His people.

His answer is emphatic:

"By no means!"

Paul himself is an Israelite.

He points to the Jewish remnant chosen by grace.

He also describes a partial hardening that has come upon Israel.

His illustration of the olive tree is especially important.

Some natural branches have been broken off because of unbelief.

Wild branches have been grafted in.

But Paul warns Gentile believers not to become arrogant.

They do not support the root.

The root supports them.

He also says that natural branches can be grafted in again if they do not continue in unbelief.

Whatever conclusion we reach about the future of ethnic Israel, Paul's warning must be respected.

The inclusion of Gentiles is not permission to despise Jews.

Nor does Matthew 21 justify claiming that God has permanently excluded every descendant of Abraham.

The New Testament presents salvation through Christ for both Jews and Gentiles.

Romans 11 also raises questions about Israel's future that deserve their own careful examination.

Christians disagree about the meaning of "all Israel will be saved" in Romans 11:26.

Some understand it as a future large-scale turning of ethnic Israel to Christ.

Others understand it as the completed people of God, including believing Jews and Gentiles.

That disagreement cannot be settled simply by quoting Matthew 21:43.

What can we conclude?

The rejection of Christ by some does not mean God has rejected every Jewish person.

Unbelief brings judgment.

Faith in Christ brings participation in God's saving promises.

And Gentile believers have no reason to boast.

13. DID JESUS SAY THE KINGDOM WAS POSTPONED?

Now we can return to our original question.

Some prophetic interpretations distinguish between Christ's present heavenly reign and a future earthly kingdom.

Others understand Christ's present reign as the fulfillment of the promised Davidic kingship, awaiting its final completion.

Matthew 21:43 does not settle every detail of that larger disagreement.

But it does tell us something important.

Jesus says the kingdom will be taken away and given to a people producing its fruit.

He does not describe the kingdom being postponed.

He does not say God must wait for a later generation before anyone can receive its blessings.

The parable itself pictures the vineyard being entrusted to others.

That is different from suspending the vineyard owner's purpose.

Other passages tell us that Christ's kingdom is already a present reality.

Colossians 1:13 says believers have been transferred into the kingdom of God's beloved Son.

Matthew 28:18 records Jesus' declaration that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him.

Acts 2:29–36 connects God's promise to David with Jesus' resurrection and exaltation.

These passages should be examined in their own contexts.

Together, they provide strong evidence that Christ's royal authority and the blessings of His kingdom are not entirely postponed until the future.

However, a person could accept Christ's present reign and still argue that certain kingdom promises await a future earthly expression.

That additional claim must be examined separately.

Matthew 21:43 does not require such a postponement, and it should not be used to teach one.

Its subject is the judgment of unfaithful people and the giving of kingdom privilege to those who produce its fruit.

14. WHAT HAVE WE ACTUALLY ESTABLISHED?

Let us distinguish what the passage says from conclusions that require additional evidence.

First: Jesus told the parable in the presence of religious leaders who challenged His authority.

Matthew explicitly says they recognized that He was speaking about them.

Second: The vineyard imagery recalls Isaiah 5, where God expected justice and righteousness from His people.

Third: The wicked tenants represent those who reject God's messengers and ultimately His Son.

Fourth: The owner removes the unfaithful tenants and entrusts the vineyard to others.

The parable describes judgment and transfer.

Fifth: Jesus says the kingdom will be taken away and given to a people producing its fruit.

He does not say the kingdom will be postponed.

Sixth: The word translated people does not automatically mean Gentiles to the exclusion of Jews.

The recipients are identified by the fruit they produce.

Seventh: Matthew's Gospel repeatedly warns that ancestry and religious position do not guarantee participation in the kingdom.

Eighth: The New Testament describes believing Jews and Gentiles sharing in God's saving promises through Christ.

Ninth: Romans 11 warns against claiming that God has rejected every Jewish person or that Gentile believers may boast over Israel.

Tenth: Matthew 21:43 does not independently settle every question about a future earthly kingdom or the future of ethnic Israel.

Those questions require further study.

CONCLUSION — THE KINGDOM WAS NOT THE TENANTS' PROPERTY

The wicked tenants made one terrible mistake.

They acted as though the vineyard belonged to them.

They rejected the owner's servants.

They killed his son.

They tried to seize what was never theirs.

Jesus used that story to confront leaders who had rejected God's messengers and were preparing to reject His Son.

The owner did not surrender his vineyard.

He removed the unfaithful tenants and entrusted it to others.

That is the picture Jesus gave.

Then He explained its meaning.

The kingdom would be taken away and given to a people producing its fruit.

Jesus did not say the kingdom would be canceled.

He did not say it would be placed on hold.

He said it would be given to others.

But we must not go beyond His words.

He did not announce that every Jewish person was rejected.

He did not teach that Gentile ancestry would replace Jewish ancestry as the basis of salvation.

He did not provide a complete timetable for every future kingdom promise.

His warning was directed against those who rejected God's Son and failed to produce the fruit God required.

The New Testament shows that Jews and Gentiles who believe in Christ may share in God's saving promises.

And Paul warns every believer against pride.

The kingdom belongs to God.

Its blessings cannot be claimed merely through ancestry, religious position, or tradition.

The King has come.

The rejected stone has become the cornerstone.

And those who belong to Him are called to produce the fruit appropriate to His kingdom.

The question is not whether God lost control of His kingdom when people rejected Jesus.

The question is whether we have recognized the King whom God Himself has chosen.

Before deciding what Matthew 21 means for a prophetic timetable, we should first hear the warning Jesus actually gave.

READ FIRST. CONCLUDE LATER.

TEXT B4 TRADITION — Common Objections Answered, Chapter 36

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