Parable no17 The Two Sons

“THE 41 PARABLES OF JESUS CHRIST”
28 general parables and 13 kingdom of God parables
Parable #17 – “THE TWO SONS”
Matthew 21:28-31,32
The 8^th of the 28 general parables

BACKGROUND:
In 445BC, with one Bible week equating to seven years (a prophetic year being 360 days), God commanded that seventy weeks each of 7 years, would be determined upon Israel, that is … 70 weeks x 7 years = 490 years (Daniel 9:24-27).

This time frame is broken into four time periods of (a) 7 weeks + (b) 62 weeks + (c) the mystery church age of about 2,000 years + (d) 1 week = 70 weeks and is explained as follows:

#1. Seven weeks of years is 7 x 7 = 49 years … the time it takes to restore and build Jerusalem from 445BC to 396BC.

#2. Sixty two weeks of years is 62 x 7 = 434 years … the time from the building of Jerusalem in 396BC to Christ being cut off at the cross in 32AD.

#4. One week of years is 1 x 7 = 7 years … this is the seven years of tribulation of God’s wrath upon the earth, that takes place after the rapture … called Daniel’s 70^th week.

DANIEL 9:24-27
“Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city … from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks … after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off … he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week …”

“THE TWO SONS”
“v28 But what think ye (chief priests)? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the FIRST, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard. v29 He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. v30 And he came to the SECOND, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. V31 Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The FIRST. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. V32 For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.” (Matthew 21:28-31,32)

Question: How would it be possible for people to go into the kingdom of God, heaven itself, before Christ goes to the cross?

The first son are the harlots and the publicans initially rejecting the Messiah,
If you see it from their point of view, the harlots and publicans were already treated as outlaws from the religion of the chief priests, so when they hear about the priests getting excited about the coming Messiah, this only further drives them away from Christ and his vineyard … and so it is a resounding “NO” from them. But after seeing his wonderful works of his healings and his acceptance of them by eating with them, they accept him … that is, after initially saying NO, they willing say YES to working in his vineyard.

The second son are the self-righteous Pharisees and Sadducees (Luke 18:10-13,14) initially

accepting the promise of Christ the Messiah, but then rejecting Christ with extreme hatred

being jealous of his works, after seeing him eating and associating with harlots and publicans.

v31 “ ….That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. v32 For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.” (Matthew 21:31-32)

Here we have Christ in the kingdom of heaven dispensation, talking about the believing Jew’s eventual home being the kingdom of God which is in heaven itself.

It is to be understood that the Jew would enter the kingdom of God in heaven, after the temporary stopover in Abraham’s bosom, should they accept Christ.

We can see that the harlots and publicans entered heaven, the kingdom of God, God’s kingdom, before the chief priests … unless the latter repent and accept Christ with his kingdom of heaven … which some of them did.

It was harlot-publican sinners and not the self-righteous Pharisees that Christ came to save.

Dear Reader, are you a sinner or are you like a self-righteous chief priest with no need of salvation?

Dear Reader, if you have rejected Jesus Christ as your Saviour up till now, change your mind, and be like the harlots and publicans, who afterwards, believed on the Lord Jesus Christ …
and become a good son.

Furthermore, the bad sons today are those still under the law eg SDA’s, Mormons, Catholics and on, who believe you can lose your salvation. Are they aware that …

“For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. 13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:” (Galatians 3:10-13)