This chapter is based on Matthew 21:12-16, 23-46; Mark 11:15-19, 27-33; 12:1-12; Luke 19:45-48; 20:1-19.
(HLv 392)
At the beginning of His ministry, Christ had driven from the temple those who defiled it by their unholy traffic. His stern and godlike demeanor had struck terror to the scheming traders.
(HLv 392.1)
At the close of His mission He came again to the temple and found it still desecrated as before—with the cries of animals, the sharp chinking of coin, and the sound of angry altercation. The dignitaries of the temple were themselves buying and selling. So completely were they controlled by greed of gain that in the sight of God they were no better than thieves.
(HLv 392.2)
At every Passover and Feast of Tabernacles, thousands of animals were slain, their blood caught by the priests and poured on the altar. The Jews had almost lost sight of the fact that sin made necessary all this shedding of blood. They did not discern that it prefigured the blood of God’s dear Son, to be shed for the life of the world.
(HLv 392.3)
Jesus saw how the Jews had made these great convocations scenes of bloodshed and cruelty. They had multiplied the sacrifice of beasts, as if God could be honored by a heartless service. The priests and rulers had made the symbols pointing to the Lamb of God a means of getting gain. Thus the sacredness of the sacrificial service had been in a great measure destroyed. Jesus knew that His blood, so soon to be shed for the sins of the world, would be as little appreciated by the priests and elders as was the blood of beasts!
(HLv 392.4)
Against these practices Christ had spoken through the prophets. Isaiah, seeing in prophetic vision the apostasy of the Jews, addressed them: “What to Me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of he-goats.”“Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before My eyes.” Isaiah 1:11, 16, RSV.
(HLv 392.5)
He who had Himself given these prophecies now for the last time repeated the warning. In fulfillment of prophecy the people had proclaimed Jesus king of Israel. He had received their homage and accepted the office of king. In this character He must act. He knew His efforts to reform a corrupt priesthood would be in vain; nevertheless, to an unbelieving people the evidence of His divine mission must be given.
(HLv 393.1)
Again the piercing look of Jesus swept over the desecrated court of the temple. All eyes were turned toward Him. Divinity flashed through humanity, investing Christ with a dignity and glory He had never manifested before. Those nearest Him drew as far away as the crowd would permit. Except for a few of His disciples, the Saviour stood alone. The deep silence seemed unbearable. Christ spoke with a power that swayed the people like a mighty tempest: “It is written, My house is the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.” His voice sounded like a trumpet through the temple. “Take these things hence.” John 2:16.
(HLv 393.2)
Three years before, the rulers of the temple had been ashamed of their flight before the command of Jesus. They had felt it impossible for their undignified surrender to be repeated. Yet they were now more terrified than before, and in greater haste to obey His command. Priests and traders fled, driving their cattle before them.
(HLv 393.3)
On the way from the temple they were met by a throng who came with their sick inquiring for the Great Healer. The report given by the fleeing people caused some of these to turn back, but a large number pressed through the crowd, eager to reach Him. Again the temple court was filled by the sick and the dying, and once more Jesus ministered to them.
(HLv 393.4)
After a season the priests and rulers ventured back to the temple. They expected Jesus to take the throne of David. Upon entering the temple, they stood transfixed. They saw the sick healed, the blind restored to sight, the deaf receive their hearing, and the crippled leap for joy. Children were foremost in the rejoicing. Jesus had healed their maladies; He had clasped them in His arms. Now with glad voices the children sounded His praise. They repeated the hosannas of the day before and waved palm branches triumphantly before the Saviour.
(HLv 394.1)
The sound of these happy, unrestrained voices was an offense to the rulers of the temple. They represented to the people that the house of God was desecrated by the feet of the children and the shouts of rejoicing. The rulers appealed to Christ: “Hearest Thou what these say? And Jesus said to them, Yes, have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou has perfected praise?” Prophecy had foretold that Christ should be proclaimed as king, and God moved upon the children to be His witnesses. Had the voices of the children been silent, the very pillars of the temple would have sounded the Saviour’s praise.
(HLv 394.2)
The Pharisees were utterly disconcerted. Never before had Jesus assumed such kingly authority. He had done marvelous works, but never before in a manner so solemn and impressive. Though enraged and confounded, the priests and rulers were unable to accomplish anything further that day. The next morning the Sanhedrin again considered what course to pursue toward Jesus. For three years the rulers had evidences of His Messiahship. They now decided to demand no sign of His authority, but to draw out some admission or declaration by which He might be condemned.
(HLv 394.3)
In the temple they proceeded to question Him: “By what authority doest Thou these things? and who gave Thee this authority?” Jesus met them with a question apparently pertaining to another subject, and He made His reply conditional on their answering this question: “The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men?”
(HLv 394.4)
The priests saw they were in a dilemma from which no sophistry could extricate them. If they said that John’s baptism was from heaven, Christ would say, Why have ye not then believed on him? John had testified of Christ, “Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29. If the priests believed John’s testimony, how could they deny the Messiahship of Christ?
(HLv 395.1)
If they declared their real belief, that John’s ministry was of men, they would bring on themselves a storm of indignation, for the people believed John to be a prophet. The multitude knew that the priests had professed to accept John, and they expected them to acknowledge that he was sent from God. But after conferring secretly together, the priests decided not to commit themselves. Hypocritically professing ignorance, they said, “We cannot tell.”“Neither tell I you,” said Christ, “by what authority I do these things.”
(HLv 395.2)
Baffled and disappointed, scribes, priests, and rulers all stood with lowering brows, not daring to press further questions on Christ. The people stood by, amused to see these proud, self-righteous men defeated.
(HLv 395.3)
All these sayings and doings of Christ were important, and their influence was to be felt in an ever-increasing degree after His crucifixion and ascension. Many were finally to become His disciples, first drawn by His words on that eventful day. The contrast between Jesus and the high priest as they talked together was marked. The proud dignitary of the temple was clothed in rich and costly garments. Upon his head was a glittering tiara, his bearing majestic, his hair and beard silvered by age. Before this august person stood the Majesty of heaven, without adornment or display, His garments travel-stained, His face pale, expressing a patient sadness. Yet written there were dignity and benevolence. Many who witnessed the words and deeds of Jesus in the temple from that time enshrined Him in their hearts as a prophet of God. But as the popular feeling turned in His favor, the hatred of the priests toward Jesus increased.
(HLv 395.4)
It was not Christ’s purpose to humiliate His opponents. He had an important lesson to teach. The acknowledged ignorance of His enemies in regard to John’s baptism gave Him opportunity to speak, presenting before them their real position, and adding another warning to the many already given:
(HLv 396.1)
“What think ye?” He said. “A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work today in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. Whither of them twain did the will of his father?”
(HLv 396.2)
This abrupt question threw His hearers off their guard. They immediately answered, “The first.” Fixing His steady eye on them, Jesus responded in stern and solemn tones: “Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. 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.”
(HLv 396.3)
The priests and rulers could not but give a correct answer to Christ’s question, and thus He obtained their opinion in favor of the first son, who represented the publicans. When John came, preaching repentance and baptism, the publicans received his message and were baptized.
(HLv 396.4)
The second son represented the leading men of the Jewish nation who would not acknowledge that John came from God. They “rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him.” Luke 7:30. Like the second son, the priests and rulers professed obedience, but acted disobedience.
(HLv 396.5)
The priests and rulers remained silent. But Christ said: “Hear another parable. There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a wine press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: and when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?”
(HLv 397.1)
The priests and rulers answered, “He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.” The speakers now saw that they had pronounced their own condemnation. As the husbandmen were to return to the lord a due proportion of the fruits of the vineyard, so God’s people were to honor Him by a life corresponding to their sacred privileges. But as the husbandmen had killed the servants whom the master sent to them for fruit, so the Jews had put to death the prophets whom God sent to call them to repentance.
(HLv 397.2)
Thus far the application of the parable could not be questioned, and in what followed it was no less evident. In the beloved son whom the lord of the vineyard finally sent to his disobedient servants, and whom they seized and slew, the priests and rulers saw a distinct picture of Jesus and His impending fate. In the retribution inflicted on the ungrateful husbandmen was portrayed the doom of those who should put Christ to death.
(HLv 397.3)
Looking with pity on them, the Saviour continued, “Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous 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.”
(HLv 398.1)
This prophecy the Jews had often repeated in the synagogues, applying it to the coming Messiah. Christ was the Cornerstone of the Jewish economy, and of the whole plan of salvation. This foundation stone the Jewish builders were now rejecting. By every means in His power the Saviour sought to make plain the nature of the deed they were about to do. His warnings, failing to arouse them to repentance, would seal their doom, and He designed to show them the justice of God in the withdrawal of their national privileges, which would end not only in the destruction of their temple and their city, but in the dispersion of the nation.
(HLv 398.2)
The hearers recognized the warning, but notwithstanding the sentence they themselves had pronounced, the priests and rulers were ready to fill out the picture by saying, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him.”“But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes,” for the public sentiment was in Christ’s favor.
(HLv 398.3)
In quoting the prophecy of the rejected stone, Christ referred to an actual incident connected with the building of the first temple. It had a special lesson at Christ’s first advent, but it also has a lesson for us. When the temple of Solomon was erected, the immense stones were entirely prepared at the quarry. After they were brought to the place of building, the workmen had only to place them in position. For the foundation, one stone of unusual size and peculiar shape had been brought, but the workmen could find no place for it. It was an annoyance as it lay unused in their way. Long it remained a rejected stone.
(HLv 398.4)
But when the builders came to laying of the corner, they searched for a long time to find a stone of sufficient size and strength, and of the proper shape, to bear the great weight which would rest on it. Should they make an unwise choice, the safety of the entire building would be endangered. Several stones had been chosen, but under the pressure of immense weights they had crumbled to pieces.
(HLv 399.1)
But at last attention was called to the stone so long rejected. It had been exposed to sun and storm without revealing the slightest crack. It had borne every test but one—the test of severe pressure. The trial was made. The stone was accepted, brought to its assigned position, and found to be an exact fit. This stone was a symbol of Christ. Isaiah says:
(HLv 399.2)
“He shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel... . And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.” Christ was to bear trials and tests of which the chief cornerstone in the temple of Solomon was symbolic. “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.” Isaiah 8:14, 15; 28:16.
(HLv 399.3)
God chose the foundation stone and called it “a sure foundation.” The entire world may lay upon it their burdens and griefs. With perfect safety they may build upon it. Those who trust in Him, He never disappoints. He has borne every test. He has borne the burdens cast upon Him by every repenting sinner. All who make Him their dependence rest in perfect security.
(HLv 399.4)
Christ is both “a sure foundation” and “a stone of stumbling.”“Unto you therefore which believe He is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient.” 1 Peter 2:7, 8.
(HLv 400.1)
To those who believe, Christ is the sure foundation. They fall on the Rock and are “broken.” To fall on the Rock and be broken is to give up our self-righteousness, to go to Christ with the humility of a child, repenting of our transgressions, and believing in His forgiving love. So also by faith and obedience we build on Christ as our foundation.
(HLv 400.2)
Upon this living stone, Jews and Gentiles alike may build. It is broad enough for all, and strong enough to sustain the weight and burden of the whole world. By connection with Christ all who build on this foundation become living stones. See 1 Peter 2:5.
(HLv 400.3)
“To them which stumble at the word, being disobedient,” Christ is a Rock of offense. Like the rejected stone, Christ had borne neglect and abuse. He was “despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief... . He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.” Isaiah 53:3. But by the resurrection from the dead He would be declared the “Son of God with power.” Romans 1:4. At His second coming He would be revealed as Lord of heaven and earth. Before the universe the rejected stone would become the head of the corner.
(HLv 400.4)
And on “whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” The people who rejected Christ were soon to see their city and nation destroyed, their glory scattered as the dust before the wind. And what was it that destroyed the Jews? The rock which, had they built on it, would have been their security. It was the goodness of God despised, mercy slighted. Men set themselves in opposition to God, and all that would have been their salvation was turned to their destruction.
(HLv 400.5)
In the Jews’ crucifixion of Christ was involved the destruction of Jerusalem. The blood shed on Calvary was the weight that sank them to ruin.
(HLv 401.1)
So in the great final day, when judgment shall fall on the rejecters of God’s grace. Christ, their rock of offense, will then appear as an avenging mountain. The glory of His countenance, which to the righteous is life, will be to the wicked a consuming fire. Because of love rejected, grace despised, the sinner will be destroyed. The desecrated temple, the disobedient son, the false husbandmen, the contemptuous builders have their counterpart in the experience of every sinner. Unless he repents, the doom which they foreshadowed will be his.
(HLv 401.2)