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There are two parables in Matthew 21 and 22 that occupy a very important place in the Bible. Chapter 21 speaks of the work in the vineyard, and chapter 22 mentions the wedding feast. The vineyard is a matter of work, while the wedding feast is a matter of enjoyment. The first parable is about God’s sending His slaves to work, and the second parable is about God’s calling His people to enjoy. While work requires man to pay a price, enjoyment is free. We have to fully grasp the principle of these two parables. The first parable portrays how God requires man to pay a price, to labor. God demands that man bear fruit. Yet the second parable tells us that God simply wants man to enjoy. Here, man is not required to pay any price because all things are ready. In this parable, if we say that God demands something of man, it is only to enjoy what God has prepared. In the first parable God demands something of man, while in the second parable man receives everything from God.
What do these two parables refer to? All Bible readers should realize that the first parable refers to the dispensation of law, while the second parable refers to the dispensation of grace. In the dispensation of law God dealt with man according to the law, demanding man to do everything, but in the dispensation of grace God deals with man by means of grace, desiring man to enjoy everything He has done. When God dealt with man according to the law, during the dispensation of the law, there was a particular situation with a particular result. In the following dispensation, when God deals with man according to grace, there is a different situation with a different result.
In the dispensation of law God required man to labor, to have good behavior, to pay a price, and to sweat. When man was under the law of the Old Testament, God never supplied man but always demanded things of man. In Matthew 21 there is a vineyard in which much work needed to be done and in which man was required to labor. The entire vineyard required man to spend his time and pay a price. But what was the result? The result was that man did not bear fruit for God—man did not accomplish anything. It is not that the law was wrong, but that owing to the weakness and wickedness of man, man could not do anything good. Hence, the Lord shows us in the first parable that although God repeatedly asked man for fruit, He did not receive any fruit. This indicates that under the law, if man wants to satisfy God’s demand by his own behavior and righteousness, the results are vain and empty, because man is unable to do it. This parable does not say that man gave too little fruit but that man did not have any fruit at all. Under the law, if man tries to fulfill God’s demand, he will definitely fail to accomplish anything. Thus, the first parable is clearly referring to the dispensation of law.
The second parable refers to the dispensation of grace. The dispensation of grace is not likened to a vineyard but to a wedding feast. Do we need to pay a price when someone invites us to a wedding feast? No one needs to pay any price to attend a wedding feast. This shows us that in the dispensation of grace, God deals with man according to grace. Everything is prepared by God, and we are those who are called simply to enjoy. We have to look to God to show us the principle of grace so that we may see that everything is ready and has been prepared by God. We are those who are called simply to enjoy and do not need to pay any price.
The law requires us to work, whereas grace requires us to receive. The law is for us to labor, while grace is for us to enjoy. There are two pictures here: one is the picture of the vineyard where everyone is laboring, and the other one is the picture of the wedding feast where everyone is enjoying. In the dispensation of law it was man who worked, labored, and toiled. In the dispensation of grace it is God who makes everything ready and prepares everything; man simply needs to enjoy.
What is the significance of these two parables? We already know that a person who wants to grow in life before God must confess his sins and deal with his sins and conscience. But some people may say that this word is too high and wonder who can do it. Or they may ask, “Who can deal with his sins and conscience so thoroughly? In the New Testament God requires us to deal with our sins, to confess our sins, to deal with our conscience, and to consecrate ourselves to Him in a thorough way. Are these requirements of the law or of grace?” If we carefully read the New Testament, we find that there are some definite places in the New Testament that require us to confess our sins and deal with our conscience. For example, Matthew 5:26 says, “You shall by no means come out from there until you pay the last quadrans.” Also, Hebrews 9:14 tells us that we have to deal with our sins in order that we may serve the living God with a pure conscience. Outwardly, all these words seem to be laws, but in the New Testament all these words are actually grace.
Here is the problem. Did we not say that the law only demands things of people and that grace is all about enjoyment without any demand? Since confessing our sins, dealing with our sins, and dealing with our conscience are obviously demands, how can we say that they are related to grace? On the surface it seems that all these matters are demands, but in fact, in the New Testament everything is grace, absolutely grace. In the Old Testament we see that God spoke many demanding words to man. For instance, Deuteronomy 6:5 clearly says, “You shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” The New Testament also has this requirement and tells us that we should leave everything to love the Lord (Luke 10:27; Matt. 19:29; Luke 14:26). These two commandments—one in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament—are apparently the same, but actually they are not.
Another example is that the Old Testament requires man to honor his father and mother (Exo. 20:12), and the New Testament also requires man to honor his father and mother (Eph. 6:2-3). The Old Testament requires man to be holy (Lev. 19:2), and the New Testament also requires man to be holy (1 Pet. 1:16). It seems that the Old Testament and the New Testament are saying the same thing, and it is hard to tell the difference. It is true that the commandments of both the Old and the New Testament are words that proceed out through the mouth of God, but the holiness in the Old Testament is truly different from that in the New Testament. In brief, all the commandments of the Old Testament are to prove the inability and incapability of man. In the Old Testament time God gave the commandments and decreed the law for man to obey and follow, but in doing this, He had only one purpose—to show that man is incapable and incompetent.
Have we ever considered why in the Old Testament God wanted man to honor his parents, to be holy, to love Him, and so forth? Did God give the law for man to violate or to keep? All those who know the Bible understand that there is no way for man to keep the law of God. If so, why did God still decree the law? We need to pay attention to this one thing. Because man did not know himself, God gave him a very strict demand so that he would know himself. God seemed to be saying, “You are seriously ill and need rest, but since you are not willing to do so, I have no choice but to send you to work in the vineyard so that you may know your true condition.”
The problem is that until now many of us still do not know ourselves. God, however, knows man completely and thoroughly. Man has no way to please God, and none of man’s good behavior can meet God’s requirements or be acceptable to God. Yet man still thinks that he is very capable and can do everything. It is in this situation that God gives man the law and demands that man be holy and love Him absolutely. Since man is unable to fulfill any of the law, eventually man’s inability is exposed.
When God gave man the law in the Old Testament, He never expected man to keep the law because He already knew that man would not be able to do so. The only purpose of the law is to prove man’s incapability. All the laws of the Old Testament are used to show man’s inability and incompetence. Hence, whenever we read a commandment or a law, we should prostrate ourselves before God and say, “O God, I cannot do it. You want me to love You from my whole heart, with my whole soul, my whole mind, and my whole strength, but I cannot even give You one, let alone four, of these ‘wholes.’” This kind of realization is exactly what God is after.
Luke 10:27 says, “You shall love the Lord your God from your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole strength and with your whole mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” In the Bible the demand for love has two sides: four “wholes” toward God—whole heart, whole soul, whole strength, and whole mind—and one “as” toward man—love your neighbor as yourself. If we ask ourselves, do we have any of these “wholes”? Are we able to fulfill this “as”? We truly do not have even half of these “wholes.” When we are happy, we may love God a little, and when our neighbor pleases us, we may love him a little. We cannot even love our parents, let alone our neighbors. Hence, God gave the law of the Old Testament in order to show man’s inability, incompetence, and incapability.
This is the situation with the commandments of the Old Testament, but how about that of the New Testament? The commandments and laws of the New Testament are different from those of the Old Testament. The commandments and laws of the New Testament are to prove that God is able, to prove that with men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible. The Lord said to the disciples in Matthew 19:24, “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” It is hard for a big camel to pass through the eye of a needle. After the disciples heard this word, they asked, “Who then can be saved?” This was the conclusion of the disciples, but the Lord Jesus said, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (v. 26).
With men this is impossible refers to the law; with God all things are possible refers to grace. It is impossible for man to take care of the vineyard, to plant the vine trees, and to bear fruit for man’s enjoyment, but it is possible for God to prepare a feast with a rich supply of wine for man to enjoy. We have to bear in mind that the commandments of the Old Testament are to show us that with men it is impossible, while the commandments of the New Testament are to show us that with God everything is possible and that everything hinges on God Himself.
The Old Testament is a matter of the law, and there is no way for man to fulfill the law by himself. The New Testament is not just a matter of the law; rather, it opens the way for man to receive the life of God, which is Christ Himself entering into man and supplying man to meet the requirement of God in man. In the New Testament, however much God demands of man, this much He will supply to man; however, in the Old Testament, whatever God demanded of man only indicated how incapable man was. In the New Testament age whenever we touch God and have fellowship with God, all our impossibilities become possibilities, and all our inabilities become abilities.
There is a portion in the Bible that records the miracle of the Lord Jesus feeding five thousand (14:14-21). On that day, apart from the women and children, there were about five thousand men. The disciples told the Lord Jesus, “The hour is already late. Send the crowds away that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves” (v. 15). But the Lord Jesus said, “You give them something to eat” (v. 16). This was the Lord’s strict command, but the disciples replied that they did not know where to get them food. If the story ended here, then the Lord’s command would be the law—the Old Testament. However, the Lord’s word here is not the Old Testament but the New Testament, not the law but grace. To be more specific, the Lord’s word here was not a command but an indication, showing man the way to receive more of God’s abundant grace. When we ourselves do not have anything to eat, how can we feed others? The Lord then asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” (Mark 6:38). They said, “Five, and two fish.” Then the Lord took the five loaves and the two fish, blessed them, and gave them to the disciples, the disciples gave them to the crowds, and they all ate and were satisfied. This proves that behind the demand of the Lord Jesus, there is a great supply.
After a person is saved, he has to confess his sins, deal with his sins and conscience, and consecrate himself to the Lord. None of these things can be done by ourselves. However, should we stop here? If we stop here, all these matters will be laws to us. We should not stop here; rather, we should bring all our inability and incapability to the Lord and tell Him, “O Lord, You want me to deal with my sins and conscience, but I cannot do it.” By coming to the Lord in this way, we will see how much the power of God and the abundant grace of Christ can do in us.
The Old Testament causes man to see his inability, while the New Testament is the way God opens His grace to man. Whenever man realizes that he is poor, he will be open to receive the supply of God’s abundant grace. In short, every commandment and demand of God is to prove man’s inability and incapability. Whenever we bring all these commandments and demands to God, He immediately opens the way to transmit His supply to us continually.
There was once a wife who felt that she should confess to her husband. This was very hard for her to do because she was used to being a domineering wife. Her will was very strong, and she was very proud. Usually it is the wife who fears the husband, but in this case it was her husband who feared her. One day, however, she felt that she was wrong and that she should confess to her husband. Yet when she considered doing it, she encountered a few problems. First, she did not have much strength; second, she was afraid of losing her face; and third, because she had oppressed her husband in the past, she was afraid that her husband would turn around and oppress her. At that point she felt that she could no longer be a Christian. She knew that being a Christian meant that she had to be enlightened by the Lord. She also knew that after she was enlightened by the Lord, she would have to deal with all the unpeaceful feelings within her conscience; if she did not, she would feel even more unpeaceful. So she decided, “I will just be a casual Christian; I will just be what I am.” This kind of Christian is a typical Christian. Their heart is very sincere, their words are true, and they feel sorrowful within.
How can we help people like this? We have to help them to know that all the commandments of the New Testament open the way to the grace of God. Whenever we receive a command from God, we should bring it back to Him and tell Him, “O God, I cannot do it; I give You this command just as the disciples gave You the five loaves and two fish. I am always incapable. I give Your command and myself to You. Lord, do whatever You think is good. I cannot do anything at all.” Those who practice coming to the Lord in such a way will be blessed and will receive the bountiful supply from the Lord. This can be compared to the disciples bringing the five loaves and two fish to the Lord. As soon as they did this, the riches were manifested.
Do not think that the miracle of five loaves and two fish is the only miracle. Every time that God leads us to obey His command, it is also a miracle. If the Lord does not perform a miracle in us, we cannot do anything and we do not have anything. We may be at our end, yet the Lord causes the dead to be resurrected. Every time that we keep the Lord’s command, He definitely is performing a great miracle in us.
We should always believe God, because He would never wrong us. If we feel that we have wronged our husband, we should confess our sins to him. If we cannot do it, we have to give ourselves to the Lord. The Lord will absolutely take care of the result. We do not need to be anxious or to doubt anything. The Lord’s grace is wonderful! We are not able to do many things, but after we pray, consecrate ourselves to the Lord, and put ourselves into the Lord’s gracious hands, there will be an indescribable force welling up within us, urging us to confess. We may not even utter anything, but our tears will flow down. As this is happening, we will not feel ashamed at all. We will only feel that we are filled with God and that we are full of strength. Perhaps for this reason the person that we are confessing to may be saved.
All the commandments of the New Testament are the same as the laws of the Old Testament—they are God’s demand on man, requiring man to do something. God’s demands in the New Testament, however, are not meant to be fulfilled by man alone but are meant to be fulfilled by God Himself. How can we ask a patient with tuberculosis to walk to Kaohsiung? If he wants to go to Kaohsiung, we have to let him fly or at least go by train. We should not allow him to exert any energy. Today many children of God do not understand that God’s New Testament commandments and grace are altogether not a matter of our ability but a matter of our willingness. If we are willing, we will bring all our inability and incapability to God. As long as we are willing, God is able. When we place ourselves into the hands of God, He will have a way to perform “signs and wonders” in us.
If we find it burdensome to confess our sins, to deal with our sins and conscience, and to consecrate ourselves to the Lord, we should not lose heart. In the New Testament, as long as we are willing to obey God’s demand and put ourselves in the hands of God, God will enable us in the midst of our inability. Then we will be able to see God’s presence, God’s grace, and God’s eternal glory.
