Matthew 19 ends with the phrase, “Many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.” This clearly brings before us a sense of grace, and in keeping with this theme, the Spirit of God refers in this chapter (Matt. 20) to the sovereignty of God — the counteractive to the self-righteousness that is found even in the heart of a disciple. Peter might say, “We have left all, and followed Thee,” and the Lord might assure him that it would not be forgotten, but He immediately adds the parable of the householder. Here you find, not the principle of rewards or God’s righteous recognition of the service done by His people, but His own rights, His own sovereignty. Hence there are no differences here ― no one is specially remembered because he had won souls to Christ or left all for Christ. The principle is this, that while God will infallibly own every service and loss for the sake of Christ, yet He maintains His own title to do as He will. There might be some poor soul brought to the knowledge of Christ at the day of his death. Now, God the Father claims His own title to give what He may please; he may have done no work, but God’s title is reserved to give to those who have not wrought anything at all (as we may think) just what is good in His own eyes. This is a very different principle from what we had in the last chapter, and exceedingly counter to the mind of man. “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard” (Matt. 20:1-21For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. 2And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. (Matthew 20:1‑2)).
Our Contribution
The common application of this parable to the salvation of the soul is a mistake. For this is that which Christ wrought for, suffered for, and lives for, independently of man. The poor sinner has just to give himself up to be saved by Christ. When brought to an end of himself, acknowledging that he deserves nothing but hell, how sweet that God brings before such a soul that Jesus Christ (and this is a faithful saying) came into the world to save sinners! When content to be saved as nothing but a sinner and by nothing but Christ, there and then only is true rest given of Him. Wherever we feel that we have to contribute our part, it will be only uncertainty and doubts and difficulties. And where does the salvation of God shine forth? Christ alone is salvation. The man that is saved contributes nothing but his sins. But God is delighted (and not the less so because it is the fruit of His grace) to hear a poor sinner acknowledge that Jesus is worthy to bring him, freed from sin, to heaven. But in this parable the question is not this. There is nothing in it about believing in Christ or His work. It is positive work that is done. There you may think, Surely the Lord will reward the work according to its kind and degree. This we have seen, but there is another principle not always understood, namely, that God reserves in His own hand the right to do as He pleases, and He never makes a mistake. It may seem hard that a man should be toiling for 50 years and that another, brought in just at the close of his life, should be honored in heaven as much as himself. But God is the only righteous, the only wise, Judge of what is for His own glory. If He pleases, He will put all upon an equal footing. He will reward the work that is done, but He will give as He will.
The Goodness of God
“When he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way” (Matt. 20:2-42And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. (Matthew 20:2‑4)). It is not grace in the sense of salvation here. “Whatsoever is right I will give you.” It is God that judges what is becoming. “Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.” And amazingly, “about the eleventh hour he went out.” What a heart this tells of! What infinite goodness, that God, who recognizes every service and suffering done for Himself, yet keeps intact the prerogative of going out at the last moment to bring in souls and occupy them with what might seem to be a little service! But He can give grace to do that little service well.
“About the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the laborers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first” (Matt. 20:6-86And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? 7They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. 8So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the laborers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. (Matthew 20:6‑8)), “beginning from the last” in the perfect wisdom of God. And why is it that “the last” are made so much of in this parable? What makes it the more striking is that, in the close of the preceding chapter, it was not so. There, “many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first” (Matt. 19:3030But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first. (Matthew 19:30)). But here the last are always spoken of first. So the steward is told to begin from the last unto the first. And again, when the master of the vineyard has to speak himself, it is the same thing: “The last shall be first, and the first last.”
The Sovereignty of Grace
It is the sovereignty of grace in giving as He pleases; not alone in saving, but in rewarding in the time of glory, for this is what is spoken of. Of course, the last received their wages thankfully. But when the first heard about it, they began to think themselves entitled to more — they who had borne the burden and heat of the day. But the master reminds them that all was a settled thing before they entered upon their work. In their selfishness, they forgot both the terms and the righteousness of him with whom they had to deal. If, out of the liberality of his heart, the householder was pleased to give others, who had worked the twelfth part of what they had done, as much as he gave themselves, what was that to them? It was his affair entirely. God maintains His own rights.
It is of the greatest importance for our souls that we hold to the rights of God in everything. Persons will argue as to whether it is righteous for God to elect this person or that. But if you go upon the ground of righteousness, all are lost, and lost forever. Now, if God is pleased to use His mercy according to His wisdom, and for His glory, among these poor lost ones, who is to dispute with Him? Who art thou, O man, that repliest against God? God is entitled to act according to what is in His heart, and “shall not the judge of all the earth do right?” Is He entitled to act from Himself? He cannot act from man on the grounds of righteousness. There is no foundation on which He can thus deal; it is entirely a question of His own good pleasure. And we must remember that there is not a man that is lost but rejects the mercy of God — despises it, or uses it for his own selfish purposes in this world. The man that is saved is the only one that has a true sense of sin, the only one that gives himself up unto God as really lost, but then he falls back upon His infinite mercy in Christ to save a lost sinner.
The Judaizers’ Complaint
In the case we have here, when the first came and complained to the goodman of the house, he answered them, “Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way; I will give unto this last even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?” (Matt. 20:13-1513But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? 14Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. 15Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? (Matthew 20:13‑15)). There comes out the whole secret. Man, even a professing disciple of the Lord, a laborer in His vineyard, may be disputing because he is to have no more than another who, in his opinion, has done little as compared with himself. It was the same principle that made the Judaizers so jealous about the Gentiles being brought in. So, says the Lord, “the last shall be first, and the first last.”
The “Last” and “First”
Let me just ask, Why in chapter 19 is it, “Many that are first shall be last, and the last first,” and here, “The last shall be first, and the first last?” In speaking about rewards, according to the work done, the failure of man is intimated, for indeed weakness soon shows itself; the first shall be last. But in this new parable is the sovereignty of God that never fails. Consequently here “the last shall be first, and the first last.” “Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world.” There was a first, we may say, who became last — a laborer for the Lord, who had not given up Christianity, but had grown tired of the path of unremitting service for Christ. If, instead of honor now, the thousands of those who are engaged in the service of Christ were to receive only scorn and persecution, there would be a real thinning of their ranks. The present return should be shame and suffering. This must be looked for by him who intelligently seeks to serve the Lord faithfully in this world. Demas may have been a believer, but the trial and reproach, the love of ease and other things all came strongly over his spirit, and he abandoned the service of the Lord. “All seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s”: There is a similar principle.
W. Kelly (adapted)