In This Issue

• THE WICKED VINEDRESSERS
• LESSONS FROM LIFE
• CHANGING THE TRANSLATION
• MORE INFORMATION...

One of Jesus’ plainest parables is that of the wicked vinedressers. He notes the fact that those who had been entrusted with the leadership of Israel were in the process of rejecting the messengers God had sent to them -- even His only begotten Son. As a result, severe judgment would come upon them. As the parable began to be fulfilled, the door was opened for Gentiles to come into the kingdom of God, and the city of Jerusalem and the Jewish economy were destroyed in 70 A.D. All those who reject Jesus, both Jew and Gentile, will face a final judgment at the end of the world.

Matthew records: "‘Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruits. And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, "They will respect my son." But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, "This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance." And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?’ They said to Him, ‘He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Did you never read in the Scriptures: "The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes"? Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.’ Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them. But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet" (Matt. 21:33-46).

Centuries before, God had made the nation of Israel a special nation. He had given them the written law to separate and protect them from the sins of the heathen nations around them. As they lapsed into idolatry and other sins, He sent prophet after prophet to lead them to repentance and fruitfulness. Most of those prophets, they rejected. Many they killed. Finally, God sent His Son to them -- and now they were in the process of rejecting and killing Him. Soon, God would take away their law, their temple, their city. He would receive Gentiles into His family as sons, but Israelites may still be in God’s family as well -- but only by accepting and obeying God’s only begotten Son, Jesus.

--CRJ

Unfortunately there are some things that children should be learning in school, but don't. Not all of them have to do with academics. For the benefit of our high school and college graduates, here are some basic rules that may not have found their way into the standard curriculum. Some (perhaps all) of these should be credited to Charles Sykes, author of "Dumbing Down Our Kids."

Rule #1: Life is not fair. Get used to it.

Rule #2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. It will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself.

Rule #3: Sorry, you won't make $40,000 a year right out of high school. And you won't be a vice president or have a car phone either. You may even have to wear a uniform that doesn't have a Gap label.

Rule #4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait 'till you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure, so he tends to be a bit edgier.

Rule #5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping. They called it opportunity.

Rule #6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes. Learn from them.

Rule #7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way paying your bills, cleaning up your room and listening to you tell them how idealistic you are. And by the way, before you save the rain forest from the blood-sucking parasites of your parents' generation try cleaning out your bedroom.

Rule #8: In some schools they have abolished failing grades. They'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This, of course, bears not the slightest resemblance to anything in real life.

Rule #9: Life is not divided into semesters, and you don't get summers off. They expect you to show up every day. For eight hours. And very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.

Rule #10. Television is not real life. Your life is not a sitcom. Your problems will not all be solved in 30 minutes, minus time for commercials. In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop to go to jobs.

Rule #11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

Rule #12: Enjoy this while you can. Sure, parents are a pain, school's a bother, and life is depressing. But someday you'll realize how wonderful it was to be a kid. Maybe you should start now.

You're welcome.

I think there are some good points to be learned by students in the material above. The message I see repeated throughout is "don't expect for life to be easy". Interestingly enough, that's one of the messages that Jesus left with his disciples. Life for a Christian will not always be easy. At times, it will be very difficult. And sometimes it helps just to know that in advance.

"Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy." (1 Peter 4:12-13).

--Alan Smith via Thought For the Day

A teacher, misled to believe that dinosaurs and human beings lived on this earth millions of years before the biblical "six days" (Gen. 1:1-31; Ex. 20:11; 31:17) of creation, and finding no supporting Scripture, has changed the translation of Gen. 1:2 to fit his doctrine. The translations of Gen. 1:2 put no life on this earth before the "six days," saying that "the earth was without form, and void" (KJV), "the earth was waste and void" (ASV), and "the earth was formless and empty" (NIV). The misled teacher has changed the "was" to "became," saying that "the earth became formless and empty," thus implying that previous life forms had all died out.

Moses would be embarrassed that an uninspired teacher makes his writing imply previous life on this earth before the "six days," because Moses believed that "the earth was formless and empty" of life, and that "darkness was upon the face of the deep" (Gen. 1:2). Then God spoke, "I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty, and at the heavens, and they had no light" (Jer. 4:23). So God said, on "day one" of the "six days," "Let there be light" (Gen. 1:3).

Moses believed that God, in planning for the earth to be "inhabited" (Isa. 45:18), on "the second day," created an "expanse" (RAQIA, Gen. 1:7) called the "heavens" (SHAMAIM, Gen. 1:7-8), to separate the liquid waters on the earth from the vaporous waters in clouds above the expanse.

Moses believed that God, on "the third day," ordered that the liquid waters on the earth "be gathered in one place, and let the dry land appear," and it was so (Gen. 1:9), and then God ordered the dead earth to have life for the first time, in the form of "grass and vegetation, seed-bearing plants and seed-bearing fruit trees" (Gen. 1:11).

Moses believed that God, on "the fourth day," "made" the sun, the moon, and the stars "to give light upon the earth" and "to separate light from darkness" (Gen. 1:17-18).

Moses believed that God, on "the fifth day," furthering His plans for an "inhabited" earth (Isa. 45:18), advanced from plant to animal life, with marine life in the "waters" and birds "in the expanse of the heavens" (Gen. 1:20).

Moses believed that God, on "the sixth day," created land animals and "the first man Adam" (1 Cor. 15:45) and the first woman Eve (Gen. 1:31). They were not babies mothered by apes but both were special works of God’s creative power, he from "the dust of the ground," and she from one of Adam’s ribs (Gen. 2:7, 22). Both were blessed with immortal spirits made in God’s own image, "male and female created he them" (Gen. 1:26-27; Eccl. 12:7; Matt. 22:32).

Moses believed that God, "in six days," made "heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them" (Ex. 20:11). It follows, then, if "all that is in" the "heaven and earth" and "the sea" came into existence in the "six days," that even on "day one" the earth was still lifeless.

It also follows that Paul would be embarrassed to hear an uninspired teacher say that people died on this earth long before Adam arrived, for he believed death did not exist until "through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin," beginning with "Adam" (Rom. 5:12-14).

The teaching that agrees with Moses and Paul is that "in the beginning," when God created "the heavens" and "the earth," he "did not create it [to be] empty, but formed it to be inhabited" (Gen. 1:1; Isa. 45:18). 

--Hugo McCord, via Vigil, August, 1999

"I am not disturbed by the things in the Bible that I do not understand; what worries me is the things in the Bible I do understand." --Mark Twain

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