The house-holder and the husbandmen.

A parable Jesus related to the chief priests and elders of the Jews while He was yet with them in the flesh: "There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress 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? They say unto him. 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."

God the great householder, Jesus the Son.

Just so is it with the kingdom of God; for just as the wicked husbandmen did with the servants and with the son of householder, so did the stiff-necked children of Israel with the prophets, and with the Son of God. {302} Therefore was the kingdom taken from them, as we have already learned, and given to the Gentiles. And therefore will the Great Householder miserably destroy the wicked who persecute His servants, kill His prophets, and reject His Only Begotten Son. But the righteous will He bless, and all those who serve Him; and even though we should fall into error, yet need we not despair. For if we repent, God will forgive our sins, so only we do not as did the wicked husbandmen of the vineyard. "My little children," wrote the Beloved John in a letter to the saints, "these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."

The exaltation of Jesus.

It is, indeed, a joyful thought that, even though Jesus was slain by the husbandmen. He was not and Mark assures us that when He ascended into heaven, Jesus assumed the place of honor at the right hand of the Father. "So then after the Lord had spoken unto them. He was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God." There Stephen was privileged to see Him in vision some time later. Stephen is described as a man full of faith and power, who did great wonders and miracles among the people. Stephen preached fearlessly to the Jews the fact that Christ had risen. The Jews became enraged, and stoned him; but before his death, Stephen, "being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, {303} and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God." To Jesus had come the deserved glory for which He had wrought. In His exaltation was fulfilled literally the sayings He had taught to His disciples, "Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." "Whosoever would be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many."

Our advocate with the Father.

Now, it is perfectly plain that the great mission of Jesus was not entirely finished during His sojourn upon the earth. That for which He came was accomplished, it is true. But just as we needed a Savior—one who would unselfishly lay down His own sinless life for the sins of others—so we need even now, when that sacrifice has been made, a mediator, an advocate, to intercede for us with the Father. For we are all sinful at the best; weaknesses of various kinds beset us, and if we were to be rewarded strictly according to our merits, many of us would get but little in the way of blessing. Jesus continues then to be our Redeemer, pleading our cause before the Father. "Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them." So did Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, express to the Hebrews his faith in the mediating power of Jesus; and to the Romans he wrote, "Who is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is {304} risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." Jesus continues, then, His great redeeming labor, bringing salvation and exaltation to those who accept Him and diligently seek Him.

Many mansions in the Father's house.

And He prepares a place also for His own, that they may be appropriately received when they shall go to their eternal reward. One day when Jesus was talking to the apostles about His coming sacrifice, and the apostles were sorrowful because they thought that He intended to go away, He said to them, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you; I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself: that where I am, there ye may be also." Even as He promised His disciples tha............