Opened Scriptures Bible Studies

Matthew 20:1-4  For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.  2  And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.  3  And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,  4  And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.  The householder represents Jesus Christ.  The vineyard represents both the church and the kingdom of God. The workers represent individual sinners who hear the gospel and exercise repentant faith in Jesus Christ. The marketplace where the householder hires his workers, represents the world where sinners congregate. The workers stand "idle" which pictures sinners enslaved to sin, living in a depraved culture, subjects of the Devil's kingdom of darkness (See Ephesians 2:1-10; Colossian...

What have we learned about God in this parable? We learned that the householder and his activities are a picture of Christ and display the heart of God toward all mankind. The vineyard represents the kingdom of God and the laborers represent sinners who repented and are born again into God's family. A householder has absolute authority to govern all things related to the family and the estate which is entrusted to his care. Jesus has absolute authority over to govern all creation because the Father entrusts it to His care. A householder rises up early each morning to hire workers for his vineyard. Christ rises early each morning like the Old Testament prophets, seeking to bring lost sheep into the kingdom of God. A householder "hires" workers which is an ongoing action with no end date, based upon his past action of being appointed the householder. Jesus "calls" sinners to repentant faith in Him based upon His past redemptive work of suffering, death, burial, ...

We are studying the Parable of the Laborers and the Vineyard. We learned about the householder who is a picture of Jesus Christ, the Son of God who created all things and to whom all things belong. Like a heavenly householder, Jesus administers and governs all things related to the family of God. We saw how the householder displays the lovingkindness in the heart of God by rising up early each morning, seeking laborers for his vineyard. Now we are going to learn about the hiring of the laborers, which pictures Christ calling sinners to repentance through gospel preaching.  The faithful householder goes out early calling people to himself, seeking to hire them. Matthew 20:1-2  For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.  2  And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.  The householder rises up early with the intent to h...