My question this morning has to do with the parable in Matthew 20:1-16, the Laborers in the Vineyard. Mathew 20:16 says “So the last shall be first, and the first last.” Is this talking about the Gentiles being accepted first, then the Jews into the Kingdom of God?
Yes, I think the Lord had the Gentiles in mind since they didn’t have the centuries of experience with the Lord that Israel had. And it’s true that the Church will be the first to enter the Kingdom because the rapture will precede Israel’s Kingdom Age by at least 7 years.
There’s also a sense in which we can view this as a model of people coming to the Lord at different stages of life. By letting the workday symbolize our lifetime and the wages stand for the reward of eternal life, we can see that some are born again when they’re young. Others come in their middle years and still others in the twilight of their lives.
When the owner paid every worker the same wage no matter how many hours he had worked, it symbolized that no matter when in our lifetime we become believers we all get the same reward of eternal life with Him.