During the last few hours before Jesus sits down for the Last Supper with His disciples, Jesus begins to speak in parables.
In Mark chapter 11, Jesus taught on the law of faith, which includes forgiveness. But in Mark chapter 12, Jesus begins to speak in parables. This takes place in the wake of Judas selling out Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, the crowd saying, "Crucify Him," and Jesus hanging on the Cross, saying, "My God, why have You forsaken Me?" During His last remaining hours, Jesus shares some final words.
And He [Jesus] began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let [leased] it out to husbandmen. and went into a far country.
(Mark 12:1)
The vineyard Jesus is talking about is the earth. God rented out the vineyard. Renting is leasing. God leased out the earth. When did He do that?
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."
God made Adam the "god" of this world. He leased the earth out to him.
Now a lease doesn't mean that you have permanent possession. There is a time when the lease runs out, and the property returns to the rightful owner. Mark 12:1 says,
...A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen [God leased it out to mankind], and went into a far country.
Adam Turns Over the Lease to Satan
Now remember, Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden. Second Corinthians 4:4 says, "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."
Who is "the god of this world" in this verse? It's not Adam; it's Satan. Somehow Satan, who blinds the minds of people who don't know Jesus, became god of this world. When did that take place? In the Garden of Eden.
God had told Adam, "You can have everything in this Garden except the one tree in the middle" (Gen. 2:16,17). The Garden of Eden stretched from Saudi Arabia to Central America.
There were thousands of miles of every kind of fruit tree, plant, and anything Adam could desire. God met his needs physically, mentally, and even socially - He gave him a woman to love him and help him. God gave Adam everything he wanted and said, "All this is yours except the one tree in the middle."
Of course, you know what Adam did. Actually, he and his wife both disobeyed God. They obeyed Satan, and Satan then became the god of this world.
As long as Adam and Eve obeyed God, things worked for them and for God; His plan was being accomplished. But when they obeyed Satan, things worked against them and for Satan. And Adam and his wife Eve became slaves in the slave market of sin.
Thank God, this deal was only a lease and not a complete sale! If it had been a complete sale, there would be no hope for us at all, But Jesus came to help us while the lease was still in effect. He came to set us free from that tyrant Satan and to bring back what He intended for Adam in the first place.
Jesus Restores the Lease
God told Adam, in effect, "As long as you have this lease, you have dominion over everything in the planet. You have dominion over everything that flies, walks, swims, or crawls. You're the man! You're in charge; whatever you say is what will come to pass."
Man lost that dominion when he sinned, but through His death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus restored that dominion to you and me.
Let's continue with this parable in Mark chapter 12:
And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled.
(Mark 12:2-4)
According to this parable, God kept sending servants to His vineyard. Now before Jesus came to the earth, the servants that the Lord sent were the prophets.
He sent the prophets to preach the Word of God. And since the prophets preached the Word of God, we know God intended for men to hear that Word, repent of their sins, bow their knees to Him, and become servants of God Almighty. God expected to reap a return from the lease He let out.
But this passage says they (the husbandmen or "tenants") beat those prophets and killed them. This happened to prophet after prophet. Satan understood that those prophets were handling the Word of God. So he decided to get rid of them, and he used man to do it.
And again he [God] sent another [servant]; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some. Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall ours. And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others.
(Mark 12:5-9)
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