Therefore I say unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. Matthew 21:43
We see it every spring, at the end of the regular hockey season in the NHL; almost every team that failed to make it into the playoffs fires their coach. The idea is that a coach who is unable to use the talent available to him to win enough games to make the playoffs is not a good coach. That’s unfair, sometimes, because management might not provide the manager with enough quality players to win those games. But it is sometimes easier for management to fire a losing coach than to replace ineffective players. But in our text today, the Lord Jesus is setting an entire team on the bench, to be replaced with a team that will actually accomplish something.
We know that God has not ‘fired’ His earthly people, the Israelites. He has only set them aside for awhile as the Gentiles enjoy their time in God’s favour. Because of their rejection of their King, the kingdom has been taken from them.While it is true that the Jews are occupying much of their ancient homeland after almost two thousand years, they have yet to come into all of the good that God has promised them. Even today, they fail to trust God’s promises and plunge themselves into meaningless negotiations and compromises with their enemies. And while the Israelites remain a nation that rejects their King, their kingdom is welcomed by those Jews and Gentiles alike who have trusted in Christ as Saviour and Lord. Millions of believers throughout the world are appreciating all the blessings of God’s salvation. We are enjoying not only the guidance and blessings of knowing our Lord here, but also the joyous hope and anticipation of being in our Lord’s presence forever.
But we in our western world are in danger of finding out for ourselves the truth of our text in its application to Christianity. The spirit of Laodicea that grips God’s people in these days has led to a lack of power in our testimony, a lackluster pursuit of the knowledge of the Word of God, a willingness to adopt the fashions and trends around us to avoid offending our neighbours, and a failure to avoid the compromises that we are warned against in the Scriptures. There are few that be saved, not just because of the apathy in the society around us, but also because of the apathy of the Lord’s people in the furtherance of the Gospel. Will God take away the favoured conditions He has given us in the past couple of centuries as He opens up the spread of the Gospel in other, more fruitful lands.
God is not in the business of growing orchards of unfruitful trees; He can, and will, plant new orchards elsewhere. -Jim MacIntosh