Hebrews Chapter Three, Partakers Of The Heavenly Calling

 

Hebrews 3:1a Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling,

 

The holy brethren are the ones who are partakers of the heavenly calling. This begs the question: what is the heavenly calling? Jesus explained this calling in a parable from Matthew chapter 20, describing the kingdom of Heaven. It is the parable that begins the chapter, Matthew 20:1-16.

The landowner (representing Christ) went out to hire laborers to work in his field. The wages for labor were a denarius a day, to which the laborers agreed, and having done so, went their way into the vineyard to work. He did this four more times, hiring more and more laborers as the day was spent, until the eleventh hour, when there was but an hour of work left. Several things may be noted from this parable. First, the landowner initiated conversation with the workers, and it was the landowner who set the terms and wages. Second, the workers listened to the landowner broker terms and henceforth agreed to said terms, and chose to enter the vineyard to work on his behalf. Third, the workers, regardless of what time of day they were hired, received an identical wage, denoting the notion that it was not for how long they worked, but rather that they had agreed to do so at all.  Fourth, the workers hired early in the day complained about the last hour arrivals, angry that men who had only entered the vineyard recently were equal in pay and status to those who had worked from the beginning. Fifth, the landowner reiterates the terms of employment, stating that he is fairly paying all who chose to work on his behalf in the vineyard, regardless of time spent.

 

Finally, the summation of this parable is twofold: the last will be first and the first last. This portion of the verse was explained by the angry workers in Matthew 20:12, when they complain that the landowner made the last minute recruits “equal” to those who had been there from the morning’s onset. This parable pertains to salvation. Christ brokered the terms. By grace through faith do we enter into His vineyard. The denarius, a flat rate wage given to all, irrespective of when they began to work (implying at what age one is saved and enters into the Lord’s service) is unchanging. The landowner calls, and the recipient worker answers the call and chooses to serve. The many of course is the world. The chosen are those who God foreknew would accept the terms. Salvation is entirely an act of God’s grace, but man must accept that salvation on the terms God gives: namely the death, burial and resurrection of His Son and whether or not we believe that the death He died, He died for us.

 

Matthew chapter 22 carries another parable, again using creative imagery to describe the kingdom of Heaven. Instead of a landowner there is a king that arranged a marriage for his son. The king sent out servants to collect those invited to the wedding, only to find that they were unwilling because of various matters of self-interest. Finally, a company of them seized and killed some of the king’s servants, provoking his anger. The king retaliated by razing the rebel city. Then he sent servants into the highways to fill the wedding hall with guests, only upon inspection of the guests to find one man without a wedding garment. This man was removed from the wedding hall and cast into outer darkness, a place embodied by weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 

What is the takeaway from this parable, which ends with the same phrase that many are called, but few chosen? First, God as King prepared a wedding for Christ, His Son; we know from other portions of Scripture that the collective saints shall be His bride, see Revelation 19:7, 8. Second, the servants are His prophets, and the original wedding guests represented the people of Israel. God called through the prophets but Israel did not answer; they had excuses for always rejecting the call. The world and present interests always trumped spiritual security and fidelity. Third, Jesus testifies that the Jews are the murderers of the chosen messengers God sent to draw them to Him. Fourth, there is a prophecy given of the destruction of Jerusalem due to their willful forfeiture of God’s calling, which historically was accomplished in 70 A.D.

 

Fifth, having rejected the former guests, the king commands his servants to invite those wandering the highways, implying Gentile inclusion due to Israel’s rejection of this calling. Take note that, unlike the original wedding guests who refused the invitation, the wanderers accepted; we know this because the servants were told to invite them, not coerce them, and we then find the wedding hall full. Like the parable of the landowner, the terms of the invitation are entirely the king’s, but it is up to the individual to accept and choose to respond to the invitation. Sixth, the man without a wedding garment was not permitted to partake of the feast or the celebration, but was cast into outer darkness, representative of the spiritual death that the unsaved possess because they are not clothed with the righteousness of Christ, see also Revelation 19:7-9.