If you are like me, some of the Bible passages come in one flavor. That is, we have read and studied them so often from one perspective that we have failed to see the backstory. Some of the Bible’s passages have two messages, one at the forefront and one just under the surface… You have heard the old saying “two for the price of one”, well, we are going to look at a one of these “double” passages and see what message it is teaching us.
First , read Luke 20:9-16:
"But He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and leased it to vine-growers, and went on a journey for a long time. At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, so that they would give him his share of the produce of the vineyard; but the vine-growers beat him and sent him away empty-handed. And he proceeded to send another slave; but they beat him also and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. And he proceeded to send a third; but this one too they wounded and threw out. Now the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What am I to do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ But when the vine-growers saw him, they discussed with one another, saying, ‘This is the heir; let’s kill him so that the inheritance will be ours.’ And so they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and put these vine-growers to death, and will give the vineyard to others.” However, when they heard this, they said, “May it never happen!”
On the surface, the interpretation of this parable is that God, the creator, was the absent owner who expected a return on His investment and so he sent servants (prophets) to collect, but the vine-growers (Pharisees and scribes) beat and wounded them and did not render what the owner wanted. So, He sent His Son (Jesus) to collect and the Pharisees and rulers had the Son killed, upon which God declared there would be judgment including the deaths of the perpetrators and reassignment of the physical creation to believers.
But interestingly, Jesus is also directing His words to hearers that are not named. Wait , how do I know that? Well, the apostle Paul wrote about who was involved in accomplishing the crucifixion of Jesus.
Read 1 Corinthians 2:6-8:
"Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”
So, there were “entities” called rulers of this age that didn’t understand what God was doing and in accomplishing what they thought was a “homerun” in their plan for disenfranchising God played right into God’s hand. And there was Jesus telling both the religious rulers and these unseen entities about the unexpected outcome of their plan.
Furthermore, Colossians 2:14-15 tells us, “He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, He disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by His victory over them on the cross.”
The Bible reminds us that we live in a spiritual world. What meets the eye is not always all there is. This is true in God’s Word and also in life.
These passages remind us that although we live in a powerful spiritual world, Jesus has won a great victory over these spiritual rulers by His victory on the cross. The work that the enemies of God were doing to bring about God’s defeat was actually working to bring about God’s victory. No one can fool or defeat God. In both the seen and unseen realm, we stand free and have victory because of what Jesus Christ has done for us.