There is no condition more spiritually catastrophic than standing surrounded by divine privilege while remaining willfully blind to the Son of God. In Matthew 21:33–46, Jesus portrays this tragic reality through the parable of the wicked husbandmen, who abused the master’s servants and ultimately slaughtered his well-beloved son to seize his inheritance. This historical rebellion mirrors the solemn warning in Hebrews 10:28–29: “He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or...

Scripture presents the authority of Jesus Christ as original, not borrowed. “For by him were all things created” (Col. 1:16), and He is “upholding all things by the word of his power” (Heb. 1:3). Daniel beheld the Son of man, and “there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom” (Dan. 7:14), which the risen Christ claims: “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matt. 28:18). The crowds perceived it, for “he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes”...

On the Monday of Passion Week, Jesus returned to Jerusalem and “he hungered” (Matthew 21:18). Seeing a fig tree along the road, He “found nothing thereon, but leaves only” (v. 19). A tree in full leaf promised fruit, yet this one delivered only appearance. Jesus said, “Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever,” and the tree withered at once. This was not a fit of temper but an acted parable. The day before, Jesus had entered the temple and found Israel’s worship busy with ceremony yet...