was also materialistic. Under such circumstances it was easier for a camel to get through the eye of a sewing needle than for him to get into God’s kingdom and sit on a throne with Jesus Christ, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. In reverse of this, Peter and his fellow disciples were the last ones that a self-righteous Jew would think of as gaining a throne in God’s kingdom. Yet the disciples of Jesus Christ, who belonged to the people of the land, the ʽam ha-arets, as the superior Jewish Pharisees called them, would gain a foremost position, namely, a throne in God’s kingdom. That would be in the coming system of things. Besides that, in the present period of time they would get a hundredfold more than what they had left behind, along with persecutions, of course. (Mark 10:29, 30; Luke 18:29, 30) What a reversal of matters this was!

11. What did Jesus tie in with the stated rule, and why finally did he repeat the rule?

¹¹ Now, is that the way Jesus meant it when he said: “Many that are first will be last and the last first”? Yes, because at once he went on to illustrate this prophetic rule with a parable. He tied in this parable with the stated rule by beginning the immediately following parable with the conjunction “for.” He said: “For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny [the Roman penny] a day, he sent them into his vineyard.” (Matt. 19:30 to 20:2, AV; Dy) The fact that the parable is meant to illustrate the prophetic rule is further proved by Jesus’ finishing the parable and then adding the words: “So the last shall be first, and the first last.”​—Matt. 20:16, AV.

12. Why did that parable come to mean something to the disciples?

¹² Since the parable of the vineyard was called forth by the circumstances and experiences of Jesus Christ at the time, it is evident that the parable had a fulfillment in the days of the twelve apostles to whom Jesus stated and illustrated the rule. Otherwise, it would have meant nothing to them, and they would not have had the rule actually work out in their own personal case. How, then, did it work out according to Jesus’ parable?

THE “VINEYARD”

13, 14. (a) Who was the “householder” of the parable, and what was the vineyard? (b) As to the identity of the vineyard, what prophecy of Isaiah may Jesus have had in mind?

¹³ The “householder” of the parable of the vineyard is Jehovah God, the Owner of the great symbolic vineyard. The vineyard is the nation of Israel, which was then in a national contract with Jehovah God through the covenant of the Law that the prophet Moses had mediated at Mount Sinai in the year 1513 B.C.E.

¹⁴ When speaking of this symbolic vineyard, Jesus doubtless had in mind the words of Isaiah 5:1-4, 7, where Jehovah God says: “Let me sing, please, to my beloved one a song of my loved one concerning his vineyard. There was a vineyard that my beloved one came to have on a fruitful hillside. And he proceeded to dig it up and to rid it of stones and to plant it with a choice red vine, and to build a tower in the middle of it. And there was also a wine press that he hewed out in it. And he kept hoping for it to produce grapes, . . . And now, O you inhabitants of Jerusalem and you men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard. What is there yet to do for my vineyard that I have not already done in it? . . . For the vineyard of Jehovah of armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plantation of which he was fond.”

15. (a) Where did Jehovah plant the vine that he took out of Egypt? (b) How did the Roman “penny” (denarius) come to circulate there, and what value did it then have?

¹⁵ Jesus may also have had in mind Psalm 80:8-11, in which the psalmist Asaph addresses himself to Jehovah God, who delivered the nation of Israel from slavery in Egypt, and says: “You proceeded to make a vine depart from Egypt. You kept driving out the nations, that you might plant it [in Palestine]. You made a clearing before it, that it might take root and fill the land. The mountains were covered with its shadow, and the cedars of God with its boughs. It gradually sent forth its boughs as far as the sea, and to the River [Euphrates] its twigs.” In Jesus’ day the Jews were still occupying their God-given land, but subject to the Roman Empire. So the Roman “penny” or (literally) denarius began to circulate throughout the land, this denarius equaling about eight pence and two farthings in British money in the days of King James I of England or 17 cents American money. In Jesus’ day this amount of money had such a value that it was paid as a wage for the work of a day of twelve hours. Consequently, in the fulfillment of Jesus’ illustration the “penny” pictures a value of no little worth.

16. What was to be the reward for their serving as the fruitful vineyard of Jehovah God?

¹⁶ Jehovah God brought laborers into his vineyard to work there by bringing them into the Law covenant as mediated by the prophet Moses and assigning to various ones their duties. What was to be the pay or reward for serving as the fruitful vineyard of the Most High God? Jehovah God mentioned this at the time that he proposed this Law covenant to the forefathers of the Jews of Jesus’ day, for God said: “Now if you will strictly obey my voice and will indeed keep my covenant, then you will certainly become my special property out of all other peoples, because the whole earth belongs to me. And you yourselves will become to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Ex. 19:5, 6) Thus, by keeping the Law covenant the Jews would not only gain everlasting life as human creatures but also become a “kingdom of priests” for God’s use in blessing all the rest of mankind.

17. (a) What relationship did Jesus have with the Law covenant, and how was he marked by it? (b) Why was it fitting for Jesus to speak of his heavenly Father as a Vine Cultivator?

¹⁷ Jesus, the Son of God from heaven, was born into the Jewish nation and under the Law covenant. He was the only Jew that kept it perfectly. Therefore, he was not condemned by the Law of that covenant as all other Jews were, but he was marked by that Law as a perfect man, absolutely free from sin, one who had not forfeited the right to everlasting life. For his keeping that Law covenant perfectly, he deserved to be a king and priest in an earthly way. Because, by birth, he belonged to the Jewish “vineyard” planted by Jehovah God, it was quite appropriate for Jesus to compare his heavenly Father, Jehovah God, to a vine cultivator, saying to his apostles: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the cultivator. Every branch in me not bearing fruit he takes away, and every one bearing fruit he cleans, that it may bear more fruit. I am the vine, you are the branches.” (John 15:1, 2, 5) However, unlike the imperfect Jews under the Law covenant, Jesus and his “branches” are a spiritual vine that does not fail to bear much fruit to the great Cultivator Jehovah God, that he might be glorified.

18-20. (a) Did those hired first into the “vineyard” live in Moses’ day or in whose days? (b) Who specifically were those hired first, and what words of Jesus show they considered themselves to be such “first” ones?

¹⁸ The Jews of Jesus’ day were brought into the Law covenant by descent from their forefathers, whom Jehovah God brought out of Egypt and planted in the land of Palestine. Since Jesus’ parable of the vineyard had its first fulfillment in the days of Jesus’ twelve apostles, it could not apply to those ancient forefathers with whom the Law covenant was personally made through Moses. Consequently, those whom the great Householder hired “early in the morning” to work for twelve hours in his “vineyard” could not be those Jewish forefathers of the sixteenth century B.C.E. So the laborers who were hired at sunrise or about six o’clock in the morning pictured Jews living in the days of the apostles.

¹⁹ Their being twelve-hours-a-day laborers would mean that they were full-time laborers at the things of God, unlike the apostles Peter, Andrew, James and John, who had been fishers up till the spring of the year 30 C.E. Those full-day laborers would therefore picture the religious leaders of the nation of Israel, such as the high priests Annas and Caiaphas, and the underpriests, also the temple Levites, the official scribes, those of the sects of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and those versed in the Law of Moses. Because of being occupied continually in the Jewish religious service in Israel, they would be the ones first hired. They would also be the foremost or first-ranking people of the nation. That they looked upon themselves as being such is indicated by Jesus’ words:

²⁰ “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the seat of Moses. They like the most prominent place at evening meals and the front seats in the synagogues, and the greetings in the market places and to be called Rabbi by men.”​—Matt. 23:2, 6, 7.

21, 22. (a) Who, then, were the part-time workers? (b) How did Jesus’ parable show that how much pay the part-time workers would receive was uncertain?

²¹ They expected full pay for a full day’s work, and on this basis they agreed to serve in Jehovah’s vineyard of the nation of Israel. All others brought into the service of Jehovah God after them, or in a rank lower than that of the full-time workers, would be merely part-time workers. Hence their likelihood of receiving the full reward was not made certain. That is why Jesus’ parable of the vineyard says of the Householder:

²² “Going out also about the third hour, he saw others standing unemployed in the market place; and to those he said, ‘You also, go into the vineyard, and whatever is just I will give you.’ So off they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour and did likewise. Finally, about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day unemployed?’ They said to him, ‘Because nobody has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into the vineyard.’”​—Matt. 20:3-7.

THE LAST OR “ELEVENTH HOUR” LABORERS

23. Who were the eleventh-hour laborers, and why had nobody hired them prior to that hour?

²³ Those hired at the eleventh hour, or about five o’clock in the afternoon (an hour before sundown), were the last to be hired. By the religious leaders of the nation of Israel, those pictured by the eleventh-hour laborers were considered the last ones whom God would employ in his service. They would be the ones the least likely to be called into God’s service. So, up till that eleventh hour, as far as the religious leaders of Israel were concerned, ‘nobody had hired them.’ The contemptuous attitude of the religious leaders toward those lowly people was betrayed in their saying: “Not one of the rulers or of the Pharisees has put faith in him [Jesus], has he? But this crowd that does not know the Law are accursed people.” (John 7:48, 49) They were willing to work in God’s service, but because of the blinded religious leaders they were not told the right things to do nor put to work at them. After wasting practically all day, they had to look for someone to come who saw how they could be used in God’s service and who would assign them to some service in God’s religious “vineyard.”

24, 25. (a) When and how did the great Householder call the eleventh-hour laborers into service? (b) How was God’s Steward used to send laborers into the “vineyard,” and for how long did they work in it?

²⁴ The day of working in the vineyard of Israel under the terms of the Mosaic Law covenant was nearing its end. Jehovah God the great Householder and Vineyard Owner knew that, and through representatives whom he sent to Israel he called those eleventh-hour laborers into service in his “vineyard.” In the spring of 29 C.E. he sent John the Baptist “to get ready for Jehovah a prepared people.” (Luke 1:13-17) About six months later the great Householder sent his own Son Jesus, who became like a steward, foreman or “man in charge” with reference to God’s “vineyard.”

²⁵ Jesus received the disciples gathered by John the Baptist and also did further gathering of disciples, whom he set to work in the Israelite “vineyard.” For instance, besides the twelve apostles, Jesus Christ also sent seventy evangelizers into the “vineyard” work. He instructed them all to go preaching the heavenly kingdom of God, telling the people: “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” (Luke 9:1-6; 10:1-11) Even women came along with Jesus and his apostles in their preaching work and offered help by “ministering to them from their belongings.” (Luke 8:1-3) In this way they spent some time in Jehovah’s Kingdom service while the nation of natural circumcised Israel was still the “vineyard” of Jehovah God. They were the last vineyard laborers to be employed by the Owner, and they labored in Israel till Jesus’ death in the year 33 C.E.

26. (a) At the close of the day’s work the time came for what, according to God’s Law? (b) At all events, what would the part-time laborers get?

²⁶ The work under the Law covenant in the “vineyard” of natural Israel came to a close, like the work of a twelve-hour day. Then came pay time for the laborers. Because of the immediate daily needs of the common people, it was God’s law under the old Mosaic covenant that workers should be paid at the close of the day’s work, not at the end of the week or end of the month. (Lev. 19:13; Deut. 24:15) Those who had put in full time, working in the “vineyard” during the twelve hours of daylight, were sure of receiving a “penny” according to the agreement made with the Householder. What would the later, part-time workers get? Whatever it would be, it would be “whatever is just,” according to what the Householder told those whom he engaged for work at the third hour of the workday. Ordinarily, the laborers employed for only the twelfth hour of the day could expect to receive very little pay.

27. In what order were the workers in the parable paid, how much, and with what reactions by some?

²⁷ Well, pay time turned out to be a time of surprises, and the unusual rule enunciated by Jesus was put into operation. Note this fact, as Jesus’ parable goes on to say: “So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first last.”​—Matt. 20:8-16, AV; Dy.a

EVENING AND PAY TIME

28. In the parable’s first fulfillment, when did the “evening” come, to close the day’s work?

²⁸ In the first fulfillment of the parable the evening came and brought the workday to a close when Jesus Christ was arrested on Passover night of the year 33 C.E. and died on the torture stake at Calvary the following afternoon. Jesus had prophetically indicated this when, about six months before his death, he said to his apostles: “It was in order that the works of God might be made manifest in his case. We must work the works of him that sent me while it is day; the night is coming when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the world’s light.” (John 9:3-5) When Jesus was dead for parts of three days (Nisan 14-16, 33 C.E.), he could not work as a man in God’s “vineyard” of Israel. (Eccl. 9:5, 10) Neither could his eleven faithful apostles, for they were scattered like sheep without a shepherd. When they met together, it was behind closed doors, for fear of the hostile Jews. (John 16:32; Matt. 26:31; Mark 14:27; Zech. 13:7; John 20:19, 26) They did not resume any public work until Pentecost came.

29. (a) At Jesus’ death natural Israel ceased to be what, and why? (b) Despite extended favor to Israel for three and a half years’ time afterward, what did the great Vineyard Owner now have?

²⁹ Jesus Christ was put to death at the instigation of the Jewish religious leaders, the “first” people of the nation. Then the nation of Israel ceased to be God’s “vineyard.” Jesus’ death on the stake was God’s means for bringing the Law covenant with the nation of Israel to an end. By means of his death as a ransom sacrifice the “Law of commandments consisting in decrees” was abolished. The “handwritten document against us, which consisted of decrees,” was blotted out; it was taken out of the way by being nailed, as it were, to Christ’s torture stake, in cancellation thereof. (Eph. 2:15; Col. 2:14) True, for three and a half years after that, Jehovah God continued his special favor to natural Israel, giving them the first opportunities for the Kingdom, but the nation ceased to be His “vineyard.” God now had begun a spiritual “vineyard,” in which his Son Jesus Christ was the Vine and his disciples were the branches. (John 15:1-8) Indeed, then, the twelve-hour workday in God’s vineyard of natural Israel came to a close at Jesus’ death at Calvary.

30. When did the pay time come, and how did God use his Steward to deal out the pay?

³⁰ This being so, when did pay time come? At Jesus’ resurrection from the dead on the third day, Nisan 16, 33 C.E.? No, even though Jesus did appear exclusively to his disciples for forty days thereafter, making exclusively them witnesses of his resurrection. (Acts 1:1-8; 10:40-42) But there was no open display of these favored disciples of Jesus, even for ten days after he ascended to heaven. Then came the festival day of Pentecost, 33 C.E., and with it pay time. It was then that the lord or master of the vineyard, namely, Jehovah God, told his steward, foreman or “man in charge,” to pay the workers. God used the glorified Jesus Christ in heaven as his steward or “man in charge,” for God used him to pour out the holy spirit upon the workers on the Pentecostal day. (John 1:32-34; 14:16, 17; 15:26; 16:7; Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-8; 2:32, 33) In paying the workers their wage, Jesus Christ up in heaven followed the unusual rule that he had declared down here on earth.

31. At Pentecost, who were the first ones to be paid, and how had they till then been ranked?

³¹ Who, then, were the first ones to be paid at Pentecost? The outpouring of the holy spirit upon those who were there in Jerusalem on that Pentecostal day of the firstfruits of the wheat harvest revealed this. It was the “last” ones who had been sent into the vineyard of natural Israel, and who had worked with the “man in charge,” the Steward Jesus Christ. These were also the “last ones” whom the religious leaders of the nation of Israel would expect to receive a full day’s wage, a symbolic “penny,” from the great Householder and Master of the vineyard, Jehovah God.

32. The proof of who had been paid first of the workers was made known how, and who came together to witness this?

³² Contrary to Jewish expectations, the first ones paid were the despised twelve apostles of Jesus Christ and the rest of the congregation of 120 disciples that were meeting quietly together in an upper room, withdrawn from the multitude of Jews and proselytes who were celebrating Pentecost at the temple of Jerusalem. Nevertheless, the proof of who was paid first of the workers in God’s “vineyard” was made known by a miracle. It occurred in conjunction with the outpouring of the holy spirit upon the 120 disciples, and over three thousand Jews and proselytes came to the place to witness this strange spectacle.​—Acts 1:5; 2:1-13, 41.

33. How did Peter explain what they were beholding taking place, and how many sought to avail themselves of the gift of the spirit?

³³ Well, “different ones laughed at them and began to say: ‘They are full of sweet wine.’” So the apostle Peter was first to get up and explain that Christ’s disciples, filled with spirit, were not drunk but that this was the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy (Joe 2:28, 29). Also, that the resurrected Jesus Christ, exalted to God’s right hand in the heavens, had received the promised holy spirit and had poured it out upon his disciples on earth in fulfillment of Joel 2:28, 29. Then all twelve of the apostles explained that this promised gift of the holy spirit was available also for the rest of the Jews, if they repented and got baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and became his disciples. About three thousand of the observers and hearers did so and became part of the congregation of spiritual Israel, God’s new “vineyard.”​—Acts 2:37-42.

34. What, then, was the “penny,” and when and where was it to be used by the receivers?

³⁴ Thus the symbolic “penny” was not the gift of the holy spirit in itself. It was the privilege that went with the receiving of the holy spirit, namely, the privilege of being a member of spiritual Israel, authorized to prophesy in fulfillment of Joel 2:28, 29, anointed to preach the good news of God’s Messianic kingdom. Thus they would be fruit-bearing branches in Jehovah’s spiritual vine, the Lord Jesus Christ. They were taken into the new covenant, which Jesus Christ mediated between Jehovah God and the congregation of these symbolic vine branches. (Jer. 31:31-34; 1 Tim. 2:5, 6; Heb. 8:6 to 9:15) The symbolic “penny” was, therefore, something that meant their livelihood, their everlasting life in God’s new order. It was something for their use here on earth, not up in heaven.

35. What did the ones hired “early in the morning” hear and see, and how was the “penny” available for them also?

³⁵ How about those who were hired first, “early in the morning,” as it were, to work in God’s vineyard of natural Israel? These “first ones,” the Jewish high priests, underpriests, Levites, scribes, lawyers versed in the Mosaic law, soon heard and observed that Jesus’ disciples had been paid for their late work in God’s vineyard of natural Israel. They saw them using the symbolic “penny.” The full day’s wage was available for them also, particularly since Jehovah God continued to deal with the nation of Israel exclusively for about three and a half years after that.

36. (a) Through whom, however, would they have to accept the “penny”? (b) Accepting it thus would cost them what things hitherto enjoyed?

³⁶ However, such religious leaders had to accept the full day’s pay, the “penny,” through God’s Steward, namely, the glorified Jesus Christ. But to do this would mean their doing what the Lord Jesus Christ had told the rich young ruler to do. (Matt. 19:21) It would mean their giving up their places of honor, importance, power and material income in the temple of Jerusalem, in the synagogues and in the sánhedrins, their sitting in the “seat of Moses,” their being called Rabbi, and their having a place and position that was recognized and allowed by the Roman government. Such things had been coming to them as good pay for their services in God’s “vineyard” of Israel down till Pentecost of 33 C.E. True, they had agreed with the great Householder, the Owner of the “vineyard,” for the gift of the holy spirit in fulfillment of Joel 2:28, 29. But now, to give up all their hitherto religious advantages in Israel and to receive the holy spirit outpoured by Jesus Christ and thus be anointed to do the work of disciples of Jesus Christ along with his apostles, people of the “last” rank, eleventh-hour workers, all this would cost them too much.

37. So were they satisfied to receive just the “penny,” and how did their attitude express itself toward the “last” laborers?

³⁷ In their pay from God they wanted more than the holy spirit and its miraculous gifts and its associated Kingdom privileges. So they wanted more than the symbolic “penny.” Hence these “first” laborers murmured against the Owner of the “vineyard” and were loath to accept just the “penny,” just as doubtless the rich young ruler did in contrast with the apostle Peter. Their murmuring and objections took the form of persecuting Christ’s disciples, the “last” laborers to be engaged in the “vineyard.”​—Matt. 20:10-12.

38. What shows whether all those “first” laborers refused the “penny,” and at what did some prefer to keep working?

³⁸ Of course, there were some temple Levites, like Joseph Barnabas of Cyprus, that accepted the “penny.” (Acts 4:36, 37) And even after the twelve apostles were imprisoned and tried by the Jerusalem Sánhedrin for using the “penny” in God’s service, the report in Acts 6:7 informs us, “the word of God went on growing, and the number of the disciples kept multiplying in Jerusalem very much; and a great crowd of priests began to be obedient to the faith.” Even Saul of Tarsus, a personal friend of the Jewish high priest, accepted the “penny,” even though he had been a Pharisee. (Acts 9:1-22; Phil. 3:4-6) But most of these “first” laborers, these religious leaders of Jewry, kept on working at their hitherto religious privileges in natural Israel and getting their regular pay for this as allowed by the Law of Moses, refusing the “penny.”

39. How long did they keep at this type of religious service, but what did Jesus’ disciples keep using?

³⁹ They kept up this type of religious service until the year 70 C.E. Then their temple in Jerusalem was taken away from them. They lost their jobs there and the Romans came and took away both their place and their nation, not because of accepting Jesus Christ, but because of rejecting him and refusing the “penny.” (John 11:47, 48) Their eye was wicked because Jehovah God was good toward the disciples of Jesus Christ. As for these disciples, including the apostle John, they continued using their “penny” to accomplish God’s Kingdom service and to gain their own everlasting life, despite the persecution.​—Mark 10:29, 30; Rev. 1:9.

The Modern Fulfillment of the “Penny”

1. Because of what happened on the day of Pentecost in 33 C.E., why must there be a final fulfillment of the parable of the “penny”?

SOMETHING similar to the experience of the workers in the “vineyard” of the ancient nation of Israel nineteen centuries ago has happened in these last days with regard to what is called Christendom. The ancient “vineyard,” the nation of Israel in the Mosaic Law covenant, was typical; many of its experiences were prophetic “shadows” of things to come. (1 Cor. 10:1-6, 11; Col. 2:16, 17; Heb. 10:1) Moreover, the prophecy of Joel 2:28-32, which the apostle Peter quoted on the day of Pentecost, when the symbolic “penny” was paid, was not completely fulfilled back there nineteen hundred years ago. Hence there must be a larger and final fulfillment of Joel 2:28-32. This would mean that there would be a further and final fulfillment of Jesus’ parable of the “penny” in these “last days” of this system of things. (Acts 2:17, 18; 1 Tim. 3:1-5) There are facts to prove this.

2, 3. (a) When did use of the “penny” begin to fall off? (b) What has Christendom claimed to be, and in what service have its clergy considered itself to be, and why so?

² As foretold in the prophecy of Isaiah 5:1-7, Jehovah God rejected his typical “vineyard” of natural, circumcised Israel nineteen centuries ago. He has since been cultivating a spiritual “vineyard” of which Jesus Christ is the Vine, the central stock, and his true followers are the branches. (John 15:1-8) He now has a spiritual “Israel of God,” not under the old Law covenant that was abolished at the time of Jesus’ death, but under the new covenant of which Jesus Christ is the heavenly Mediator. (Matt. 26:26-28; Luke 22:19, 20; 1 Tim. 2:5, 6) After the death of all the apostles of Christ by the end of the first century C.E., the use of the symbolic “penny” paid out at Pentecost began to disappear. In the first half of the fourth century C.E. the religious organization of Christendom was established. It has since grown to worldwide proportions, with many religious denominations presided over by religious leaders or clergymen, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant.

³ This Christendom has a clergy and a laity and is split up into religious sects, just like the religious organization of Israel in the days of Jesus Christ and his apostles. Christendom has claimed to be the spiritual Israel of God and therefore to be in the new covenant with God by the Mediator Jesus Christ. She has likewise claimed to be the spiritual “vineyard” of God, with her many religious sectarian churches serving as “branches” in the Vine Jesus Christ. Thus Christendom’s religious clergy, made up of her ordained priests and preachers, claims to be working in the “vineyard” of the Most High God. By their respective religious denominations they have been ordained formalistically to their clergy posts over the religious flocks of the laity. They have made their positions and responsibilities of clergymen their profession, a full-time job, so that they have considered themselves to be in the full-time service of God. And once ordained, they have considered themselves as remaining clergymen for the rest of their lives, even after being retired from active work.

4. By their claims, where have Christendom’s clergy put themselves in being hired into God’s vineyard, and where have they put dedicated, baptized Christians not of clergy rank?

⁴ By their religious claims the clergy have been “first” to be hired for work in God’s “vineyard” of spiritual Israel, for a full day. Persons taking up part-time service in religious circles have been considered inferior to them and deserving of less pay. Any dedicated, baptized Christians who have taken up the preaching of God’s kingdom without being schooled in their seminaries and ordained by them with a title and degree and an assignment to their pulpits have been despised by these first-ranking clergymen. Losing sight of the fact that all individual dedicated, baptized Christians are branches in the Vine Jesus Christ and are to bear fruit as spiritual “priests” of God, those ordained clergymen of Christendom have looked down on them. They have considered these to be the “last” ones to have any valid assignment in God’s service, to work in God’s spiritual “vineyard.” The pulpits of Christendom were generally barred to such dedicated ministers of God, who were viewed as being mere untrained, unschooled “laymen.”

5. Among those thus viewed was what Christian group recently organized, and what did the clergy succeed in having done to them during World War I?

⁵ Among those thus viewed by the ordained clergy of Christendom was a dedicated Christian group that has kept itself separate from Christendom and yet has become very prominent in this twentieth century. In the last half of the nineteenth century they got organized, at first a small group. In 1884 they established what is now the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society of Pennsylvania as their publishing and administrative agency. They came to be known as International Bible Students. Christendom’s clergymen despised these Bible students as preachers and expounders of God’s Word, and opposed and hindered their zealous preaching of God’s kingdom. This continued on until finally, during the frenzy of World War I, they succeeded in having the president and secretary-treasurer of the Watch Tower Society and a number of their editorial associates imprisoned in a Federal prison of the United States of America. Also, their religious literature was banned, in whole or in part, in various places.

NOT THE “PENNY”

6. Why did these Christians appear to be the “last ones” hired, and what did they themselves think about the “eleventh hour”?

⁶ Because of their late, unorthodox appearance on the world stage of religious affairs, these dedicated Christian Bible students appeared to be the “last ones” whom the great Householder, Jehovah God, hired for work in his spiritual “vineyard” of the real, true organized Christianity. Especially was this so in view of the fact that the Gentile Times ended in the year 1914, in which year World War I broke out. (Luke 21:24) In harmony with their understanding of prophecy regarding the end of this system of things, and in view of the worsening conditions of mankind during World War I, it seemed to these Christian international Bible students that the last hour, “the eleventh hour,” for work in the spiritual “vineyard” of Jehovah God was ending. They had long been interested in Jesus’ parable of the vineyard and the penny, reference having been made to this parable and the “eleventh hour” away back in the issue of Zion’s Watch Tower as of April of 1881, on page 7, under the heading “Wanted 1,000 Preachers,” which called for workers.

7. What book did the Society publish in July of 1917, and what relationship was it said to bear to the symbolic “penny”?

⁷ So in July of the midwar year of 1917 the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society published (only in English)a the book entitled “The Finished Mystery,” this book being the seventh and last one of a series of seven volumes of Studies in the Scriptures. Because the heavenly glorification of the faithful remnant of the Christian church was believed near, this Bible-study aid The Finished Mystery along with accompanying service privileges was thought to be the symbolic “penny,” coming as a reward to the faithful “vineyard” laborers before they departed from this earth. In fact, on page 2, the Publishers’ page, of this book there was printed an enlargement of a coin like a penny. The inscription on it read: “To the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords This Work Is Dedicated in the Interest of His Consecrated Saints Waiting for the Adoption and of ‘all that in every place call upon the Lord,’ ‘the household of faith’ and of the groaning creation; travailing and waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God.” Also, in that same year, the October 1, 1917, issue of The Watch Tower, on page 293, carried a heading that said “The Penny” and it spoke of the book The Finished Mystery and the associated “honor” as the symbolic “penny.”b

8. (a) However, when this meaning was given to the “penny,” what did the Publishers not foresee? (b) What events in Canada and the United States followed the publication of The Finished Mystery?

⁸ However, when that meaning of the “penny” was given to The Finished Mystery, the Seventh Volume, no one expected or foresaw that World War I would end in the following year (1918) and that there would be an extended peace period thereafter with the anointed remnant down here on earth, instead of up in heavenly glory. An organization of 7,000 Bible students was built up for distributing The Finished Mystery from house to house.c But by the spring of 1918 this book was banned both in the United States and in Canada. Yes, this book was used by the United States government, then at war with Germany, to put the leading ones of the International Bible Students in Federal prison in Atlanta, Georgia.

9. After World War I, what occurred in connection with The Finished Mystery, and finally what became apparent about it in connection with the “penny”?

⁹ Thus the work of these Christian Bible students was badly crippled by government action, clergy opposition, religious persecution and wartime disruptions. In the spring of 1919 the imprisoned representatives of the Watch Tower Society were permanently released from Federal prison, connections with the Watch Tower Society’s branch offices were reestablished, and in 1920 the ban was removed from the Seventh Volume and thus The Finished Mystery was allowed to be circulated again in the United States of America. But in 1927 The Finished Mystery and the other six volumes of the Studies in the Scriptures ceased to be published, and they were replaced by new, postwar Bible-study aids. So in ten years’ time it became manifest that the Seventh Volume and the honorable service that went with it was not really the penny.

10. By 1925, what began to be appreciated about Jehovah’s name, and how did this appreciation reach a climax in 1931?

¹⁰ In the meanwhile, in the year 1925 it began to be appreciated by these Christian Bible students that the vindication of God’s name Jehovah by means of his newborn Messianic kingdom was God’s leading purpose. In fact, from 1922 onward reference was repeatedly made to Isaiah 43:10-12 to prove that they must be witnesses of the Lord God during the remainder of their days on earth.d The work of bearing witness to his name became more dominant among them. This reached a grand climax in the year 1931, when, at the international convention in Columbus, Ohio, these much-maligned Bible students adopted a resolution by which they embraced the name suggested by Isaiah 43:10-12 (AS), namely, “Jehovah’s witnesses.”

11. Since matters regarding The Finished Mystery had proved not to be the “penny,” what now began to be thought regarding the conferment of the name “Jehovah’s witnesses,” and why?

¹¹ The work of gathering the anointed remnant of the heirs of God’s heavenly kingdom appeared to be nearing completion. Hence, this bestowal of a Biblically supported name upon them in 1931 seemed to come as a reward for having engaged in twelve years of hard Christian work since 1919. The book The Finished Mystery and the honor of distributing it had proved not to be the “penny.” So now, then, could not the conferment of the new name upon the International Bible Students be the “penny”?

12. Near the close of the year 1933, what did The Watchtower say with regard to the “penny”?

¹² In the year 1933, in the November 15 and December 1 issues of The Watchtower and Herald of Christ’s Presence there appeared the leading article (in two parts) entitled “Laborer’s Wages.” This dealt with Jesus’ parable of the vineyard. The second paragraph of Part One of this article said: “The laborers are those at the temple for judgment, and who engage in the service of the kingdom; the hire or penny is the honor of being given the new name which Jehovah gives to his people.” (Page 339) Paragraph 21, on page 344, said: “No greater wage could be paid to creatures on earth than that of receiving a name at the mouth of Jehovah God, and which name shows the close and confidential relationship between Jehovah and his faithful people. Never before has he given such a wage to creatures.”

13. By 1937, what began to be appreciated about the matter of being witnesses of Jehovah, and with whom did The New World of 1942 class the “great crowd” of the “other sheep” of today?

¹³ However, in the year 1937 it became more fully appreciated that the faithful prophets and men of integrity from John the Baptist back to the first martyr Abel were also witnesses of Jehovah, “so great a cloud of witnesses.” (Heb. 11:1 to 12:1, AV) Later the book entitled “The New World,” published in 1942, indicated that the “great crowd” of the “other sheep” foretold in Revelation 7:9, 10 were also witnesses of Jehovah. (Pages 368, 369, 375) Today the “great crowd” of these “other sheep” that have been gathered into association with the anointed remnant are regularly included among Jehovah’s witnesses. If, since the year 1935, they have not proved themselves to be Jehovah’s witnesses, then by all the facts of history what have they proved themselves to be? Who are they, if not Jehovah’s witnesses of modern times?

14. Thus what came to be seen regarding the title “Jehovah’s witnesses,” and what about such a “new name” on Pentecost of 33 C.E.?

¹⁴ Thus the title “Jehovah’s witnesses” is now seen as not applying exclusively to the anointed remnant, and so this new name for Christians could not be the symbolic “penny” of Jesus’ parable. The “new name” was not the “penny” back in the year 33 C.E. on that day of Pentecost, inasmuch as those Jewish disciples of Jesus Christ were already Jehovah’s witnesses by being from birth members of Jehovah’s chosen people of Isaiah 43:1-12.

15. (a) How can our understanding of the “penny” be cleared up today? (b) Modernly, when did the “even” and close of the day’s work in the vineyard come, and how?

¹⁵ It is now thirty-four years since 1933 and the beginning of the terrible persecutions of Jehovah’s witnesses under the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler. Today our understanding of the “penny” can be cleared up by looking back at the first fulfillment of Jesus’ parable of the vineyard in the days of his apostles nineteen centuries ago. In the modern-day fulfillment of the parable, the “evening” and the close of the twelve-hour day’s work came during World War I, which war marked the close of the Gentile Times in the autumn of 1914. The full-time laborers, the ones “first” hired, the clergy of Christendom, turned their efforts to the war activities of the nations at war. The work of the ones hired “last” was crippled and practically stopped in 1918 by the banning of Watch Tower literature and the imprisonment of the official representatives of the International Bible Students. This stoppage corresponded with Jesus’ death and scattering of his disciples.

USE OF THE “PENNY” TILL NOW

16. (a) When, therefore, was pay time to be expected? (b) How was the spring of 1919 like a day of Pentecost for the “hired” ones?

¹⁶ World War I stopped on November 11, 1918, and now world attention turned to peace and reorganization in the postwar period. The League of Nations was proposed as an instrument for preserving world peace and security. As regards religious affairs, evidently pay time had come for those who had either professedly or actually labored in Jehovah’s spiritual vineyard! What would be the “penny” given to them in the postwar epoch? The spring of 1919 was like a day of Pentecost for those hired “last” to work in the “vineyard.” For the Christian international Bible students it was like a resurrection of the dead. On March 26, 1919, their official and editorial representatives were released from prison, the postwar work was at once planned, the “vineyard” laborers were reorganized world wide, the first convention at Cedar Point, Ohio, was held September 1-8, 1919, and was attended by 7,000 at the public meeting, and, besides The Watch Tower, a new magazine The Golden Age (today known as Awake!) began to be published October 1, 1919. Such a reactivation of the International Bible Students in the religious field caused amazement and dismay in Christendom.

17. What, then, did the “penny” prove to be for the laborers hired “last”?

¹⁷ Here, then, as on the day of Pentecost nineteen centuries ago, was the payment of the “penny” to those last hired in Jehovah’s spiritual “vineyard.” God’s Messianic kingdom had been born in the heavens at the close of the Gentile Times in 1914, and the “penny” paid to the vineyard laborers was the privilege and honor of serving as anointed ambassadors of God’s newborn Messianic kingdom from that time on till the coming “battle of the great day of God the Almighty” at Armageddon. This ambassadorial service was carried out with the help of God’s holy spirit. In harmony with this, they were ushered into the privilege of fulfilling Matthew 24:14, preaching this good news of God’s newborn Messianic kingdom in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations before the end of this system of things comes. (Rev. 16:14-16; Mark 13:10) What a wonderful value such a “penny” has meant to them!

18. At that development, who murmured, and finally to what extent?

¹⁸ The clergy of Christendom, which claims to be God’s vineyard, murmured at this way of paying spiritual wages, and their murmuring took on the form of persecuting these Kingdom preachers. The clergy could have joined in this Kingdom witness, but they rejected God’s newborn kingdom by preaching in favor of the League of Nations as “the political expression of the kingdom of God on earth.” They kept up friendly relations with worldly politicians.

19. Who are proving to be the “last ones” to accept the “penny”?

¹⁹ The anointed remnant of Kingdom heirs, including those whom Jehovah God has added since 1919, are grateful for the “penny” paid to them. Since the payment of it in the year 1919 they have used it with growing appreciation of its value. The clergy of Christendom are proving to be the “last” ones to accept the precious “penny,” if they accept it at all before Babylon the Great (including Christendom) is destroyed at that great and fear-inspiring day of Jehovah now near.​—Joel 2:31, 32; Acts 2:20, 21.

20. How have these paid laborers already been rewarded for their grateful use of the “penny” down till now?

²⁰ Particularly since the year 1935 the “penny” has been used in gathering the “great crowd” of sheeplike persons foretold in Revelation 7:9-17. These have accepted the Kingdom message as preached by the anointed Kingdom ambassadors, and to date around a million of them all around the earth have separated themselves from Babylon the Great and are joining the anointed remnant in praising Jehovah God and his Messianic King, Jesus Christ. What a reward this has already been to the Kingdom ambassadors for their grateful acceptance and use of the “penny” at Jehovah’s hands!