News flash for the Calvinists:
The parable of the landowner (Matthew 20) casts their doctrine into utter ruin.
“The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius.
So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them
also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner.
‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to
us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
“But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you.
Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
The last shall be first?
And, the first shall be last?
Means just what?
The Lord was not paying them by the hour.
Normally?
Work more hours, you get more pay.
The Lord loves His people.
The Lord was providing for their daily needs,
and had them do some work for him to reveal their desire to do as He desires of them.
Meaning?
We are not to compete against other believers to get more from the Lord.
Both had their daily needs equally provided for.
The first shall be last, and the last shall be first = needs provided for by a loving God.
Like a parent showing no favoritism between an older and youngest child that he equally loves.
.