FIRST BECOMING LAST

I have heard people talk about the scriptures on those who are first becoming last and those who are last becoming first to mean people falling from grace. And some people are afraid of not ending up being last in the kingdom of God.

 

“So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen”. Matt 20:16

 

What does this scripture mean? 

 

Is it really about those who have been first now suddenly drawing back to become last? 

One of the things you need to know in understanding the bible is that the book is filled with parables and literary works that cannot be taken literally. If you do, the essence of the message would have been lost or misinterpreted. 

 

This is to say, what Jesus was describing in that book of Matthew chapter 20 was a parable that you cannot take literally. The chapter was about the kingdom. Jesus began to discuss how the owner of an estate started looking for workers for his field. He found some early and found some late. Imagine some working for 12 hours while some came in at the 11th hour when the work was just about an hour to the end. The big deal about this was then the fact that the owner paid everyone the same reward. 

 

Those who started the job earlier began to feel cheated. How could they have worked for hours and some people joined the work just for a few hours but went home with the same pay? 

 

This then led to the conclusion from Jesus that “the first shall become last and the last shall become first”.

All these were parables and parables are like mysteries that need an explanation.

The owner is God while the workers are men who have been saved with the duty of carrying out the assignment of the Father. This scripture is a description of God’s love for whosoever believes in Him. It is not dependent on the time, age, and status of when a man believes, it is whosoever. 

This means a man who got saved today has the same thing the man who got saved five years ago has- the gift of eternal life. It cannot be halved. That is the promise of the Father. 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

 

So, the first becoming last here means those who gave their life at an early stage and those who gave their lives later have the same outcome- a glorified life in Christ. It means in Christ we all become one, no senior or junior. He is our reward because it is not by works that we are rewarded that time may count, but, by His works. 

 

So, it is not about new believers doing more for God than old believers who may begin to backslide. It is that we all are now on the same page- In Christ.

 

Are there people you think don’t deserve the forgiveness of God? Or do you think you cannot be forgiven? You are like those guys who felt the owner shouldn’t pay the guys who worked for a few hours. He is not forgiving them/you because you are good or have done well; He is forgiving because He is good.

 

We all will become one in Him, both first (Early believers) and last (Later believers).

So that scripture can further be written like this:

 

“The first (those who were employed earlier) shall become last (as those employed later) and the last (those employed later) shall become first (as those who were employed earlier)”

 

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Gal 3:28

 

 

 Is this clear? 

Be Innovated

Olufemi Ibitoye