“The kingdom will be taken away from you”

“The kingdom of heaven will be taken away from you and given to a people producing fruits”
– Jesus (Matthew 21:43)

It’s hard to consider this, that God would actually revoke his blessing.

We live in a world where God is either good (for those who follow him) or bad (to those who don’t).

But conditional–that’s a different thing entirely.

Up front disclaimer: “taken away” in this verse is not a reference to losing one’s salvation, but of losing the offer.

What Jesus is describing here is a group of people who continually reject the truth. What happens to them? After a while, they begin to believe the lie…and then God lets them.

They have rejected God’s blessings so often that they’ve found themselves living completely without them.

To those of us that have slipped into using grace as a substitute for justice or accountability (it happens), this is sobering.

And to the rest, to the ones who aren’t, this isn’t a victory. God “desires all people to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4).

The lesson we take away from this is: life is short, let’s not waste it.