Matthew 21:43,44 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Therefore I say unto you, &c.— "For the reason that God has expressly foretold this judgement shall happen to you, and because it is a most righteous and equitable judgement, I assure you it will fall upon you, however you may despise or disbelieve it. The theocracy,—the outward oeconomy of religion, which you have long enjoyed very unprofitably, shall be taken from you, and given to the Gentiles; who, whatever you may think of them, will improve it far better than you have done." These words seem to confirm the first method of solving the difficulties mentioned in the last note: for had the priests spoken seriously, our Lord need not have been at the pains to produce texts of Scripture to prove what they had so fully acknowledged. "Who ever shall fall on this stone, continues our Lord, which the builders have rejected, but which God will make the head of the corner, shall be broken. See Romans 9:33. Whosoever ignorantly opposes the Messiah, shall thereby receive great harm to himself,—in allusion to one's stumbling at a stone thrown aside as useless; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder." Our Saviour seems to have had in view Daniel 2:34 where the destruction of all the opposers of the Messiah's kingdom is described thus: "Thou sawest, till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet, that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces; Matthew 21:35. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." Our Lord's meaning is, that all the opposers of the Messiah's kingdom, called Matthew 21:43 the kingdom of God, and by Daniel the kingdom of the God of heaven, Daniel 2:44 shall be utterly destroyed, according to Daniel's vision of the image. The first clause whosoever shall fall, &c. seems to describe the sin and punishment ofthe great men, who being chief in the rebellion led the way to the rest, and had an active hand in resisting the authority of the Messiah. See Macknight. Dr. Doddridge explains it, "Whosoever shall stumble at me and my doctrine, while I am here on earth in this humble form, he shall be broken and damaged by it: but whosoever shall oppose me after my exaltation to glory, and the pouring out of my Spirit for the full revelation of my Gospel, and proof of my mission; he will bring upon himself aggravated guilt, and unavoidable destruction." See Wetstein.