Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 11:25
At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
25. answered and said ] A Hebraism=“spake and said.”
prudent ] Rather, intelligent, acute. The secrets of the kingdom are not revealed to those who are wise in their own conceit, but to those who have the meekness of infants and the child-like eagerness for knowledge. In a special Jewish sense “the wise and prudent” are the Scribes and Pharisees.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
25 27. The revelation to “Babes.”
St Luk 10:21-22, where the words are spoken on the return of the Seventy.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
From the wise and prudent – That is, from those who thought themselves wise – wise according to the worlds estimation of wisdom, 1Co 1:26-27.
Hast revealed them unto babes – To the poor, the ignorant, and the obscure; the teachable, the simple, the humble. By the wise and prudent here he had reference probably to the proud and haughty scribes and Pharisees in Capernaum. They rejected his gospel, but it was the pleasure of God to reveal it to obscure and more humble people. The reason given, the only satisfactory reason, is, that it so seemed good in the sight of God. In this the Saviour acquiesced, saying, Even so, Father; and in the dealings of God it is proper that all should acquiesce. Such is the will of God is often the only explanation which can be offered in regard to the various events which happen to us on earth. Such is the will of God is the only account which can be given of the reason of the dispensations of his grace. Our understanding is often confounded. We are unsuccessful in all our efforts at explanation. Our philosophy fails, and all that we can say is, Even so, Father; for so it seems good to thee. And this is enough. That God does a thing, is, after all, the best reason which we can have that it is right. It is a security that nothing wrong is done; and though now mysterious, yet light will hereafter shine upon it like the light of noonday. I have more certainty that a thing is right if I can say that I know such is the will of God, than I could have by depending on my own reason. In the one case I confide in the infallible and most perfect God; in the other I rely on the reason of a frail and erring man. God never errs; but nothing is more common than for people to err.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 11:25
Because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent.
Why God reveals to babes
The babe is the representative of the receptive spirit-trusting, open to impression, free from prejudice. Wisdom-like wealth and power-is an obstruction, not in itself, but in the temper and frame of mind it is apt to produce. On the other hand, there is, in this preference of the child-spirit, no encouragement of spiritual pride, as if ignorance and mental indolence were things of dignity and worth in themselves. The prime requisites in the child-spirit are unconsciousness and humility. The grounds for Gods dealing thus are as follows:-
I. To reveal to babes harmonizes with Gods character as a father, and illustrates it. Babe is counterpart to Father. A fathers heart is not attracted to the brilliance or power in his family, but to the want. The child who knows his father will have a knowledge of things beyond the reach of research.
II. To reveal to babes glorifies God as Lord of heaven and earth. The higher and mightier you conceive God to be, the more necessary it is to know that he is lowly, and to have abundant proof of it. But oh I how near God comes; how dear He is to us by His frequent close relationship to the poor and lowly. We are drawn to the mighty God who is drawn to the babes.
III. God thus manifests the supremacy of the moral element. The understanding has but a narrow horizon; the spirit embraces eternity and God. Intellect is the fibre of the plant, the moral and spiritual are the sap that turns everything into flower and fruit. Knowledge and ingenuity are as nothing without righteousness. What inventiveness or brilliancy could ever supply the place of honesty faithfulness, goodwill in the homes of men?
IV. God thus shows his desire to reveal as much as possible, and to as many as possible. Had He revealed specially to intellect, to the wise and understanding, what a little circle, what a select coterie it would have been! The great mass of mankind are burdened with labour, and cannot develop greatly their intellectual nature. But by revealing to babes, God gives hope to universal humanity. While few can be wise and learned, all may become babes. It is man himself that God wants, not his accomplishments, his energies, his distinctions. (J. Leckie, D. D.)
The great paradox
Ignorant men have argued from these words that sound knowledge is incompatible with the child-like spirit. It is possible to forget in the wisdom of this world Him whom the world by wisdom never knew. Our Lord uttered these words when He permitted His disciples to listen to His communings with the Father. We know more of each other when we pray than when we teach.
I. The apparent paradox involved in these words. Thou hast hid, etc. All revelation is to some extent a concealment. The veil is drawn aside, but never taken away. When an infinite God reveals Himself to man, by necessity of our nature He hides far more than He manifests. The special revelation which God has made to some individuals, is the very process by which he has concealed Himself from others; for there are two conditions of Divine revelation by which God brings his truth to bear upon the human heart.
1. The external circumstance and event. There can be Be special revelation to any man without a willingness on Gods part to confer upon some events or some teacher His own authorization, and a willingness on mans part to receive the revelation as such. Therefore the revelation made to some is necessarily a concealment from others.
2. The mental pro-requisites, subjective state or moral condition capable of receiving a Divine revelation. All conditions of understanding and emotion are not equally receptive; hence it is concealed from those who have not right moral conditions. It becomes of great importance to know what is the disposition which most of all fits us for the reception of the Divine message? The highest revelations of God are made to the moral nature, other knowledge is illumined by the higher spiritual wisdom. The humble heart knows more than the massive intellect. It may be mortifying, but it is patent.
II. The redeemers judgment, and gratitude concerning it.
1. He attributes this arrangement to the universal Lord-O Lord of heaven and earth. The apparent paradox is a Divine arrangement, not an unfortunate accident. There is not more conformity between the eye and light, between the ear and sound, than between the child-like soul and Gods revelation of heavenly things. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. He has determined with royal independence, through what organs, to what condition, He will reveal Himself.
2. The Saviour acquiesces in this arrangement, not simply as an act of universal sovereignty, but as most merciful and good; as the Fathers good pleasure. It was a fatherly way and method.
3. Christ does more than throw the responsibility on God; He thanks God that it is so. He rejoiced because He felt the amplitude of this provision. This principle of discrimination was the widest and noblest that can be conceived. Had it been to intellect only a few could have received the revelation; moral conditions are possible to all. Christ rejoiced in this mode because it satisfied the yearnings of His own heart, for He proceeds to say to the weary Come unto Me, all ye that labour, etc. To man distracted by the wisdom of the world He thus appeals. (H. R. Reynolds, B. A.)
The proud and the lowly
I. The inherent propriety of this arrangement.
1. There were great moral disqualifications in the wise and prudent.
(1) They were covetous.
(2) They were proud.
(3) They were prejudiced.
2. There were great preparatory qualifications in the babes.
(1) They were humble.
(2) They were tractable.
(3) They were conscious of their needs. In what frame of mind do you seek gospel blessings?
II. See the reasons of this arrangement in relation to the ministry of Christ.
1. His position was one of self-humiliation, and therefore it was unsuitable that the rich and mighty should be among His followers.
2. His work was peculiarly a work of God, therefore He avoided the appearance of using the wisdom of this world, or any of its carnal agencies.
3. He came for the sake of all classes, and it was needful, in order to elevate all, that He should begin at the lowest. (The Conregational Pulpit.)
Even so, Father
I. The saviour would have us attain to an enlightened apprehension of the character of God.
II. Christ would have us carefully observe the discriminating character of Gods grace.
III. The saviour would have his peoples hearts in perfect agreement with the rule and action of God.
IV. Practical use of the text. (C. H. Spurgeon)
The kingdom, of God hid from the wise and revealed unto babes
I. The characters named in the text from whom certain truths are hidden.
1. The wise seem to be those who are seeking to become acquainted with Divine truth by the exercise of their natural faculties.
2. The prudent man is one who always shapes his course in the path which is most consistent with his worldly interests.
3. The babe is the direct opposite of those we have described, and yet one to whom the Lord graciously condescends to reveal these things which He hides from them. The feature of the babe is
(1) helplessness,
(2) ignorance. But we need not limit the babe to the age of infancy.
(3) Great teachability,
II. What are these things that God hides from one character and makes known to the other?
1. The workings of godly fears in the soul is a branch of Divine truth which the Lord hides from the wise and prudent and reveals unto babes.
2. God hides from the wise and prudent a spiritual acquaintance with His law.
3. The operations and exercises of a living faith in a tender conscience are hidden from the wise and prudent.
4. God hides from them the exercise of a living hope.
5. The breathing forth of spiritual affections he hides.
6. He hides all the savour, and unction, and sweetness, and power of truth. (J. C. Philpot.)
Revelation a concealment
The belt of light thrown over some divisions of the great sphere of knowledge leaves the rest in apparently deeper shade. All language by expressing some thoughts conceals many others. Much is repressed by every effort that we make towards expression. If we try to unbosom our hearts to each other, we hide as much as we reveal. We wrap ourselves round in mystery when we are most communicative. All art is concerned as much in hiding what ought to be concealed as in making known what is meant to be expressed. (H. R. Reynolds, B. A.)
Revelation addressed to the heart of man
It should not surprise us when men of acute and powerful understandings more or less reject the gospel, for this reason, that the Christian revelation addresses itself to our hearts, to our love of truth and goodness, our fear of sinning, and our desire to gain Gods favour; and quickness, sagacity, depth of thought, strength of mind, power of comprehension, perception of the beautiful, power of language, and the like, though they are excellent gifts, are clearly quite of a different kind from these excellences-a man may have the one without having the other. This, then, is the plain reason why able, or, again, why learned men are so defective Christians, because there is no necessary connection between faith and ability; because faith is one thing and ability is another; because ability of mind is a gift, and faith is a grace. Who would ever argue that a man could, like Samson, conquer lions, or throw down the gates of a city, because he was able, or accomplished, or experienced in the business of life? Who would ever argue that a man could see because he could hear, or run with the swift because he had the tongue of the learned ? These gifts are different in kind. In like manner, powers of mind and religious principles and feelings are distinct gifts; and as all the highest spiritual excellence, humility, firmness, patience, would never enable a man to read an unknown tongue, or to enter into the depths of science, so all the most brilliant mental endowments, wit, or imagination, or penetration, or depth, will never of themselves make us wise in religion. And as we should fairly and justly deride the savage who wished to decide questions of science or literature by the sword, so may we justly look with amazement on the error of those who think that they can master the high mysteries of spiritual truth, and find their way to God, by what is commonly called reason, i.e., by the random and blind efforts of mere mental acuteness, and mere experience of the world. (F. W. Newman.)
Hidden for want of sight
Unconverted men often say, If these things are so, if they are so clear and great, why cannot we see them? And there is no answer to be given but this, Ye are blind. But we want to see them. If they are real, they are our concern as well as yours. Oh, that some preacher would come who had power to make us see them! Poor souls, there is no such preacher, and you need not wait for him. Let him gather Gods light as he will, he can but pour it on blind eyes. A burning glass will condense sunbeams into a focus of brightness; and if a blind eye be put there, not whir will it see, though it be consumed. Light is the remedy for darkness, not blindness. Neither will strong powers of understanding on your part serve. The great Earl of Chatham once went with a pious friend to hear Mr. Cecil. The sermon was on the Spirits agency in the hearts of believers. As they were coming from church, the mighty statesman confessed that he could not understand it all, and asked his friend if he supposed that any one in the house could. Why yes, said he, there were many plain unlettered women, and some children there, who understood every word of it, and heard it with joy. (Hoge.)
The Mysteries of the gospel hid from many.
I. What may be intended by these things?
1. In general, the things pertaining to salvation.
2. More particularly, those doctrines which are in an especial sense peculiar to the gospel, seem here to be intended, such as
(a) the Divinity of Christ,
(b) distinguishing grace,
(c) the new birth,
(d)the nature of the life of faith.
II. Where, and in what sense, are these things hid?
1. They are hid in Christ (Col 2:3); therefore
(a) you can attain to no saving truth, but in and by the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
(b) Whatever seeming knowledge you have, if it does not endear Him to you it is nothing worth.
2. They are hid in Gods Word.
(a) They are contained there.
(b) Yet though contained there, they are not plain to every eye.
They are not hid in the sense that seekers shall not find, but that those who seek to cavil shall meet with something to confirm their prejudices. Application: Do not entertain hard and perplexing thoughts about the counsels of God, either respecting others or yourselves. (John Newton.)
Concealment and Revelation
I. Divine things concealed. Not through any deficiency of revelation, nor by arbitrary will.
II. Divine things revealed. The revelation of Divine realities is made to prepared souls. Elicits thankfulness.
III. The unwilling alone suffer privation and loss. God will not force His truth and mercy upon man. (M. Braithwaite.)
Saintliness better than learning
There died five-and-twenty years ago in France a village priest, the Cure of Ars, a small hamlet about thirty miles north of Lyons. He was so devoid of worldly learning that he was long unable to obtain orders, until some bishop had the wisdom to perceive that saintliness was a better claim to orders than technical learning. In that village this priest ministered for many years, preaching, lecturing, hearing confessions all day long. Sceptics came from Paris; and the bursts of his spiritual fire burnt deep into their consciences. During the last year of his life no less than 80,000 persons flocked to his church to listen to his religious advice. Such as he was, a standing argument for Christianity, a standing evidence of its being a living influence, such may every one of us be; for it was not knowledge but holiness that constituted his power. The secret of his strength was his weakness. His power was not his own. His soul lay at the foot of the Cross, his body at the foot of the altar; he was made a temple of the Holy Ghost. He was an epistle known and read of all men. (Canon Adam S. Farrar.)
The things of revelation cannot be seen unless shown
Let me suppose a person to have a curious cabinet, which is opened at his pleasure, and not exposed to common view. He invites all to come to see it, and offers to show it to any one who asks him. It is hid, because he keeps the key; but none can complain, because he is ready to open it whenever he is desired. Some, perhaps, disdain the offer, and say, Why is it locked at all? Some think it not worth seeing, or amuse themselves with guessing at the contents. But those who are simply desirous for themselves, leave others disputing, go according to appointment, and are gratified. These have reason to be thankful for the favour, and the others have no just cause to find fault. Thus the riches of Divine grace may be compared to a richly-furnished cabinet, to which Christ is the door. The Word of God is likewise a cabinet, generally locked up, but the key of prayer will open it. The Lord invites all, but keeps the dispensation in His own hand. They cannot see these things, except He shows them; but then He refuses none that sincerely ask Him. The wise men of the world can go no further than the outside of this cabinet; they ,may amuse themselves and surprise others with their ingenious guesses at what is within; but a child that has seen it opened can give us more satisfaction, without studying or guessing at all. If men will presume to aim at the knowledge of God, without the knowledge of Christ, who is the Way, and the Door; if they have such a high opinion of their own wisdom and penetration as to suppose they can understand the Scriptures without the assistance of His Spirit; or if their worldly wisdom teaches them that these things are not worth their inquiry, what wonder is it that they should continue to be bid from their eyes? They will one day be stripped of all their false pleas, and condemned out of their own mouths. (Newton.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 25. I thank thee] , I fully agree with thee-I am perfectly of the same mind. Thou hast acted in all things according to the strictest holiness, justice, mercy, and truth.
Wise and prudent] The scribes and Pharisees, vainly puffed up by their fleshly minds, and having their foolish hearts darkened, refusing to submit to the righteousness of God (God’s method of saving man by Christ) and going about to establish their own righteousness, (their own method of saving themselves,) they rejected God’s counsel, and God sent the peace and salvation of the Gospel to others, called here babes, (his disciples,) simple-hearted persons, who submitted to be instructed and saved in God’s own way. Let it be observed, that our Lord does not thank the Father that he had hidden these things from the wise and prudent, but that, seeing they were hidden from them, he had revealed them to the others.
There is a remarkable saying in the Talmudists, which casts light upon this: “Rab. Jochanan said: ‘From the time in which the temple was destroyed, wisdom was taken away from the prophets, and give a to fools and children.’ Bava Bathra, fol. 12. Again: ‘In the days of the Messiah, every species of wisdom, even the most profound, shall, be revealed; and this even to children.'” Synop. Sohar. fol. 10.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Luk 10:21, hath the same thing, only he thus prefaces, In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, & c. He rejoiced in spirit, his heart was inwardly affected with this grace of God his Father. Then he answered and said. Answering in Scripture doth not always signify replying to the words of others, but a speaking upon some fit occasion offered, a beginning of a speech.
I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. In the Greek the same word is used which signifieth to confess. In all thanksgiving and praising there is a confession of the power, wisdom, or goodness of God, so as all praising is a confessing, though all confession be not praising. By calling his Father
Lord of heaven and earth, he acknowledgeth his absolute power to have done otherwise, even as it pleased him.
Because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent. By the wise and prudent he here plainly means the scribes and Pharisees, the learned doctors of that age, who should have been wise and prudent, and were so both in their own and in their followers opinion. By
these things he means the mysteries of the gospel, as Mat 13:11, The mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. God is said to have hid them, because he had not revealed them to them; nor can it be understood of a mere external revelation by the preaching of the gospel, but of an internal revelation by his Spirit, so as they embraced and believed them, 1Co 2:10; in which sense Paul saith, If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, 2Co 4:3.
And hast revealed them unto babes, nhpioiv. It signifieth persons that are young in years, infants, and weak in understanding. He principally means his apostles, together with those ordinary persons that believed in him, for the Pharisees said, Joh 7:48,49, Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed. O Father, (saith our Saviour), thou hast all power in thine hand, thou art the Lord of heaven and earth, thou couldest by thy Spirit have caused these learned men to have received and embraced thy gospel, and followed me, as well as these poor fishermen, and other Jews of none of the highest quality; in that thou hast not done it, thou hast declared thy justice, for their rejecting of thy counsel for their salvation, but in that thou hast revealed these things to any, especially to these persons, not under the same worldly advantages for reputation, wisdom, and wit, herein thou hast showed thy special and abounding grace, as well as the greatness of thy power. Lord, I rejoice in thy dispensations, and I give thee thanks that out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected thy praise. There can be no other reason given of this, but thy good pleasure;
Even so, Father; so it pleased thee. We may from hence observe,
1. That the further revelations of Christ some souls have more than others enjoying the same outward means, are not to be ascribed to the power or goodness of the will of man, but solely to the good pleasure of God.
2. That from the beginning of the gospel, the special and effectual revelations of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven have, from the good pleasure of God, been made generally not to the most learned and wise men in mens account, but mostly to persons of a meaner rank. Surgunt indocti, et coelum rapiunt: Nos cum doctrina nostra in Gehennam trudimur. 1Co 1:26-28; Jam 2:5.
3. That wheresoever God by his Spirit reveals the mysteries of the kingdom of God, it is matter of great joy and thanksgiving; especially where God reveals these mysteries to persons most unlikely to have received them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
25. At that time Jesus answered andsaidWe are not to understand by this, that the previousdiscourse had been concluded, and that this is a record only ofsomething said about the same period. For the connection is mostclose, and the word “answered”which, when there is noone to answer, refers to something just before said, or rising in themind of the speaker in consequence of something saidconfirms this.What Jesus here “answered” evidently was the melancholyresults of His ministry, lamented over in the foregoing verses. It isas if He had said, “Yes; but there is a brighter side to thepicture; even in those who have rejected the message of eternal life,it is the pride of their own hearts only which has blinded them, andthe glory of the truth does but the more appear in their inability toreceive it. Nor have all rejected it even here; souls thirsting forsalvation have drawn water with joy from the wells of salvation; theweary have found rest; the hungry have been filled with good things,while the rich have been sent empty away.”
I thank theerather, “Iassent to thee.” But this is not strong enough. The idea of”full” or “cordial” concurrence isconveyed by the preposition. The thing expressed is adoringacquiescence, holy satisfaction with that law of the divine procedureabout to be mentioned. And as, when He afterwards uttered the samewords, He “exulted in spirit” (see on Lu10:21), probably He did the same now, though not recorded.
O Father, Lord of heaven andearthHe so styles His Father here, to signify that from Him ofright emanates all such high arrangements.
because thou hast hid thesethingsthe knowledge of these saving truths.
from the wise and prudentTheformer of these terms points to the men who pride themselves upontheir speculative or philosophical attainments; the latter to the menof worldly shrewdnessthe clever, the sharp-witted, the men ofaffairs. The distinction is a natural one, and was well understood.(See 1Co 1:19, c.). But why hadthe Father hid from such the things that belonged to their peace, andwhy did Jesus so emphatically set His seal to this arrangement?Because it is not for the offending and revolted to speak or tospeculate, but to listen to Him from whom we have broken loose, thatwe may learn whether there be any recovery for us at all and if therebe, on what principlesof what natureto what ends. To bring ourown “wisdom and prudence” to such questions is impertinentand presumptuous; and if the truth regarding them, or the glory ofit, be “hid” from us, it is but a fitting retribution, towhich all the right-minded will set their seal along with Jesus.
hast revealed them untobabesto babe-like men; men of unassuming docility, men who,conscious that they know nothing, and have no right to sit injudgment on the things that belong to their peace, determine simplyto “hear what God the Lord will speak.” Such are wellcalled “babes.” (See Heb 5:13;1Co 13:11; 1Co 14:20,&c.).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
At that time Jesus answered, and said,…. The time referred to is, when the disciples returned to him, and gave him an account of the success of their ministry, Lu 10:17 who say nothing of the conversion of sinners, but of the spirits being subject to them; and may also refer to the several things spoken of in the context: it was at that time when Christ spoke to the multitude about John, and the excellency of his ministry, which yet was ineffectual to great numbers, who for a while attended on it; and when he took notice to the people, how he himself, as well as John, was rejected and vilified by the Pharisees, and received by publicans and sinners; and when he upbraided Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, for their impenitence and unbelief: taking occasion from hence, he “answered and said”; an Hebrew way of speaking, used when nothing goes before, to which what is said can be an answer; see Job 3:2.
I thank thee, 0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth. This is an address to God, by way of thanksgiving; glorifying and praising him, confessing and acknowledging his wisdom, power, grace, and goodness, discovered in the things he after mentions: so far was he from being discouraged and dejected at the poor success of the Seventy: at his ill treatment by the Pharisees; and at the general impenitence and unbelief of the cities, where he preached and wrought his miracles; that he is abundantly thankful, and admires the distinguishing grace of God in the calling of a few in those places. This address is made to God as a “Father”, as his Father, his own Father; for he was the only begotten of him, and dearly beloved by him: this epithet he makes use of, to show the near relation he stood in to him, and the freedom he could use with him: he also addresses him as “the Lord of heaven and earth”; he being the maker, upholder, and governor of both, and which he fills with his presence; the one is his throne, and the other is his footstool. This he mentions to show the sovereignty of his Father, in the conversion of men; and that it was not for want of power in him, that there were no more wrought upon under the ministry of John, himself, and his disciples. The things he expresses his thankfulness for, follow;
because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent. The “things” he means are the doctrines of the Gospel; such as respect himself, his person, as God, and the Son of God; his office, as Messiah, Redeemer, and Saviour; and the blessings of grace, righteousness, and salvation by him. The persons from whom these things were hid, are “the wise and prudent”; in things worldly, natural, and civil; men of great parts and learning, of a large compass of knowledge, having a considerable share of sagacity, penetration, and wisdom; or, at least, who were wise and prudent in their own conceits, as were the Scribes and Pharisees, and the schools of Hillell and Shammai, the two famous doctors of that day: and indeed the people of the Jews in common were so; who thus applaud themselves at the eating of the passover every year, and say, , “we are all wise, we are all prudent, we all understand the law” s; the same is elsewhere t said of all Israel; in their opinion they were so, yet the things of the Gospel are hidden from them. God may be said to “hide” these things, when either he does not afford the outward revelation of the Gospel; or, if he does, it is given forth in parables, or he does not give along with it the light of his Spirit and grace, but leaves men to their own darkness and blindness; so that they cannot see, perceive, and understand the beauty, glory, excellency, and suitableness of the doctrines of it. Now, when Christ confesses this, or gives thanks to God for it, it is a declaration that God has done so, and denotes his acquiescence in it; and is not properly a thanksgiving for that; but rather, that forasmuch as he has thought fit, in his infinite wisdom, to take such a method, he has been pleased to make a revelation of these things to others;
and hast revealed them unto babes; foolish ones, comparatively speaking, who have not those natural parts, learning, and knowledge others have, that wisdom and prudence in worldly and civil things; and are so in their own account, and in the esteem of the world; and who are as babes, helpless, defenceless, and impotent of themselves, to do or say anything that is spiritually good, and are sensible of the same: now to such souls God reveals the covenant of his grace, Christ, and all the blessings of grace in him, the mysteries of the Gospel, and the unseen glories of another world. The veil of darkness and ignorance is removed from them; spiritual sight is given them; these things are set before them; they see a glory and suitableness in them; their desires are raised after them; their affections are set on them; their hearts are impressed with them; and they are helped to view their interest in them. The Jews themselves have a notion, that in the days of the Messiah, children and babes shall have knowledge of divine things.
“Says Simeon ben Jochai u, it is not the pleasure of God that wisdom should be so revealed to the world; but when it is near the days of the Messiah, even , “little children”, or the “babes that are in the world”, shall find out the hidden things of wisdom, and know thereby the ends, and the computations of times; and at that time it shall be revealed to all:”
and there is more truth in what they own elsewhere w, than they themselves are aware of, when they say, that
“from the day that the temple was destroyed, prophecy has been taken away from the prophets, and given
, “to fools and babes”.”
s Haggada Shel Pesach, p. 5. Ed. Ritangel. t Tzeror Hammor, fol. 135. 1. u Zohar in Gen. fol. 74. 1. w T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 12. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Christ’s Invitation to Burthened Souls. |
| |
25 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. 26 Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. 27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. 28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
In these verses we have Christ looking up to heaven, with thanksgiving to his Father for the sovereignty and security of the covenant of redemption; and looking around him upon this earth, with an offer to all the children of men, to whom these presents shall come, of the privileges and benefits of the covenant of grace.
I. Christ here returns thanks to God for his favour to those babes who had the mysteries of the gospel revealed to them (Mat 11:25; Mat 11:26). Jesus answered and said. It is called an answer, though no other words are before recorded but his own, because it is so comfortable a reply to the melancholy considerations preceding, and is aptly set in the balance against them. The sin and ruin of those woeful cities, no doubt, was a grief to the Lord Jesus; he could not but weep over them, as he did over Jerusalem (Luke xix. 41); with this thought therefore he refreshes himself; and to make it the more refreshing, he puts it into a thanksgiving; that for all this, there is a remnant, though but babes, to whom the things of the gospel are revealed. Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall he be glorious. Note, We may take great encouragement in looking upward to God, when round about us we see nothing but what is discouraging. It is sad to see how regardless most men are of their own happiness, but it is comfortable to think that the wise and faithful God will, however, effectually secure the interests of his own glory. Jesus answered and said, I thank thee. Note, Thanksgiving is a proper answer to dark and disquieting thoughts, and may be an effectual means to silence them. Songs of praise are sovereign cordials to drooping souls, and will help to cure melancholy. When we have no other answer ready to the suggestions of grief and fear, we may have recourse to this, I thank thee, O Father; let us bless God that it is not worse with us than it is.
Now in this thanksgiving of Christ, we may observe,
1. The titles he gives to God; O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. Note, (1.) In all our approaches to God, by praise as well as by prayer, it is good for us to eye him as a Father, and to fasten on that relation, not only when we ask for the mercies we want, but when we give thanks for the mercies we have received. Mercies are then doubly sweet, and powerful to enlarge the heart in praise, when they are received as tokens of a Father’s love, and gifts of a Father’s hand; Giving thanks to the Father, Col. i. 12. It becomes children to be grateful, and to say, Thank you, father, as readily as, Pray, father. (2.) When we come to God as a Father, we must withal remember, that he is Lord of heaven and earth; which obliges us to come to him with reverence, as to the sovereign Lord of all, and yet with confidence, as one able to do for us whatever we need or can desire; to defend us from all evil and to supply us with all good. Christ, in Melchizedec, had long since blessed God as the Possessor, or Lord of heaven and earth; and in all our thanksgivings for mercies in the stream, we must give him the glory of the all-sufficiency that is in the fountain.
2. The thing he gives thanks for: Because thou has hid these things from the wise and prudent, and yet revealed them to babes. These things; he does not say what things, but means the great things of the gospel, the things that belong to our peace, Luke xix. 42. He spoke thus emphatically of them, these things, because they were things that filled him, and should fill us: all other things are as nothing to these things.
Note (1.) The great things of the everlasting gospel have been and are hid from many that were wise and prudent, that were eminent for learning and worldly policy; some of the greatest scholars and the greatest statesmen have been the greatest strangers to gospel mysteries. The world by wisdom knew not God, 1 Cor. i. 21. Nay, there is an opposition given to the gospel, by a science falsely so called, 1 Tim. vi. 20. Those who are most expert in things sensible and secular, are commonly least experienced in spiritual things. Men may dive deeply into the mysteries of nature and into the mysteries of state, and yet be ignorant of, and mistake about, the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, for want of an experience of the power of them.
(2.) While the wise and prudent men of the world are in the dark about gospel mysteries, even the babes in Christ have the sanctifying saving knowledge of them: Thou hast revealed them unto babes. Such the disciples of Christ were; men of mean birth and education; no scholars, no artists, no politicians, unlearned and ignorant men, Acts iv. 13. Thus are the secrets of wisdom, which are double to that which is (Job xi. 6), made known to babes and sucklings, that out of their mouth strength might be ordained (Ps. viii. 2), and God’s praise thereby perfected. The learned men of the world were not made choice of to be the preachers of the gospel, but the foolish things of the world (1Co 2:6; 1Co 2:8; 1Co 2:10).
(3.) This difference between the prudent and the babes is of God’s own making. [1.] It is he that has hid these things from the wise and prudent; he gave them parts, and learning, and much of human understanding above others, and they were proud of that, and rested in it, and looked no further; and therefore God justly denies them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, and then, though they hear the sound of the gospel tidings, they are to them as a strange thing. God is not the Author of their ignorance and error, but he leaves them to themselves, and their sin becomes their punishment, and the Lord is righteous in it. See Joh 12:39; Joh 12:40; Rom 11:7; Rom 11:8; Act 28:26; Act 28:27. Had they honoured God with the wisdom and prudence they had, he would have given them the knowledge of these better things; but because they served their lusts with them, he has hid their hearts from this understanding. [2.] It is he that has revealed them unto babes. Things revealed belong to our children (Deut. xxix. 29), and to them he gives an understanding to receive these things, and the impressions of them. Thus he resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble, Jam. iv. 6.
(4.) This dispensation must be resolved into the divine sovereignty. Christ himself referred it to that; Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. Christ here subscribes to the will of his Father in this matter; Even so. Let God take what ways he pleases to glorify himself, and make us of what instruments he pleases for the carrying on of his own work; his grace is his own, and he may give or withhold it as he pleases. We can give no reason why Peter, a fisherman, should be made an apostle, and not Nicodemus, a Pharisee, and a ruler of the Jews, though he also believed in Christ; but so it seemed good in God’s sight. Christ said this in the hearing of his disciples, to show them that it was not for any merit of their own that they were thus dignified and distinguished, but purely from God’s good pleasure; he made them to differ.
(5.) This way of dispensing divine grace is to be acknowledged by us, as it was by our Lord Jesus, with all thankfulness. We must thank God, [1.] That these things are revealed; the mystery hid from ages and generations is manifested; that they are revealed, not to a few, but to be published to all the world. [2.] That they are revealed to babes; that the meek and humble are beautified with this salvation; and this honour put upon those whom the world pours contempt upon. [3.] It magnifies the mercy to them, that these things are hid from the wise and prudent: distinguishing favours are the most obliging. As Job adored the name of the Lord in taking away as well as in giving, so may we in hiding these things from the wise and prudent, as well as in revealing them unto babes; not as it is their misery, but as it is a method by which self is abased, proud thoughts brought down, all flesh silenced, and divine power and wisdom made to shine the more bright. See 1Co 1:27; 1Co 1:31.
II. Christ here makes a gracious offer of the benefits of the gospel to all, and these are the things which are revealed to babes, v. 25, c. Observe here,
1. The solemn preface which ushers in this call or invitation, both to command our attention to it, and to encourage our compliance with it. That we might have strong consolation, in flying for refuge to this hope set before us, Christ prefixes his authority, produces his credentials we shall see he is empowered to make this offer.
Two things he here lays before us, v. 27.
(1.) His commission from the Father: All things are delivered unto me of my Father. Christ, as God, is equal in power and glory with the Father; but as Mediator he receives his power and glory from the Father; has all judgment committed to him. He is authorized to settle a new covenant between God and man, and to offer peace and happiness to the apostate world, upon such terms as he should think fit: he was sanctified and sealed to be the sole Plenipotentiary, to concert and establish this great affair. In order to this, he has all power both in heaven and in earth, (ch. xxviii. 18); power over all flesh (John xvii. 2); authority to execute judgment, Joh 5:22; Joh 5:27. This encourages us to come to Christ, that he is commissioned to receive us, and to give us what we come for, and has all things delivered to him for that purpose, by him who is Lord of all. All powers, all treasures are in his hand. Observe, The Father has delivered his all into the hands of the Lord Jesus; let us but deliver our all into his hand and the work is done; God has made him the great Referee, the blessed Daysman, to lay his hand upon us both; that which we have to do is to agree to the reference, to submit to the arbitration of the Lord Jesus, for the taking up of this unhappy controversy, and to enter into bonds to stand to his award.
(2.) His intimacy with the Father: No man knoweth the Son but the Father, Neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son. This gives us a further satisfaction, and an abundant one. Ambassadors use to have not only their commissions, which they produce, but their instructions, which they reserve to themselves, to be made use of as there is occasion in their negotiations; our Lord Jesus had both, not only authority, but ability, for his undertaking. In transacting the great business of our redemption, the Father and the Son are the parties principally concerned; the counsel of peace is between them, Zech. vi. 13. It must therefore be a great encouragement to us to be assured, that they understood one another very well in this affair; that the Father knew the Son, and the Son knew the Father, and both perfectly (a mutual consciousness we may call it, between the Father and the Son), so that there could be no mistake in the settling of this matter; as often there is among men, to the overthrow of contracts, and the breaking of the measures taken, through their misunderstanding one another. The Son had lain in the bosom of the Father from eternity; he was secretioribus–of the cabinet-council, John i. 18. He was by him, as one brought up with him (Prov. viii. 30), so that none knows the Father save the Son, he adds, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. Note, [1.] The happiness of men lies in an acquaintance with God; it is life eternal, it is the perfection of rational beings. [2.] Those who would have an acquaintance with God, must apply themselves to Jesus Christ; for the light of the knowledge of the glory of God shines in the face of Christ, 2 Cor. iv. 6. We are obliged to Christ for all the revelation we have of God the Father’s will and love, ever since Adam sinned; there is no comfortable intercourse between a holy God and sinful man, but in and by a Mediator, John xiv. 6.
2. Here is the offer itself that is made to us, and an invitation to accept of it. After so solemn a preface, we may well expect something very great; and it is a faithful saying, and well worthy of all acceptation; words whereby we may be saved. We are here invited to Christ as our Priest, Prince, and Prophet, to be saved, and, in order to that, to be ruled and taught by him.
(1.) We must come to Jesus Christ as our Rest, and repose ourselves in him (v. 28), Come unto me all ye that labour. Observe, [1.] The character of the persons invited; all that labour, and are heavy laden. This is a word in season to him that is weary, Isa. l. 4. Those who complain of the burthen of the ceremonial law, which was an intolerable yoke, and was made much more so by the tradition of the elders (Luke xi. 46), let them come to Christ, and they shall be made easy; he came to free his church from this yoke, to cancel the imposition of those carnal ordinances, and to introduce a purer and more spiritual way of worship; but it is rather to be understood of the burthen of sin, both the guilt and the power of it. Note, All those, and those only, are invited to rest in Christ, that are sensible of sin as a burthen, and groan under it; that are not only convinced of the evil of sin, of their own sin, but are contrite in soul for it; that are really sick of their sins, weary of the service of the world and of the flesh; that see their state sad and dangerous by reason of sin, and are in pain and fear about it, as Ephraim (Jer. xxxi. 18-20), the prodigal (Luke xv. 17), the publican (Luke xviii. 13), Peter’s hearers (Acts ii. 37), Paul (Act 9:4; Act 9:6; Act 9:9), the jailor (Act 16:29; Act 16:30). This is a necessary preparative for pardon and peace. The Comforter must first convince (John xvi. 8); I have torn and then will heal. [2.] The invitation itself: Come unto me. That glorious display of Christ’s greatness which we had (v. 27), as Lord of all, might frighten us from him, but see here how he holds out the golden sceptre, that we may touch the top of it and may live. Note, It is the duty and interest of weary and heavy laden sinners to come to Jesus Christ. Renouncing all those things which stand in opposition to him, or in competition with him, we must accept of him, as our Physician and Advocate, and give up ourselves to his conduct and government; freely willing to be saved by him, in his own way, and upon his own terms. Come and cast that burden upon him, under which thou art heavy laden. This is the gospel call, The Spirit saith, Come; and the bride saith, Come; let him that is athirst come; Whoever will, let him come.
[3.] The blessing promised to those that do come: I will give you rest. Christ is our Noah, whose name signifies rest, for this same shall give us rest.Gen 5:29; Gen 8:9. Truly rest is good (Gen. xlix. 15), especially to those that labour and are heavy laden, Eccl. v. 12. Note, Jesus Christ will give assured rest to those weary souls, that by a lively faith come to him for it; rest from the terror of sin, in a well-grounded peace of conscience; rest from the power of sin, in a regular order of the soul, and its due government of itself; a rest in God, and a complacency of soul, in his love. Psa 11:6; Psa 11:7. This is that rest which remains for the people of God (Heb. iv. 9), begun in grace, and perfected in glory.
(2.) We must come to Jesus Christ as our Ruler, and submit ourselves to him (v. 29). Take my yoke upon you. This must go along with the former, for Christ is exalted to be both a Prince and a Saviour, a Priest upon his throne. The rest he promises is a release from the drudgery of sin, not from the service of God, but an obligation to the duty we owe to him. Note, Christ has a yoke for our necks, as well as a crown for our heads, and this yoke he expects we should take upon us and draw in. To call those who are weary and heavy laden, to take a yoke upon them, looks like adding affliction to the afflicted; but the pertinency of it lies in the word my: “You are under a yoke which makes you weary: shake that off and try mine, which will make you easy.” Servants are said to be under the yoke (1 Tim. vi. 1), and subjects, 1 Kings xii. 10. To take Christ’s yoke upon us, is to put ourselves into the relation to servants and subjects to him, and then of conduct ourselves accordingly, in a conscientious obedience to all his commands, and a cheerful submission to all his disposals: it is to obey the gospel of Christ, to yield ourselves to the Lord: it is Christ’s yoke; the yoke he has appointed; a yoke he has himself drawn in before us, for he learned obedience, and which he does by his Spirit draw in with us, for he helpeth our infirmities, Rom. viii. 26. A yoke speaks some hardship, but if the beast must draw, the yoke helps him. Christ’s commands are all in our favour: we must take this yoke upon us to draw in it. We are yoked to work, and therefore must be diligent; we are yoked to submit, and therefore must be humble and patient: we are yoked together with our fellow-servants, and therefore must keep up the communion of saints: and the words of the wise are as goads, to those who are thus yoked.
Now this is the hardest part of our lesson, and therefore it is qualified (v. 30). My yoke is easy and my burden is light; you need not be afraid of it.
[1.] The yoke of Christ’s commands is an easy yoke; it is chrestos, not only easy, but gracious, so the word signifies; it is sweet and pleasant; there is nothing in it to gall the yielding neck, nothing to hurt us, but, on the contrary, must to refresh us. It is a yoke that is lined with love. Such is the nature of all Christ’s commands, so reasonable in themselves, so profitable to us, and all summed up in one word, and that a sweet word, love. So powerful are the assistances he gives us, so suitable the encouragements, and so strong the consolations, that are to be found in the way of duty, that we may truly say, it is a yoke of pleasantness. It is easy to the new nature, very easy to him that understandeth, Prov. xiv. 6. It may be a little hard at first, but it is easy afterwards; the love of God and the hope of heaven will make it easy.
[2.] The burden of Christ’s cross is a light burden, very light: afflictions from Christ, which befal us as men; afflictions for Christ, which befal us as Christians; the latter are especially meant. This burden in itself is not joyous, but grievous; yet as it is Christ’s, it is light. Paul knew as much of it as any man, and he calls it a light affliction, 2 Cor. iv. 17. God’s presence (Isa. xliii. 2), Christ’s sympathy (Isa 73:9; Dan 3:25), and especially the Spirit’s aids and comforts (2 Cor. i. 5), make suffering for Christ light and easy. As afflictions abound, and are prolonged, consolations abound, and are prolonged too. Let this therefore reconcile us to the difficulties, and help us over the discouragements, we may meet with, both in doing work and suffering work; though we may lose for Christ, we shall not lose by him.
(3.) We must come to Jesus Christ as our Teacher, and set ourselves to learn of him, v. 29. Christ has erected a great school, and has invited us to be his scholars. We must enter ourselves, associate with his scholars, and daily attend the instructions he gives by his word and Spirit. We must converse much with what he said, and have it ready to use upon all occasions; we must conform to what he did, and follow his steps, 1 Pet. ii. 21. Some make the following words, for I am meek and lowly in heart, to be the particular lesson we are required to learn from the example of Christ. We must learn of him to be meek and lowly, and must mortify our pride and passion, which render us so unlike to him. We must so learn of Christ as to learn Christ (Eph. iv. 20), for he is both Teacher and Lesson, Guide and Way, and All in All.
Two reasons are given why we must learn of Christ.
[1.] I am meek and lowly in heart, and therefore fit to teach you.
First, He is meek, and can have compassion on the ignorant, whom others would be in a passion with. Many able teachers are hot and hasty, which is a great discouragement to those who are dull and slow; but Christ knows how to bear with such, and to open their understandings. His carriage towards his twelve disciples was a specimen of this; he was mild and gentle with them, and made the best of them; though they were heedless and forgetful, he was not extreme to mark their follies. Secondly, He is lowly in heart. He condescends to teach poor scholars, to teach novices; he chose disciples, not from the court, nor the schools, but from the seaside. He teaches the first principles, such things as are milk for babes; he stoops to the meanest capacities; he taught Ephraim to go, Hos. xi. 3. Who teaches like him? It is an encouragement to us to put ourselves to school to such a Teacher. This humility and meekness, as it qualifies him to be a Teacher, so it will be the best qualification of those who are to be taught by him; for the meek will he guide in judgment, Ps. xxv. 9.
[2.] You shall find rest to your souls. This promise is borrowed from Jer. vi. 16, for Christ delighted to express himself in the language of the prophets, to show the harmony between the two Testaments. Note, First, Rest for the soul is the most desirable rest; to have the soul to dwell at ease. Secondly, The only way, and a sure way to find rest for our souls is, to sit at Christ’s feet and hear his word. The way of duty is the way of rest. The understanding finds rest in the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ, and is there abundantly satisfied, finding that wisdom in the gospel which has been sought for in vain throughout the whole creation, Job xxviii. 12. The truths Christ teaches are such as we may venture our souls upon. The affections find rest in the love of God and Jesus Christ, and meet with that in them which gives them an abundant satisfaction; quietness and assurance for ever. And those satisfactions will be perfected and perpetuated in heaven, where we shall see and enjoy God immediately, shall see him as he is, and enjoy him as he is ours. This rest is to be had with Christ for all those who learn of him.
Well, this is the sum and substance of the gospel call and offer: we are here told, in a few words, what the Lord Jesus requires of us, and it agrees with what God said of him once and again. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
At that season Jesus answered and said ( ). Spoke to his Father in audible voice. The time and place we do not know. But here we catch a glimpse of Jesus in one of his moods of worship. “It is usual to call this golden utterance a prayer, but it is at once prayer, praise, and self-communing in a devout spirit” (Bruce). Critics are disturbed because this passage from the Logia of Jesus or Q of Synoptic criticism (Matt 11:25-30; Luke 10:21-24) is so manifestly Johannine in spirit and very language, “the Father” ( ), “the son” ( ), whereas the Fourth Gospel was not written till the close of the first century and the Logia was written before the Synoptic Gospels. The only satisfying explanation lies in the fact that Jesus did have this strain of teaching that is preserved in John’s Gospel. Here he is in precisely the same mood of elevated communion with the Father that we have reflected in John 14 to 17. Even Harnack is disposed to accept this Logion as a genuine saying of Jesus. The word “thank” () is better rendered “praise” (Moffatt). Jesus praises the Father “not that the were ignorant, but that the knew” (McNeile).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Answered. In reply to something which is not stated.
I thank [] . Compare Mt 3:6, of confessing sins. Lit., I confess. I recognize the justice and wisdom of thy doings. But with the dative, as here (soi, to thee), it means to praise, with an undercurrent of acknowledgment; to confess only in later Greek, and with an accusative of the object. Rev. gives praise in the margin here, and at Rom 14:11. Tynd., I praise.
Prudent [] . Rev., understanding; Wyc., wary. From the verb sunihmi, to bring together, and denoting that peculiarity of mind which brings the simple features of an object into a whole. Hence comprehension, insight. Compare on Mr 12:33, understanding [] . Wise [] and understanding are often joined, as here. The general distinction is between productive and reflective wisdom, but the distinction is not always recognized by the writer.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “At that time Jesus answered and said,” (en ekeino to kairo apokritheis ho lesous eipen) “At that time (period), or in connection with that, Jesus answering said,” responded to the melancholy, depressing condition described above, regarding the obstinacy of impenitence in the hearts of the masses in the three cities just described in Galilee.
2) “I thank thee, 0 Father,” (eksomologoumai soi patera) “I offer thanks to you, 0 Father;” Our Lord, at this point became an example of thanksgiving to the Father, “In every thing,” Php_4:6.
3) “Lord of heaven and earth,” (kurie tou ouranou kai tes ges) “As Lord of the heaven and the earth,” who overrules all things to His glory, Rom 8:28.
4) “Because thou hast hid these things,” (hoti ekrupsas tauta) “Because you have hidden (concealed) these things,” as a mystery, an enigma, from the wisdom of those who considered themselves depositories of wisdom.
5) “From the wise and prudent,” (apo sophon kai suneton) “From wise and intelligent men,” Rabbis of the nation of Israel (in Jerusalem), from the Scribes, Sanhedrin, Pharisees, and Sadducees, etc., regarding “The Kingdom of Heaven,” or New Covenant church, because they would not receive Him, Mat 13:10-12; Mat 13:16-17; Eph 3:1-12.
6) “And hast revealed them unto babes.” (kai apekalupsas auta nepiois) “And did reveal, unveil, or disclose them to infants,” Joh 7:49; Heb 4:13, to neophites, untrained beginners, to the disciples who were willing to obey the Lord’s calling and choosing for His new church vineyard labors, Mat 4:18-22; Joh 15:16; Joh 15:26; Act 1:21-22; Act 15:14.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Mat 11:25
. Jesus answering. Though the Hebrew verb, answer, ( ענה,) is frequently employed even in the commencement of a discourse, yet in this passage I consider it to be emphatic; for it was from the present occurrence that Christ took occasion to speak. This is more fully confirmed by the words of Luke, that in the same hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit Whence came that rejoicing? Was it not because the Church, composed of poor and despised persons, was viewed by him as not less precious and valuable than if all the nobility and high rank in the world had lent to it their brilliancy? Let it be observed, also, that the discourse is addressed to the Father, and consequently is marked by greater energy than if he had spoken to his disciples. It was on their behalf, no doubt, and for their sake, that he gave thanks to the Father, that they might not be displeased with the low and mean aspect of his Church.
We are constantly looking for splendor; and nothing appears to us more incongruous, than that the heavenly kingdom of the Son of God, whose glory is so magnificently celebrated by the prophets, should consist of the dregs and offscourings of the common people. And truly it is a wonderful purpose of God, that though he has the whole world at his command, he chooses rather to select a peculiar people to himself from among the contemptible vulgar, than from the nobility, whose high rank would have been a greater ornament to the name of Christ. But here Christ withdraws his disciples from a proud and haughty imagination, that they may not venture to despise that mean and obscure condition of his Church, in which he delights and rejoices. To restrain more fully that curiosity which is constantly springing up in the minds of men, he rises above the world, and contemplates the secret decrees of God, that he may lead others to unite with him in admiring them. And certainly, though this appointment of God contradicts our senses, we discover not only blind arrogance, but excessive madness, if we murmur against it, while Christ our Head adores it with reverence.
I acknowledge to thee, O Father (60) By these words he declares his acquiescence in that decree of the Father, which is so greatly at variance with human senses. There is an implied contrast between this praise, which he ascribes to the Father, and the malicious slanders, or even the impudent barkings, of the world. We must now inquire in what respect he glorifies the Father. It is because, while he was Lord of the whole world, he preferred children and ignorant persons to the wise It has no small weight, as connected with this subject, that he calls the Father Lord of heaven and earth; for in this manner he declares that it is a distinction which depends entirely on the will of God, (61) that the wise remain blind, while the ignorant and unlearned receive the mysteries of the Gospel. There are many other passages of a similar nature, in which God points out to us, that those who arrive at salvation have been freely chosen by him, because he is the Creator and Governor of the world, and all nations are his.
This expression implies two things. First, that all do not obey the Gospel arises from no want of power on the part of God, who could easily have brought all the creatures into subjection to his government. Secondly, that some arrive at faith, while others remain hardened and obstinate, is accomplished by his free election; for, drawing some, and passing by others, he alone makes a distinction among men, whose condition by nature is alike. (62) In choosing little children rather than the wise, he has a regard to his glory; for the flesh is too apt to rise, and if able and learned men had led the way, it would soon have come to be the general conviction, that men obtain faith by their skill, or industry, or learning. In no other way can the mercy of God be so fully known as it ought to be, than by making such a choice, from which it is evident, that whatever men bring from themselves is nothing; and therefore human wisdom is justly thrown down, that it may not obscure the praise of divine grace.
But it is asked, whom does Christ denominate wise? And whom does he denominate little children? For experience plainly shows, that not all the ignorant and unlearned on the one hand are enlightened to believe, and that not all the wise or learned are left in their blindness. It follows, that those are called wise and prudent, who, swelled with diabolical pride, cannot endure to hear Christ speaking to them from above. And yet it does not always happen that God reprobates those who have a higher opinion of themselves than they ought to have; as we learn from the instance of Paul, whose fierceness Christ subdued. If we come down to the ignorant multitude, the majority of whom display envenomed malice, we perceive that they are left to their destruction equally with the nobles and great men. I do acknowledge, that all unbelievers swell with a wicked confidence in themselves, whether their pride be nourished by their wisdom, or by a reputation for integrity, or by honors, or by riches. But I consider that Christ here includes all who are eminent for abilities and learning, without charging them with any fault; as, on the other hand, he does not represent it to be an excellence in any one that he is a little child. True, humble persons have Christ for their master, and the first lesson of faith is, Let no man presume on his wisdom. But Christ does not speak here as to voluntary childhood. He magnifies the grace of the Father on this ground, that he does not disdain to descend even to the lowest and most abominable, that he may raise up the poor out of filth.
But here a question arises. As prudence is a gift of God, how comes it that it hinders us from perceiving the brightness of God, which shines in the Gospel? We ought, indeed, to remember what I have already said, that unbelievers corrupt all the prudence which they possess, and that men of distinguished abilities are often hindered in this respect, that they cannot submit to be taught. But with respect to the present passage I reply: Though the sagacity of the prudent does not stand in their way, they may notwithstanding be deprived of the light of the Gospel. Since the condition of all is the same or alike, why may not God take this or that person according to his pleasure? The reason why he passes by the wise and the great is declared by Paul to be, that
God hath chosen the weak and foolish things of the world to confound the glory of the flesh, (1Co 1:27.)
Hence also we infer, that the statement made by Christ is not universal, when he says, that the mysteries of the Gospel are hidden from the wise If out of five wise men four reject the Gospel and one embraces it, and if, out of an equal number of unlearned persons, two or three become disciples of Christ, this statement is fulfilled. This is also confirmed by that passage in Paul’s writings, which I lately quoted; for he does not exclude from the kingdom of God all the wise, and noble, and mighty, but only declares that it does not contain many of them.
The question is now solved. Prudence is not condemned as far as it is a gift of God, but Christ merely declares that it has no influence in procuring faith. On the other hand, he does not recommend ignorance, as if it rendered men acceptable to God, but affirms that it does not hinder mercy from enlightening ignorant and unlearned men with heavenly wisdom. It now remains to explain what is meant by revealing and hiding. That Christ does not speak of the outward preaching may be inferred with certainty from this circumstance, that he presented himself as a Teacher to all without distinction, and enjoined his Apostles to do the same. The meaning therefore is, that no man can obtain faith by his own acuteness, but only by the secret illumination of the Spirit.
(60) “ Ie to ren graces, que tu as cache ; ” — “I thank thee, that thou hast concealed.”
(61) “ Qu’il n’y a que le bon plaisir et vouloir de Dieu qui soit cause de ceste diversit,” — “that it is only the good pleasure and will of God that is the cause of this diversity.”
(62) “ Desquels tous la condition est semblable de nature;” — “of all of whom the condition by nature is alike.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE SOURCE OF REVELATION AND REST
Mat 11:25-30
THE utterance of this Scripture must have struck the crowds with strangeness. For the average man to go suddenly from terrific denunciation to ecstatic thanksgiving, would suggest hysteria; but it may mean only normality for the true man, and Christ was the truest of the true. There was also a logical relation between this denunciation and this apparent jubilation. Proud and favored cities had rejected the Son of God; plain and unlettered people had pressed about Him and believed on Him, and it all sufficed to remind Him of the Old Testament Scripture, in which He was versed as an author is versed in His own writings,
Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, Thou hast ordained strength (Psa 8:2),
and He saw in the rejection of the high and learned and the belief of the humble an illustration of that truth, and gave the Father praise for the fact. Then remembering that He was to believing men the revelation of the Father, He uttered the great and wonderful invitation with which this text concludes,
Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and. learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light (Mat 11:28-30).
These words were addressed to a people in need, to a company living in their own land, their liberties gone, the iron heel of the Roman oppressor hard upon their necks. They were intended to show the true way to peace of soul, and prosperity of body, and above all, to hunger of heart. In the study of this Scripture then, let us notice first
THE FALSE PHILOSOPHIES OF REST
The genuine is always being counterfeited; the truth is always being outwitted by falsehood, and the philosophy of rest which Jesus here uttered has been lost to the multitude who have listened to other voices.
How many there are who think rest the result of circumstances! Go and stand in yonder street and study the movements of the people,
What means this eager, anxious throng,Which moves with busy haste along?
People say they want money. But they dont eat money; they dont wear money; it is not money they want! They want to change their circumstances; they want to live in better houses; they want to wear better clothes; they want to move in a more influential circle, and they have an impression, a deep and abiding convictionthat if only they can accomplish these objects, it will bring them peace, joy, and make life seem well worth living.
That this philosophy is deeply rooted in the human heart is evidenced in that men hold it in the face of daily experience and observation to the contrary. They know the unhappiness in the splendid house next to them; they know the unrest of the most successful business man; they often know the sorrow of the society favorite, and yet they go right on working at circumstances to improve them, and if possible, compel them to speak one word Peace, to utter one sentimentRest! This same crowd has walked by the humble cottage in which there dwelt a happy man surrounded by a happy family, and yet it is not convinced that improved circumstances do not mean increased pleasure and greater peace. Some of them have even heard Jesus say, A mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth, and yet they do not understand; they do not believe. Tomorrow will find them busy again at the great and never-ending problem of improving their circumstances with the hope of increasing their pleasure. It is in vain to say to them, Brethren, if we are not at peace in poverty, neither would we be happy with plenty. If there is not a great calm in your soul in the day when persecutions rage, neither would you enjoy it if all men spake well of you. They have approached the whole subject from the standpoint of a false philosophy, namely, that circumstances have to do with the settlement of the whole question of ones joys or sorrowsthe determining of ones peace or ill-content.
There are others who depend upon ceremonies for their peace. Their philosophy of life is explained in one word, Do. Do this; do thatit is everything; bow before the image; make the cross over the heart; count the beads; say the prayers; commit the catechism; go to the confessional; pay your dues. Henry Drummond thought that if the rich young ruler who came to Jesus, and who declared he had been keeping the ten commandments, had been told that by keeping a hundred more, he might be saved, he would have cheerfully undertaken it, and I do not doubt it. But I have been reading Isaiah and I find that peace does not come through the performance of outward acts, else would every Israelite have had it, and Christ would have looked upon a company of the happy. Their sacrifices were a multitude, their burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts were piled before the face of the Lord, but He said, I take no delight in it!
Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto Me; the new moons and sabbaths; the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hateth: they are a trouble unto Me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear (Isa 1:13-15).
Why? God tells them why. They have been trusting in ceremonies and committing inquity; their hands are full of blood. If you are to be His, you must make yourself clean, put away evil and learn to do well.
No, beloved, it is not in keeping ceremonies. The Mohammedans make many prayers, but it does not improve their lives; the Chinese have many gods millions of themmany temples and many priests, and ceremonies without end, and yet they are unsaved, and have no peace of God in their hearts. Martin Luther tried that way, and piously did he perform every rite prescribed by that ceremonially cursed institution of the Papacy, and he found not peaceno peace! It was a service of slavery only; and even while he went about the bidding of his master, his ankles ached with the weight of the chains upon them, and his heart was crushed with the conviction of its own iniquity.
There are others who are trusting to cerements for their peace. They have come to the grim and awful conclusion that it will never be found this side of the grave, but feel confident that there at last it will await them; for there the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest. But it is not well to build up a philosophy upon a detached text of Scripture. Jesus Christ never suggested that death was necessarily an end of trouble; and in fact, He plainly taught that for many it would be the beginning of that deeper anguish which He voices in the words, weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. As a rule, the wicked man does not expect to find rest in the grave. He talks about it, but he does not believe it; he is afraid of the future into which death will take him with his unpardoned sins upon him.
A friend of mine coming into Minneapolis one night was on board a train which quit the track. Every car of the long train went from the rails, but for some strange reason, not a coupling broke and the engine kept the track; the brakes worked, and the train was brought from going at the highest rate of speed to a standstill without scaring a soul. But in speaking about it next morning he said, I never dreamed before how men would meet death. I looked into the faces of those passengers; some of them were calm, believing that the end had come, yet facing it without a tremor; and I saw some grow white with fear and let out awful cries. Why this fear if the grave is to give rest? Why this cry if we are by it to come into a long-sought possession? The wicked do not believe it. They know that the wicked shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. They know it!
Wm. Beckwith described the Hall of Eblis, the great house of the hereafter, picturing every man with his hand over his heart; and lo, as you looked, underneath it there glowed a consuming fire, and he presented the awful truth with which sin has made us familiar, There is no peace here, or hereafter, for the man in sin! There is no rest in the grave for the wicked. But enough! God pity me that I am compelled to lift this veil; but compelled I am. I have felt recently as I have never felt it before, that men are lost on account of sin, and silence would be my condemnation!
And yet I set before you the other side of this subjectthere is a solution. This text contains
THE SAVIOURS SWEEPING PROFFER.
Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.
Three things! The Christ who stood before this surging, suffering crowd and saw its heart, and saw that that heart was eaten out by sin, and saw all the suffering incident to that awful circumstance, said first to them, and says now to youIt need not be so!
You can have peace as a free gift. It seems to me, here, that the word is better interpreted peace. Rest carries to our mind the idea of cessation from labor; peace is contentment in labor, and the word of Jesus was, My peace give I unto you. Give! Come unto Me and I mill give you rest. You have been trying to merit it; you have been trying to believe that you could get it from God by your good conduct! You have been doing this and that, and wondering if you could not barter it, but He says, I will have none of it. Peace is the gift of God. It is too valuable to be bought. It is a boon so far beyond comparison with the best that we could do for God; it is utterly useless to think of buying it of Him. As well might the little child of the street take all of his pennies and walk up to the mansion of a millionaire and say, I want to live in your house; I want to enjoy its luxury; I want the advantage of its education; I want the wealth of life which it might grant me, and here I have brought you my all, and I want to buy it. What are a few pennies in the eyes of this man who counts his millions? And what are the few pennies as compared with what the child requested?
Oh, men, incapable of a single act that is perfect before God, out with the thought of bringing to God a price for peaceHis best gift! You cannot do it! It is as unreasonable as unscriptural; and, thank God, it is as unnecessary as unreasonable! He says, I will give it to you! Do not underestimate it; the world is not worth living in when one is without it! If you ever had it and lost it, you know perfectly well how empty are all honors; how unsatisfactory all offices; how meaningless all riches! Poor Cowper wrote what every other such a man has felt when he said,
Where is the blessedness I knew When first I saw the Lord?Where is the soul-refreshing view Of Jesus and His Word?What peaceful hours I then enjoyed!How sweet their memory still!But they have left an aching void The world can never fill.
And lo, He answers you, crying, Come, and I will give it. Ye that have no money, it is to you without money and without price. It is the gift of God.
There comes to my heart one sweet strain,A glad and joyous refrain,I sing it again and again,Sweet peace, the gift of Gods love.Peace, peace, sweet peace.Wonderful gift from above,O wonderful, wonderful peace.Sweet peace, the gift of Gods love.
Again, it is proffered to all who are in need. All ye that labour and are heavy laden. What is your condition today? What is the great problem of your life? If today I knew your hearts, knew them utterly, knew them as God knows them, what would I find there as the one problem pressing for solution? In an audience like this, no man can imagine the problems. Every heart knoweth its own bitterness. With one it may be a financial problem, and yet so sore that sleep goes from the eyes at night; with another it may be a problem, professional; with the third, a domestic problem; with the fourth, a problem of personal sin; and with the fifth, a problem of a man or woman sinned against; or it may be a problem of faith in God or His Word!
Oh, what shall we do? How often God hears that cry! When the time of sleep comes, and men and women, following possibly the custom taught at the mothers knee, make a prayer to God the last thing before lying down, how the ear of God will be smitten with that cry, What shall I do?
I bring you the answer! I am so glad to be the medium of the messagedefinite, clear, strongCome unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. All ye! All ye! All ye! Do not imagine you are left out tonight! God had you in mind when He set me to preach this sermon. I do not know your difficulty; I have not described it because I knew it. I have described it because He knew it, and He gave me the words. How often people have come to me and said, Oh, if my heart had been an open book and you could have read it, you could not have smitten me harder. It was not open to me; it is open to Him; and He sent me with words to bring you the solution of your problem. Wont you have itthe gracious words of Christ, Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest?
Come trembling sinner, in whose breast A thousand thoughts revolve;Come, with your guilt and fear oppressed,And make the last resolve:
Ill go to Jesus, though my sin Hath like a mountain rose;I know His courts, Ill enter in Whatever may oppose.
Prostrate Ill lie before His throne,And there my guilt confess;Ill tell Him Im a wretch undone,Without His sovereign grace.
Perhaps He will admit my plea,Perhaps will hear my prayer;But if I perish, I will pray;And perish only there.
I can but perish if I go;I am resolved to try;For if I stay away I know,I must forever die.
This rest is offered on the easiest condition! Come. That is your part; and that is your whole part; God asks nothing else of you than, Come.
I say that is the easiest condition; and yet I know it may be, for some of you, a very difficult condition. It means to quit the Adversarys service and He will not readily release His hold; it means to give up your loved and blighting sin, and the lust of the flesh will oppose it. It means to take upon you the yoke of Christ, and your untamed spirit fears it. And yet, it is the easiest condition that can be imposed! Christ cannot offer you better than that Come. However hard it may be for you, He cannot soften the condition. It is His best and you must come; and I say to you that every man who debates between the idol or idols which have held his heart and this proffer of the Son of God, decides while he debates, and crucifies the Son of God afresh, and had rather retain them. Apples of Sodom as they are, glittering today with beauty, destined to be ashes of tomorrow; sweet under my tongue at this moment, sure to become an adders sting the next; I know it, and yet, knowing all, I decide that I will keep them and decline your invitation. Dare you? Esau had such a day! He beheld right on the one side, and a mess of pottage on the other. God said to him, This is a priceless treasure; perish rather than part with it. Satan on the other side said, Enjoy yourself for this moment in this mess of pottage, een though it cost you your inheritance. There comes a time in every mans life, and in the life of every woman when Esaus experience is re-enacted and choice between an abiding inheritance or a passing pleasure must be made. Remember, oh, let me entreat you to remember, that when he made that choice, though afterward he sought diligently for the place of repentance, he found it not; and let me entreat you now, ere it is too late, to make the wise choice.
THE KINDS AND CHARACTER OF REST.
There are two kinds of rest here. There is the rest of faith and the rest of assurance.
The rest of faith!
Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
No man ever trusted Jesus, but He found it. It is a part of the sentence of justification which God passes the moment a soul believes. It is the experience into which Martin Luther came, when, with a burning heart, ascending Pilates staircase at Rome, crawling on his knees that by his humble attitude he might propitiate God, he suddenly remembered the Scripture, The just shall live by faith, and believed it. Instantly, instantly, the peace of God that passeth understanding possessed his mind and heart in Christ Jesus. It is the experience of which John Bunyan speaks in his Pilgrims Progress, when at the sight of the Cross and believing the words of Evangel, suddenly the great burden rolled from his back, and an indescribable peace took possession of his heart.
Oh, Lord, how happy should we be If we could cast our care on Thee,If we from self could rest;And feel at heart that One above,In perfect wisdom, perfect love,Is working for the best!
How far from this our daily life,How oft disturbed by anxious strife,By sudden wild alarms;O, could we but relinquish all Our earthly props, and simply fall On Thine almighty arms!
Could we but kneel and cast our load,Een while we pray, upon our God,Then rise with lightened cheer;Sure that the Father, who is nigh To still the famished ravens cry,Will hear in that we fear!
And there is the rest of assurance!
Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.
The world looks upon a yoke as an intolerable burden. You all know the uses of it. It binds two together. In the South, we used to plow with oxen on my fathers farm; and, when an untamed one was put into the yoke, he rebelled against it, refused to keep step with his elder, and often injured himself in his attempts to wrench his head from it. What an illustration of the unhappiness resulting from trying to tether an unregenerate life to the Son of God!
But when that same unruly ox had been tamed, how different! Then, wherever the leader went, he walked with joy, as if it were the very place of his choice; whatever the leader did, he delighted in. It is positively beautiful to behold this tamed spirit as he watches the leader and discerns that he desires to go to the brook to refresh himself. You can almost hear him answer in his mind, Good, I would like to go there myself. It is wonderful to see them roll their great soft eyes to each other when, through work, they have grown weary, and want to lie down and rest. The tamed mate answers by similar action, and down they lie. That yoke only means sweet communion now, and when at work it is but the medium of making what burdens, they had to bear, the more light.
Ah, that is the picture Christ had in mind when He said, Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me. Come, put your head beside My head; be willing to let Me think for you, be willing to think after Me; be willing to let Me set you an example, be willing to follow it; be willing to let Me lead, and walk at My side. Oh, beloved, do you not know, you who believe, that you have a better peace than when you first came unto Him, the peace of assurance. Oh, the joy that I may be so linked up with Him that I will not have to settle problems; that I will not have to meet the difficulties of life; that He will be there to win the victory; that I will not even have to face death alone, He will be there to put the last enemy under His feet! The peace of assurance! That is the peace of which the poet wrote when she said,
Loving Saviour, gracious Lord,Ever trusting in Thy Word,Day by day Ill follow Thee,Tho my way I cannot see;Tis enough that still I know,All my journey Thou wilt go.
In my weakness, Thou art strong;In my sadness Thou my song,Tho the billows oer me roll,Thou, the refuge of my soul;O, how sweet that still I know,All my journey Thou wilt go.
All my footsteps Thou wilt guide,Till I reach the swelling tide;Then upon Thy loving breast,Thou wilt bear me home to rest;There, what joy twill be to know,Why my Saviour loved me so.
And now one word more on the character of this rest:
It is complete. When Christ said, My peace give I unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you, He uttered for us a profound truth. The world has its pleasures, but they are all partial; it has its moments when it seems to be at peace with us, but they pass away. Gods peace is perfect; it is permanent and positive. That is the great offer of this text, and that is made to men in need of it. How sore the need of some may be I cannot tell. Sometime ago, a great southern preacher, a mighty man of God, sent me a volume of his sermons. In the opening chapter is a sketch of the infidelity which characterized his early life. He rehearses how it grew upon him; how, though as a lad he was urged into the church, he was more unbelieving than ever, and spent his time reading Hume, Paine, Volney, Bolingbroke, Voltaire, Taylor, Rosseau, Gibbon, and others. But at last there came into his life one awful hour! It was through no sin on his part, but it left him in Egyptian darkness and seemed to blight all his life. Speaking of it he says, The battle of life was lost, and in seeking the field of the army, I sought death. In the hour of my darkness, I turned unreservedly to infidelity. This time I brought to it a broken heart and a disappointed life, asking for light and peace and rest.
It was while studying these skeptics in earnest research, that it broke over him that these philosophies were all mere negatives, destructive and not constructive. And while they were brilliant in expression, they had no answer in them to the cry of the heart. They looked down on my bleeding heart as the cold, distant, pitiless stars have ever looked down on human suffering. Whoever in his hour of real need makes abstract philosophy his pillow, makes cold, hard granite his pillow. Whoever looks trustingly into any of its false faces looks into the face of a Medusa, and is turned to stone. They are all wells without water, and clouds without rain. I have witnessed a drouth in Texas. The earth was iron and the heavens brass. Dust clouded the thoroughfares and choked the travelers. Water courses ran dry, grass scorched and crackled, corn leaves twisted and wilted, stock died around the last water holes, the ground cracked in fissures, and the song of birds died out in parched throats. Men despaired. The whole earth prayed: Rain, rain, rain! O heaven, send rain! Suddenly a cloud rises above the horizon and floats into vision like an angel of hope. It spreads a cool shade over the burning and flowing earth. Expectation gives life to desire. The lowing herds look up. The shriveled flowers open their tiny cups. The corn leaves untwist and rustle with gladness. And just when all trusting, suffering life opens her confiding heart to the promise of relief, the cloud, the cheating cloud, like a heartless coquette, gathers her drapery about her and floats scornfully away, leaving the angry sun free to dart his fires of death into the open heart of all suffering life. Such a cloud without rain is any form of infidelity to the soul in its hour of need.
I had sworn never to put my foot in another church. My father had died believing me lost. My motherwhen does a mother give up her child?came to me one day and begged, for her sake, that I would attend one more meeting. It was a Methodist camp meeting, held in the fall of 1865. I had not an atom of interest in it. I liked the singing, but the preaching did not touch me. But one day I shall never forget. It was Sunday at 11 oclock. The great, wooden shed was crowded . I stood on the outskirts, leaning on my crutches, wearily and somewhat scornfully enduring. The preacher made a failure even for him. There was nothing in his sermon. But when he came down, as I supposed to exhort as usual, he startled me not only by not exhorting, but by asking some questions that seemed meant for me. He said: You that stand aloof from Christianity, and scorn us simple folks, what have you got? Answer honestly before God; have you found anything worth having where you are? My heart answered in a moment: Nothing under the whole heaven; absolutely nothing. As if he had heard my unspoken answer, he continued: Is there anything else out there worth trying, that has any promise in it? Again my heart answered: Nothing; absolutely nothing. I have been to the jumping-off place on all these roads. They all lead to a bottomless abyss. Well, then, he continued, admitting theres nothing there, if there be a God, mustnt there be a something somewhere? If so, how do you know it is not here? Are you willing to test it? Have you the fairness and courage to try it? I dont ask you to read any book, nor study any evidences, nor make any difficult and tedious pilgrimages; that way is too long and time is too short. Are you willing to try it now; to make a practical, experimental test, you to be the judge of the result? These cool, calm, and pertinent questions hit me with tremendous force, but I didnt understand the test. He continued: I base my test on these two Scriptures: If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God; Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord For the first time I understood the import of these Scriptures. I had never before heard of such a translation for the first, and had never examined the original text. In our version it says: If any man will do the will of God, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God. But the preacher quoted it: Whosoever willeth to do the will of God, showing that the knowledge as to whether the doctrine was of God depended not upon external action and not upon exact conformity with Gods will, but upon the internal dispositionwhosoever willeth to do or wishes to do Gods will. The old translation seemed to make knowledge impossible; the new, practicable. In the second Scripture was also new light: Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord, which means that true knowledge follows persistence in the prosecution of itthat is, it comes not to temporary and spasmodic investigation.
So, when he invited all who were willing to make an immediate experimental test to come forward and give him their hands, I immediately went forward.
I gave no public expression of the change which had passed over me, but spent the night in the enjoyment of it and wondering if it would be with me when morning came. When the morning came it was still with me, brighter than the sunlight and sweeter than the song of birds, and now, for the first time, I understood the Scripture which I had often heard my mother repeat:
Ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands (Isa 55:12).
When I reached home, I said nothing about the experience through which I had passed, hiding the righteousness of God in my own heart; but it could not be hidden. As I was walking across the floor on my crutches, an orphan boy, whom my mother had raised, noticed and called attention to the fact that I was both whistling and crying. I knew that my mother heard him, and to avoid observation, I went at once to my room, lay down on the bed, and covered my face with my hands. I heard her coming. She pulled my hands away from my face and gazed long and steadfastly upon me without a word. A light came over her face that made it seem to me as the shining face of Stephen; and then, with trembling lips, she said, My Son, you have found the Lord.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
CRITICAL NOTES
Mat. 11:25. Answered and said.A Hebraism for spake and said (Carr). But Dr. Monro Gibson observes: As we read, first of the doubts of John, then of the thoughtlessness of the multitudes, and then of the impenitence of the favoured cities by the lake, is there not a question in our hearts, becoming more and more urgent as each new discouragement appears: What will He say to this? What can He answer? (Expositors Bible). Prudent.Understanding (R.V.). The understanding is a born atheist (Jacobi).
Mat. 11:28. Come unto Me, etc.These words derive their significance from the preceding assertion of our Lords unity with the Father. It is only as God that He is able to give rest to the souls of those who are weary with the burden of sin and of the law (Mansel). Labour, etc.Imagery borrowed from the agriculture of the time and place (D. Thomas).
Mat. 11:30. Easy.The Greek has a wider range of meaninggood, helpful, kind, profitable (Plumptre).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Mat. 11:25-30
Invincible meekness.The season here mentioned was one, apparently, of disappointment and gloom. The doubtful faith of the disciples of John (Mat. 11:1-6); the general unbelief of that generation both in Jesus and John (Mat. 11:15-19); and the especial perverseness of those cities for which the Saviour had done the most (Mat. 11:20-24)had all been present to His mind. What did it all mean? Clearly, to Christ, that God did not intend His mission to have more than a limited scope. In other words, that God did not intend the blindness of those so-called wise and prudent who rejected the message of His Son to be removed by its means; but that He rather intended its truths to be revealed only to those whom they regarded as babes (Mat. 11:25; cf. 1Co. 1:26, etc.). This was the truth which that season had begun to make plain. How our Saviour accepted it, in the first instance, and how He acted on it in the secondare what we have now to consider.
I. How our Saviour accepted this truth.In the first place, with what expressions of meekness! The Saviours language is not that of merely reluctant acquiescence. I submit because I can do nothing else. Nor yet that of merely dutiful but sorrowful resignation. I submit because I feel that I ought. It is the language, ratherthe express languageof satisfaction and joy. I thank TheeI praise Thee (R.V.)for what Thou hast done. In the next place, we may see with what reality of meekness the Saviour accepted these facts. This is evident from the reason given for His expressed satisfaction and praise. Why was this appointment so pleasing to Him? Because He found it to be pleasing to Godpleasing to Him towards whom He stood in the relation of Son. This was the exact reasonthis, in fact, the only assigned reasonwhy it was pleasing to Him. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight (Mat. 11:26). To His spirit that was almost more than enough. Lastly, we may see with what depth of meekness this submission is made. Who is this that thus rejoices in being limited thus? He is One so great that the Father Himself has entrusted all into His hands; so great, again, that no one knows Him fully except the Father Himself; so great, once more, that only He, and those whom He pleases to teach, can know the Father Himself (Mat. 11:27). Yet, of all these crownsand all involved in themHe openly divests Himself here. Distinctly claiming them all, He as distinctly accepts them all only in submission to His Father. Thus to be limited is part of His mission. It is, also, to Him, its chiefest privilege. Also, to Him, its crowning joy. No one is greaterno one meekerthan He!
II. How He acted upon it.With what marked alacrity, in the first place. There is a beautiful abruptness about the beginning of Mat. 11:28. From speaking of His glory and greatness, the Saviour turns suddenly to His duty. Is it sothough being such as He isthat He is sent unto babes? Unto babes, at once He will go. Unto babes, to those that are weary, and so in need of His help. Unto babes, to those heavy laden also, and so confessing their need (cf. Mat. 9:13; Rev. 3:17-18). All such He invites at once to come unto Him (Mat. 11:28). With what precision and fulness, in the next place. Come unto Me and you shall have just that which your special condition requires. Are you weary? Here is rest. Have you no help in yourselves? Here is all in Me. Trust Me, in short, to do for you just that which you need. Trust Me, also, to do it for you without lacking or doubt. Whatever may be the case with others, I will give it unto you (end of Mat. 11:28). Also see, finally, with what admirable consistency the Saviour acts in this case. Where would He have those who listen to Him find this contentment and rest? Where He has found it Himself. He seems to say to such, in short, as on another occasion (Joh. 13:13-15), you see what I have done. How I, on my part, have submitted to a yoke! How completely and meekly I have done so! How bright has been the result; what seemed most exacting having turned out most full of joy in the end! I counsel you, on your part, to do the same kind of thing. Take this My yoke upon you! Learn to do in this as I do. Believe Me your doing so will cause you to be in this as I am. Rest indeed shall be yours.
Two principal stages of Christian experience seem portrayed to us here.
1. There is some restthere is much resteven in first coming to Christ.In this sense he that has once believed has entered into his rest (Heb. 4:3). In a certain wholesome and most true sense he rests from his works. In an equally wholesome, though different sense, he rests from his sins. And he rests, especially, and of course, from his harassing fears. It follows, therefore, that merely to have come into the great Sinbearers presence, merely to have accepted His offerto have tasted His mercyto have committed all to His grace (2Ti. 1:12)is the day-break of peace. The sun has risen where this is true of the soul (Rom. 5:1; Rom. 8:1, etc.).
2. On the other hand there is a fuller rest, even a rest to the soul, in having done more; in having thereby become conformed to His likeness; and especially in being conformed to it in that respect which is spoken of here. Good it is to have reached the presence of the Saviour at all. Better still, because a sure proof of this, to have reached His image as well. Best of all to have done so in this innermost matter of will. Even Christ pleased not Himself (Rom. 15:3). Be that also our mark! Rest of this kind is rest from selfand so, from everything else!
HOMILIES ON THE VERSES
Mat. 11:25-27. Christs thanksgiving.Is it to be a thanksgiving, then, after such a series of disappointments and vexations? Even so. As He has looked to the cities of the plain His voice has been a wail; now that He looks up to His Father wailing ceases, and thanksgiving takes its place. So will it always be to faith which is genuine and deep enough. It is only when we look below and around that we are depressed. When we look up we are strong. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, etc. (Psa. 121:1-2). Was it the remembrance of this passage at the time of need which suggested the form of His thanksgiving: I thank Thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth? Surely we have heard the living original of that grand apostolic word, In everything give thanks; for if at that season (R. V.), the Saviour of men found occasion for thanksgiving, we may well believe that at any season, however dark, we may find something to stir our hearts to gratitude; and the very exercise of thanksgiving will bring a deep spiritual joy to set against the bitterest sorrow, even as it was with our Lord, who, as St. Luke informs us, rejoiced in spirit as He lifted up His soul in thanks to God that day. What, then, does He find to be thankful for?
I. He discovers a cause for gratitude in the very limitation which occasions His sorest disappointments.I thank Thee because Thou hast hid these things, etc. There is of course the cheering thought that amid the general unbelief and rejection there are some childlike souls who have welcomed the truth. Some are fain to make this the sole cause of thankfulness, as if He meant to say, I thank Thee, that though Thou hast hid, etc. But there is no authority for introducing this little word. The Saviour gives thanks, not merely in spite of this hiding, but because of it. It is true, indeed, that He uses the language of resignation, Even, so Father, etc., which makes it evident that the fact that so many of the wise and intelligent rejected His gospel presented a real difficulty to His mind, as it has done to earnest souls in all ages. But while it was, no doubt, enough for Him to feel sure that it was right in the sight of God, we are not without indication in what follows, that His faith not only led to resignation, but enabled Him to see for Himself that it was wisely ordered. For what is the great object of the gospel? Is it not to dethrone self, and enthrone God in the hearts of men? It is clear, then, that if it had in any way appealed to pride and self-sufficiency, it would have defeated its own end. Suppose the revealing of things had been to the wise and prudent as such, what would have been the result? The kingdom of heaven would have become a mere scholarship prize. And, however good a thing scholarship may be, and however important that it be encouraged, this is not the work of the Christ of God. His gospel is for all; so it is addressed not to the great in intellect, which would confine it to the few, but to the lowly in heart, which brings it within reach of all, for the very wisest and greatest in intellect may be, and ought to be, meek and lowly in heart. Indeed, is it not to the meek and lowly heart that even truths of science are disclosed? A man who approaches nature with a preconceived theory, about which his mind is already made up, is sure to miss the mark. In this connection one sees the special appropriateness of the reference to the Lord of heaven and earth. The principle is one which is not restricted in its range; it runs all through nature. Still more appropriate is the appeal to the Fatherhood of God. It is not for the Father to be partial to His clever children, and leave the less favoured ones to shift for themselves. So the more one thinks of it, the more in every point of view does it seem good and necessary that these things should not be made known to the wise and understanding (R.V.), as such, but should be revealed to babes, to those of childlike spirit.
II. The next great thought which comes to the relief of the Saviour in His discouragement is that, while there are barriers in the heart of man, there is no barrier in the heart of God, no limit whatever to the outpouring of Divine love and grace. All things are delivered unto Me of My Father. Even at the time when it is borne in upon Him that men will have none of Him, He exults in the thought that He has everything for them. As He thinks over it His heart yearns over the orphaned children of men, and He exults in the thought that He has for them the revelation of the Fathers heart and home, with enough and to spare for all His children (Mat. 11:27). Then follows such an outpouring of heart as there never has been before (Mat. 11:28-30).J. M. Gibson, D.D.
The Johannine character of this passage.The passage seems to me just one solitary flower testifying to the presence in the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke of the same root of thought and feeling, which everywhere blossoms in that of St. John. It looks as if it had crept out of the fourth Gospel into the first and third, and seems a true sign, though no proof, that however much the fourth be unlike the other Gospels, they have all the same origin.Geo. Macdonald, LL.D.
Mat. 11:28-30. Christs universal invitation.
I. The twofold designation of the persons invited.They are such as labour and are heavy laden. These two expressions cover the active and the passive sides of our need. The former refers to work which, by reason of excess in amount, or distastefulness in kind, has become wearisome toil. The latter points not so much to the burden of duties or tasks as to the heavy and painful experiences which we all, sooner or later, have to carrythe burdens of sorrow and care. Both have a deeper significance when viewed in relation to Gods law of righteousness. There are painful and futile efforts to keep the law, which weary the doers; and there is the sore burden of failure, guilt, and habit, which bows down mens backs always, whether they know it or no.
II. The twofold invitation.Come unto Me and Take My yoke upon you. The former is faith; the latter, practical obedience. The former is the call to all the weary; the latter is the further call, which they only who have come will obey. The whole sum of practical obedience is further set forth as learning of Him. The imitation of Jesus is the one commandment of Christian morals; but it should never be forgotten that such imitation is only possible when His Spirit dwells in us and makes us like Him. There may be as much weariness and bondage in imitating Christ without His life in us, as in any other form of trying to work out our own righteousness.
III. The twofold rest.Perhaps the variation in the form of the promise in the two clauses is intended to carry a great lesson. I will give you rest, seems more appropriate to describe the rest consequent on our first coming to Christ, which is simply and exclusively a direct bestowment, and ye shall find rest more fitted to describe a repose which is none the less His gift, though it is dependent on our practical obedience, in a way in which the former is not. There is an initial rest, the rest of faith, of pardon, of a quieted conscience, of filial communion with God; a rest involved in the very act of trust, as of a child sleeping secure on its mothers breast. But there is a further rest in bearing Christs yoke. Obedience delivers us from the unrest of self-will. To obey an authority which we love is repose. It brings rest from the tyranny of passion, from the weight of too much liberty, from conflicting desires. There is rest in Christ-likeness. He is meek and lowly; and they who wear His image find in meekness tranquillity, and some quieting from His deep calm hushes their spirits. Such rest is like Gods rest, full of energy. His yoke is easy, and His commandments are not grievous, not because He lowers the standard of duty, but because He alters the motives which enjoin it, and gives the power to do them. Christs yoke is padded with love, and His burden is light, because, as St. Bernard says, it carries the man who carries it.A. Maclaren, D.D.
Mat. 11:28. Christs call to the weary.This verse is frequently misquoted, as if weary and heavy-laden. This only brings out half its truth. The call would then be only to one side of human weariness, whereas it is to bothto the labouring as well as to the heavy-laden, to the active as well as the passive side of human weariness, to those weary in doing as well as those weary in bearing.
I. To the weary in active life.Come unto Me all ye that labour.
1. To the weary worker.We are too fond of spiritualising Christs words. He addresses the literal labourer and offers real rest.
(1) To the individual. The weary workman; tired business man. He gives body-rest, nerve-rest, mind-rest, because He gives spirit-rest.
(2) To the class. In the degree in which the community comes to Christ it finds rest both in and from labour. The spirit of Christ in human society allays the fever and fret.
2. To the weary worshipper.
(1) Weary in religious observances. Some from custom. Need to come to Christ as well as to church; then there is rest and refreshment in worship. Others come as a duty. Come to Me, not to forms and ceremonies (Mat. 23:4). Religion an inward thing; love and devotion to a Person. No rest in mere ritualism.
(2) Weary in self-reformation. In struggle with evil tendencies or bad habits. Defeated and disappointed. Christ gives double restrest of pardon and rest of power.
3. To the weary worldling.The sated pleasure-seeker or society-monger, who cries with the wisest and weariest of worldlings, Vanity of vanities.
II. To the weary in passive life.Come unto Me all ye thatare heavy-laden. There is the weariness of still life as well as that of active life.
1. To those with a physical burden.
(1) The aged. These have borne the burden and heat of the day, and feel the weight of years. Rest in faith, in contemplation.
(2) The feeble. Christ will give the rest of resignation and of quiet service.
(3) The suffering (see Mat. 11:5). Rest to soul and ease to body. The spirit of Christ is in social, sanitary, and medical science for the mitigation and abolition of suffering. To the incurable He cries, Come unto Me, in heavenwhere the weary are at rest.
2. To those with a mental burden.
(1) The careworn. Christ cures carking care, gives rest from worry. Your Heavenly Father knoweth, etc.
(2) The sorrowful. He comforts.
(3) The doubting. To weary doubters. Come unto Me. If any man will do His will, etc. Come to a loving divine Person, not to creeds and arguments!
3. To those with a spiritual burden.They need deliverance from the guilt and power of sin.
Conclusion:
(1) The call is wide as human misery, yet limited to the weary. If you are not yet tired of the world, of self and sin, it is not for you. You will not listen.
(2) But listen, ye weary! He who calls knows the weariness of doing and bearing. He was the weariest that ever walked the earth. He bore the burden of a worlds sin.S. E. Keeble.
Christ our rest.I will rest you. This is the literal translation, which means more than give you rest. It is not as if rest were a blessing He could bestow as a friend would make a present which might be retained after the giver had gone. Rest is not so much what He gives to us as what He is to us; and so He says, not I will give you rest, but, I will rest you (i.e. I will be your rest).J. M. Gibson, D.D.
I.In Uncle Toms Cabin there is a picture drawn of a slave, weary and worn with toiling in the sultry sun. One quotes the words Come unto Me all ye, etc. Thems good words, is the response, but who says em? Obviously all depends on that.
Mat. 11:29. The lowly Teacher.When Jesus sought disciples He professed Himself meek and lowly in heart. What was the attraction of this claim?
1. It was a promise to be kind and patient with slow learners.In His school the lessons are often hard; the Teacher never is. We cannot learn from the brilliant. They dazzle us; they do not instruct us. We cannot learn from the austere; terror paralyses our slow faculty, and we lose heart to go on. But we may learn from One who, however far above us, is lowly of heart, who, however slow He finds us, never loses patience, but remains meek.
2. It was the claim of a Teacher who was also a Learner.No human teacher is great if he is not learning. Over the teaching of Jesus our Lord, to whom all things were delivered of the Father, no cloud of error can rest. But in the days of His flesh He was a Learner. Though He were a Son, He learned obedience by the things that He suffered, and all His schooling is in His memory still.
3. It was proof that He loved the slow, dull scholars.Love never boasteth of herself. Is it so? Then how did He say: I am meek and lowly of heart? Should He not have left another to praise Him? Nay, He never was so meek and lowly as when. He professed Himself such. Love opens her mouth and speaks the truth when she is claiming the place where she can render fittest service.W. R. Nicoll, LL.D.
The yoke of Christ.Have you ever noticed where this direction comes? It comes after the invitation, Come unto Me. It comes after the promise, I will give you rest. Christs yoke is:
I. His will.Salvation may be looked upon as a series of acceptances. We accept His pardon, His righteousness, His rest. We accept also His will. Our study now is, not what we shall choose, but, what is it that He has chosen for me?
II. His rule.Liberty in Christ does not mean freedom from control; that would be lawlessness. Christ sets us free by translating us out of the reign of sin into the reign of grace. The best way to be free from sins dominion is to be well under Christs control.
III. His discipline.We are under His correction and instruction as well as His protection. We are in His school. To take Christs yoke is a voluntary act and means submission and obedience.Evan H. Hopkins, M.A.
A teacher should be meek.The story is told of one of our most gifted poets, that when a little lad of six he was sent to what was called a charity school. Sensitive and timid, frightened at the masters look and voice, and at the cane, without which nothing was done in those days, he could only tremble over his lesson, and blunder tearfully instead of saying it, going back beaten and bewildered to try again. Little wonder that he came to think himself as stupid as the master said he was, and despaired of ever knowing anything. At last the masters patience was exhausted, the scoldings and the canings were alike in vain. Seizing the little fellow angrily, he thrust him out of the school, and sent him home as too dull to learn anything. The frightened child hid himself in his mothers arms, and sobbed out all his grief. Then she sat beside him and patiently taught him his letters, and bore with a hundred failures, and praised his occasional success, and so led him on until he was a scholar almost before he knew it.M. G. Pearse.
Mat. 11:30. Christs yoke and burden.The yoke of Christ is easy, and His burden light:
I. Because we bear it with the approbation of conscience.The yoke which is borne by a good conscience is always light; the burden which does not consist of sin is never heavy.
II. Because it is borne in love.Love lightens labour, lessens adversity, sweetens care, and is unconscious of a yoke which otherwise would be heavy. When we are murmuring within ourselves at the cost of our Christianity, it is because we have not yet realised the value of Christ.
III. Because it is borne with the help of the Spirit of God.
IV. Because His burden becomes lighter the longer it is borne.That which required effort at first is at length done with ease and enjoyment. Nobody will believe that until he has experienced it. But every Christian knows that it is true.
V. Because we are sustained under it by a good hope.Heaven and endless happiness are before us, and the assurance that they are reserved for us, while we are kept for them, steadies us beneath a weight which else might bear us down.W. M. Taylor, D.D.
Christs burden light.Somewhere in Schillers poems a beautiful story is told illustrative of what I wish to tell you The story says that when God made the birds He made them with gorgeous plumage and sweet voices, but without wings. They knew not how to soar but how to sing, and the story runs that God laid wings on the ground and said, Take these burdens and bear them. They took them up on their backs, and struggled along with them, folding them over their hearts. Presently the wings grew fast to their breasts, and spread themselves out, and then they found that what they had thought were burdens were changed to pinions. So there are many things which God imposes upon us which seem too heavy for us to bear, but if in the name of Jesus, we take them up, we shall find they grow fast to us and become pinions.A. T. Pierson, D.D.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(25) Answered and said.The phrase is more or less a Hebraism, implying that the words rose out of some unrecorded occasion. St. Luke connects them (Luk. 10:17-24) with the return of the Seventy; but as their mission is not recorded by St. Matthew, it seems reasonable to connect them, as here recorded, with the return of the Twelve, and their report of their work (Mar. 6:30; Luk. 9:10). Their presence, it may be noted, is implied in the narrative with which the next chapter opens. The words, however, were probably repeated as analogous occasions called for them.
I thank thee.Literally, I confess unto Theei.e., acknowledge with praise and thanksgiving. The abruptness with which the words come in points to the fragmentary character of the record which St. Matthew incorporates with his Gospel. The context in St. Luke implies a reference to the truths of the kingdom which the disciples had proclaimed, and makes special mention of the joy which thus expressed itself. The two grounds of that joy are inseparably linked together. The wise and prudent (comp. the union of the same words in 1Co. 1:19) were the scribes and Pharisees, wise in their conceit, seeking mens praise rather than truth as truth, and therefore shut out from the knowledge that requires above all things sincerity of purpose. The babes were the disciples who had received the kingdom in the spirit of a little child, child-like, and sometimes even childish, in their thoughts of it, but who, being in earnest and simple-hearted, were brought under the training which was to make them as true scribes for the kingdom of heaven. He, their Lord, taught them as they were able to bear it, giving (to use St. Pauls familiar image) the milk that belonged to babes (1Co. 3:2); but beyond His personal teaching there were the flashes of intuition by which (as, conspicuously, in the case of Peters confession, Mat. 16:17) new truths were suddenly disclosed to them, or old truths seen with increasing clearness.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
41. THANKS FOR THE REVELATION TO BABES, Mat 11:25-26 .
25. At that time And doubtless in the same connection. For in contrast with the unbelieving cities above named, there were a choice few, the children of wisdom, (Mat 11:19,) who accepted the Gospel in its simplicity. He thanks the Father that to such the Gospel is revealed, (25, 26,) affirms his complete concurrence with the Father in the whole plan, (27,) and issues an invitation for all to come in accordance with that plan, (28-30.) I thank thee The divine arrangement was so wise and good that our Saviour was grateful at its completion. Hid What was hid? The spiritual kingdom above described. How hid? By the very fact that God has constituted it a spiritual kingdom; for eyes that wickedly persist in being gross and carnal cannot see spiritual realities. The plainest divine truths, though placed before them, are hid, as the plainest objects by daylight are hid from the eyes of the owl; only the owl’s blindness is natural and innocent, theirs is voluntary and guilty. God does right in establishing spiritual things; that their spirituality renders them hid, is the sensual man’s fault. Those who understand by this text that God has from all eternity made salvation impossible to be attained by a fixed part of mankind, wrong divine justice, and abuse our Lord’s words.
Yet it is not at all probable that the thanks of our Lord rested upon the fact that the Gospel was hid; but upon the fact that though hid, it was wisely and graciously revealed to its spiritual receivers. Parallel to this is the language of Paul: “God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin; but ye have obeyed,” etc. If in either passage we insert although after the word that, we shall obtain the actual meaning.
But it is asked by Calvinists and other predestinarians, has God not a predetermined plan for the regulation of all events? That God has determinations founded on his foreknowledge, we have illustrated in our note on Mat 11:23. That God’s plan, however, does not predestinate and fix all the wicked acts of wicked men, and then fix their damnation for committing those decreed acts, may appear from the following remarks by Dr. Fisk in his sermon on predestination and election:
“We acknowledge and maintain that God has a plan, one part of which is to govern his responsible subjects without controlling their will by a fixed decree; to punish the incorrigible, and save those who repent and believe. Does such a plan imply the necessity of a change, ‘on condition that his creatures act in this or that way?’ If indeed it was necessary for God to decree an event in order to foreknow it, this inference might be just. But as this is seen to be false, it follows that a perfect God, whose eye surveys immensity and eternity at a glance, and who necessarily knows all possibilities and contingencies, all that is, or will be, can perfectly arrange his plan, and preclude the possibility of a disappointment, although he does not, by a decree of predestination, fix all the volitions and acts of his subjects.”
Wise and prudent He calls them what they call themselves, and what, for this world, they may be called. But the carnal heart, however sagacious in carnal things, understands not the things of the Spirit. Revealed them unto babes Babes, from the very fact that they received the truth in its simplicity; babes, as the statesmen of Rome, the philosophers of Greece, and the Sadducees of Judea, would style them. They are the ones who realize eternal things, but value low the temporal. If eternal things be unreal, they are not only babes, but fools. But if eternal things be real, these babes, so called because they receive those things with simplicity, and ignore the depraved wisdom of the world, are wiser than the “wise and prudent.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘At that time (season) Jesus answered and said, “I thank you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to babes.” ’
Note the vivid contrast between this and the previous passage. In the previous passage Jesus surveys the unresponsive towns and verbally passes sentence on them. It is an outward look, and He sees them as walking in the broad way that leads to destruction. Here He looks up to the Father and verbally acknowledges His goodness in revealing the truth to ‘babes’. It is an upward look, and these are they who are in the narrow way that leads to life. The thought of what He has experienced with respect to the spiritual blindness and unresponsiveness of the people of Galilee makes Him fully appreciate the wonder of what the Father is doing in revealing His truth. For He recognises that in the end it is not the fact that men are spiritually blind that is remarkable, it is the fact that some ‘see’. And they are those who are being blessed by God (compare Mat 16:17; Mat 5:3-9; Mat 12:6). And He realises that when this happens it is due to His Father, Who is the Creator and Possessor and Controller of Heaven and earth, Whose power is such that He can even enlighten the hearts of men when they look to Him in confident faith and trust, without any thought of their own wisdom. The point He is making is not that God actually specifically hides things from the wise and understanding, but that by not unveiling their eyes they remain hidden. Indeed man in His wisdom sets up his own barrier against spiritual truth. He cannot ‘see’ because his eyes are focused on something else, on earthly wisdom which possesses his mind and his thoughts so that he thinks that he knows all. He does not see any need for repentance, nor any need for humility.
But to the ‘babe’, the one whose mind is uncluttered with his own wisdom, and who therefore looks to God for all his understanding (compare Mat 18:3-4), God reveals His truth. In this case that truth is ‘these things’. And what are ‘these things’? They are the things that those who are wise, (that is, those who fail to see in Him and His mighty works, and in what they signify, the God-provided solution to the need of Israel and of the world), cannot see. They fail to see that He has come bearing their afflictions and carrying their diseases (Mat 8:17), that He has come bringing forgiveness from God (Mat 9:6), that He has come to cleanse all who come to Him (Mat 8:3), that He has come to heal and make whole (Mat 9:12), that He has come to bring men under the Kingly Rule of God (Mat 12:28).
‘At that time.’ A phrase linking this passage with the last one.
‘Jesus answered and said.’ At first sight ‘answered’ appears to be redundant. It is a favourite verb of Matthew’s (45 times), but usually indicating a direct response to a question. On the other hand comparison with Mat 12:38; Mat 17:4; Mat 28:5 demonstrates that it can be used ‘redundantly’. However it is very possible that here Matthew wants us to see that what He is about to say is the answer to the problems raised by what has gone before. All earth’s problems find their answer in God, ‘the Lord of Heaven and earth’.
‘I thank (acknowledge with praise) you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth.’ The verb signifies that He acknowledges His Father for Who and What He is, He owns His worth, and therefore He praises Him. ‘O Father, Lord of heaven and earth.’ This is Jesus use of ‘Father’ as indicating His own Father, which as what follows, reveals is very different from when He speaks of God as the Father of the disciples. He is indicating the uniqueness of the relationship between them.
‘Lord of Heaven and earth.’ This title as such is not found in Scripture, although it is found (rarely) in Jewish literature, in Tobit 7:19 and in the Genesis Apocryphon at Qumran. But compare Gen 14:19; Gen 14:22, ‘God Most High, Possessor (or Maker) of Heaven and earth’, and Ezr 5:11, ‘the God of Heaven and earth’. The combination of Heaven and earth suggests the Creator and Possessor of all things ( 2Ki 19:15 ; 1Ch 29:11; 2Ch 2:12; Jer 23:24).
‘That you hid these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to babes.’ In other words that God so created and sustains the world that those full of their own wisdom and understanding in fact remain spiritually blind, while those who with an open and honest heart seek Him will have spiritual truth revealed to them. A full ‘commentary’ on these words is found in 1Co 1:17 to 1Co 2:16. It is not a question of intellect (Paul was one of these ‘babes’), it is a question of humble submission and a willingness to receive truth from Him.
Elsewhere it is made clear that the failure of men to understand is also a spiritual one. It is that their hearts and minds are blinded by ‘the God of this world’ so that they need the veil drawn back in order to behold the glory of Christ, and see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2Co 4:4), it is that they need to have their eyes opened, and to be turned from darkness to light and the power of Satan to God (Act 26:18), and that is what He will later stress that He has come to do (Mat 12:28-29; Mat 12:43-45).
The selective revelation of God is also described in Psa 147:19-20 but there it was to Israel and not the nations. Here the Father will reveal the truth to the ‘new nation’ who are being taken out of the old (Mat 16:18; Mat 21:43). Yet this idea of selective revelation to the righteous comes out in the Psalms. ‘You will show me the path of life’ (Psa 16:11); ‘show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths’ (Psa 25:4); ‘teach me your way, O Lord’ (Psa 27:11 – when he has been forsaken by those who should have guided him). And it is a part of what God’s righteousness, paralleled with deliverance, signifies in Isaiah (see Isa 51:4-5; Isa 51:7). Through it all are to know Him, from the least to the greatest (Jer 31:33-34).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Father Has Enlightened His True People And Has Delivered all Things To Jesus Who Alone Truly Knows His Father, Who Has Received all Things From His Father, And Who Alone Can Reveal His Father To Others (11:25-27).
This passage is connected to the previous one by ‘at that time (or season)’. The two passages are thus intended to be seen together. It explains from the divine side why the towns of Galilee have failed to respond to His mighty works. It is because, although they may think that they will be exalted to Heaven (Mat 11:23) they have in fact not been enlightened by the Father. Thus they have not recognised the Son. Without that their hopes of such exaltation are nil. The passage also explains why John himself had not understood the full truth about Jesus (Mat 11:3-5). It was not possible until Jesus had made it known to him, and thereby revealed to him the Father (‘A blessed one (of Me and My Father) is he who does not stumble because of Me’ – Mat 11:6). For in the end all who would come to God are dependent on God’s revelation of Himself through His Son and through His Spirit. The ‘wise’ yell out petulantly in the street like children, but it is God’s ‘babes’ who receive their milk directly from Him.
Having thus pointed out how this passage fits into the whole pattern of chapter 11, which begins with the one to whom Jesus makes known His truth (Mat 11:5-6), and ends here with those to whom Jesus makes known His truth, with sandwiched in the middle two sets of examples of those who were not willing to receive His truth, we should now pause to consider the truth that is being revealed. Up to this point God has been ‘your Father’ or the equivalent when speaking of Jesus’ disciples (Mat 5:16; Mat 5:45; Mat 5:48; Mat 6:1; Mat 6:4; Mat 6:6; Mat 6:8-9; Mat 6:14-15; Mat 6:18; Mat 6:26; Mat 6:32; Mat 7:11; Mat 10:20; Mat 10:29). This is the relationship which has become theirs through participation in the Kingly Rule of Heaven. They have in a sense become ‘sons of God’ (Mat 5:9; Mat 5:45). This is continually so except when His Fatherhood is related to Jesus’ position as the Judge of all men, or as the One Who must confess them to the Father (Mat 7:21; Mat 10:32-33).
But from now on God will be revealed almost solely as the Father of Jesus (Mat 12:50; Mat 15:13; Mat 16:17; Mat 16:27; Mat 18:10; Mat 18:19; Mat 18:35; Mat 20:23; Mat 24:36; Mat 25:34; Mat 26:29; Mat 26:39; Mat 26:42; Mat 26:53; Mat 28:19). And this will go along with the revelation of Jesus as ‘the Son of God’ in the deepest sense of the term. He is God’s ‘beloved One’ (Mat 12:18); it is by doing the will of His Father (Mat 12:50, compare Mat 7:21) that they will become His very real spiritual family; through His manifestation of mastery over the sea they recognise Him in awe and worship as ‘the Son of God’ (Mat 14:33), and then by gradual realisation as ‘the Son of the living God’ (Mat 16:16); and God Himself declares of Him in His glory, ‘this is My beloved Son’ (Mat 17:5). As God’s Son He has the right not to pay the Temple tax (Mat 17:25-26). And this position is confirmed in the parable of the wicked tenants (Mat 21:37-38), ‘they will reverence My Son’. And it is all summed up in His declared co-equality with the Father in Mat 28:20 when all are baptised into God’s Name as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Thus from this point on the relationship of Father and Son is specific and unique Jesus is seen to be ‘on the divine side of reality’.
There are three possible exception to this change. The first is in Mat 13:43 when the disciples learn that one day, as the righteous, they are to shine forth as the sun in the Kingly Rule of their Father. But that may in fact be seen as capping off the references in the Sermon on the Mount, thus describing their reward as a result of their having sought His Kingly Rule and His righteousness (Mat 6:33), preparatory to the second part of the Gospel. The second is in Mat 18:14 where in fact B, Theta and f 13 have ‘My Father in Heaven’. But if ‘your Father in Heaven’ is correct that is because He is specifically dealing there with their responsibility as ‘sons of God’ for young believers. (In Mat 18:10 He uses ‘My Father’ because He is referring to Him as in Heaven, compare also Mat 18:19). The third Isa 23:9 where He is simply demonstrating that they should call no man ‘father’ on earth. Thus the intention of a change in emphasis can be seen to be pretty solid.
We are thus being prepared here for Mat 12:17-21. Among men has come the chosen and beloved one of God in Whom is the Spirit of God, Who will reveal God’s truth to both’ was the unique sign of the special relationship of the Jews with God.
In this remarkable passage then we find in fact all the ideas that, were it not for this passage, might be seen as making John’s Gospel unique. It has been called ‘the bolt from the Johannine blue’. We have reference to ‘the Father’ and ‘the Son’ (but compare Mat 24:36; Mar 13:32, and often in John), to the fact that all things have been delivered by His Father to Him as His Son (Joh 5:20-22; Joh 5:26; Joh 16:15), to the fact that no one knows the Son except the Father (Joh 10:15), and that no one knows the Father except the Son (Joh 6:46; Joh 7:29; Joh 8:19; Joh 8:55; Joh 10:15), and those to whom the Son will reveal Him (Joh 14:7; Joh 14:17).
The idea of Jesus’ sonship from now on goes far beyond just a Messianic title. The idea was first expressed after Jesus had been baptised (Mat 3:17), and has been emphasised by Jesus’ clear distinction between ‘My Father’ and ‘Your Father’. It will be repeated at the Transfiguration (Mat 17:5) and in the incident of the Tribute money (Mat 17:26), and will finally be made very clear in the parable of the wicked tenants (Mat 21:37), and confirmed in Mat 24:36, before Jesus is finally placed on a parallel as the Son with the Father and the Holy Spirit (Mat 28:19).
But we must pause and notice here another remarkable emphasis. These are not words taught by Jesus to His disciples. They are Jesus’ prayer to His Father. In that loving relationship which He has with His Father His heart is lifted up and He feels able to express the fullness of what is in His heart, saying in His prayer what He would not have said directly to His disciples, for they were truths that had to dawn on them. (It was different with the Scribes and Pharisees who thought more in these terms). No doubt His prayer was in the presence of His disciples, for they remembered it, and it may well be that it was in order to help them to understand His severe words to the towns of Israel that He prayed like this. They had probably thought that things were going quite well, and had probably been astounded at His words of judgment. He wanted them to know that they did not apply to them, and why they did not apply to them.
But why does Matthew bring this in here? The answer lies in the emphasis that he is giving to the words. Here is a small conclave of men and women who are within the Kingly Rule of Heaven. Thus when dealing with their understanding of things it is in a conversation between earth and Heaven. This contrasts with His words both to John and the people, neither of whom are within the Kingly Rule of Heaven at this stage. It is bringing out that here there is a colony of Heaven on earth (Php 3:20; Col 1:12-14). It can be compared with Isa 57:15 where those who are truly God’s dwell with Him in the high and holy place. Here too He will revive the spirit of the humble, and will revive the heart of the contrite ones by revealing to them the Father and bringing them under His own yoke (Mat 11:27-30). These who do the will of His Father in Heaven are His brothers, His sisters and His mother (Mat 12:50). Here indeed is the very gateway to Heaven (Gen 28:17; compare Joh 1:51), to the heavenly places where God blesses His people (Eph 1:3; Eph 2:6).
Analysis.
At that time (season) Jesus answered and said, “I thank you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to babes” (Mat 11:25).
“Yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in your sight” (Mat 11:26).
“All things have been delivered to me of my Father (Mat 11:27 a).
“And no one knows the Son, except the Father” (Mat 11:27 b).
“Nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and he to whoever the Son wills to reveal him” (Mat 11:27 c).
Note that in ‘a’ the Father reveals ‘these things’ to babes, and in the parallel the Son reveals Him to those who come to know Him. In ‘b’ it was well pleasing to the Father to reveal ‘these things’, and in the parallel He is the only One Who can do so because He is the only One Who knows the Son. Central to all is the fact that all has been delivered to Jesus by His Father.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jesus’ Calls the Multitudes to Follow Him ( Luk 10:21-22 ) The testimonies of John the Baptist and Jesus in Mat 11:2-24 serve as God the Father’s witness to the depravity of men’s hearts; therefore, Jesus acknowledges that the Father will only reveal His divine truths to those with childlike faith in God. Jesus first gives thanks to the Father for His hand of divine providence in a difficult situation as He works in the hearts of men (Mat 11:25-27). Then in an act of faith and devotion to the Father, Jesus calls the multitudes to follow Him, knowing that the Father would reveal the Gospel to those of humble hearts with a childlike faith in Him (Mat 11:28-30). Jesus calls those people who were willing to accept the testimony of John the Baptist and Him to come find true rest in Him (Mat 11:28-30).
Mat 11:25 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
Mat 11:25
Mat 11:26 Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.
Mat 11:27 Mat 11:28 Mat 11:28
Note these insightful words from Frances J. Roberts:
“How can I give you healing for your body whilst there is anxiety in thy mind? So long as there is dis-ease in thy thoughts, there shall be disease in thy body. Ye have need of many things, but one thing in particular ye must develop for thine own preservation, and that is an absolute confidence in My loving care.
‘Come unto Me’, it is written, ‘all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.’ (Mat 11:28) Only when your mind is at rest can your body build health. Worry is an actively destructive force. Anxiety produces tension, and tension is the road to pain. Anger throws poison into the system that no anti-biotic ever can counter.
’
Be sure your sin will find you out’, the Bible states. One of the most common ways that hidden sin is revealed is through the maladies of the body. More arthritis is brought about by resentments and ill-will than is caused by wrong diet. More asthma is caused by repressed fury than by pollen or cat fur.
There was no illness in the body of Jesus because there was no sin in His soul. There was weariness as a natural result of labor and sacrificial service, but there was no undue fatigue and exhaustion brought on by anxiety.” [445]
[445] Frances J. Roberts, Come Away My Beloved (Ojai, California: King’s Farspan, Inc., 1973), 92-3.
Again: “Thou dost not need to carry thine own load, for I will be happy to help thee carry it and to also bear thee up as well. Thou dost not walk alone nor meet any situation alone, for I am with thee, and I will give thee wisdom and I will give thee strength, and My blessing shall be upon thee. Only keep thine heart set upon Me and thine affections on things above; for I cannot bless thee unless ye ask Me and I cannot answer if ye do not call, and I cannot minister to thee except thou come to Me.” [446]
[446] Frances J. Roberts, Come Away My Beloved (Ojai, California: King’s Farspan, Inc., 1973), 110.
Again: “O My beloved, ye do not need to make your path (like a snow plow), for lo, I say unto thee, I go before you. Yea, I shall engineer circumstances on thy behalf. I am thy husband, and I will protect thee and care for thee, and make full provision for thee. I know thy need, and I am concerned for thee: for thy peace, for thy health, for thy strength. I cannot use a tired body, and ye need to take time to renew thine energies, both spiritual and physical. I am the God of Battle, but I am also the One who said: They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Jesus said, Come ye apart and rest a little while.
“I will teach you, even as I taught Moses on the back side of the desert, and as I taught Paul in Arabia. So will I teach you. Thus it shall be a constructive period, and not in any sense wasted time. But as the summer course to the school teacher, it is vital to thee in order that ye be fully qualified for your ministry.
“There is no virtue in activity as such neither in inactivity. I minister to thee in solitude that ye may minister of Me to others as a spontaneous overflow of our communion. Never labor to serve, nor force opportunities. Set thy heart to be at peace and to sit at My feet. Learn to be ready, but not to be anxious. Learn to say ‘no’ to the demands of men and to say ‘yes’ to the call of the Spirit.” [447]
[447] Frances J. Roberts, Come Away My Beloved (Ojai, California: King’s Farspan, Inc., 1973), 145.
Again: “I don’t want you to work for Me under pressure and tension like a machine striving to produce, produce. I want you to just live with Me as a Person. I have waited for you to wear yourself out. I knew you would find it eventually the secret of silence and rest, of solitude and of song. I will rebuild your strength not to work again in foolish frenzy, but just for the sake of making you strong and well. To Me this is an end in itself. Make it your aim to join with Me wholeheartedly in the project. ‘Many joys are waiting yet’.” [448]
[448] Frances J. Roberts, Come Away My Beloved (Ojai, California: King’s Farspan, Inc., 1973), 152.
Scripture References – Note similar verses:
Psa 38:4, “For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.”
Psa 94:13, “That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.”
Mat 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Mat 11:29
[449] Everett F. Harrison, Introduction to the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, c1964, 1971), 171.
[450] Charles Taylor, Sayings of the Jewish Fathers Comprising Pirque Aboth in Hebrew and English with Notes and Excursuses (Cambridge: University Press, 1897), 45-46.
Mat 11:29 Comments Word Study on “yoke” – There are six uses of the Greek word (yoke) in the New Testament.
1. The yoke of Christ: Mat 11:29-30
Mat 11:29-30, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
2. This is a reference to the Law:
Act 15:10, “Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?”
Gal 5:1, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage .”
3. As a reference to physical slavery:
1Ti 6:1, “Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed.”
4. In its most literal sense:
Luk 14:19, “And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen , and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.”
Comments – Christ’s yoke is a yoke of freedom. We are under the yoke of Jesus, serving Him.
Rom 6:16, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”
The yoke of slavery:
1Ti 6:1, “Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed.”
See the yoke of the Law:
Act 15:10, “Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?”
Gal 5:10, “I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.”
Mat 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Mat 11:30
1Jn 5:3, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous .”
Mat 11:28-30 Comments – Jesus is the Great Burden-bearer – One of the greatest pieces of advice to young believers is to not make life so complicated, so busy and so intense. One of the greatest discoveries that I made as a young Christian is that when I stopped trying to please others, I no longer had to work so hard to achieve successes. I learned to enter in to a life of more rest as I began to focus on just the things that the Lord wanted me to accomplish in this life.
Life will become too burdensome when we work to achieve success in the eyes of man. God measures success in a much deeper, more important way. When we begin to serve Jesus, the burden is light. We do feel the burden of responsibility for a lost and dying world, for those we love, but this is a much lighter burden than that of being busy pleasing man.
The Pharisees had placed tremendous burdens upon the people in the forms of customs and traditions.
Mat 23:4, “For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.”
The people were confused about what it meant to obey the laws of Moses. Jesus had some to teach the people an easier way to serve the Lord and to lift their burdens. It is very likely that Jesus was referring to Isa 10:27 when made this statement in Mat 11:28-30.
Isa 10:27, “And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.”
Jesus is the great burden-bearer. He will carry this load with us, but man is limited in his ability to care. Note these words from Frances J. Roberts:
“My child, do not share thy burdens with all who come unto thee profession concern. Lo, I, Myself, am the great burden-bearer. Ye need not look for another. I will lead thee and guide thee in wisdom from above. All things shall be as I plan them, if ye allow Me the freedom to shape circumstances and lead thee to the right decisions.” [451]
[451] Frances J. Roberts, Come Away My Beloved (Ojai, California: King’s Farspan, Inc., 1973), 17.
“My child, lean thy head upon My bosom. Well I know thy weariness, and every burden I would lift. Never bury thy griefs; but offer them up to Me. Thou wilt relieve thy soul of much strain if ye can lay every care in My hand. Never cling to any trouble, hoping to resolve it thyself, but turn it over to Me; and in doing so, ye shall free Me to work it out.” [452]
[452] Frances J. Roberts, Come Away My Beloved (Ojai, California: King’s Farspan, Inc., 1973), 18.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Gospel Call. A most devout prayer of thanksgiving:
v. 25. At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
v. 26. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight. The final purpose of the entire work of salvation, in all its various branches, is the glorification of God. These things, the mysteries of the kingdom of God, are hidden from those that are wise in their own conceit, that believe themselves to be above the eternal revelations of God’s wisdom in His Word. The scribes and Pharisees of Israel deemed themselves the custodians of the wisdom and understanding of the Law in all its applications. To them the Gospel is hidden, because they deliberately close their hearts and minds against its beauties. But to babes, those that are as ignorant of this world’s wisdom as little children, God has revealed the glory of the Gospel. It is necessary for him that would know the beauties of God’s message of salvation to men and of the entire Bible which contains this message that he rid himself of all preconceived ideas on moral and religious subjects, and be ready and eager to give unqualified assent to all that God says in His Word, 2Co 10:5-6. For such a condition of heart on the part of believers Christ glorifies His heavenly Father, through whose power the hearts are made ready to receive the Scriptures with all humility. That is the Father’s good pleasure, although it also redounds to His glory if the proud and wise of this world reject the Word of grace. So far as the Bible with its glorious and saving truths is concerned, especially that truth that a man is saved, not by works, but by grace through faith alone it must always be the anxious endeavor of every Christian, aided by the strength from above, to avoid the doubting and doubt-instilling wisdom of this world, and present evermore such a heart that has a childlike trust and faith in Jesus and His merits, and in all the revealed truths of Holy Writ. “There are two things over which Jesus here is glad. The first, that God has hidden such mystery from the wise and understanding. The other, that He has revealed it to the little ones, the simple, the babes. Those are the children and babes that do not talk against the Word of God, that do not murmur against God’s will, but, as He deals with them, they are well pleased with it. This includes all those that are not wise and understanding in their own conceit, nor fall into God’s work and Word with their reason.”
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 11:25. At that time Jesus answered and said Dr. Doddridge reads this, Jesus took occasion to say; and when the words so introduced, says he, are not a reply to any preceding speech, I apprehend the version here given expresses the sense of them with greater exactness. Dr. Heylin renders it, Jesus continuing his discourse, said; and Mr. Pilkington, in his remarks, observes, after the generality of commentators, that this phrase is derived from the Hebrew, which not only signifies to answer, but likewise to utter a sentence, or begin a discourse; and thus the Hebrew word, Job 3:2 is not answered, but spoke or said. We make this observation once for all, and it removes any little objection against the propriety of the writings of the New Testament, because the word answered is sometimes made use of where there is no previous question. Instead of I thank thee, Heylin reads, I praise thee; literally, I confess or acknowledge thee.
Because thou hast hid God is often said in Scripture to do those things, which he determines to permit, and which he foresees will be in fact the consequences of those circumstances in which his creatures are placed, though their wills are laid under no constraint. See on Exo 9:34-35. 2Sa 12:11-12; 2Sa 24:1. 1Ki 22:22-23. In this sense alone could God be said to hide those things from the learned men of that age, which he revealed so plainly, that honest and well-disposed persons, though children in understanding, might come to the knowledge of them through his grace. See ch. Mat 10:34-35. It seems they were but a few, and those generally of the lower sort of people, who embraced the doctrine of Christ, and assisted him in erecting his kingdom; circumstances which, in the eyes of common wisdom, were melancholy and mortifying; but our Lord foresaw that, by divine direction, these very circumstances would become the noblest demonstrations of his personal dignity, the clearest proofs of the excellency of his religion, and the most stupendous instances of his power, who, bysuch weak instruments, established his religion in every part of the habitable world, against the policy, power, and malice of devils and men combined to oppose him. Besides, had the great rulers and learned scribes, and nobles, the wits, and geniuses been converted, it must have been prejudicial to the Gospel in several respects, as such converts and teachers might probably have made the Gentiles look upon it as a trick of state: perhaps also they would have mixed it with things foreign to its nature: our Lord, therefore, most wisely made the rejection of the Gospel by the great men of the nation, and the reception of it by persons in lower stations, matter of especial thanksgiving. See Luk 10:21. Babes, , in scripture language, are persons whose faculties are not improved by learning; but who, to that sagacity and understanding which is purely natural, join, through the grace of God, the best dispositions of heart, such as meekness, modesty, honesty, humility, docility, and all the other engaging qualities which are in a carnal sense to be observed in children. This is plain from ch. Mat 18:3. Babes therefore stand in opposition, not to men of sound judgment and reason, but to proud politicians, and men of learning, who are so full of themselves, that they disdain to receive instructions from others, and who make all their abilities subservient to their advancement in this world. See Macknight, Beausobre and Lenfant, and Stockius.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 11:25 . . means, like , to take up speech, and that in connection with some given occasion, to which what is said is understood to refer by way of rejoinder. Comp. Mat 22:1 , Mat 28:5 ; Joh 2:18 ; Joh 5:17 , al. However, the occasion in this instance is not stated. According to Luk 10:21 (Strauss, Ebrard, Bleek, Holtzmann), it was the return of the Seventy, of whom, however, there is no mention in Matthew. Ewald, Weissenborn, and older expositors find it in the return of the apostles. See Mar 6:12 ; Mar 6:30 ; Luk 9:6 ; Luk 9:10 . This is the most probable view. Luke has transferred the historical connection of the prayer to the account of the Seventy, which is peculiar to that evangelist; while in Mat 12:1 , Matthew assumes that the Twelve have already returned. The want of precision in Matthew’s account, which in Mat 10:5 expressly records the sending out of the Twelve, but says nothing of their return, is, of course, a defect in his narrative; but for this reason we should hesitate all the more to regard it as an evidence that we have here only an interpolation (Hilgenfeld) of this “pearl of the sayings of Jesus” (Keim), which is one of the purest and most genuine, one of Johannean splendour (Joh 8:19 ; Joh 10:15 ; Joh 14:9 ; Joh 16:15 ).
For . with dative, meaning to praise, comp. on Rom 14:11 ; Sir 51:1 .
] what? the imperfect narrative does not say what things, for it introduces this thanksgiving from the collection of our Lord’s sayings, without hinting why it does so. But from the contents of the prayer, as well as from its supposed occasion, viz. the return of the Twelve with their cheering report, it may be inferred that Jesus is alluding to matters connected with the Messianic kingdom which He had communicated to the disciples (Mat 13:11 ), matters in the proclaiming of which they had been labouring, and at the same time been exercising the miraculous powers conferred upon them.
The and are the wise and intelligent generally (1Co 1:19 ; 1Co 3:10 ), but used with special reference to the scribes and Pharisees, who, according to their own opinion and that of the people (Joh 9:40 ), were pre-eminently so. The novices ( ), the disciples, who are unversed in the scholastic wisdom of the Jews. Comp. on this subject, 1Co 1:26 ff. Yet on this occasion we must not suppose the reference to be to the simple and unsophisticated masses (Keim), which is not in keeping with Mat 11:27 , nor with the idea of (comp. Mat 16:17 ) generally, as found in this connection; the contrast applies to two classes of teachers, the one wise and prudent, independently of divine revelation, the others mere novices in point of learning, but yet recipients of that revelation.
Observe, further, how the subject of thanksgiving does not lie merely in . , but in the two, the etc., and the , etc., being inseparably combined. Both together are the two sides of the one method of proceeding on the part of His all-ruling Father, of the necessity of which Christ was well aware (Joh 9:39 ).
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
5. The Son of God displaying the full consciousness of His royal dignity while rejected of men
Mat 11:25-30
25At that time Jesus answered and said,32
I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
Because [That]33 thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent,
And hast revealed them unto [to] babes.
26Even so,34 Father; for35 so it seemed good in thy sight.36
27All things are delivered unto me of [by, ] my Father:
And no man knoweth the Son, but the Father;
Neither [Nor] knoweth any man the Father, save [but] the Son,
And he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him [it].
28Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me [become my disciples]; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto [for] your souls. 30For my yoke is easy [good, wholesome], and my burden is light.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Mat 11:24. Jesus answered., like , to speak on some definite occasion. Meyer: This occasion is not here mentioned, and cannot be inferred. According to Luk 10:21, the return of the Seventy formed this occasion (Strauss and Ebrard); according to Ewald and older commentators, that of the Apostles. To this Meyer objects, that the expression implies thathowever probable in itselfsuch was not the connection which Matthew had in view. In our opinion, the verses under consideration form, so to speak, a response to the denunciations in the preceding context. The two sections are intended as an antiphony by the Evangelist. Gerlach suggests that the words bear special reference to the disciples who stood before Him. Their presence was virtually an assurance on the part of His heavenly Father: Behold, I have given these unto Thee. And Jesus answered, I thank Thee, O Father, etc.De Wette takes the expression in a more general sense, as equivalent to, He commenced: comp. Mat 22:1; Mat 28:5.37 We fully admit, however, that the outward and historical connection is more clearly marked in the Gospel of Luke than in that of Matthew.
I thank Thee [, I fully confess, thankfully acknowledge the justice of Thy doings].This thanksgiving refers equally to both the facts mentioned in the last clauses of the verse, to the and the . These are the two aspects of one and the same dealing on the part of God, the necessity of which Christ recognized (comp. Joh 9:39). Meyer. Some critics (as Kuinoel and others) hold, without good reason, that the first of these two antithetic clauses implies only permission.
O Father, Lord of heaven and earth.The peculiar form of this address is determined by the idea of His administration. In hardening some and enlightening others, God manifests Himself as absolutely reigning both in heaven and on earth. The term precedes , even as love absolute sovereignty.
[Observe that Christ does not address the Father as His Lord, but as the Lord of heaven and earth. We have four more (not two, as Alford says) instances of such a public address of our Saviour to His Father, Joh 11:41 (at the grave of Lazarus); Mat 12:28 (Father, glorify Thy name); Mat 17:1 (in the sacerdotal prayer); and Luk 23:34 (on the cross: Father, forgive them, etc.)P. S.]
These things, .From the preceding verses we gather that the expression refers to the principle of the great , which He had revealed in the cities of Galilee, with special reference to Mat 11:15 (He that hath ears to hear, let him hear). Accordingly, the expression alludes to the evidence of His Divine character as the Messiah and Son of God, derived from His word and works.38
To the wise and prudent.Applying not merely to the Pharisees and scribes [Meyer], but also to the wise and prudent courtiers of Herod, and to the worldly-wise among the people generally. Babes, . Originally, the , or those unacquainted with Jewish wisdom; here, the believing followers of Jesus generally, or those whom the Pharisees despised; comp. Joh 7:49.
Mat 11:26. For so, etc.Gersdorf, Fritzsche, Meyer, suggest that should be translated by that, as in Mat 11:25. De Wette defends the common translation, which is more suitable, as the of the Father forms the ultimate ground of consolation. The former apparent paradox is here resolved. But by translating the particle by that, the difficulty would only be increased, and the whole stress would be laid on the authority of the preceding of Christ. Comp. Mat 3:17; Luk 2:14, etc.
Mat 11:27. All things are delivered unto Me.Grotius, Kuinoel, and others, apply this exclusively to the doctrine of Christ. De Wette refers it to His rule over men, as in Joh 13:3; Mat 28:18. But Meyer rightly takes it in an absolute sense, as meaning that everything was committed to His government by the Father. This, however, does not imply that the rule of the Father had ceased, but that all things were by the Father brought into connection with, and subordination to, the economy instituted by Christ. His preaching of the gospel in Galilee had led to a twofold and contrary result. The salvation and the judgment initiated by it in that district were a pledge that the same results would follow in generally. The main point lies in the idea, that not the saved only, but also the lost, are His. Their rejection of Christ might seem as if it arrested His arm and baffled His omnipotence. But even their unbelief becomes the occasion for a display of the full consciousness of His royal power. They also who rejected Him are subject to His power. Thus the gospel of Christ is absolute in its effects, and this fact is here clearly and pointedly brought out.
And no man knoweth. means more than the simple . The difference (to which Meyer rightly adverts) is similar to that between the words cognition (Erkenntniss) and knowledge (Kenntniss). Tholuck (Credibility of the Gospel History, against Strauss) has called attention to the affinity between this verse and the general import of the Gospel of John. In this respect, it may serve as an indirect evidence of the credibility of the Gospel according to John.39Connection with the preceding context: The unlimited and unique cognition of Christ is connected with His unlimited and unique power. Connection with the succeeding context: The consequence of His infinite power, and of His infinite cognition of the Father, are his ability and willingness to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him.
Mat 11:28. [Come unto Me, all, etc.This is the great and final answer to the question of Joh 11:3 : Art Thou He that should come, or shall we wait for another? No mere man could have spoken these words. Alford.]
All ye that labor, [the laboring and the burdened].The first of these verbs refers to the idea of laboring and struggling, rather than to that of being wearied and faint. Both expressions refer to the burden of labor, only viewed from different aspects: 1. As voluntary, and undertaken by themselves; 2. as laid upon them by others. [The active and passive sides of human misery.] Both these remarks applied to the legal efforts of the Jews. Only those, however, who felt the spiritual import of the law of God realized the existence of such a burden. Accordingly, the expression is nearly akin to poverty in spirit. The law itself was a sufficient burden; add to this what was imposed by the traditions of the Pharisees and scribes (Mat 23:4). Hence, in general, those laboring under a sense of sin.
And I, .Emphatically, in opposition to the teachers who laid those burdens on them.
Mat 11:29. My yoke.Allusion to the yoke of the law; a name commonly given to it by the Jews (Wetstein). Without any reference to the yoke which Christ Himself bore, or to His cross (Olshausen). De Wette.That is to say, it primarily refers not to the cross of Christ, but to His rule, doctrine, and leadership; which, however, also implies the bearing of His cross. The emphasis must be laid on the call, to learn of Him, in opposition to the legal teaching and the burden imposed by the Pharisees. This applies also to what follows.
For I am meek and lowly in heart.In opposition to the meek and lowly appearance assumed by the scribes.40 These qualities were the reason why they should learn of Him, not the subject to be learned. They are, in the first place, to seek from Him rest for their souls, , , Jer 6:16,the final aim of all religious aspirations.
[Alford: Our Lord does not promise freedom from toil or burden, but rest in the soul, which shall make all yokes easy, and all burdens light. The main invitation, however, is to those burdened with the yoke of sin, and of the law, which was added because of sin. Owing to our continued conflict with sin and evil in this world, the of Christ is still a yoke and a burden, but a light one. Comp. 2Co 4:16-17. The rest and joy of the Christian soul is to become like Christ.P. S.]
Mat 11:30. For My yoke is good., when applied to persons, kindly; here, good, beneficent. Meyer: salutary, or bringing safety. [Augustine, in one of his sermons, beautifully compares the yoke of Christ to a birds plumage, an easy weight which enables it to soar to the sky: Hc sarcina non est pondus onerati, sed ala volaturi.P. S.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The spiritual elevation of the soul41 of Jesus appears in all its glory from the passage before us. From a denunciation of the cities of Galilee, He passes to a solemn thanksgiving to the Father, and to a declaration of His majesty. In other words, from a deep sense of the dishonor cast upon Him by this generation, He turns in full and blessed consciousness of His exaltation far above all humanity, and the world. Similar transitions from sorrow to joy appear at His last passover, in Gethsemane, and on Golgotha. On the other hand, there is a transition from highest joy to deepest sorrow in His utterances in the temple, when the Greeks desired to see Him, at His triumphal entry into Jerusalem over the Mount of Olives, and in that awful conflict in Gethsemane which followed on His intercessory prayer. In these solemn transactions the divinity of Christ was, so to speak, reflected in the mirror of His human soul, and the eternal Spirit of God in the eagle-like ascension and descension of His feelings.
2. Christ displayed, on this occasion, most fully the sense of His royal dignity, which, indeed, seems to have been specially evoked by the rejection of the world. Even in the case of great and truly humble men, reviling and ill-treatment evoke the native sense of dignity and power. Comp. the history of Paul and of Luther. But Christ could in perfect truthfulness first pronounce a woe upon the cities of Galilee, then declare His own superiority over all, and finally add, I am meek and lowly in heart.
3. No one knoweth the Son.There is an absolute and unique mystery of spiritual community, both in reference to power and to knowledge, between the Father and the Son. Thence we also infer the spiritual community of their nature, or co-equality of essence. But, as formerly the hiding and revealing of these things had been ascribed to the Father, so it is now assigned to the Son. It is the province of Christology to define the co-operation of the two Persons of the Trinity in these acts. The Father executes the decree according to the calling of the Son, and the Son the calling according to the decree of the Father.
4. Come unto Me.One of the most precious gospel invitations to salvation in the New Testament. The call is addressed to those who labor and are burdened, fatigued and worn out. The promise is that of rest to the soul; its condition, to take upon ourselves the gentle yoke of Christ, in opposition to the unbearable yoke of the law and traditions. Christianity, therefore, has also its yoke, and demands obedience to the supremacy of the word of Christ and the discipline of His Spirit. Nor is the burden wanting which ultimately constitutes our cross. But the yoke is good and beneficial, and the burden easy (, related to , light as a roe). This burden, which is to be drawn or borne in the yoke, becomes a lever, and ever raises him who bears it higher and higher.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The humiliation and exaltation in the consciousness of Christ, a sign of His external humiliation and exaltation.The deepest sorrows of Christians must be transformed into highest praise.Every affliction becomes transfigured by the gracious purpose of the Father, who rules sovereignly in heaven and on earth.Even judgment.Love is enthroned above righteousness, because it is holy love.The judgments of God always go hand in hand with His deliverances; the hiding with the revealing.What serves to form and open heaven to believers, forms and opens hell to unbelievers.The great Divine mystery, ignorance of which turns the wise and the prudent into fools, while it imparts knowledge and experience to babes.Self-confident wisdom closes against us the heaven of revelation, while humble longing after truth opens it.42Spiritual self-elevation in its varied manifestations: 1. It assumes different forms (wisdom, righteousness, strength), but is the same in spirit (closed against the influence of Divine grace); 2. different effects (loss of revelation, of reconciliation, of salvation), but its ultimate destruction is the same.Christ manifesting the sense of His royal dignity amid the contempt and rejection of the world.How the Redeemer anticipated His advent as Judge.The omnipotence of Christ appearing amid His seeming impotence.The unique knowledge of Christ: the source of all revelation to the world.Connection between the power and the knowledge of Christ: 1. In His Divine person; 2. in His work; 3. in the life of His people.How the Father draws us to the Son, Joh 6:44, and the Son reveals to us the Father.Come unto Me; or, the invitation of Jesus: 1. On what it is based; 2. to whom it is addressed; 3. what it demands; 4. what it promises.Rest of soul the promise of Christ.The yoke and the burden of Christ as compared with other yokes and burdens (of the law, the world, etc).Relationship between the yoke and the burden: 1. The difference; 2. the connection; 3. the unity.Anyhow, we are put into harness in this life; but we have our choice of the yoke and of the burden.The gospel ever new to those who labor and are heavy laden.Christ the aim and goal of all genuine labor of soul.Christ the Rest of souls: 1. Their sabbath, or rest from the labor of their calling; 2. their sabbath, or rest from the labor of the law; 3. their resurrection day from the labor of death.Christ gives rest to the soul by revealing the Father.
Starke:God claims honor and praise, both in respect of His justice upon those who harden themselves, and of His mercy toward the small band of His believing people, 1Co 1:26.What the wisdom of God demands at our hands.Quesnel: Let us adore with fear and trembling the holy government of God, in the way in which He dispenses His gifts. No man cometh to the Father but through Christ, Joh 14:6.Cramer: Every search after rest or joy is vain without Christ.The promises of the gospel are general; be alone is excluded who excludes himself.Zeisius: There is no burden in the world more heavy than that of sin on the conscience.Christ the Teacher in word and deed.Let us learn meekness and humility in the school of Christ.Quesnel: What Christ bestows, sweetens every affliction in the world.
Heubner:Both the Christian faith and the Christian life are summed up in this: revealed by God.Luther: We cannot instruct the heart.God alone is its Teacher.He that knoweth the Son knoweth the Father also, and vice vers.
[Augustine: Tu nos fecisti ad Te, et cor nostrum inquietum est donec requiescat in Te. This famous sentence from the Confessions may also be so modified: Man is made for Christ, and his heart is without rest, until it rest in Him.Christs invitation welcomes us back to the bosom of the Father, that original and proper home of the heart.Comp. also the practical remarks of Matthew Henry, which are very rich, but too extensive to be transferred here.P. S.]
Footnotes:
[32] Mat 11:25.[We follow the division of Dr. Lange in the rhythmical arrangement of this incomparable prayer of our Saviour.P. S.]
[33] Mat 11:25.[That is the proper meaning of here. So Luther, de Wette, Meyer. Lange. All the older English versions from Wiclif to that of James have because, following the Latin Vulgata: quia.P. S.]
[34] Mat 11:26.[Better: Yea, ; the Lat. Vulg. translates: ita; Luther, de Wette, Ewald, Lange: ja; Tyndale and Author. Vers.: even so; Cranmer and Geneva Vers.: verily; Rheims Vers. and Conant: yea.P. S.]
[35] Mat 11:26.[Meyer renders : that (dass), as in Mat 11:25, and makes it dependent on . So also Conant. But Lange: with Luther, de Wette, and most other versions (Vulg, Wiclif, Tyndale, Rheims, Author. V.), translates denn, for. Comp. Langes note.P. S.]
[36] Mat 11:26.[A far superior version of , than that of the Romish N. T. of Rheims: for so hath it well pleased thee (Vulg.: sic fait placitum ante te); Tyndale: so it pleaseth thee; Cranmer and Geneva: so it was thy good pleasure. Lange translates: denn also geschah der Rathschluss, der vor dir stand. But Luther: denn es ist also wohlgefllig gewesen vor dir; de Wette: denn also geschah dein Wille; Meyer: dass so geschah, was wohlgefllig ist vor dir; Ewald quite literally: dass (denn) solches ward ein Wohlgefallen vor dir.P. S.]
[37][Alford: The whole ascription of praise is an answer; an answer to the mysterious dispensations of Gods providence above recounted. Unsatisfactory.P. S.]
[38][Differently Alford: , these mysterious arrangements, by which the sinner is condemned in his pride and unbelief, the humble and childlike saved, and God justified when he saves and condemns.P. S.]
[39][Alford and D. Brown likewise correctly observe, that the spirit of this verse. and its form of expression, are truly Johannean. We have here a connecting link between the synotists and John, and an incidental testimony of Matthew to the originality and credibility of the weighty discourses of Christ concerning His relation to the Father, which are only recorded in the fourth Gospel. Although the fourth Gospel may with the church fathers be emphatically called spiritual (), and the synoptical Gospels corporeal (), the difference is only relative, since John represents the real, incarnate, historical Christ, and the synoptists, especially in this passage and the corresponding section of Luke (Mat 10:21-22), rise to the pure height of the spirituality and sublimity of John. The bearing of this striking resemblance against Strauss, Baur, and all who deny the genuineness of the Gospel of John, must be apparent to every unprejudiced mind.P. S.]
[40][The word is only here used of Christ. There is, as Olshausen suggests, an essential difference between humility of heart, which Christ possessed in the highest degree from free choice and condescending lore and compassion, and poverty of spirit (Mat 5:3) which cannot be predicated of Him, but only of penitent sinners conscious of their unworthiness and longing for salvation. Compare the rich remarks of Olshausen on this whole passage, for the elucidation of which his genial, lovely, gentle spirit peculiarly fitted him (in Kendricks revised translation, vol. i., p. 434437). But Lange has gone still deeper in the doctrinal reflections and homiletical hints which follow.P. S.]
[41][An imperfect rendering of religise Schwungkraft des Gemths.P. S.]
[42] [Compare the lines of Schiller, the best he ever wrote:
Was kein Verstand der Verstandigen usht,
Das bes [glaubst] in Einfalt sin sindlich Geth.P. S.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
“At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. (26) Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. (27) All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. (28) Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (29) Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. (30) For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
If I were to enter into the full Paraphrase and Comment upon this most sublime address of Christ to the Father, and the discourse connected with it to his people, it would swell many pages. The contracted nature of this work will not allow me. I must beg, however, the Reader not to pass it over, until that he hath first remarked with me, how the Lord Jesus thanks his Father for the distinguishing grace bestowed upon his people; that while hiding the wonders of redemption from the wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight, (Isa 5:21 .) the Lord reveals his mercy unto the humble and the lowly. And I beg the Reader to observe further, the cause which Jesus assigns; namely, God’s own appointment. To all the bold and presumptuous reasonings of the human mind, which have been or may be hereafter brought forward, against the exercise of Jehovah’s sovereignty, the answer is direct. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? Surely the Lord is not called upon to give account of the motives of his holy will and pleasure, to any of his creatures. One thing we know, namely, that his counsel and purpose must stand, and he will do all his pleasure; and that all He doeth is right. His conduct towards his creatures, is by an unerring Standard. His mercy is not moved by any good in us, neither is it kept back by our undeservings; for neither our merit, nor our misery, can be said to have had any hand in disposing the purposes of His sovereign will towards us. That the Lord hath taken occasion from our misery, to magnify the abounding riches of his mercy, is true; but then his mercy was before our misery, and his own everlasting love the sole cause of our blessedness in Christ, therefore our Lord’s own words are most blessed in point: Even so Father! for so it seemed good in thy sight!
I must beg to detain the Reader with a short remark more upon those very blessed words of Jesus, (for very blessed they are in my view) in which the Lord hath said, that the knowledge of the persons of the Godhead is wholly in themselves; and that none can know the Son but the Father; neither can any know the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. If those words of the Lord Jesus, were but duly attended to by those who call themselves Christians, after Christ, and consequently profess to believe, that what Christ hath said is true, (I mean such as deny his eternal power and Godhead, of every class and description,) could they, consistently with their own creed, presume to so daring an act of impiety, when Jesus himself hath said, that no man knoweth the Son but the Father? They it seems, in direct defiance of this scripture, declare they know the Son; and with an uncovered front, Which makes one tremble at their blasphemy, advance further, and say that He is not One with the Father, over all God blessed forever! Reader! do not fail to keep in remembrance those blessed words of Jesus, which so plainly, and so fully declare, that none can know the Son but the Father; than which there cannot be a more decisive testimony, that Christ is God.
But when the Reader hath duly pondered this unanswerable testimony of Jesus, to the certainty of his Godhead, I crave his indulgence to dwelt a little longer on this precious passage. If the revelation, both of the Father and of the Son (for both are One) be made, and is made, by Jesus concerning the Father, and by the Father concerning the Son, oh! think how blessed it must be, when the Lord gives to any poor sinner a spirit of wisdom and revelation in this divine knowledge. I beg the Reader not to shut the book until he hath, in regular order, turned to those scriptures in blessed confirmation of this most unquestionable truth. And first, according to the order of those words, No man knoweth the Son but the Father. See Christ’s testimony to Peter. Mat 16:13-17 . See Paul’s testimony also, concerning himself on this grand point. Gal 1:11-16 . Paul was called from the error of his way by Christ from heaven. So that, as he saith, he never received the Gospel from man neither was taught it by man, but by Jesus Christ. A plain and decided testimony that he knew Christ to be God. Anti the same Apostle saith, that it was God the Father; that revealed his Son to him. Add to these, Jesus himself saith, No man, can come to me, except the Father which hath, sent me, draw him. Joh 6:44 . So much for the revelation of the Son by the Father and of which Paul was so well convinced, agreeably to what our Lord hath said in this scripture, that none can know the Son but the Father and by his revelation of him, that the Apostle expressly prays for the Church at Ephesus, that the Father would give unto them a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. I beg the Reader to read the whole passage Eph 1:15 , to the end. Now then, in like manner, let the Reader consult those scriptures, which equally prove that the knowledge of the Father is only with the Son, and his redeemed, to whom the Loud Jesus reveals him. And here in proof, read Joh 1:18 ; then turn to Joh 6:46 ; then Joh 10:15 ; and lastly, to mention no more, Joh 14:9-10 . Oh! the preciousness and blessedness of these things! Reader! may not you and I (if so be the Lord Jesus hath mercifully given us a spiritual knowledge herein,) may we not take to ourselves what Jesus said to Peter; and consider the same blessedness as ours also: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto us, but our God and Father which is in heaven. See also Luk 10:23-24 ; Joh 16:13-15 ; 2Co 4:6 .
I must not trespass further by enlarging on the many other blessed things contained in the close of this Chapter. But otherwise what a subject might be opened concerning the All things Jesus saith, as Mediator, are delivered unto him by his Father? (see the Commentary on Luk 10:22 .) and of Jesus’ invitation to the weary and heavy laden to come to him, and to find rest unto their souls? But I beg the Reader to consult some of the numberless scriptures on these glorious truths of our God: and may the Holy Ghost open their beauties and saving influences to his soul! Psa 116:6 ; Isa 28:12 ; Heb 4:9 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 48
Prayer
Almighty God, we would hold thee in long speech today, because our hearts are full of love, and thou has set a great song to sing in our life of mercy and of judgment, and there is a lifting up of our soul towards all thy heavens, and a spirit within us which claims the liberty of thy kingdom. We bless thee for all seasons of rapture and uplifting, when the horizon widens and the clouds die away before the all-conquering light, and the whole soul is filled with the beauty of thy presence. Sometimes thou dost lead us by dark ways, and show us deep and gloomy places, and we fall back in terror from the sight: then dost thou take us into high mountains, yea thou dost lift us beyond the line, even towards the stars are we carried, and thou dost show us kingdoms which fall not within the range of the eyes of those upon the earth. Then have we great joy; in that glad hour do we understand somewhat of thine eternity, in that holy ecstasy are we filled with an infinity that may be felt.
We thank thee for all religious experiences which give us enlargement of mind, freedom of spirit, nobility of purpose, purity of temper, and great range of love and hope. Herein dost thou redeem our soul from selfishness, and set us within thy kingdom as children chosen by an election that cannot be revoked. Do thou now give unto us this baptism in answer to which our soul shall shake off everything that is mean and vile, and shall enter into sweet fellowship with thine own heart. The way to thyself is broader than our life, greater in its width than all our aggravated sin.
Where sin abounds grace doth much more abound. Jesus Christ is the way to the Father, he is the gate through which we pass, the road along which we travel, the name which opens the whole heavens with gladness, and his the blood which never touches but to cleanse. Fill us with the hope that we may rest in Christ, and have all our sin taken away. We come without excuse, defence, or plea in words; we will not mention our weakness nor set up our infirmity as an argument; we will cast ourselves without words or pleas upon the infinite sacrifice of the Son of God, and ask thee for his sake to give unto us an assured pardon. Great joy have they whom thou dost forgive, they are born again, once more they begin their life. Thou dost set before them an opportunity; may they be wise enough to seize it and carry out thy purpose to its gracious perfection.
We are here this day to magnify thee in a common song. There is here no silent tongue, we make melody in our hearts unto the Lord, and our understanding glows with the consciousness of favours unnumbered and undeserved. Therefore do we lift up our hearts in common praise and in unanimous supplication and thanksgiving and we know that further answers and manifestations will not be denied those who thus humbly tarry at the cross.
Every heart has its own prayer as every life has its own burden: do thou interpret unto thyself all that we cannot say unto thee. Read our innermost hearts and see what we most require. Thou knowest how much discipline is requisite to subdue and mellow us and bring us into perfect fellowship and tone with thy mind. Heavy indeed is the rod that is needed: many are the afflictions which thou dost pour upon us like drenching rains upon our little fire spare not the affliction, but spare not also thy presence. Let thy grace preside over the fire and the flood and the great chastisement, and do thou at last cause thyself to be magnified in us whether by life or by death.
We bless thee for all thy gifts to us in this daily life. Our table has never wanted bread, our front door thou hast locked and guarded, our window thou hast enriched with light, thou hast sent the angel of sleep to guard our bed, thou hast continued unto us our reasoning faculties, we are here in health and strength this day to answer thy mercy with a new vow of love and service. Visit us according to our necessity, individually, at home, in business, in the church the whole world. Let nothing escape the eye of thy love as nothing can escape the eye of thy wisdom. Put out thine hand towards us when our own hand is useless, guide us where the paths mix much and we cannot see the road we want to take, and when the night comes down suddenly upon us and shuts us up in the presence of darkness, then do thou light a lamp and lead us on the road to thyself.
Comfort the old by turning their memories into prophecies, comfort the young by an assurance that thou art carrying forward the world to greater manhood and nobler development, even until it shall become the kingdom of thy Son our Saviour.
Direct all our affairs, save us from presumption, save us from despair, save us from ourselves, yea, through Jesus Christ, our one Priest and Mediator, magnify thy salvation in all our life. Amen.
Mat 11:25-30
25. At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee (“I recognise the justice of thy doings”) O Father (the first public mention of his Father), Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast (in the far past) hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
26. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.
27. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
28. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30. For my yoke is easy (not exacting) and my burden is light.
Christ’s Joy
In Luke we read, tenth chapter and twenty-first verse, “In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit.” There is no mention of the joy in the gospel of Matthew. A great gladness filled his heart, and whilst the fire burned he spake with his tongue. Why did he rejoice? Had riches been left him? Had he escaped the cross? Had great men fawned upon him? Did his age understand and appreciate him? Nothing of the kind. The scope of divine revelation had been indicated. He saw where the light was always to fall first; and when he saw babes become chosen angels of God, his soul was lifted up in holy rapture. There is no movement worth anything that does not begin with the babes; no solid and permanent kingdom can be set up in the ages that does not begin upon the babe-line. From that line you move upward through all classes, and take them all as you move in your comprehensive ascension and progress. Jesus Christ saw this, and when he saw it he rejoiced and thanked God.
We see how clearly he estimated the intellectual character of those who were called his disciples. He never supposed them to be great men intellectually; he knew what was in men; he did not suppose himself to be surrounded by the philosophy and the culture of his age. When he called twelve fishermen and men of other business around him to occupy the name and discharge the functions of disciples, he knew how humble were their intellectual capacities, how small and contemptible their mental culture. To his eyes they were little children, babes that knew nothing, persons whose eyes were filled with wonder and mystery and expectation, and who could give no full reply to any question that was put to them, but could turn their eyes of expectancy to their Master and Lord.
Jesus Christ was consistent in his appreciation of the child mind. “Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.” He took a child and set him in the midst of them, and said, “He that is most like this little child is greatest in the divine house. Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones, for I say unto you, their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Was there ever a great nature in this world that did not go out towards the children redeemingly and gladly, with all hopefulness and most religious admiration, and find in every child a germ of something that had not entered into the imagination of man to conceive, as to its possibility of grandeur and magnificence of destiny? Was there ever a great nature that was not more than half womanly? O ye who have been making foolish calculations upon your slates as to greatness and grandeur and nobleness, know ye that the child is the best hope of the angel, and the woman nearer God than the man.
What is this child-heart? I would have it; tell me what it is. You must take the ideality of the case and not torment yourselves with accidental incidents. You must not point to this child as petulant and to that child as stubborn; you must putting away all the incidences of the case look at the ideal child-spirit. It is teachable; it does not come with propositions, suggestions, plans of its own. Assuming the unconscious dignity and attitude of teachableness and expectation, it says in its religious silence, “Lord, teach me; show me what thou wouldst have me to do. Command me, do not consult me, but teach me what is right, good, true, wise, beautiful. Explain it all with that explanation which itself is the surest guarantee of its practical fulfilment in life.”
Have we that spirit? Then God hides nothing from us of all his light. There is no secret which we could bear to know that he would keep from us if we were thus docile. Our prudence he disappoints; our wisdom he blinds with light; he rebukes it with darts of fire; but our childlikeness, littleness, nothingness, humbleness, why there is nothing which his great hands can hold, and which we could possibly receive, that he would keep back from us.
What is this child-spirit? It is obedient. To know is to do. To receive the word is to go out and carry it into practice joyfully. Many of us know and fail to do; hence that sharp and fatal judgment, “To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” But who can obey? We get the instructions in the inner sanctuary, and the devil always meets us at the threshold and says, “Are you quite sure you heard the right voice? Are you perfectly clear that you understand what you have to do? Do you really appreciate all the complications and difficulties of the case? Do you fully realise to your own mind the fact that conditions change with ages, and that what might be suitable centuries ago is no longer suitable today? May there not have been some mistake in the interpretation?” And we who have gotten the staff in the hand and the sandals on the feet, and were going right out not knowing whither we went, begin to hesitate and wonder and calculate and consult a thousand interests. Then the devil leaveth us, and owns that his side of the battle is won. Hesitation is the ruin of obedience. To falter is to perish; to read over again the instructions is to lose the very vision which first beheld them, and the insight which first penetrated their sacred beauty.
The child’s spirit is trustful: it nestles, it hugs, it clings to, it depends upon, it is wholly simple in its confidence. How then is it with our hearts are we wise and prudent, or are we babes? God’s best things are hidden from our mere cleverness: revelation is not the result of an intellectual process, it is the reward of a moral condition. We must be so far humbled as to accept the doctrine that we never conquer spiritual truth by intellectual cleverness. It is the lowly heart that reaps the harvest of this sunny field. With the heart man believeth unto righteousness. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart. Cleverness troubles itself with definitions, controversies, verbal consistencies and subtle distinctions the heart knows nothing of all this mischief. We are not saved by the head, we are saved by the heart; the heart waits upon God, the heart waits for God, the heart asks only vital questions, the heart utters only vital prayers. God will spare no revelation from love. “If any man love me,” said Christ, “I will manifest myself to him. If any man love me, God will love him.” Love is answered by love, cleverness is confounded by omniscience. If we will be clever in God’s sight, he blinds us with the wisdom we would foolishly imitate. “To this man will look, the man that is of a humble and contrite heart, and who trembleth at my word.”
Why then are we not further advanced in the divine life? Simply because we are not further advanced in the divine spirit of love. We are orthodox in the head, we are heterodox in the heart. We speak the right word, but we always speak it in the wrong tone. We are unimpeachable in verbal statement, and the whole heavens of God impeach us in every emotion and outgoing of the spirit. That is the lesson which needs to be forced upon every man in every age. What he has written upon paper may be right, may be beyond just impeachment on Biblical or ecclesiastical grounds, and yet it is possible to read the Bible in an unbiblical tone, possible to say, “God is love” in a tone which spoils the beauty of the revelation. Are you orthodox in voice, orthodox in spirit, orthodox in temper, orthodox in desire? Then is there a happy and lasting harmony between the music of the heart and the music of the intelligence.
These reflections lead me to say that you must never look to any order of men who, by virtue of intellectual capacity and by culture alone, are authenticated as the teachers of Christ’s religion. Get rid of the deadly sophism that there is a class of clever men called ministers or priests to whom alone God has committed his revelation. That, I repeat, is a deadly sophism, an utter, blank, black falsehood. Many a poor suffering woman knows more about the inner meaning of the Bible than any of its learned annotators have ever been able to reveal. No great preacher ever lived that was not great because of his littleness, modesty, teachableness, trustfulness of heart before the Cross. There is no great preaching in the letter. The letter has its place, and a place that must be gratefully recognised and justly honoured; but if ever I would penetrate into the inner and hidden meaning of any passage, I must shut myself up with God and look towards his holy habitation through my blinding tears, and listen as if for life to the still small voice. Only the afflicted man can expound the promises of God, only the man who has been torn down, the roof pulled off that sheltered him, the fire put out that warmed him, the bread snatched out of his hand that fed him, and who has been scourged into the wilderness for forty days together and more, can expound me the deep, rich things of God’s heart.
There are great messages to declare which young persons inexperienced may well speak, for in the delivery of all the messages of this kingdom we want young voices, silver trumpets, grand outbursts, jubilant cries, herald-like clearness and precision of delivery; but when we come to ask our deeper questions, and confront the more solemn problems of life, we must go near to the bent old man whose once thunder voice is now shrivelled into a croaking whisper, and learn from him what the deep messages of God to the human heart really and for ever mean.
Thus we all come upon one level. There are no ministers that are classified and set in rows, and specially authenticated with the key and with the authority of heaven except those ministers men, women, and children, rich and poor who have the child-heart, the child eye, the child-life, and who utter music, and do not know themselves to be more than instruments of God. The greatest revealers of the divine message are men who hardly know that they are revealing it. They speak light, and they wonder that everybody else does not speak in the same way. The man of the keenest insight into Biblical revelation that has lived in this age, so far as I am aware the man of the eagle eye, the eagle-visioned heart is Frederick William Robertson, of Brighton. He seemed to know all God’s heart. When people wrote to him with puzzles and mysteries of a religious kind, he sat down like a little child on the roadside, and said, “I will tell you how that is,” as if he wondered that they did not already know; and his sentences are lights, his pages are luminous. When we have read him, we say, “What fools we were not to have seen it before.” Yet was he persecuted unto the death, utterly killed and slain by men who have yet to face the judgment of God on his account.
Read your Bibles for yourselves; read them in your mother tongue. It is possible not to know in what language the Bible was originally written, and yet to know all its deeper meanings through the translation that is in our hands today. Say, “Open thou mine eyes, and I shall behold wondrous things out of thy law; open my understanding that I may understand the Scriptures. Make me a little child in thy school, thou gentle Christ, and let every word come to my heart in its simplest and directest meaning and force.” Then shall we be all Bible scholars, learned men in the school of Christ. Come with your grammars, your dictionaries, your culture, your cleverness, your controversial powers, your faculties all awake, questioning and cross-questioning and examining point by point, and consistency with consistency; and the Bible can make itself very haughty; like its central figure, it can draw itself up into fatal silence, and look at you as if it heard not a word uttered by your clamorous tongue. I will hasten to my Master, knowing nothing, and asking for knowledge from him, and I will take with me no part of my schooling and cleverness, and sharpness, and shrewdness, and sagacity. I will leave all these things right away behind me, and I will say, “Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do? What is thy will? Show me the meaning of this. If thou canst not say it in letters on an example board, show it in life, ay, though it come to tears and all the agony of lifelong tragedy yet in me magnify thyself. Whether by life or by death, show me thy meaning, and let my heart be the first to see it.”
Jesus Christ sets himself up as an example of the child-mind in Mat 11:27 . “All things are delivered unto me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.” Observe how the words are paternal and filial the Father, the Son, the Father knowing the Son, the Son knowing the Father, and the Son revealing the Father to other sons, for to as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God. It is therefore to the child’s spirit always that the revelation is made. Have we the child’s spirit? We must be born again.
There is another indication of the spirit which Christ will bless the new born spirit desiring the sincere milk of the word little children knowing nothing, but laying their ear on their father’s heart to catch the music of its beating. Let us from this moment renounce ourselves, our cleverness, our ability, our so-called genius and talent, and let us know that the only genius that has any power in the sanctuary is the genius of love. Sorrow hears more than strength and fulness can ever hear, and when we are weakest then are we strongest; when we are most like little children then are we most like the angels of God.
The next words do not break the thread of the sacred discourse; they rather give it a practical and beneficent aspect. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” How sweet can be his tone, how near the heart he can come, with what delicate expressions he can indicate the bitterest experiences of the world. How he knows us, in and out, through and through altogether. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden with your controversies, misunderstandings, ceremonial observances, burden-bearing of every kind. It is a mistake, it is needless come unto me and I will give you rest.” This message I deliver in the name of Christ, to you who have been vexing your intelligence with a thousand questions and problems which you can never answer. My message thus takes upon itself great breadth of application, for I question whether there are many here who have not at times troubled themselves with a thousand outside inquiries which do not relate to the vital essence of this faith, and have nothing to do with the secret of this sanctuary. I question whether there are many here who have not tried to wash their hands when they ought to have known that it was their heart that needed cleansing. To-day bring to me your diaries, your vow-books, your plans, your programmes, your habits, your beginnings and your endings, your fire-lightings, your bullock-offerings, bring them to me and we will burn them in one common blaze and begin again by being nothing at all but little children in God’s house. You want rest, and you can never secure that prize by your own effort. There is not a soul here that does not sigh for rest. There is no rest to be had except through Jesus Christ. The restful alone can give rest, peace alone can give peace. He will self-poise us, set our nature in its proper balance, bring all our faculties into harmonious relation and interplay, and thus he will establish us in the comfort and quietness of his own peace. We have seen this done in countless cases: in every instance we have seen apathy, deadness, surly reluctance sometimes mistaken for resignation, but only in the Christian sanctuary have we seen death accepted as life and the utterest sorrow drunk as a sacrament of blood.
I have just perused the memorials of Catharine and Crawfurd Tait, the wife and the son of the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury. I will risk any argument upon the divinity of Christianity upon the experiences recorded in that volume. Your child died: but have you had two children dying, and as soon as the second died the third sickening for death, and as soon as the third died the fourth getting ready for heaven, and no sooner the fourth taken up than the fifth withers and dies week after week till the whole five go, and all the little graves are green together, and the stranger unable to tell which of the five was cut first? And then have you been able to say, “Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight?” Then truly have you found rest unto your soul! Have you for years watched over your only son, and just when he was coming into the full fruition of his power and beginning life, buried him when he was but nine-and-twenty the only son, the son that was to bear on the family name, the great and honoured patronymic and have you in the midst of all this yourself fallen down once and again all but dead on the floor, and lain in the sick-chamber for six and eight and ten weeks at a time, hardly able to breathe, much less to speak; and have you at the end of it all said, “Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight?” Then truly have you found rest unto your souls!
These are the triumphs which no hand can spoil, these the miracles that have an everlasting force in the calculations and reasonings of the soul. Jesus Christ is therefore not without witness in the families of the earth of his power to give quietness and rest and expectancy of a high kind in the time of flood and fire and sore distress.
Little children, let me tell you something before I sit down, bearing upon this same subject. A gentleman visited a deaf and dumb asylum, and having looked upon all the silent inmates, he was requested to ask some of them a question by writing it on the blackboard. He did not know what question to ask, but at last he ventured to write this inquiry in chalk upon the board, “Why did God make you deaf and dumb, and make me so that I could hear and speak?” The eyes of the silent ones were filled with tears: it was a great mystery. Their cleverness had no answer, but their piety made eloquent reply. One of the little fellows went up to the board, and, taking the chalk, wrote under the question this answer “Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.” That lily we cannot paint!
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
25 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
Ver. 25. At that time Jesus answered ] Here to answer is to continue to speak. Albeit if we compare herewith Luk 10:21 , it may seem to be spoken in answer to the seventy disciples now returning, and relating what they had said and done in their voyage.
” Laetius est quoties magno sibi constat honestum. “
(Lucan.)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
25, 26. ] This is certainly a continuation of the foregoing discourse; and the , which seems to have nothing to refer to, does in reality refer to the words which have immediately preceded. The . is not chronological , but gives additional solemnity to what follows. There may have been a slight break in the discourse; the older interpreters, and Meyer, insert the return of the Apostles; but I do not see any necessity for it. The whole ascription of praise is an answer: an answer to the mysterious dispensations of God’s Providence above recounted. With regard to the arrangement in Luke, see note on Luk 10:21 .
] Not merely, ‘ I praise Thee ,’ but ‘ I confess to Thee, ’ ‘ I recognize the justice of Thy doings; ’ viz. in the words . . . Stier remarks that this is the first public mention by our Lord of His Father; the words in ch. Mat 10:32-33 having been addressed to the twelve (but see Joh 2:16 ). We have two more instances of such a public address to His Father, Joh 11:41 ; Joh 12:28 ; and again Luk 23:34 . It is to be observed that He does not address the Father as His Lord, but as Lord of heaven and earth; as , Eph 1:11 .
. ] didst hide, and didst reveal in the deeper and spiritual sense of the words; the time pointed at being that in the far past, when the divine decrees as to such hiding and revealing were purposed. See 1Co 2:9-12 .
, these mysterious arrangements , by which the sinner is condemned in his pride and unbelief, the humble and childlike saved, and God justified when He saves and condemns. These are ‘revealed’ to those who can in a simple and teachable spirit, as , obey the invitation in Mat 11:28-30 , but ‘hidden’ from the wise and clever of this world, who attempt their solution by the inadequate instrumentality of the mere human understanding. See 1Co 1:26-31 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 11:25-27 . Jesus worshipping (Luk 10:21-22 ). It is usual to call this golden utterance a prayer, but it is at once prayer, praise, and self-communing in a devout spirit. The occasion is unknown. Matthew gives it in close connection with the complaint against the cities ( ), but Luke sets it in still closer connection ( ) with the return of the Seventy. According to some modern critics, it had no occasion at all in the life of our Lord, but is simply a composition of Luke’s, and borrowed from him by the author of Matthew: a hymn in which the Pauline mission to the heathen as the victory of Christ over Satan’s dominion in the world is celebrated, and given in connection with the imaginary mission of the Seventy ( vide Pfleiderer, Urchristenthum , p. 445). But Luke’s preface justifies the belief that he had here, as throughout, a tradition oral or written to go on, and the probability is that it was taken both by him and by Matthew from a common document. Wendt (L. J., pp. 90, 91) gives it as an extract from the book of Logia , and supposes that it followed a report of the return of the disciples (the Twelve) from their mission.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Mat 11:25 . , answering, not necessarily to anything said, but to some environment provocative of such thoughts. (= , Psa 75:2 , etc.). In Mat 3:6 this compound means to make full confession (of sin). Here it = to make frank acknowledgment of a situation in a spirit partly of resignation, partly of thanksgiving. . The fact stated is referred to the causality of God, the religious point of view; but it happens according to laws which can be ascertained. : the exact reference unknown, but the statement holds with reference to Christ’s whole teaching and healing ministry, and the revelation of the kingdom they contained. : the reference here doubtless is to the Rabbis and scribes, the accepted custodians of the wisdom of Israel. Cf. in Deu 4:6 applied to Israel. The rendering “wise and prudent ” in A. V [70] is misleading; “wise and understanding ” in R. V [71] is better. (fr. and , non-speaking) means those who were as ignorant of scribe-lore as babes ( cf. Joh 7:49 and Heb 5:13 ). Their ignorance was their salvation, as thereby they escaped the mental preoccupation with preconceived ideas on moral and religious subjects, which made the scribes inaccessible to Christ’s influence ( vide my Parabolic Teaching , pp. 333, 334). Jesus gives thanks with all His heart for the receptivity of the babes, not in the same sense or to the same extent for the non-receptive attitude of the wise (with De Wette and Bleek against Meyer and Weiss). No distinction indeed is expressed, but it goes without saying, and the next clause implies it.
[70] Authorised Version.
[71] Revised Version.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 11:25-27
25At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants. 26Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. 27All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”
Mat 11:25 In Luk 10:21 these words of Jesus are spoken after the return of the mission of the seventy. Remember the Gospels are not necessarily in chronological order! See Gordon Fee and douglas Stuart, How To Read the Bible For All Its Worth, pp. 127-148.
“I praise You” This compound term in this context can mean to make open avowal (cf. Mat 3:6; Php 2:11), to praise, or to celebrate. This same Greek term translated the Hebrew term for “praise” in the Septuagint. The Aramaic possibly meant “openly agree.”
“Lord of heaven and earth” This is a Hebraic idiom for physical creation. This affirms God as creator of all things. Interestingly, John, Joh 1:3; Joh 1:10; Paul, 1Co 8:6, Col 1:16; and the author of Hebrews, Heb 1:2; Heb 2:10, assert that Jesus is the Father’s agent in creation.
“You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants” This is a Semitic idiom meaning the things that all humans, not just the religious or worldly elite, can know about God. “Infants” referred to new believers (cf. Mat 18:6). It is still surprising that the Jewish religious leaders who knew the OT did not recognize Jesus and put their faith in Him (cf. Romans 9). Isa 50:5 must occur before the result of sin (Isa 6:9-10) can be reversed!
Mat 11:26 “for this was well-pleasing in Your sight” This is a Hebrew idiom for “it was God’s will” (cf. Luk 10:21).
Mat 11:27 “all things have been handed over to Me by My Father” This was a strong affirmation of Jesus’ self-understanding and sense of unique authority given very early in His ministry (cf. Mat 28:18, Joh 3:35; Joh 13:3; Eph 1:20-22, Col 1:16-19; Col 2:10, and 1Pe 3:22). Jesus makes such strong statements about Himself (i.e., Joh 10:1-18; Joh 14:1-24). He cannot be a great teacher, a religious genius! He is either the incarnated Son of God or a lunatic or a liar! There is no middle ground here! The NT is true or Christianity is a lie (cf. 1Co 15:12-19). You must decide!
This verse sounds like John’s Gospel (cf. Joh 3:35; Joh 10:15; Joh 13:3; Joh 17:2). Yet this same truth is repeated in Mat 28:18.
“nor does anyone know the Father” The intensified term “know,” used twice, meant full, complete, and personal knowledge (i.e., epiginosk). No one knows the Father but the Son (cf. Joh 1:18; Joh 17:25; 1Jn 5:1-12).
“and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him” This is not a proof-text for Jesus choosing some and not choosing others. Mat 11:28 shows that God, by choosing Christ, chose all humans (cf. Joh 3:16; Joh 4:42; 1Ti 2:4; Tit 2:11; 2Pe 3:9; 1Jn 2:1; 1Jn 4:14). It also asserts that Jesus is the ultimate revelation of the invisible, eternal God (cf. Joh 1:1; Joh 1:18; Col 1:15; Heb 1:3). He is the only way (1) to know the Father (cf. Joh 1:18; Joh 3:11) and (2) to the Father (cf. Joh 10:1-9; Joh 14:6; Act 4:12; 1Ti 2:5)!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
that time. Of His rejection. Figure of speech Chronographia (App-6), emphasizing the lesson.
time = season.
answered and said = prayed and said. A Hebraism. See note on Deu 1:41.
I thank Thee = I openly confess to Thee.
Father. See App-98.
earth = the earth. App-129.
hast hid = didst hide.
the wise = wise ones (no Art.)
prudent = prudent ones: i.e. in their own eyes.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
25, 26.] This is certainly a continuation of the foregoing discourse; and the , which seems to have nothing to refer to, does in reality refer to the words which have immediately preceded. The . is not chronological, but gives additional solemnity to what follows. There may have been a slight break in the discourse; the older interpreters, and Meyer, insert the return of the Apostles; but I do not see any necessity for it. The whole ascription of praise is an answer: an answer to the mysterious dispensations of Gods Providence above recounted. With regard to the arrangement in Luke, see note on Luk 10:21.
] Not merely, I praise Thee, but I confess to Thee, I recognize the justice of Thy doings; viz. in the words … Stier remarks that this is the first public mention by our Lord of His Father; the words in ch. Mat 10:32-33 having been addressed to the twelve (but see Joh 2:16). We have two more instances of such a public address to His Father, Joh 11:41; Joh 12:28; and again Luk 23:34. It is to be observed that He does not address the Father as His Lord, but as Lord of heaven and earth; as , Eph 1:11.
. ] didst hide, and didst reveal in the deeper and spiritual sense of the words; the time pointed at being that in the far past, when the divine decrees as to such hiding and revealing were purposed. See 1Co 2:9-12.
, these mysterious arrangements, by which the sinner is condemned in his pride and unbelief, the humble and childlike saved, and God justified when He saves and condemns. These are revealed to those who can in a simple and teachable spirit, as , obey the invitation in Mat 11:28-30, but hidden from the wise and clever of this world, who attempt their solution by the inadequate instrumentality of the mere human understanding. See 1Co 1:26-31.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 11:25-26. At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.
Jesus answered: sovereign grace is the answer to abounding guilt. With rejoicing spirit Jesus sees how sovereign grace meets the unreasonable aboundings of human sin, and chooses out its own, according to the good pleasure of the Fathers will. Here is the spirit in which to regard the electing grace of God: I thank thee. It is cause for deepest gratitude.
Here is the author of election: O Father. It is the Father who makes the choice, and reveals the blessings. Here is his right to act as he does: he is Lord of heaven and earth. Who shall question the good pleasure of his will? Here we see the objects of election, under both aspects; the chosen and the passed-over. Babes see because sacred truths are revealed to them, and not otherwise. They are weak and inexperienced. They are simple and unsophisticated. They can cling, and trust, and cry, and love; and to such the Lord opens up the treasures of wisdom. The objects of divine choice are such as these. Lord, let me be one among them! The truths of the heavenly kingdom are hid, by a judicial act of God, from men who, in their own esteem, are the wise and prudent. They cannot see, because they trust their own dim light, and will not accept the light of God.
Here we see, also, the reason of election, the divine will: So it seemed good in thy sight. We can go no further than this. The choice seemed good to Him who never errs, and therefore it is good. This stands to the children of God as the reason, which is above all reason. Deus vult is enough for us. If God wills it, so must it be, and so ought it to be.
Mat 11:27. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
Here we have the channel through which electing love works towards men: All things are delivered unto me of my Father. All things are put into the Mediators hands; fit hands both towards God and towards man; for he alone knows both to perfection. Jesus reveals the Father to the babes whom he has chosen. Only the Father can fill the Son with benediction, and only through the Son can that benediction flow to any one of the race of men. Know Christ, and you know the Father, and know that the Father himself loveth you. There is no other way of knowing the Father but through the Son. In this our Lord rejoiced; for his office of Mediator is dear to him, and he loves to be the way of communication between the Father whom he loves, and the people whom he loves for the Fathers sake. Observe the intimate fellowship between the Father and the Son, and how they know each other as none else ever can. Oh, to see all things in Jesus by the Fathers appointment, and so to find the Fathers love and grace in finding Christ! My soul, there are great mysteries here! Enjoy what thou canst not explain.
Mat 11:28. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Here is the gracious invitation of the gospel in which the Saviours tears and smiles were blended, as in a covenant rainbow of promise. Come: he drives none away: he calls them to himself. His favourite word is, Come. Not-go to Moses; but, Come unto me. To Jesus himself we must come, by a personal trust. Not to doctrine, ordinance, or ministry are we to come first; but to the personal Saviour. All labouring and laden ones may come: he does not limit the call to the spiritually labouring, but every working and wearied one is called. It is well to give the largest sense to all that mercy speaks. Jesus calls me. Jesus promises rest as his gift: his immediate, personal, effectual rest he freely gives to all who come to him by faith. To come to him is the first step, and he entreats us to take it. In himself, as the great sacrifice for sin, the conscience, the heart, the understanding obtain complete rest. When we have obtained the rest he gives, we shall be ready to hear of a further rest, which we find.
Mat 11:29-30. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Take my yoke and learn: this is the second instruction; it brings with it a further rest which we find. The first rest he gives through his death; the second we find in copying his life. This is no correction of the former statement, but an addition thereto. First, we rest by faith in Jesus, and next we rest through obedience to him. Rest from fear is followed by rest from the turbulence of inward passion, and the drudgery of self. We are not only to bear a yoke, but his yoke; and we are not only to submit to it when it is laid upon us, but we are to take it upon us. We are to be workers, and take his yoke; and at the same time we are to be scholars, and learn from him as our Teacher. We are to learn of Christ and also to learn Christ. He is both Teacher and lesson. His gentleness of heart fits him to teach, to be the illustration of his own teaching, and to work in us his great design. If we can become as he is, we shall rest as he does. We shall not only rest from the guilt of sin,-this he gives us; but we shall rest in the peace of holiness, which we find through obedience to him. It is the heart, which makes or mars the rest of the man. Lord, make us lowly in heart, and we shall be restful of heart. Take my yoke. The yoke in which we draw with Christ must needs be a happy one, and the burden which we carry for him is a blessed one. We rest in the fullest sense when we serve, if Jesus is the Master. We are unloaded by bearing his burden; we are rested by running on his errands. Come unto me, is thus a divine prescription, curing our ills by the pardon of sin through our Lords sacrifice, and causing us the greatest peace by sanctifying us to his service. Oh, for grace to be always coming to Jesus, and to be constantly inviting others to do the same! Always free, yet always bearing his yoke; always having the rest once given, yet always finding more: this is the experience of those who come to Jesus always, and for everything. Blessed heritage; and it is ours if we are really his!
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Mat 11:25. , answering) Sc. to those things which He was considering concerning His Fathers design, His own thoughts, and the character of His disciples.[539]-, I praise) Nothing can be predicated with praise of God,[540] which is not so in fact: , praise,[541] is predication.[542] Jesus returned thanks to His Father afterwards in the same words, when the seventy disciples had well performed the work which He had appointed them.-, , Father, Lord of heaven and earth) He is frequently called the Father of Jesus Christ, sometimes also His God; never His Lord, but the Lord of heaven and earth. Let us learn, from the example of Jesus Christ, to apply to God those titles which are suitable to the subject of our prayers. The Jews also forbid to cumulate divine titles in prayers. The address in this passage is indeed most magnificent.- – , …, because Thou hast hid-and revealed, etc.) A double ground of praise. For , Thou hast kept concealed, cf. Mat 11:27; for , Thou hast revealed, cf. again Mat 11:27, at the end.-, these things) Concerning the Father and the Son, concerning the kingdom of heaven.-, the wise) i.e. those who arrogate to themselves the character of wisdom.[543]-, prudent) i.e. those who arrogate to themselves the character of prudence.[544] Cf. 1Co 1:19.-, Thou hast revealed) See ch. Mat 16:17.-, to infants) Such as the twelve apostles and seventy disciples were: See Luk 10:21; they were very young, for they bore witness for a long time afterwards. They were infants, as being ready to believe and simple-minded; see Mat 18:3.
[539] He uttered the words which follow with an exulting spirit.-V. g.
[540] The word used by Bengel is Confiteor, which occurs in the Vulgate, both here and in 1Ch 16:35 with the same sense. That such is his meaning, is clear from his employing in his German Version the phrase, Ich preise Dick, which, when applied to God, signifies I PRAISE or MAGNIFY Thee. Bengel employs the word Confiteor in preference to any other, because, like the Greek , it signifies both generically, with an accusative, to confess, acknowledge, proclaim, etc., and specifically, with a dative, to laud, praise, or magnify [GOD].-See Riddle and Schleusner in voce.-E. V. renders , I thank.-(I. B.)
[541] The word used by Bengel is Confessio, which he employs with direct reference to his previous Confiteor, on which see preceding footnote.
[542] And conversely, therefore, Predication is Praise. They are the two sides of an eternal and immutable equation. Much to the same effect, Bengel says elsewhere (ch. Mat 6:9), Deus est sanctus, i.e., Deus sanctificatur ergo, quando ita, ut est, agnoscitur et colitur et celebratur. Consequently, in confessing, acknowledging, and proclaiming, or in any other mode PREDICATING the truth cuncerning GOD (and not otherwise), we PRAISE Him.-(I. B.)
[543] Beng. attributes to the the habitus noticus; to the , the habitus dianoticus; the same difference as between and , mind and discriminative intelligence or discernment.-Ed.
[544] Beng. attributes to the the habitus noticus; to the , the habitus dianoticus; the same difference as between and , mind and discriminative intelligence or discernment.-Ed.
On the meaning of , Gesenius says:-(1.) Confession, Jos 7:19; Ezr 10:11. (2.) Thanksgiving, Psa 26:7; Psa 42:5. to offer praise to God (for a sacrifice), Psa 50:14; Psa 50:23; Psa 107:22; Psa 116:17 (where the phrase is not to be taken as though proper sacrifices were spoken of). , Lev 22:29; Lev 7:13; Lev 7:15, comp. 12, and ellipt. , a sacrifice of thanksgiving, Psa 56:13. (3.) A choir of givers of thanks, praising God. Neh 12:31; Neh 12:38; Neh 12:40.-(I. B.)
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Jesus: Luk 10:21-24
I thank: 1Ch 29:13, Dan 2:23, Joh 11:41, 2Th 2:13, 2Th 2:14
Lord: Gen 14:19, Gen 14:22, Deu 10:14, Deu 10:15, 2Ki 19:15, Isa 66:1, Dan 4:35, Act 17:24
because: Mat 13:11-16, Isa 5:21, Isa 29:10-14, Isa 29:18, Isa 29:19, Mar 4:10-12, Joh 7:48, Joh 7:49, Joh 9:39-41, Joh 12:38-40, Rom 11:8-10, 1Co 1:18-29, 1Co 2:6-8, 1Co 3:18-20, 2Co 3:14, 2Co 4:3-6
and hast: Mat 16:17, Mat 18:3, Mat 18:4, Mat 21:16, 1Sa 2:18, 1Sa 3:4-21, Psa 8:2, Jer 1:5-8, Mar 10:14-16, 1Co 1:27
Reciprocal: Gen 1:1 – God 2Sa 16:23 – all the counsel Neh 9:5 – bless Job 15:8 – the secret Job 17:4 – General Job 28:21 – hid Job 32:9 – Great Job 37:24 – he Psa 36:6 – judgments Psa 116:6 – preserveth Psa 119:99 – than all Pro 3:32 – his Pro 9:4 – General Pro 14:6 – scorner Isa 14:24 – Surely Isa 28:9 – weaned Isa 29:11 – I cannot Isa 32:4 – heart Isa 53:1 – revealed Isa 54:13 – all Isa 55:9 – General Dan 4:37 – the King Amo 8:12 – shall run Mic 4:2 – and he Zec 12:7 – save Mat 5:3 – the poor Mat 19:14 – for Mat 20:15 – it Mar 4:11 – Unto you Mar 10:32 – And he Mar 12:37 – And the Luk 8:10 – Unto Luk 11:4 – for Luk 12:32 – it is Luk 12:56 – ye can Joh 3:10 – Art Joh 6:44 – except Joh 8:19 – if Joh 9:37 – Thou Joh 17:6 – have manifested Act 4:13 – were Rom 1:14 – both to Rom 2:20 – a teacher Rom 6:17 – But Rom 9:16 – General 1Co 1:21 – the world 1Co 1:26 – that 1Co 2:7 – even 1Co 2:8 – none 1Co 2:10 – God 1Co 14:6 – revelation 1Co 14:20 – malice Eph 1:4 – as Eph 1:17 – revelation Eph 3:10 – manifold Phi 3:8 – the excellency Col 1:19 – General Col 2:2 – of the Father Col 3:3 – hid 2Ti 1:9 – according to his Heb 5:13 – he Heb 13:15 – giving thanks to Jam 1:17 – good 1Pe 1:12 – it 2Pe 1:17 – God Rev 11:17 – We give Rev 14:3 – no
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE REVELATION OF THE GOSPEL
At that time Jesus answered and said My burden is light.
Mat 11:25-30
Let us look at this remarkable passage sentence by sentence.
I. To whom the Gospel was revealed.First, the Lord gave open thanks to His Father because of the class of persons to whom the Gospel was revealed. They had something which no book-learning could give. They believed in Jesus as their Lord and Master, and trusted Him implicitly.
II. A further truth.Secondly, the Lord announces a further and perhaps a grander truth. The dignity of His position, and the glory of his office, are set forth in the words that follow
(a) All things are committed unto Me by My Father. What a far-reaching utterance! The Being Who had just been addressed as the Lord (or possessor) of heaven and earthwords which take us back to the days of Melchizedekcommits all things to the Son.
(b) But the Lord proceeds, No one fully knoweth the Son but the Father. All full clear knowledge of the Lord Jesus is a matter of revelation from the Spirit of God to the spirit of man.
(c) Neither doth any one fully know the Father, except the Son, and those to whom the Son chooseth to reveal Him. The light of Christ in the soul opens the eye to the glory of God, to His wonderful love, and to His eternal purposes. How little we should know of Him were it not for the manifestation of Himself in His only-begotten Son.
III. The comfortable words.Did any one imagine from the strong words just uttered that ordinary human beings were debarred from coming into contact with this wonderful Being who was the Delegate of the Most High? Then, let them listen a little longer. The Lord speaks again, and he speaks for all time. Come unto Me.
The class of person specially aimed at in this invitation is thus describedAll that toil, and all that are burdened. The voice of Jesus still rings out calm and clear, tender and strong. These words need very little exposition; what they really need is to be listened to and acted upon.
Canon R. B. Girdlestone.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
1:25
The Pharisees professed to have superior wisdom, yet their hearts had become so hardened with selfishness that the important principles of responsibility had been hid from their perception. Babes is a figurative term for the honest and humble people who were ready to hear the lessons of truth offered to them.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
THERE are few passages in the four Gospels more important than this. There are few which contain, in so short a compass, so many precious truths. May God give us an eye to see, and a heart to feel their value!
Let us learn, in the first place, the excellence of a childlike and teachable frame of mind. Our Lord says to His Father, “Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes.”
It is not for us to attempt to explain why some receive and believe the Gospel, while others do not. The sovereignty of God in this matter is a deep mystery: we cannot fathom it. But one thing, at all events, stands out in Scripture, as a great practical truth to be had in everlasting remembrance. Those from whom the Gospel is hidden are generally “the wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight.” Those to whom the Gospel is revealed are generally humble, simple-minded, and willing to learn. The words of Mary are continually being fulfilled, “He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent away empty.” (Luk 1:53.)
Let us watch against pride in every shape,-pride of intellect, pride of wealth, pride in our own goodness, pride in our own deserts. Nothing is so likely to keep a man out of heaven, and prevent him seeing Christ, as pride. So long as we think we are something we shall never be saved. Let us pray for and cultivate humility. Let us seek to know ourselves aright, and to find out our place in the sight of a holy God. The beginning of the way to heaven, is to feel that we are in the way to hell, and to be willing to be taught of the Spirit. One of the first steps in saving Christianity is to be able to say with Saul, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” (Act 9:6.) There is hardly a sentence of our Lord’s so frequently repeated as this, “He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” (Luk 18:14.)
Let us learn, in the second place, from these verses, the greatness and majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The language of our Lord on this subject is deep and wonderful. He says, “All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son save the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whom the Son shall reveal him.” We may truly say, as we read these words, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain to it.” We see something of the perfect union which exists between the first and second Persons of the Trinity. We see something of the immeasurable superiority of the Lord Jesus to all who are nothing more than men. But still, when we have said all this, we must confess that there are heights and depths in this verse, which are beyond our feeble comprehension. We can only admire them in the spirit of little children. But the half of them, we must feel, remains untold.
Let us, however, draw from these words the great practical truth, that all power and authority, in everything that concerns our soul’s interests, is placed in our Lord Jesus Christ’s hands. “All things are delivered unto him.” He bears the keys: to Him we must go for admission into heaven. He is the door: through Him we must enter. He is the Shepherd: we must hear His voice, and follow Him, if we would not perish in the wilderness. He is the Physician: we must apply to Him, if we would be healed of the plague of sin. He is the bread of life: we must feed on Him, if we would have our souls satisfied. He is the light: we must walk after Him, if we would not wander in darkness. He is the fountain: we must wash in His blood, if we would be cleansed, and made ready for the great day of account. Blessed and glorious are these truths! If we have Christ, we have all things. (1Co 3:22-23.)
Let us learn, in the last place, from this passage, the breadth and fullness of the invitations of Christ’s Gospel.
The three last verses of the chapter, which contain this lesson, are indeed precious. They meet the trembling sinner who asks, “Will Christ reveal His Father’s love to such an one as me?” with the most gracious encouragement. They are verses which deserve to be read with special attention. For eighteen hundred years they have been a blessing to the world, and have done good to myriads of souls. There is not a sentence in them which does not contain a mine of thought.
Mark who they are that Jesus invites. He does not address those who feel themselves righteous and worthy. He addresses “all that labor and are heavy laden.”-It is a wide description. It comprises multitudes in this weary world. All who feel a load on their heart, of which they would fain get free, a load of sin or a load of sorrow, a load of anxiety or a load of remorse,-all, whosoever they may be, and whatsoever their past lives,-all such are invited to come to Christ.
Mark what a gracious offer Jesus makes. “I will give you rest.-Ye shall find rest to your souls.” How cheering and comfortable are these words! Unrest is one great characteristic of the world. Hurry, vexation, failure, disappointment, stare us in the face on every side. But here is hope. There is an ark of refuge for the weary, as truly as there was for Noah’s dove. There is rest in Christ, rest of conscience and rest of heart, rest built on pardon of all sin, rest flowing from peace with God.
Mark what a simple request Jesus makes to the laboring and heavy-laden ones. “Come unto me:-Take my yoke upon you, learn of me.” He interposes no hard conditions. He speaks nothing of works to be done first, and deservingness of His gifts to be established. He only asks us to come to Him just as we are, with all our sins, and to submit ourselves like little children to His teaching. “Go not,” He seems to say, “to man for relief. Wait not for help to arise from any other quarter. Just as you are, this very day, come to me.”
Mark what an encouraging account Jesus gives of Himself. He says, “I am meek and lowly of heart.” How true that is, the experience of all the saints of God has often proved. Mary and Martha at Bethany, Peter after his fall, the disciples after the resurrection, Thomas after his cold unbelief, all tasted the “meekness and gentleness of Christ.” It is the only place in Scripture where the “heart” of Christ is actually named. It is a saying never to be forgotten.
Mark, lastly, the encouraging account that Jesus gives of His service. He says, “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” No doubt there is a cross to be carried, if we follow Christ. No doubt there are trials to be endured, and battles to be fought. But the comforts of the Gospel far outweigh the cross. Compared to the service of the world and sin, compared to the yoke of Jewish ceremonies, and the bondage of human superstition, Christ’s service is in the highest sense easy and light. His yoke is no more a burden than the feathers are to a bird. His commandments are not grievous. His ways are ways of pleasantness, and all his paths are peace. (1Jn 5:3. Pro 3:17.)
And now comes the solemn inquiry, Have we accepted this invitation for ourselves? Have we no sins to be forgiven, no griefs to be removed, no wounds of conscience to be healed? If we have, let us hear Christ’s voice. He speaks to us as well as to the Jews. He says, “Come unto me.”-Here is the key to true happiness. Here is the secret of having a light heart. All turns and hinges on an acceptance of this offer of Christ.
May we never be satisfied till we know and feel that we have come to Christ by faith for rest, and do still come to Him for fresh supplies of grace every day! If we have come to Him already, let us learn to cleave to Him more closely. If we have never come to Him yet, let us begin to come to-day. His word shall never be broken: -“Him that cometh unto me, I will in nowise cast out.” (Joh 6:37.)
Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
Mat 11:25. At that season. Probably immediately after the denunciation just recorded.
Answered. Not necessarily to an oral question, nor even to the thoughts of the listeners. The ascription of praise seems rather an answer to His Heavenly Father.
I thank thee, I fully confess, thankfully acknowledge the justice of thy doings.
O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. Christ addresses God as His Father, not as His Lord. There are four instances of such public address of our Saviour to His Father; in each case resulting from deep emotion. Here the cause was the impenitence of His own people. The term, Lord of heaven and earth, is peculiarly appropriate, since He was about to mention another evidence of Gods sovereignty.
That thou didst hide these things, i.e., the character and saving work of Christ, but including the condemnation of the proud, the saving of the humble, and the righteousness and mercy of God as thereby displayed; for the revelation of all these things centres in the revelation of Christ to the believing heart. God hides such things only in just judgment, and the exercise of His justice is rather a leaving of the sinner to the natural result of his sin.
The wise and prudent, according to a worldly estimate; in this case, Pharisees and proud Jews. Those most learned and sagacious in all earthly things often cannot understand the simplest truths of Christianity. They are hid from them, by God indeed, but through their own pride. Merely intellectual culture usually leads to pride, which is the greatest hindrance in learning moral and religious truth.
Reveal them. These things are revealed in general to men in the Gospel, but also, through this, revealed to individuals.
Unto babes. Those despised by the world, because often ignorant of what it values, or considered babes, because they believe like little children what their Heavenly Father reveals to them.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
In these verses our Saviour glorifies his Father for the wise and free dispensation of his gospel-grace to the meanest and most ignorant; whilst the great and learned men of the world undervalued and despised it.
By wise and prudent, Christ means worldy-wise men, particularly scribes and pharisees from whom God in judgment did hide the mysteries of the gospel, and said ye shall not see; because they had closed their eyes, and said, ye shall not see.
By babes, understand such as are at the greatest distance in natural consideration from a capacity for such rich and heavenly manifestations. By hiding these things from the wise and prudent, we are not to understand God’s putting darkness into them, but his leaving them to their own darkness, or denying them that light which they had no desire to see; plainly intimating, that God judicially hides the mysteries of heavenly wisdom from worldy wise men.
Learn, 1. That till God reveals himself, his nature and will, no man can know either what he is, or what he requires; Thou hast revealed.
2. That the wise men of the world have in all ages despised the mysteries of the gospel, and therefore been judicially given up by God to their own wilfull blindness; Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent.
3. That the most ignorant and most humble, not the most learned, if proud, do stand ready to receive and embrace the gospel revelation: thou hast revealed them unto babes.
4. That this is no less pleasing to Christ, than it is the pleasure of the Father; Even so, Father, as it seemed good in thy sight. As if Christ had said, Father, thy election and choice pleaseth me, as being the choice and good pleasure of thy wisdom.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Mat 11:25-26. At that time Jesus answered, &c. This word does not always imply that something had been spoken, to which an answer is now made. It often means no more than the speaking in reference to some action or circumstance preceding. The following words Christ speaks in reference to the case of the cities above mentioned: I thank thee That is, I acknowledge and joyfully adore the justice and mercy of thy dispensations. The original word, , sometimes denotes to confess sins, sometimes to acknowledge favours, and sometimes also to adore or celebrate. It is chiefly in the last of these senses that the word is to be here understood. Because thou hast hid That is because thou hast suffered these things to be hid from men, who are in other respects wise and prudent, while thou hast discovered them to those of the weakest understanding, to them who are only wise to God-ward. We have the same idiom, Rom 6:17, God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed, &c. The thanks are not given for their having been formerly the servants of sin, but for their being then obedient. It seems they were but a few, and those generally the lower sort of people, who embraced Christs doctrine, and co-operated with him in erecting his kingdom; nor was his religion soon to meet with a better reception in the other countries where it was to be preached; circumstances which, in the eyes of common wisdom, were melancholy and mortifying. But our Lord foresaw that, by the direction of God, these very circumstances would become the noblest demonstrations of his personal dignity, the clearest proofs of the excellence of his religion, and the most stupendous instances of his power, who, by such weak instruments, established his dominion in every part of the habitable world, against the policy, the power, and the malice of devils and men combined to oppose it. Our Lord, therefore, properly made the rejection of the gospel by the great men of the nation, and the reception of it by persons in lower stations, the matter of a special thanksgiving, both now and afterward in Judea, Luk 10:21. , babes, in Scripture language, are persons whose faculties are not improved by learning, but who, to that sagacity and understanding which is purely natural, join the dispositions of modesty, sincerity, humility, docility, and all the other engaging qualities that are to be found in children. This is plain from Mat 18:3. Babes, therefore, stand in opposition, not to men of sound judgment and reason, but to proud politicians and men of learning, who are so full of themselves that they disdain to receive instruction from others, and who make all their abilities subservient to their advancement in this world. Macknight.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
THE WISE & THE PRUDENT
Mat 11:25. At that time, Jesus responding, said, I praise Thee O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and the prudent, and revealed them unto babes. Yea, Father, because thus it was well pleasing in Thy sight. Here our Savior calls His apostles and disciples babes, and very appropriately, as the whole gospel Church remained in spiritual babyhood till Pentecost. Here, Jesus says that the Father was pleased to withhold these deep, sweet, and wonderful revelations from the wise and the prudent, and has revealed them to babes. We are frequently admonished to be wise and prudent. Good Lord, deliver me from the wisdom and prudence which would disqualify me to get down to the bottom of the valley of humiliation, from which I can look up and see the beauty of holiness!
THE SON THE ONLY REVELATOR OF THE FATHER
Eight hundred millions identified with the paganistic Churches, one hundred and seventy-five millions belonging to the Churches of Islam, and all the Unitarians in the Protestant world, ignore and reject the Divinity of Christ. You see their awful dilemma, claiming to worship the Father when they never can know Him, as they reject the Son, who alone can reveal Him.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Mat 11:25-30. Jesus and His Mission.
Mat 11:25-27 treats of the relation between the Father and the Son (Luk 10:21 f.), Mat 11:28-30 of the yoke of Jesus (Mt. only). No stress can be laid on at that time, though these things might mean the significance of the wonders which Chorazin and the other towns had not perceived, or (excluding Mat 11:20-24) the methods of the Divine wisdom. Lk. makes the words refer to the theme of the preaching of the Seventy, and we may well place them after Mar 6:31. They mark that period in the ministry when the refusal of the religious teachers of Israel to accept Christs teaching became unmistakably clear. Answered and said is merely an OT idiom. Jesus is thankful, not that the wise and prudent (Isa 29:14, 1Co 1:19-28) are blind, but that the poor and simple see. After Even so (Mat 11:26) supply I thank thee. It is possible that the Aramaic word Abba, which lies behind father in Mat 11:27, should be taken as a vocative.
All is now revealed to me, O
Father, And no one knows Thee, O Father, except Thy Son;
No one knows Thy Son, O Father, but Thou,
And those to whom the Son reveals Himself.
This would preserve the same type of prayer as is found in the previous stanza. The passage furnishes a strong link between the Synoptic Gospels and the Fourth Gospel, where the peculiar gift of Christ is the knowledge of God and of Himself, i.e. eternal life (Joh 17:3).
Mat 11:27. There is no vital difference between the words for know used by Mt. (epiginskei) and Lk. (ginskei). The prefix does not imply fuller knowledge, but knowledge directed to a particular point. There are several variant readings in the verse, e.g. knew for knoweth, and the transposition of the two clauses about the Son knowing the Father and the Father the Son (see Harnack, Sayings of Jesus, pp. 272310; also JThS, July 1909).all things: a complete revelation.have been delivered: not necessarily in a state of pre-existence. The verb implies the communication of a mystery. MNeiles additional note should be studied. He paraphrases the passage thus: I thank Thee, O Father, that it was Thy good pleasure to reveal these things to babes through My teaching. I alone can do it because the whole truth has been entrusted to Me. None except Thee could know My Sonship so as to reveal it to Me; and none except Myself, the Son, could know Thee, the Father. Thus I can reveal both truths to whomsoever I will.
Mat 11:28-30. The passage shows the influence of Sir 51:23 ff. and Jer 6:16. It need not have been originally connected with Mat 11:25-27, but it forms a happy prelude to Mat 12:1-13. The weary and heavy laden are those who toil under the demands of the Law and its Rabbinical amplifications. Jesus offers them rest or refreshment; His demands are few and easyall He asks is trust and love. The yoke is a common figure in Jewish literature, e.g. the yoke of the Law (cf. Act 15:10), the yoke of the Kingdom, the yoke of the commandments. Jesus goes on to say that His desire is to help and save; He is meek, i.e. not overbearing like the Scribes, and gentle (cf. 2Co 10:1, and C. H. Robinson, Studies in the Character of Christ, i.).your souls=yourselves.The gentleness of Jesus guarantees the gentleness of His yoke. For complementary truth see Mat 5:20, Mat 10:38, Mat 16:24. The yoke of Jesus is an inspiration rather than a code, and it gives those who accept it vigour and buoyancy fully and joyfully to fulfil demands greater than any imposed by the Jewish Law.
Montefiore and Loisy, like other scholars, notably Pfleiderer, contest the genuineness of Mat 11:25-30. Harnack (Sayings of Jesus, Excursus I) stoutly defends the whole passage. [The discussion has recently passed into a new stage with the investigation devoted to the passage by Norden in his Agnostos Theos (1913), pp. 277308, 394396 (see also Bacons article in the Harvard Theological Review for Oct. 1915).A. S. P.]
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Verse 25
Babes; persons of humble character and station.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
11:25 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast {g} revealed them unto babes.
(g) Through the ministry of Christ, who alone shows the truth of all things pertaining to God.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
3. The King’s invitation to the repentant 11:25-30
This invitation is a sign of Israel’s rejection of her King since with it Jesus invited those who had believed in Him to separate from unbelieving Israel and to follow Him. In Mat 11:20-24 Jesus addressed the condemned, but in Mat 11:25-30 He spoke to the accepted. This section is a Christological high point in the Gospel.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Matthew’s connective "at that time" is loosely historical and tightly thematic. [Note: Carson, "Matthew," p. 274.] Jesus’ titles for God are appropriate in view of His prayer. "Father" focuses on Jesus’ sonship and prepares for Mat 11:27 whereas "Lord of heaven and earth" stresses God’s sovereignty and prepares for Mat 11:25-26. "These things" refer to the significance of Jesus’ miracles, the imminence of the messianic kingdom, and the implications of Jesus’ teaching.
"As elaborated in the context, it [this revelation] concerns in greatest measure two matters. The one matter is the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven (Mat 13:11). And the other is insight into Jesus’ identity as the Son of God (Mat 14:33; Mat 16:16)." [Note: Kingsbury, Matthew as . . ., p. 137.]
The "wise and prudent [or learned]" are the self-sufficient Jews who rejected Jesus because they felt no need for what He offered. The "babes [or little children]" are the dependent who received Jesus’ teaching as needy individuals. Israel was not humble but proud. Consequently she could not understand the things that Jesus revealed to her.
It was God’s good pleasure to hide truth from some and reveal it to others. This may make God appear arbitrary and unfair. However, Scripture reveals that God owes man nothing. God is not unjust because He hides truth from some while revealing it to others. Hiding things from some is an evidence of God’s judgment, not His justice. That He extends mercy to any is amazing. That He extends it to those who are inadequate and totally dependent is even more incredible. Furthermore, because He hides truth from those who reject it He shows mercy to them because He will just all people by their response to the truth they have.
Jesus delighted in the fact that His Father revealed and concealed truth as He did (Mat 11:26). Jesus delighted in whatever God did. His disciples should do likewise.
"It is often in a person’s prayers that his truest thoughts about himself come to the surface. For this reason the thanksgiving of Jesus here recorded is one of the most precious pieces of spiritual autobiography found in the Synoptic Gospels." [Note: Tasker, p. 121.]