Read Matthew 11:25–27
Questions from the Scripture text: How is the timing of Matthew 11:25-30 related to that of Matthew 11:21-24? To Whom does Jesus address His response about the unbelief of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum (Matthew 11:25)? In what way does He address Him? For what does He at first thank Him? For what does He secondly thank Him? For what does He praise the Father in Matthew 11:26? What does Jesus have (Matthew 11:27)? From Whom did He receive them? Who knows the Son? Who else? Who knows the Father? Who else?
How is God glorified? Matthew 11:25–27 looks forward to the morning sermon in public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God is glorified both in hardening the reprobate and especially in saving the elect.
Praising God for wrath and reprobation. When Jesus addresses Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum about their unbelief, He cries out their woe. But then, He turns and gives what may seem at first an odd response to us: He thanks God for hiding these things from the wise and the prudent.
This tells us a couple very important things about the unbelief of the unconverted. First, God is sovereign over it. We have fallen into ignorance through our sin in Adam, but as God is sovereign over everything, He has “hidden these things” from the unbeliever.
Second, God is righteous and good in hiding it from them. Jesus thanks Him for doing this, and so will we, as we become conformed to the mind of Christ. Revelation 19:1–5 teaches us that we will praise God for the greatness, justness, and completeness of His wrath.
An impoverished church that has ceased to sing the Psalms does not grapple well with the holiness and wrath of God. But if we are to think and praise like Jesus does, this will be our response to the judgment of God. A proper doctrine of God’s holiness and justice thanks Him for hiding life from humanity that is wise in its own eyes.
Praising God for sovereign mercy. The babies in Matthew 11:25 are not less sinful than “the wise and prudent” from whom salvation has been hidden. But they are less capable. God’s saving them is over-against both their just desserts and their utter inability. In fact, for His own glory, God especially saves those who seem least savable (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:18–31). A big part of Jesus’s praise of His Father here is that He has saved according to His mere good pleasure (Matthew 11:26).
The Father’s pleasure in all things: glorifying the Son, with Himself, and in the church. What has seemed most “good” in the Father’s sight is to deliver all things into His Son’s hands. For, He alone truly knows His Son. He is God, together with His Son and His Spirit, from all eternity. He knows His Son’s worthiness. And He gives His Son that of which the Son is worthy: Himself.
But there is a marvelous glory at the end of Matthew 11:27. The Son is not only worthy of knowing the Father for Himself, but even of revealing His Father to sinners whom He saves! The Father glorifies His Son by displaying Him as glorious enough to save!
We, too, ought to praise the Father and the Son (and the Spirit) for glorifying Himself not only in holy justice but also in sovereign mercy—and for doing so by bringing us into such a fellowship with God, of which only God Himself is worthy!
At what times/occasions do you meditate upon the holiness of God, the sovereignty of grace, the worthiness of the Son, and that fellowship of the Godhead into which believers are brought? What difference are these things making in how you think and feel and act throughout your life?
Sample prayer: Lord, we thank You and praise You for the holiness and justice in which You hide salvation from self-righteous humanity. And we thank You and praise You all the more for saving us, who are but babies. We thank You and praise You for glorifying Yourself in Your Son by bringing us into Your own fellowship in Him, by Your Spirit. Grant that our lives would be full of thanksgiving and praise to You, in fellowship with You, in Christ, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP73C “Yet Constantly I Am with You” or TPH73C “In Sweet Communion, Lord with Thee”
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