Matthew 11:25-30

Introduction

English Standard Version Chapter 11

Come to Me, and I Will Give You Rest

25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

As I’ve mentioned multiple times up to this point, chapters 11-12 are a loose compilation of narratives, or historical accounts, that record how people responded to Jesus and his ministry. And in our last time together we looked at verses 16-24 where Jesus emphatically rebukes several of the cities in the district of Galilee. An entire paragraph is dedicated to Jesus’ condemnation of these cities.

We read back there starting in verse 20,

English Standard Version Chapter 11

20 Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”

And if you’ll recall, Jesus rebukes these cities because, as Matthew puts it in verse 20, “they did not repent.” Now, these were not necessarily people who outwardly opposed Jesus, or hadn’t come to see his miracles but they were condemned because of their apathy toward his ministry, they were unaffected by his ministry, there was no change as a result of his ministry, there was no repentance.

The pride of Galilee

And seemingly there was some kind of pride that kept the people from responding to Jesus’ call to repentance. It’s likely why we read there in verse 23, “And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades.” It’s as though Jesus was responding to a people who genuinely saw no need within themselves to repent, and so he asks them, “will you be exalted to heaven?” as if they thought they would be, and of course his answer is no, instead “you will be brought down to Hades.” Talk about a massive reality check.

Praying to the Father

Now, I remind us of this because it serves as the backdrop for what we read in our text today, and it’ll help us to understand what Matthew records for us here in verses 25-30. So, in light of that refresher, we read again there in verses 25-26,

English Standard Version Chapter 11

25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.

Now, on the outset it’s helpful to notice that Jesus no longer appears to be speaking directly to the crowds, instead he seems to be praying. We can see this right away when he addresses not the crowd but instead his Father in heaven there in verse 25. In fact, there’s a parallel passage in Luke chapter 10, and when Jesus finishes this same prayer Luke tells the reader that then Jesus turns to his disciples to speak to them privately. So there’s often a regular change in audience that we’re expected to catch as we’re reading, that may not always be as obvious as we might expect.

Revealed to little children

So there’s a change in audience that we’re expected to catch as we’re reading, and whil

Now with all that in mind it’s as though Jesus is facing the crowds to publically rebuke them, and then immediately turns to his Father in prayer to say thank you, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and instead have revealed them to little children. You can almost feel Jesus moving from frustration to relief.

In one moment he’s frustrated with the hard hearts of the people of Galilee, and then in the next he turns to his Father in prayer and thanks him that instead of revealing these things to the so called wise and understanding, that he has revealed these things to little children; that he’s revealed these things to those who are poor in spirit, to those who are lowly of heart - like little children.

God has made foolish the wisdom of this world

God has made foolish the wisdom of this world

And at this point if you’re at all familiar with the NT it’s hard not to recall Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church, so turn with me if you will, to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, starting in verse 18. Paul takes this point that Jesus makes here and he runs with it.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

Christ the Wisdom and Power of God

18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

Revealed to little children

So what we see here is exactly what Jesus is talking about back in , verse 26. Paul tells the believers in Corinth to consider their calling, to remember that many of them were not wise according to worldly standards, that not many of them were powerful, or of noble birth. That God, as Jesus puts it, has hidden these things from the wise and the understanding and instead has revealed them to little children.

God’s purposes in salvation

This

You see, if salvation were of us, our choosing of who should be save woul

There’s a reason that so many have not responded to Jesus’ ministry as they ought to, and the answer is simply because God has not revealed it to them, or has Jesus puts it that God has hidden it from them.

And Paul says that God has done this for a reason, to shame the wise, and to shame the strong; that God chose what is low and despised in the world, even the things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. God does this to make it abundantly clear that salvation is not because of someone’s great intellectual ability, or someone’s inherited earthly nobility, but that salvation comes from God and God alone. Just as Albert pointed out last week in Jonah that Salvation is of the Lord, and here Jesus rejoices in that.

It’s why Jesus says there in verse 26, “yes, Father, for such was your gracious will,” or as other translations render it, “for such was your good pleasure.” And it’s of paramount importance for us as Christians to understand that it is God who defines what is good and what is right. God is our standard for what is good, right and beautiful, therefore we ought to rejoice in whatever God rejoices.

Authority handed over to Jesus

And then in verse 27 Jesus appears to redirect his address to those around him, presumably again to the crowds, and he says,

English Standard Version Chapter 11

27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

The phrase, “all things have been handed over to me by my Father” is important because it connects Jesus to God the Father, and it’s this connection that demonstrates his authority to execute and dispense the sovereign will of God the Father. It grounds his assertions throughout the rest of the verse, his exclusive claim that no one knows the Father except the Son and that it is the Son’s prerogative to reveal himself to whomever he chooses.

The Son given dominion and a kingdom

If you would, turn with me to Danial chapter 7, we’ve been here before but it’s an important and helpful text for us to see again the progression of revelation concerning the Son from the OT to the NT.

We read there starting in verse 13,

English Standard Version Chapter 7

The Son of Man Is Given Dominion

13 “I saw in the night visions,

and behold, with the clouds of heaven

there came one like a son of man,

and he came to the Ancient of Days

and was presented before him.

14  And to him was given dominion

and glory and a kingdom,

that all peoples, nations, and languages

should serve him;

his dominion is an everlasting dominion,

which shall not pass away,

and his kingdom one

that shall not be destroyed.

This is a description of not only what will come to pass in the heavens, but what’s coming to pass even here in the Gospels. Jesus is this “son of man” who has been given dominion and a kingdom, that a people should serve him. This is what Jesus is referring to when he says back in verse 27 of that “all things have been handed over to me by my Father,” this has already happened. This is the reason Jesus is preaching what Matthew has called over and over again the good news of the kingdom. And it’s how Jesus can make the claim that “no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son.” Jesus is claiming an exclusive relationship with God the Father which no one else possesses.

How the Scriptures use the word ‘know’

Now it’s important to note that when the Scriptures typically use the word ‘know’ they do not mean merely an intellectual ascent. Sometimes in our day and age we’ll say we know someone when we really mean that we just know of, or about, the person, whereas when Jesus says that only he knows God the Father he’s speaking of a face to face knowing, an intimate relationship.

Similarly, we saw this back in Matthew chapter 7 when Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven” and that there will be many on the Day of Judgement that will not be let in despite their claims of doing many mighty things in his name, and Jesus says he will “declare to them, ‘I never knew you’.” And, of course, Jesus doesn’t mean that he has no divine awareness of their existence, but rather what he means is that there was no relationship from they knew one another.

Anyone the Son chooses to reveal

And then Jesus says at the end of verse 27,

English Standard Version Chapter 11

and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

What we see here is precisely what we saw back in verses 25-26, that ultimately the response to Jesus’ ministry can always be traced back to the will of God himself. And it’s this very issue that will prompt the disciples to ask Jesus in chapter 13, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” and Jesus will respond and say, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.”

We also see the exclusivity of Jesus in salvation just as we do in when Jesus says, “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known the Father also.” And it’s why Peter says in that, “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we much be saved.”

Come to me

Then after Jesus’ words of exclusivity he issues a general call to the crowd, he says there in verse 28,

English Standard Version Chapter 11

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

And while his invitation is given to all the implication is that only those who recognize their spiritual bankruptcy will respond to his call. Only those who have grown weary of trying to keep the law by their own strength will come to him. And this is how the law is intended to work, to drive us to Christ, to make us see our great need for a savior, to see that we need delivered from our bondage to sin. And so Jesus stands offering to give us rest from our labors, rest from a burden that we cannot carry.

Take my yoke upon you

Then Jesus gives the crowd a metaphor there in verses 29-30,

English Standard Version Chapter 11

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

He tells them to exchange their yoke of slavery for his. To submit their lives to him, because unlike all other taskmasters he is gentle and lowly in heart, and that they will find rest for their souls in him. In the OT a yoke was typically a symbol of oppression, submission and slavery, but Jesus says that his is easy, neither harsh nor severe.

We see here in our text the sovereign prerogative of our Lord. Like Nineveh in the Book of Jonah we saw God choosing to have mercy on whom he will have mercy, having compassion on whom he will have compassion, despite the unjust objection of another (like Jonah). Often showing mercy to those who are, by the world’s standards, weak, ignorant. unwise and of ignoble birth (), or to those we think are “undeserving” of such mercy. Again, he we find that salvation is of the Lord.

Now, one clarification I want to make before we wrap up with verses 28-29. One might wonder and one might ask, “Isn’t it unfair for God to choose some and not others?” The simple is answer is, “No.” The reason is that

You see, Christ sets us free from the law by fulfilling the law, fulfilling all of its requirements. For those who receive him he’ll bear the full weight of the righteous requirement of the law on our behalf. This is why the sinless life of Jesus is equally important as the sacrificial death of Jesus. Not only did he need to pay the penalty of our sin but he bore the burden of carrying out the full requirements of the law. By his life, death and resurrection the entirety of our salvation is purchased.

Prayer