Hidden In Plain Sight

We’ve spent the last few weeks in Matthew chapter 11, and one of the themes had been expectations, specifically the way in which Jesus challenges expectations. Everybody was waiting for the Messiah and His messenger. But when they showed up, they wer nothing like what people expected. And so John and Jesus were largely rejected.

I asked us the question a couple of weeks ago—is there a chance we could fall into the same trap? Is there a chance we could have our own set of expectations about the way things should be, and try to make Jesus match up to those expectations? Are we okay with Jesus doing and saying things differently than we thought He would?

Today’s passage is a great test of that question. Because in today’s passage, Jesus says things that challenge us. He tells us that He does things in a way that we might not expect. And one question this passage will ask us is: will we be okay with what Jesus has said, or will we feel the pressure to make him fit our mold?

1. The People's Unbelief (vv. 20-24)

To begin answering that question, let’s pick up where we left off last week, where Jesus was rebuking some of the towns where He’d done mighty signs and they still hadn’t believed in Him. And He made the startling statement that if He had done those same signs in the notoriously wicked cities of Tyre, Sidon and Sodom, they would have repented of their sin.

On the Day of Judgement, those Baal-worshipping predators would get off easier than the squeaky-clean law-abiding Israelites who rejected their Messiah when He came to them.

But there’s another layer to Christ’s statements we want to consider, even though it might make us feel uncomfortable. Jesus said “if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago.” “If the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.”

So here’s the question: why didn’t God show them any mighty works, so that they would do that? If all it would have taken was some miracles to convince them to repent, why not just show them some miracles?

Just think about Sodom: God sent two angels there. And actually He himself was present in a bodily form visiting Abraham not far off. Surely, those angels, or even He Himself, could have done some mighty works and convinced the people there to repent? Why did God withhold those miracles and destroy them instead?

As far as I understand it, there is one answer to this question. It’s an answer that might challenge us, but it’s the only answer I can come up with. The answer is that God chose to do it that way. God chose to punish Sodom for their wickedness instead of performing miracles to convince them to repent.

He had reasons for that choice we may not understand, but in the end it was His choice.

2. The Father’s Will (vv. 25-26)

And the reason I say this with some confidence is not just because of logic or speculation, but because in verses 25-26 Jesus specifically highlights His Father’s choice in the matter of belief and unbelief, not just with the pagans of yesterday, but with the unbelievers in His own generation.

“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; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.” (Matthew 11:25–26).

At that time—in close connection to what He’s just said—Jesus begins to pray. He prays out loud for the benefit of His hearers. And in this prayer He praises His Father for His sovereign work of hiding “these things” from some people and revealing them to others. Every word and phrase here matters and we want to make sure we get everything here.

First, notice Jesus’ confession of praise. “I thank you, Father.” Jesus is not embarrassed or bothered by what He’s about to say. He thanks and praises God for His activity in this regard.

Second, Jesus acknowledges who the father is: Lord of Heaven and Earth. He is the supreme ruler over all that there is, above or below, seen and unseen. God is the powerful king over everything.

Third, Jesus thanks or praises His father for hiding “these things from” certain people in his generation. Why did the people in his own generation not believe in Jesus as the Messiah, even though He Himself was right in front of them doing these miracles that should have made anyone believe? A key part of the answer is that God has hidden these things from them.

Clearly, this doesn’t always mean hiding them in a visual way, because Jesus was doing these signs out in public. His miracles were the opposite off hidden. But God had hidden from them the spiritual understanding to see the real meaning of the things that they saw. They watched miracles, and instead off believing, they went off and plotted how to kill Jesus. The meaning of Christ’s signs, and the true identity of Jesus Himself, was hidden from them.

And that leads us into the fourth observation from verse 25: Jesus says that the father has hidden these things from “the wise and understanding.” That seems kind of ironic, doesn’t it? If someone could watch Jesus heal a man right in front of their eyes, and not believe in Him as the Messiah, they must not actually be very wise and understanding, right?

But that’s the whole point. The “wise and understanding” are the people who think that about themselves. But because their hearts are far from God, and because they’ve rejected God’s word, they don’t actually know a thing. This is a theme that shows up all over the place in Scripture, and that’s the biblical language that Jesus is picking up on here (Jeremiah 8:8-9, Isaiah 29:13-14, Romans 1:22, 1 Corinthians 1:18-21).

When Jesus talks about God hiding things from the wise and understanding, He’s not describing humble people who are genuinely seeking truth, and God is playing some mean trick on them. Rather, He’s describing arrogant know-it-alls who don’t think they need God to show them anything, and so as an act of judgement, God gives them over to their deepest desires. He doesn’t show them anything. And He hides from them the truth that could save them.

What could be worse than having the Messiah standing in front of you and wanting to kill him instead of worshipping Him? But what could be a more fitting judgement on people who are consumed with arrogance and don’t think they need God to tell them anything?

Remember the judgement that John was looking for? Here’s the first steps. God is already judging the wicked by hiding from them the ability to recognize Jesus. And this will lead to further and deserved judgement on Judgement Day when they finally pay for all of their crimes.

Verse 25 doesn’t end there, though. Hiding these things from the so-called wise is not the only thing that the Father did. He also “revealed them to little children,” as verse 25 concludes.

“Little children” is a common picture in the New Testament for someone who is humble and dependent upon others. Someone who knows they don’t know everything, and is willing to be taught. Jesus regularly refers to his disciples as “little ones.” It’s a phrase that can include literal children, but is more of a word picture for someone who depends on God the way a child depends on their parent. In other words, it’s the opposite of the “wise and understanding” person who thinks they already know everything.

And according to Jesus, the Father reveals the truths of the kingdom to this kind of person. Not the person who thinks they know everything. But the person who comes to Him like a child. And that’s quite a challenge to us, because we spend most of our lives trying so hard to grow up. If you’re a teenager, you can’t wait to leave childhood behind. If you’re an adult, one of the worst insults someone can give you is to treat you like a child. Doesn’t that make us furious? Don’t we feel the need to prove to people how much we know and how competent we are?

But this is so dangerous. Because Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3).

Humble, child-like faith isn’t just one way to enter the kingdom of Jesus. It’s the only way. Only those with the humility to be taught, to humbly admit that they don’t know anything apart from the Lord revealing it to them, only those with the humility to give up their pride and rely on the Lord, can enter the kingdom. He hides it from the wise and reveals it to little children—and only to little children.

The final observation we want to make about this point back here in Matthew, which is that Jesus does not apologize for this truth. He started off this section by thanking and praising God that he had done this, and here in verse 26 he finishes His prayer by saying, “yes, Father, for such was your gracious will” (Matthew 11:26).

The sense of the word “Gracious” here has the idea that it pleased God to do it this way. Like the NIV says, “Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do” (Matthew 11:26, NIV).

It pleases God to hide the truth from the proud and reveal it to the humble. It pleases Him because it puts human arrogance in its place and it brings Him glory and it makes us all boast in him, not us. Hiding from the “wise” and revealing to “children” is God’s good pleasure.

3. The Son’s Role (v. 27)

Now you might stand back from verse 25 and 26 and say, “Is Jesus really saying that if we know Him, and believe in Him, that it’s because the truth of the kingdom was specifically revealed to us?” And the answer is, “that’s exactly what He’s saying.” And if we turn over to verse 27, Jesus continues to unpack this truth and explain to His listeners that He is the Father’s agent in doing this work of hiding and revealing. In other words, the Father accomplishes His gracious will of hiding and revealing through the Son.

And He does it through the Son because of the special, intimate relationship shared by Father and Son, which Jesus unpacks in the first part of verse 27: “All things have been handed over to me by my Father” (Matthew 11:27).

This statement is a little preview of the great commission: “All Authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (28:18). And in the background here I can’t help but see glimpses of Daniel’s vision in Daniel 7, where the Son of Man appears before the Ancient of Days who gives Him “dominion and glory and a kingdom” (Daniel 7:14). Several times in the gospel of John Jesus states that the father has given judgement, and life, and glory, and authority to the Son. All of that is summed up here when Jesus says, “all things have been handed over to me by my Father.”

A part of the background here is the way that father-son relationships worked in the ancient world. Sons didn’t go off to university to learn a trade; they grew up working with their dads, doing what their dads did, and would eventually inherit the family business. Fathers and sons shared the secrets of the family trade and insider knowledge about their work. And as time went on the father would give more and more of his responsibility to his son until the day when he would hand all things over to him and say “It’s yours now.”

Jesus here is claiming that same kind of close, intimate, father-son relationship with God the Father. Eternally begotten, eternally loved, the Father has entrusted His Son with the work of bringing about salvation. All things have been handed over from the Father to the Son.

Next, Jesus makes the claim that “no one knows the Son except the Father.” Nobody truly knows Jesus except His Heavenly Father. Once again, we know little glimpses of this in our human relationships. You might know my sons, but you don’t know them the way that I do. How much more the Heavenly Father with His eternal son?

We can also consider the fact that, at that point, nobody else really knew who Jesus was. As best, people were just starting to grasp His real identity. The Father knew that this humble form of a servant He’d taken on is not His true identity. The Father knew the glory that belonged to his Son, the power that is His, the joy they’d experienced in each other’s presence in perfect fellowship for all eternity, their delight as they fashioned the universe together.

Nobody really knew the Son except the Father.

There’s a third statement here that would have been especially surprising to Jesus’ hearers: “And no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

Just like the Father has unparalleled knowledge of the Son, so the Son has that same unparalleled knowledge of the Father. Nobody knows the Father except the Son.

But this would have been so surprising to the crowds, right? These were observant Jewish people. They thought they knew God. They were God’s chosen people. The question to them wasn’t whether or not they knew God. They weren’t sure that Jesus knew God. Who did this upstart peasant with no education who didn’t keep their traditions think he was?

But Jesus turns the tables and says, actually, nobody knows the Father except for me. You think you know God? I’m His Son. And in John’s gospel He makes the point that if they really did know God, they would have also known the Son (John 5:23, 8:42, 15:23).

Here, Jesus makes a more specific point: as the Son, not only is He the only one who truly knows the Father, but in fact nobody else can know the Father unless He choses to reveal the Father to them.

Let’s make sure we understand what Jesus is saying here. Jesus is saying more than just that He’s the only way we can come to know God. We all know John 14:6—“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). But I think we sometimes interpret that verse in a way that puts a lot of the emphasis on us.

We’re all trying to get to God, and we can’t make it, and Jesus is the bridge that lays across the chasm so we can finally get to the Father. But it’s all up to us. We walk across, and the bridge just lays there.

But that’s not what Jesus is telling us here in Matthew 11:27. He’s telling us that He has a lot of agency in this matter. “No one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him.”

Jesus has a choice in whether or not anybody knows the Father. And in fact, Jesus is saying that nobody can know the Father unless the son chooses to reveal or unveil the Father to them. This word for “choose” here means “choose” and is translated elsewhere in the Bible as “resolve” or “plot” or “willing” or “wanted.” Nobody knows the Father unless Jesus wants to reveal the Father to them.

And we might say, “well, doesn’t Jesus want everybody to know the Father? Doesn’t Jesus reveal the Father to everybody, and it’s up to them whether they respond or not?” But that’s not what verse 25 told us. Verse 25 told us that God has hidden “these things” from some people and revealed them to other people. And using that exact same word for “revealed,” Jesus explains in verse 27 that He is the Father’s agent in this work of revealing the truth of the kingdom to some and not others.

As God hides and reveals the truth of the kingdom, He does it through His son, Jesus. Nobody knows the father except the Son and whomever the Son chooses to reveal him.

4. The Call to Come (v. 29)

Now, we’re almost all the way through this passage. But we have one more stop, which comes in verse 28: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Right after telling people that nobody can know the Father unless the Son chooses to reveal the Father to them, Jesus gives an open invitation: “Come to me, all who labor and are heaven laden, and I will give you rest.”

We’re not going to camp out on this verse a whole lot, because Jordan is going to preach on verses 28-30 next week. But what we want to consider here the relationship between verse 28 and the rest of the passage.

Here’s what often happens with verse 28. People read verses 25-27, and they get really uncomfortable. It sounds like God is in control of this whole thing, and that doesn’t fit with what we’re used to. But then we read verse 28, and we see Jesus openly inviting anybody to come to Him, and we breathe a sigh of relief, and say, “Whew.”

You see this happen whenever people talk about this question of God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. Some people want to stress that we see both in Scripture, but they treat these various passages like they cancel each other out. Here’s all this stuff about God’s sovereignty, and—yikes—that makes me nervous, so here’s some verses about human responsibility, and that calms me back down, and now I don’t have to think too carefully about the sovereignty part anymore.

But if this is all God’s word, than we can’t try to use it to cancel itself out. So let’s make a few observations about verse 28. I have four.

First, whatever verse 28 means, it does not cancel out verses 25-27. Jesus meant everything He said in verses 25-27, and we must wrestle with those verses and take them seriously. They are as much a part of the word of God as verse 28.

Second, notice whom Jesus addresses these words to: “all who labor and are heavy laden.” This may be a specific reference to the way people were oppressed by the Pharisees, or a general call to anybody weary by sin. But it’s not likely that the people who thought of themselves as “wise and understanding” would have also thought of themselves as “weary and heavy laden.” In other words, I’m suggesting that this invitation in verse 28 does not contradict the statement in verse 25 that the Father has hidden these things from the wise and understanding. Jesus is talking to those humble enough to know that they’re tired and need someone to give them rest.

Third, note the form of Jesus’ address. “Come.” It’s easy for us to just assume this is an invitation, like, “Maybe you might want to think about coming?” But that’s not what this word means and how it’s used in the New Testament. This word is more like, “come on!” It’s the word used by the Samaritan woman when she tells the town to come meet Jesus. And when Jesus uses the word, we should take it seriously.

This is the same word used by Jesus when he said to His first disciples, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). Literally, “come after me!” Or “come on after me!” There’s a sense of urgency here, and when the king of the universe tells you to come, we should recognize His authority. In other words, this is not just a suggestion. Hear Jesus telling us to come to Him.

Fourth, we should not assume that this general call for people to come to him contradicts the truth from verse 27 that He reveals the Father to whomever He will. If He reveals the Father to whomever He wants to, and here He tells the weary and heavy laden to come to Him, could not verse 28 be the way that verse 27 happens? In other words, Jesus reveals the Father to people by effectively and powerfully calling them to Himself?

What I’m getting at here is that Jesus’ words are powerful. When Jesus says to the leper, “be clean,” His words actually do something. The leper is clean as the words are spoken (Matt 8:3). When Jesus rebukes the wind and the waves, they quiet down (Matt 8:26). When Jesus tells the paralytic to get up, he gets up (Matthew 8:6).. His powerful command creates the healing so that the paralytic can obey the command in the first place. Jesus tells Matthew, “Follow me,” and as the command is spoken, something happens in his heart, and he just gets up and follows (Matt 9:9).

What I’m pointing to here is how often Jesus works through His words. His words are the way that He does His work. It’s as it was in the beginning: how does God make light? He says, “Let there by light.” How does Jesus resurrect Lazarus? He tells him, “Come out.” He works through His words.

And so I’m suggesting that we understand verse 27 and 28 in a similar way. Jesus’ call to come to Him, like his words to the leper, like his words to the paralytic, like his words to Matthew, actually do something. They are the means whereby He reveals Himself to people, giving them the faith to believe, and effectively calling to Himself those whom He’s chosen. AS Paul says in Romans 10:17, “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

I remember hearing the testimony of a man who was lost in sin, and he read Matthew 11:28, and in that moment those very words revealed the love of God to Him and He believed in Christ. In other words, Jesus did verse 27 through verse 28.

Now, fifth, and finally, let’s affirm that there is a general sense in which Jesus’ words are a genuine offer to everybody. We can say to anybody, “Come to Jesus, and find rest for your souls.” Like we heard last week, God commands all people everywhere to repent. And we can say with confidence that everybody who comes to Jesus will find rest for their souls. Every person who repents and believes will be saved.

So we share the gospel and we pray for people and we urge all people to respond to Jesus. We don’t know the sovereign plan of God. We pass the offer of the gospel to all who will listen, knowing that, in the words of Acts 13:48, as many as are appointed to eternal life will believe.

Conclusion

Before we go too much further in terms of application, let’s just step back and see how today’s passage fits in to the flow of John 11. The Messiah has come, His messenger has been sent before Him as promised, and like silly children in the marketplace, so many of the people in Jesus’ generation did not believe.

But that does not mean that God’s purposes are thwarted. The unbelief of so many is not a surprise that caught God off guard. Rather, His good pleasure was to hide these things from the arrogant and reveal them to the humble, a work He accomplishes through His son Jesus. In this way, today’s passage functions much like Romans chapter 9. The word of God hasn’t failed. Everybody whom God has chosen will come to Him.

As we conclude our time in this passage this morning, I know that some of you here love what you’ve heard this morning. You love the truth of a sovereign God hiding and revealing and choosing. A God who is the main character in the drama of salvation, and who is active in the work of drawing and calling people to Himself. I know that others of you might really struggle with this idea. It’s a real challenge. You’re not sure how it fits together with other parts in the Bible. You’re not sure where it leaves you or the people you love.

I know that some people can struggle with this for a while. I just talked to a brother this week who took about 10 years to come to terms with God being this big and this sovereign over salvation. So I don’t expect that one single sermon is going to answer every question and settle every struggle.

What I do want to encourage you this morning is to ask the Lord to make you okay with Him being as big as He wants to be. Make you okay with Him being the main character in this work of salvation. Ask the Lord to keep you from trying to enforce your preferences and ideas on Him, but instead to make you willing to accept whatever His word teaches, even if it really challenges how you see the world.

Whatever verses 25-27 teach, Jesus didn’t struggle with it. He rejoiced in it. Could you ask God to bring you to that same place?

Maybe you want to do some further study on this topic. I’d suggest you start with the Bible. Read Romans 9, for example. I’ve encouraged people who are struggling with this to read Romans 9 every day for a week and see where it leaves them.

We did a four-week Sunday School class on this topic back in the spring. It’s called “Considering Election” and you can find it on our website.

For today, can we rest in something that we can all agree with: that salvation is 100% a gift of the Lord? Like I heard someone explaining so well this week, salvation isn’t fair. It wasn’t fair for Jesus to pay for my sins. God doesn’t owe me anything. Even if you’re not sure how this all works, can we rejoice together in the words of 1 Corinthians 1?

“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. 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; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord’” (1 Corinthians 1:26–31).

And if this morning you know Jesus as your saviour and are following Him as your Lord, as you take part in the bread and the cup, praise God for revealing these things to you. Thank God that these things haven’t been hidden from you, and recognize that you can’t take any credit for that. Praise Jesus that He chose to make the Father known to us. Thank Him for saving you.

The Lord’s table here is a reminder of Christ, who is our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. It’s a chance for us to remember yet again that we are but little children who needed someone to come and rescue us by giving His body and shedding His blood to forgive our sins.

And we never move on from there. We come this morning with faith like children. We might not have everything figured out, but Jesus said to come, and so we come. Maybe you need to come to Him for the first time today. You can turn from your sin and believe in Him right now as you respond to His powerful words.

All of us, let’s gather like children around the cross and rejoice in a grace that we desperately need and could never deserve.