What if the unrecorded question had been about the mixed response to the disciples’ ministry, as I surmised. There had been a few miracles, including the deliverance of some from their demon possession. We read of that in Luke’s account of this same conversion. But, generally speaking, there was relatively little positive response to the preaching of the gospel. Why? The answer which so many people hate to hear (and I emphasize the word “hate”) is that God the Father is revealed only to the hearts of SOME people and not to others. And yet no one can know God, until Christ, through the Holy Spirit, makes Him known to that person. And – no one can understand that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah until that knowledge is miraculously revealed to him. “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.” In the wisdom and providence of God, Jehovah has “HID these things from the wise and prudent, and hast REVEALED them unto babes.”
I believe that is the basic answer to the unrecorded question. But in addition to the sovereign rule of God in revealing or concealing saving grace, there are a couple of other matters brought up in verse 27. Perhaps I shouldn’t do anything more than bring them to your attention. But I would like to venture into some of the mysterious territory where even angels fear to tread. Let’s think about the unique and almost incomprehensible relationship which exists between God the Father and the Son. Since the Lord brought the matter up, we have the right, if not the obligation to meditate on these things, even though our understanding is limited by the natural corruption of our human condition.
First, Jesus refers to THE ETERNAL RELATIONSHIP that exists between the Father and the Son.
“I thank thee, O FATHER, Lord of heaven and earth…….. Even so, FATHER: for so it seemed good in thy sight. 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…”
The idea that God is the Father of Israel, or in some way the Father of us all, was not foreign to the people of Jesus’ day. There are a dozen verses which say things like – The Lord is, ”a father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, God in his holy habitation.” “Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: Doubtless thou art our Father.” “O LORD, thou art our father, our redeemer; thy name is from everlasting.” Christ’s disciples were not unaware that Jehovah was a special Father to all of them. But something which was absolutely new to people’s ears was the way in which Christ referred to God. Fifty-nine times Jesus spoke of “MY Father” in the four gospels – and then again three times in Revelation.
Matthew 11:27 and all those other scriptures, indicate that Jesus had a very special relationship to God. It was unique – unlike anything that any other person ever had – not David, not Abraham – no one. No other Biblical person – prophet, priest or king – ever spoke of Jehovah as “my Father” – although it might have been justified depending on the context. And Christ never spoke to anyone about “our Father.” Of course there was that day when He was asked about prayer, and responded with a pattern. He said, “After this manner therefore pray YE: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.” In that statement the Lord was giving us permission to refer to Jehovah as “our Father.” and even “my Father,” but never did He put us with himself in regard to His Father.
I will not try to prove it to you this morning, because it goes beyond my purpose, but the Bible teaches that God exists in a Trinity – a Triunity, if you like. There is but one God, and “Jehovah” is His name – not “Allah.” Paul said, “To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him…” There is “one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” There is one God, but that God exists in three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It can be proved that each of those persons possesses all of the attributes which only deity can possess. And on several special occasions in God’s Word, all three of those persons could be identified together. Furthermore, God, in this Triunity, has existed eternally. Jesus, did not become the Son of God at the time of His birth. He has always been the Son of God – eternally. There are no scriptures which give us all the details about this Trinity, but there are several which reveal it. For example there is the prophecy of Isaiah 9:6 – “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” The Holy Spirit has told us in the Gospel of John that the Bible was written, “that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”
From time to time, unbelievers try to suggest that Jesus of Nazareth never believed that He was God. They try to tell other foolish people that this was an idea concocted by some of Jesus’ disciples. They try to say that the whole idea of Christianity was founded on a hoax. But the truth of the matter is that Jesus knew Himself to be the eternal Son of God, and often revealed it. These three verses, and particularly verse 27, make that fact clear. 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.”
In Christ is the complete REPOSITORY OF DEITY.
As I said earlier, perhaps all that I should be doing this morning is giving to you my outline. I say that is because, there is much of this which I do not know and cannot explain. For example, my understanding of being a son is related almost entirely to my relationship to my father, Antony Leslie Oldfield, and then to my son, Kraig. I am positive that the Sonship of Christ to His Father is not like anything that I have known or experienced. For example, the eternal Son of God is not younger than God the Father. There never was a time when the Father was stronger, smarter, wiser or more experienced than the Son. Deity cannot be “relatively” omnipotent, “sort of” omniscient or not omnipresent. And although the Son laid aside some of the prerogatives of His deity, when He became incarnate, the Son of God was never inferior to the Father. I have to admit that I don’t fully understand what the Son of God possessed and didn’t possess in relationship to His position before His incarnation, but I can read my Bible, and the Lord has given me grace to believe what I have read in His Word.
For example, Paul’s letter to the Colossians is a great declaration of the deity of Christ. It says that Jesus Christ is the redeemer – our Saviour from sin. “In (Christ) we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” In Christ we have “peace through the blood of his cross,” by whom we have been reconciled unto God. It also says that He is the Creator of all things – “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible…” “And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” In my book, to be creator and upholder of all things is the same thing as being God. But beyond this sort of thing, Colossians says that Jesus Christ “is the IMAGE of the invisible God.” That suggests that when looking at Jesus Christ we can see the invisible God.
Colossians 2:9 is an extremely powerful statement. “For in (Christ) dwelleth ALL the FULNESS of the Godhead bodily.” The word “dwelleth” speaks of residing somewhere on a permanent basis. The word translated “Godhead” is “theotes” (theh-ot’-ace) and it is found only once – in this scripture. It means, “the state of being God.” And the word “fulness” speaks of filling something to the very top in such a way that there isn’t room for anything more. Colossians 2:9 says that all the attributes of God are to be found eternally, and in their fullest extent in the person whom we know as the Lord Jesus Christ.
I cannot explain this thought any better than what is said several times in the scriptures. The Son of God possesses all that is God. The Father possesses all of the Son – they are separate persons, and yet one – along with the Spirit. It is impossible for people like us to stand in the same spot at the same time, but that is not an impossibility for the three persons of the Trinity. It is impossible for two omnipotent beings to exist, and yet in the Father and the Son that is the case. That is partially explained in Jesus’ words, “I and my Father are one.” They are one in essence, one in deity, they are one God, in a way that I have no words to describe. When Philip expressed some confusion about these very things Christ replied: “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.”
Going back to Matthew 11:27 Jesus said, “ALL things are delivered UNTO ME of my Father.” Despite all that I cannot explain, I know that this means that Christ Jesus possesses everything which God the Father possesses. Jesus was a complete repository of everything divine.
And there exists between them AN ABSOLUTE INTIMACY.
“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…” When we try to think about God, we are limited by our sins, our feeble brains and our limited experiences. As I say, we know what it is to be a child by what we experience as children and parents. That means that our experiences are not the same as those of the Son of God. And what we know generally about things, is different from the way that deity knows all things.
Christ’s knowledge of the Father is different from any knowledge that we have. It was not an intellectual knowledge, an emotional knowledge, something learned or something instinctive. We think that we know our spouse or our children, but sadly we very often don’t know them as well as we think that we do. And further proof of that is seen in what we know or only think that we know about ourselves. We have yet to be in certain situations and position where we would be tested in new ways. We may think that we know how we would respond to something, but we’ve not been there yet and our reaction might be entirely different from what we believe that it will be. In other words, we don’t even know ourselves, because our hearts are deceitful and naturally wicked.
Christ’s knowledge of His Father was, and still is, absolutely perfect – intimate. On several occasions the Lord Jesus spoke of that knowledge, or of the Father’s knowledge of Him. In each case He said that His knowledge was different from ours. Lift up your estimation of His knowledge beyond what you know of others. Divine knowledge is absolutely absolute – even beyond mechanical or theological omniscience. It is pure intimacy.
Finally, Christ speaks of Himself as THE PERFECT REPRESENTATIVE of Deity.
“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.”
The Apostle John, after declaring the deity of Christ in chapter 1, goes on to say, “No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” What is meant by the words, “which is in the bosom of the Father?” It is speaking about all of the things which I’ve just said in regard to the divine relationship. And the words “only begotten Son” reminds us of that unique relationship between the Father and the Son. But it stops short of saying that Jesus is the Son of God “because of his birth.” It is speaking about their relationship, but not of how that relationship began. However, the glorious, invisible God, has been revealed to us through the incarnation of the Son. In studying the Son, those whose hearts God has touched can see the infinite God. Do you want to know the Lord, then look to Christ Jesus.
In John 6 Jesus says something very similar to what He says here in Matthew 11 – “No man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. Not that any man hath seen the father, save he which is of God (referring to Himself), he hath seen the Father.”
John 17 is one of the most wonderful chapters in all the word of God – it is a prayer of the Lord Jesus “These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent… I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me… O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
There are many other scriptures which run along this line, but I don’t want to stray too far from Matthew 11. “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. 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.” Some of the disciples returned from their first missionary journey distressed that they had not been more successful. In their zeal, and in the joy of their own salvation, perhaps they forgot that humanity has been destroyed by sin. All of us come into this world blinded to the truth of God; we are spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. It is impossible for us to grasp who God is, and what we must know in order to be delivered from eternal death. If anyone is going to be saved, it will take a number of miracles – acts of God. And among them there must be the miracle of the revelation of God Himself. This is the sovereign work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God – God incarnate – God in the flesh. You cannot know God unless the Lord reveals Himself to you. It is not an intellectual attainment.
If you from sin are longing to be free, you must look to Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God. If you understand, and fully sense your spiritual condition, your great need then is Christ. “This is life eternal, that they might know thee only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent…” You must cast aside your personal wisdom and prudence, as Jesus implies in verse 25. You must become like a child – a babe – admitting your ignorance and total dependence on grace. “Teach me, Lord. Reveal yourself to me. I cast myself down before your mercy. Save me.” Plead with the Lord if you must; then repent; and trust the Christ who died on the cross. As the Lord convicts you, “turn unto Christ, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and He will give you rest.”