God’s Choice in Revelation.

In Matthew 11:25-27 Jesus prayed a prayer of adoration to God the Father recognizing God’s sovereign choice to reveal Himself to whomever He pleased. This is a well-known truth, but it’s remarkable in its context. In Matthew 11:1-19 Jesus addressed the crowd’s failure to accept the message of John the Baptist and, by extension, Jesus Himself. Then in 11:20-24, Jesus denounced the cities where most of His miracles had been done because they hadn’t repented.

At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.” (Matthew 11:25–26)

Do you see the connection? Both John the Baptist and Jesus were God’s revelation of Himself to those Jews who heard them preach. Jesus’s miracles were God’s revelation of Himself to those Galilean cities. God chose to reveal Himself to them. And what’s even more astounding is that God has chosen to reveal Himself to you as you read this.

Anytime I interact with God’s Word, God is choosing to reveal Himself to me, and that is significant. No longer do I have to look and wonder if God is revealing Himself; I know He is. No longer can I excuse myself for not having the opportunity to know Him.

God is mercifully revealing Himself to me. That raises the ante; it changes the stakes. Especially since v20-24 essentially say that our judgment is directly related to the amount of revelation we’ve received. Maybe I should apologize for potentially making things worse for you in the judgment, . . . or maybe better, I should say, “Come to Jesus and find rest for your souls” (Mt 11:28-30).