The first God-man, after reproaching the surrounding cities for not being willing to receive His teaching and repent (Matt. 11:20-24), prayed to the Father, and based upon His prayer, He gave a wonderful teaching to His disciples (vv. 25-30). Most of the time, we cannot pray after reproaching people. If a father cannot pray after reproaching his children, his reproaching was not divine. But if we can still pray after reproaching someone, our reproaching was divine.
The Lord’s surpassing prayer to the Father is as follows: “I extol You, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for thus it has been well-pleasing in Your sight” (vv. 25-26). No one in history has ever prayed such a prayer.
While the first God-man was rebuking the cities, He fellowshipped with the Father, answering the Father by His prayer. The Lord’s prayer was actually His answering the Father. That indicates that while He was reproaching, He was fellowshipping with the Father. When a father reproaches his children, he should remain in fellowship with the Lord.
In His prayer the Lord extolled the Father, acknowledging the Father as Lord of heaven and of earth. To extol is to praise with acknowledgment. Mostly we give praise to the Lord without any acknowledgment, but the Lord praised the Father by acknowledging that the Father is the Lord of heaven and earth. We should learn to praise by acknowledging the Father in His economy, His will, and His doing.
When God’s people were defeated by His enemy, God was called “the God of heaven” (Ezra 5:12; Dan. 2:18, 37). But because Abraham was a man on the earth standing for God, he called God “the possessor of heaven and earth” (Gen. 14:19, 22). The Lord as the Son of Man called the Father “Lord of heaven and of earth,” indicating that the Lord was standing on the earth for God’s interest. His Father could be the Lord of the earth through Him and through His disciples.
The Lord praised the Father that He has hidden all the things mentioned in Matthew 11:27 from the wise and intelligent and has revealed them to infants. The wise and intelligent refers to all the peoples in the cities who rejected the Lord. They were humanly and devilishly wise and intelligent like today’s worldly, intellectual people. The Lord hides the divine things from them and reveals them to the disciples, who are the infants.
The Lord acknowledged that this is well-pleasing in the Father’s sight and submitted Himself to it.
The Lord’s prayer is surpassing, and His teaching is unveiling (vv. 27-30). As the infants, we are unveiled, because the Lord has taken away all the veils from us.
“All things” here actually refers to all the disciples, the persons who follow the Lord. In the Gospel of John, the Lord said repeatedly that all the ones who come to Him and believe in Him were given to Him by the Father (6:37, 44, 65; 17:6b; 18:9). If the Father had not given us to the Lord Jesus, we would not be in the church life today. To get us away from our worldly pursuits was not an easy thing. We are in the Lord’s recovery because the Father has given us to the Lord Jesus. Our being here is not of ourselves.
No one fully knows the Son except the Father; neither does anyone fully know the Father except the Son and him to whom the Son wills to reveal Him (Matt. 11:27). Concerning the Son, only the Father has such knowledge, and concerning the Father, only the Son and he to whom the Son reveals Him have such knowledge. Hence, to know the Son requires that the Father reveal Him (16:17), and to know the Father requires that the Son reveal Him (John 17:6, 26). Paul aspired in Philippians 3:10 to know Christ. To know Christ is the preeminent thing. Christ is all-inclusive, all-extensive, and unlimited.
The Lord called all who toil and are burdened to come to Him and He would give them rest (Matt. 11:28). The religious Jews were toiling and burdened by working under the law. On this earth who is not toiling or burdened? This world is a toiling world, full of burdens, so the Lord called us to come to Him for rest. Rest means perfect peace and full satisfaction.
The Lord charged the disciples to take His yoke upon them and learn from Him because He is meek and lowly in heart and they would find rest for their souls (v. 29). To be meek means not to resist opposition, and to be lowly means not to have self-esteem. The rest from the Lord is for our souls; it is an inward rest, not something merely outward in nature. The harassment and the troubles are in our soul. Paul told us to be anxious for nothing and to tell the Lord all our requests. Then the peace of God will guard our hearts and our thoughts in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:6-7).
The Lord assured the disciples that His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matt. 11:30). The Greek word for easy means “fit for use”; hence, good, kind, mild, gentle, easy, pleasant—in contrast to hard, harsh, sharp, bitter. The yoke of God’s economy is like this. Everything in God’s economy is not a heavy burden but an enjoyment.