Chapter 66

Our Savior’s Only Joy

“In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that 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 to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see: For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.” (Luke 10:21-24)

There are five tremendous lessons revealed in these verses which deserve our careful attention. May God the Holy Spirit inscribe them upon our hearts.

Our Savior’s Joy

First, we learn from these verses that which is the joy of God our Savior. — The only thing revealed in the Book of God that gives joy to the Lord Jesus Christ is the salvation of his people.

This is the only place on record in the four Gospels of our Savior rejoicing. We read that in that hour “Jesus rejoiced in spirit.” Three times we are told that our Lord Jesus Christ wept (Luke 19:41; John 11:35; Hebrews 5:7). Once only we are told that he rejoiced. And what was the cause of our Savior’s joy? It was the conversion of lost souls, the salvation of poor, needy sinners. It was the reception of the gospel by the weak and lowly, the poor and despised, the downtrodden and outcasts, when the “wise and prudent” on every side rejected it.

Our blessed Lord no doubt saw much in this world to grieve him. He saw the obstinate blindness and unbelief of the multitudes and wept. But when he saw a few poor men and women receiving the glad tidings of salvation, his holy heart was refreshed. He saw it and was glad. The only thing I find in the Book of God that causes him joy is the salvation of his people. Yet, of this one thing we are assured repeatedly (Micah 7:18-20; Zephaniah 3:14-17; Hebrews 12:1-2).

This fact ought to encourage sinners to seek God’s mercy and grace in Christ. If he delights in mercy, if he rejoices in the salvation of sinners, if the conversion of lost souls makes the Son of God rejoice, why should any sinner doubt that he will be gracious to him?

Our Savior’s example in this ought to inspire us to seek such a heart of compassion and mercy toward needy souls. Spirit of God, stamp my Master’s image on my heart! Give me the grace to follow his example! Did the Son of God weep over the lost? – Shall we care nothing? Did he have compassion upon the rich young ruler who walked away from him? – Shall we harden our hearts against such? Did he rejoice in the salvation of sinners? – Shall we not rejoice in the same?

I fear we find joy in the very things that ought to grieve us most and grieve over things that are really of no consequence. The multitudes around us are walking in the broad way that leads to destruction, careless, hardened, and unbelieving. Few, precious few, believe to the saving of their souls! How we ought to rejoice in the conversion of sinners! How we ought to labor for it! — “Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins” (James 5:19-20).

How can we be so indifferent in our attitude regarding the salvation of eternity bound sinners? Do we not realize that sinners around us are in immediate danger of eternal torment, perishing without Christ? We fail, I fear, to look upon the conversion of lost sinners as a miracle of grace, a miracle as great as the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Perhaps we find so little relish and joy in our souls over the salvation of sinners simply because we have begun to look upon the grace of God, the blood of Christ, and covenant mercy as common, ordinary things. God save us from such horrid thoughts!

Divine Sovereignty

Second, we see in this passage a lesson about Divine sovereignty. Let us always recognize and bow to this fact. — The Lord God Almighty is absolutely sovereign in the exercise of his saving mercy. — “In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that 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” (v. 21).

Yes, our Savior rejoiced in the exercise of sovereignty by the Holy Lord God; but he rejoiced in the exercise of sovereignty to the salvation of perishing souls. It is not merely the concept of sovereignty that gives us hope, joy and peace, but the gracious exercise of it!

The meaning of these words has been twisted by many perverted minds. Be sure you understand what the Master’s words here mean. They do not express joy at the fact that multitudes perish, but at the fact that some are saved. When the Master said, “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes,” he was simply saying, “Father, I thank you that you have in your infinite goodness revealed these things to these chosen babes, though you have in just judgment hidden them from those who, being wise and prudent in their own eyes, will not repent.” Similar expressions are found in Isaiah 12:1 and Romans 6:17.

Having said that, be sure you understand this. — The God of the Bible, the only true and living God is absolutely sovereign and always exercises his sovereign right over men, especially in the exercise of his saving mercy, love and grace in Christ. This fact is as plainly revealed in Holy Scripture as the fact that God is! It is not a deep, complicated, indiscernible mystery, but a plainly revealed truth of the Bible. It is so plainly revealed that it cannot be denied or misunderstood except by those who refuse to bow to Divine Revelation. Yes, it is as high as heaven and as deep as hell. Yet, it is as plain as the noon day sun.

Why are some converted and others remain dead in sins? Why does God send the gospel to one land and leave another groping about in the darkness and superstition of idolatry? Why do some believe while others believe not? No answer can or should be given to these question by any mortal other than this: — “Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight” (John 10:25-27; Romans 9:13-16).

Yet, the fact of God’s sovereignty does not in any way destroy or even contradict the fact that every man is responsible for his own soul. The fact is, if we are saved, it is all God’s work, God’s gift, and God’s operation. But if we are lost, if we perish, if we go to hell, it will be our own fault alone, our own work alone, our own blame alone.

Wherever the gospel is hidden, wherever eyes are blinded, there is a just and right cause (Proverbs 1:23-33; Matthew 15:38). Israel was cut off because of their unbelief (Romans 10:20). Wherever grace is given, wherever Christ is revealed, wherever salvation comes, there is no cause except in God himself. — “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). God’s sovereignty does not nullify our responsibility. That same God who does all things according to the counsel of his own will; always addresses sinners as responsible and accountable creatures, whose blood shall be on their own heads if they are lost (Proverbs 29:1; Matthew 23:37-38).

Objects of Grace

Third, we learn something here about the objects of God’s saving grace. The Lord God commonly hides the gospel from the wise and prudent and reveals it unto babes. Our Savior said, “Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes.”

Those words do not imply that some are naturally more deserving of God’s grace and salvation than others. We are all alike sinners, and merit nothing but wrath and condemnation. Rather, our Lord is here simply stating a fact. — The wisdom of this world often makes people proud, and increases their natural enmity to Christ and the gospel. The man who has no pride of knowledge, or fancied morality to fall back on often has the fewest difficulties to get over in coming to the knowledge of the truth. The publicans and sinners are often the first to enter the kingdom of God, while the Scribes and Pharisees stand outside.

Beware of self-righteousness! Nothing so blinds the eyes of our souls to the beauty of the gospel as the vain, delusive idea that we are not so ignorant and wicked as others, and that we have a character that will bear God’s inspection. Blessed is that person who has learned that he is “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” (Revelation 3:17). To see that we are vile is the first step towards being made righteous. To know that we are ignorant is the beginning of all saving knowledge. God’s grace commonly comes to the most unlikely, most unexpected, and most despised (1 Corinthians 1:18-31).

Christ’s Pre-eminence

Fourth, this passage shows us the pre-eminence of our Lord Jesus Christ. The sinner’s only Savior and Friend has all power put into his hands. — “All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him” (v. 22).

These words are intended to set before us a sense of the majesty and dignity of our Lord Jesus Christ as that One to whom the Father has given all pre-eminence and glory. No man but the God-man ever used words like these. They reveal to our wondering eyes a glimpse of the great mystery of our Lord’s nature and person. He is the only God-man Mediator, by whom we must be saved. He is the Head over all things, and King of kings. Our Lord Jesus Christ is God the Son, one with the Father, yet distinct from the Father (1 John 5:7).

Our Master here declares that he alone is the Revealer of God to the sons of men, as the God who pardons iniquity, and loves sinners for his Son’s sake: — “No man knoweth who the Father is but he to whom the Son will reveal him.” Robert Hawker rightly observed…

“Nothing can be more plain, than that it became impossible for the creation of God to know anything of Jehovah, in his three-fold character of persons, but by the immediate act of the Son, begotten into his mediatorial character, God-Man in one person, thereby to reveal him. By this voluntary act of the Son of God, and by this humbling himself, in order to make this revelation through the medium of the manhood, he hath done that, which, without this union of nature, never could have been done. And by this act, he hath brought in a new glory to the Godhead, in that his creatures have now a knowledge of the Father, Son, and Spirit; and which opens to the felicity of God's intelligent creation to all eternity.”

This great, glorious, exalted, sovereign God-man, this great Savior is exactly the Savior we need. Let us confidently rest our souls, yea our lives, yea all things upon him. He is one who is “mighty to save.” Many and weighty as our sins are, Christ can bear them all. Difficult as the work of our salvation is, Christ is able to perform it. If Christ was not God as well as man, we might indeed despair. But with such a Savior as this, we may begin boldly, and press on hopefully, and await death and judgment without fear. Our help is laid on one that is mighty (Psalm 89:19). Christ over all, God blessed forever will not fail any who trust Him.

Our Great Blessedness

Fifth, we are reminded of the great blessedness that is ours. There is no greater privilege afforded sinners on this earth than the blessed privilege of hearing and knowing the gospel of God’s free, sovereign, saving grace in Christ. — “And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see: For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them” (vv. 23-24).

I am sure none of us will ever comprehend on this earth the full significance of those words. I am sure we have no idea how blessed we are to live in this gospel age. The difference between the knowledge of believers in the Old Testament and those of this age, we simply cannot conceive.

Without question, those saints in the Old Testament trusted Christ, looked for and to the coming Savior by faith. They believed the gospel. They believed in the resurrection and a life to come. But the coming of Christ and the accomplishment of redemption by his death, his resurrection and exaltation unlocked hundreds of Scriptures which before were closed, and cleared up scores of doubtful points which before had never been solved. As Paul puts it, “the way into the holiest was not made manifest, while the first tabernacle was standing.” (Hebrews 9:8).

But there is more to be learned from these words than merely the advantages of this age over former ages. Our Lord would have us constantly aware that the privilege of hearing the gospel, the privilege of having a place of worship, a regularly established, faithful gospel ministry, and the blessed fellowship of his people is the greatest privilege God can give to any sinner in this world. – The greatest curse would be for him to take from us this great privilege!

What a deep sense of our own debt to God we ought to have! What a great sense we ought to have of our great responsibility to make the gospel known to immortal souls! Let us strive to make good use of our many privileges. Having the great privilege and benefit of the gospel, let us take care that we do not neglect it. — “To whomsoever much is given, of them will much be required” (Luke 12. 48).

Don Fortner

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