Luke 10:21-24 - Things hidden, things revealed

10:21

We perhaps don’t often think of Jesus as being full of joy, but there obviously were times when He was. This is one of them. These next few verses tell us about how the Father has committed things to Jesus and to us. Jesus was full of joy through the Holy Spirit. Jesus lived His life on earth in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, and we are to do likewise. Human nature is to depend upon our circumstances for our happiness. Now as Christians we do not ignore our circumstances, but our source of joy is to be the Holy Spirit. He will reveal to us what is really going on in life, and what God is doing. Why does Jesus praise the Father for hiding things from the “wise and learned” and revealing them to “little children”? Is Jesus anti-intellectuals? No, for perhaps the foremost apostle was Paul, a very learned man. It is proud intellectuals that are the problem. Those who think they are clever, and make their own cleverness the starting point, instead of the fear of the Lord. It is only those who put reliance on God first who will be truly wise.

10:22

“All things” have been committed to the Son by the Father. Jesus is the focus of everything, the focus of all God’s plans. This was not something that the Father suddenly decided to do, for the whole universe was created through Jesus.  It is the way things are. So any philosophy or religion that does not give Jesus absolute pride of place is doomed to be wrong. Knowing God is completely dependent upon knowing the the Son. And it the Son who chooses to reveal the Father to people. Notice that all this is dependent upon Jesus and the Father, not the will of man.

10:23,24

Jesus then spoke privately to His disciples. “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see”. The blessing was not for the disciples alone, for many would come after them who, while not seeing Jesus physically, would see what they see. They would see that Jesus is the Son of God, the sole means of salvation. The faithful people in the Old Testament had longed for the day that Jesus would come. They knew there was something lacking, something missing, in what they had. They wanted to see more of God, to see true fulfillment of His plans. In Christ all of God’s plans come to fruition. We must never lose sight of the value of Jesus.