Luke 10:21-24--Jesus Rejoices in the Father's Will

Luke 10:21-24
English Standard Version

Jesus Rejoices in the Father's Will
21 In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 22 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

​23 Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

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At the same time that Jesus cursed the unrepentant cities, Jesus praised the Father for concealing the truth from some and revealing the truth to others.  This is a hard pill for us to swallow.  How is it that the people of these towns are held responsible for their choice to reject Jesus and at the same time are told that it was the will of the Father to hide the truth from them so that they would not understand?  I'm not going to pretend this one is easy to tackle, but from what I read in the Bible, there is enough evidence available to all of us through Creation to know that God exists, and that He is the Creator, Ruler, and Sustainer of all things.  We may not know much about His "invisible attributes" that Romans 1 talks about (though nature can even help us a bit there) but many reject God's existence, power and authority because they do not want to be subject to Him or His Law.  If they admitted there was a God who created them, then that God would be Master over them and they would be His subjects and servants, needing to learn the Master's will and to do it.

So then, the Father need not provide such rebellious subjects with even more evidence of His identity and purposes.  Every subject know the king exists even if they have never met Him because they see His kingdom, His judgment of evil, His rewarding of those that do good, the blessings that He secures for His people, and they hear His royal edicts read by His messengers.  So it was here that these people had additional access to the Law and the Prophets (what we'd call the Old Testament) that told much of the identity and purposes of the LORD, and the coming of the Messiah, yet they did not make themselves ready for Him or accept Him when He came.  They were like the wicked tenants of the vineyard that we'll see in Luke 20 (also in Matthew 21 and Mark 12).

So then, it is true to say that they have rejected God while at the same time saying that the Father has hidden certain truth from them knowing that they would simply reject that truth as well.  God has no obligation to make anyone believe the truth, but has promised to give enough evidence to those that wish to reject God to be held guilty while giving faith and repentance to those whom He has chosen to make part of His family by adoption--we don't choose Him, He chooses us.

Jesus says that all things have been handed over to Him by the Father (at least present tense).  There is some discussion theologically about when this happened and was Jesus always in control of everything in heaven and on earth or was there something Jesus needed to do to prove Himself worthy (many say this happened after Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead, some say it happened after Jesus' ascension, but this passage is before either of those events).  Jesus is saying that He now how the authority to pass judgment, because that authority has been given to Him by the Father, for it will be based on whether we love and obey the Son or reject Him, and the Son will be the Righteous Judge of the living and the dead.  The Son perfectly knows the Father and the Father perfectly knows the Son, and the two of them are in perfect agreement.  The only others who know and understand who the Son of God is are those whom the Father and the Son have chosen to reveal the truth too.  No one can understand on their own and choose to be in God's family on their own.  That is not how adoption works.  God is the Elector and the one who chooses you.  "We love Him because He first loved us...."

Jesus said all these things so far in the hearing of all that were following Him, but He turned aside to the Twelve and said to them, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it."  Notice that Jesus didn't tell them that all of them were chosen to make it into the kingdom, because Judas Iscariot was chosen for a different purpose.  However, Jesus makes it clear that truth has been revealed, and not concealed from them.  They have been able to see more clearly than others who Jesus is and what He's up to, and they will make an even more informed choice.  Jesus has given them revelation that many of the prophets and kings desired to have, and it was withheld from those in the Old Testament, but it was given freely to these that we call the Twelve.  What are they going to do with this great gift they have been given?  Will they receive it and believe it, or will they reject it in hopes of turning Jesus into who they want Him to be?