THE BLESSED JOY OF REVEALED TRUTH

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on September 23, 2020 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group: September 23, 2020 from Luke 10:21-24

Theme: It is a blessed privilege to be the recipients of the revealed truth of the gospel.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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This morning, we look at a remarkable passage. It tells us about something that the Lord Jesus rejoiced over with great joy. In fact, it was a joy that He had that was so great that the Bible didn’t even use the ordinary word for “joy” to describe it. The Greek word that is used is agalliao. And before we look at what the passage tells us about this joy of our Lord, let’s first consider some other places in the New Testament that this unusual word is found.

Jesus used this word in Matthew 5:12—in the Sermon on The Mount—when He said that if we are persecuted for His name’s sake, we should “[r]ejoice and be exceedingly glad”. It is used in 1 Peter 1:6; when we’re told, about the prospect of a salvation in Christ that is ready to be revealed, in which “you greatly rejoice; and in verse 8 that “[t]hough now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.” It’s the word that is used in 1 Peter 4:13 to describe our joy at the second coming of our Lord; “that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy”.

So this is no ordinary joy that our Lord experienced. This is an exceeding joy—an inexpressible joy. This is the kind of joy we’re told our Lord had in this morning’s passage. And what was it that He rejoiced in so much? It was that you and I—dear brothers and sisters—have been given the privilege of having the glorious truth of the gospel revealed to us! For unworthy and helpless sinners like us to hear, and know, and be enabled to embrace the gospel that leads to salvation was a cause of exceeding joy to our Lord.

In Luke 10:21-24, we are told;

In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see; for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it” (Luke 10:21-24).

If it should cause such joy to our Lord that this is revealed to us, then we—as His redeemed people—should be rejoicing over it far more than we do!

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Now; our Lord expressed this joy immediately after something had happened. We’re told in verse 21 that it was “In that hour” that the seventy disciples that He had sent out to preach about Him had returned. He was on His way to Jerusalem to present Himself to the Jewish people as their long-awaited King. They would reject Him, and He would be betrayed, arrested, tried, crucified, and raised from the dead three days later. He was on His way—ultimately—to accomplish our salvation for us as our atoning Substitute. But first, He must be presented to His Jewish people as their King. And these seventy disciples were sent on ahead of Him to announce that “the kingdom of God has come near”.

In our last time together, we saw what they had reported to Him. In verses 17-20, we were told;

Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven” (vv. 17-20).

Our Lord shared in the enthusiasm that they experienced when they went forth as His representatives, and saw great miracles happen in the power of His name. But He reminded them that this was not where their main enthusiasm should be. They should certainly rejoice in the temporal miracles that God performed through them. But far more, they should rejoice that their names were written in the record book of heaven! To be saved from sin, and to be glorified forever in heaven—that is the greatest miracle of all. That is what they should be most excited about.

We should rejoice most of all in the eternal grace of God that is shown to us through faith in Jesus Christ. And it was the revealing of that very thing to His chosen ones—in that very hour—that made our Lord rejoice with such exceeding joy.

Dear brothers and sisters; there are many things that we can rejoice in this world. There are, in fact, many things that we can rejoice in of the grace of God shown to us through Jesus Christ while we are in this world. But the greatest thing of all that we should rejoice in is that our hearts have been opened to hear and believe the gospel of Jesus, and that we have placed our faith in His sacrifice for us on the cross, and that our names are now written down—forever—in heaven, and that we are destined to share in His eternal glory with Him and enjoy eternity in His presence and bask in His unending love.

It truly is a blessing—a cause for truly exceeding joy—to be the privileged recipients of the revealed truth of the gospel! Even our Lord Himself rejoiced in it with exceedingly great joy; because He loves us and looks forward to our being with Him eternally. It was why He went to the cross! We are “the joy that was set before Him” that moved Him to endure “the cross, despising the shame” (Hebrews 12:2). It made Him unspeakably happy that we know about it and believe in it! It is a blessed privilege to be the recipients of the revealed truth of the gospel! May God help us to rejoice in what caused such great joy in the heart of our Lord Jesus!

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Now; let’s consider this passage in more detail. Verse 21 tells us; “In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, ‘I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.’” And here we see that our Lord’s joy was based on …

1. A DIVINE CHOICE OF THOSE TO WHOM THE GOSPEL IS REVEALED.

Jesus is said to have “rejoiced” in this exceedingly great way “in the Spirit”. And this may be taken in a couple of different ways. It may be that we’re being told that our Lord rejoiced in His spirit—that is, in the deepest part of His innermost being. And if that’s the case, then we’re being told about a joy that is remarkably profound and deep to Him. But it may be that we’re being told that He rejoiced in “the Holy Spirit”. Some ancient copies of Luke’s Gospel have it in just those words. And if this is the case, then we’re being told that He is rejoicing in the context of a union with the triune Godhead. The Father is mentioned, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit—all together as partners in this great joy. Personally, I think it is safe for us to see both interpretations as valid and true. As to the matter of our salvation, the whole Trinity is involved. Our salvation involves our being brought into the eternal fellowship that is enjoyed by the Father and the Son—held in communion by the Holy Spirit. No wonder our Lord would rejoice with exceedingly great joy in the deepest part of His being!

But notice specifically what it is about this that our Lord is said to have rejoiced in. We can see it from His words of prayer. He thanked the Father—the Lord of heaven and earth—that He hid “these things” from the wise and the prudent, and revealed them to babes. The “these things” that our Lord speaks of have to do with the grace of God through Jesus’ sacrifice that leads those who believe on Him to have their names written in heaven. That’s another way of speaking of ‘salvation’. And Jesus actually rejoiced that the Father chose to hide this from those who are considered wise and intellectual in this world, and to reveal them instead to those who are—by comparison—nothing more than babies. In fact, Jesus affirmed that this “seemed good” in the Father’s sight.

Does this seem strange to us? Would it bother us that the Father would reveal the truth of the gospel to those that the world considers weak and lowly, and actually hide it from those that the world considers wise and scholarly? It may seem strange to us; but it is absolutely in keeping with what our Lord was about to do. He was going to go to Jerusalem to present Himself as the King to the Jewish scholars and teachers who were supposed to know about Him and who should have expected Him—but who would then reject Him. And then, after He had been rejected by them, salvation would be offered instead to the Gentile people who weren’t looking for Him at all!

And it’s also in keeping with that the Bible teaches us in 1 Corinthians 1—in a passage that is worth reading all the way through;

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:18-31).

And this, Jesus said, seems right in the sight of our gracious heavenly Father.

But so also it seems right in the sight of our Lord. As He goes on to affirm in verse 22—as if no longer speaking in prayer, but now speaking to all who could hear; “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” The fact that the wise and prudent had all of this hidden from them—and that the babes had it revealed to them—was ultimately because of the sovereign choice of our Lord.

We should take our Lord’s words seriously when He said that the Father had given all things to Him. All things will indeed be laid at His feet, and He is given to be the Lord of all. And not only is this so; but He is also the exclusive one who knows the Father. No one knows Jesus except the Father, and no one knows the Father except Jesus—and whoever it may be that Jesus desires to reveal the Father to. To ‘reveal’ the Father in this way is what leads to salvation. Jesus, in His great prayer in John 17, said;

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:1-3).

We shouldn’t be perplexed or disturbed at the idea, then, that it is given to some to know and not to others. Rather, dear brother or sister; if you do in fact know—if these things have been revealed to such a ‘babe’ as yourself—then you should rejoice in the grace of God!

Jesus certainly did!

And that leads us to see …

2. THE PRIVILEGE OF BEING AMONG THOSE TO WHOM THE GOSPEL IS REVEALED.

It’s then that we’re told that the Lord Jesus turned to His disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see; for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it” (Luke 10:21-24). To have been among those disciples who saw all of this unfolding—to have been the eyewitnesses of it all firsthand—was a great privilege. It was to see and hear things that many great people in centuries past would have longed to see and hear.

But it was also a privilege to believe on what those eyewitnesses told us about it all. The apostle Peter—who was among those eyewitnesses—said something about this. In 1 Peter 1, he wrote;

Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into (1 Peter 1:10-13).

And this shows us that it wasn’t just the disciples of Jesus’ day who were privileged and blessed. We also are among the blessed. To hear the things of God’s saving grace—to be made by God into someone who knows the truth of the gospel and who believes—is to be among the most privileged human beings in all of history!

We have our Lord’s word on it!

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Now; it might be that someone can hear all of this and wonder if they are among the blessed or not. If these things are hidden from the wise and prudent, and revealed to babes—if the Lord chooses who it is that may know the Father—how then could someone know for certain that they are among them?

And the answer is that—if you have heard and believed—then you are among those to whom it has been given to do so. On another occasion, the Lord Jesus used very similar words to those we find in this passage. He spoke then of the same things. But afterward, He included this invitation:

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

We should never let ourselves be held back by the question of whether or not we have been chosen by Jesus to hear and know these things. If we come to Him in faith—believing on His cross—then it has been revealed to us. We are welcome to come!

And most important, we, therefore, have cause—like our Lord—to be exceedingly joyful!

EA