Matthew 11:27

Tuesday, 15 July 2025

All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Matthew 11:27

“All, it was delivered to Me by My Father. And none, he knows the Son if not the Father, nor any he knows the Father if not the Son, and whom if the Son He should will to reveal” (CG).

In the previous verse, Jesus acknowledged the Father’s decisions, noting that it was satisfaction before Him. Now, to build upon that thought, He next says, “All, it was delivered to Me by My Father.”

The context of the word “all” determines the meaning. He has just referred to things hidden by the Father from the wise and prudent but which have been revealed to infants. Jesus is saying that these hidden things have been delivered to Him by His Father. He is the central focus of the illumination of the plan that the Father has set forth. From there, He continues with, “And none, he knows the Son if not the Father.”

Jesus has rebuked the cities where His miracles took place. He came in the Father’s name because He is the Messiah. Only the Father knew this at first because He was with the Father in the beginning. Eventually, the time came for God to reveal Himself in the Person of Jesus, the incarnate Word and the Son of God. Only the Father could reveal this because He came from the Father –

 “Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.’” John 8:42

God could have established His covenant with the Peruvians or the Thai people. Instead, it was with Israel. He chose them to reveal Himself and His plans and purposes. At a certain point, He could have chosen someone named Ben Gad to witness to Israel. Instead, He chose Isaiah. He could have chosen Gibeah to be His capital, but He instead chose Jerusalem.

God has been guiding the plan of redemption in a carefully set forth and methodically implemented way that ultimately leads to the coming of Christ. Along the way, He selected people to receive, write, and compile His word. The word tells of Christ Jesus, but not everyone has accepted that premise. But the Father knows the Son. Likewise, Jesus continues, saying, “nor any he knows the Father if not the Son.”

Because Jesus came from God, He intimately knows the Father. They are in eternal union. The knowledge of the Father is thus to be understood as knowing the Son. Again, Jesus said this to them explicitly –

“Then they said to Him, ‘Where is Your Father?’
Jesus answered, ‘You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.’” John 8:19

Jesus unambiguously ties the knowledge of Himself to having knowledge of the Father. If the Son is rejected, the Father is by default rejected. It would make no sense to say, “I want that piece of bread, but I don’t want the dough in it.” The dough is the bread, and the bread is the dough. How much more is God One!? He is. He is unchanging. He is One. With this stated, His words of this verse finish with, “and whom if the Son He should will to reveal.”

Jesus uses the same word, apokaluptó, to take off the cover and thus disclose, that He just used in verse 11:25. He is tying the two thoughts together –

...You revealed them to infants

... and whom if the Son He should will to reveal

The hidden things of God are revealed by God. His word didn’t come through the Edomites or Moabites. It came through Israel. God revealed Himself to Abraham, He covenanted with him, and continued His revelation through a particular chosen line. He presented Himself to Israel at Mount Sinai in a formal, covenant-making way.

He revealed His faithfulness to them despite their constant turning from Him. He sent His word through the prophets. He judged, exiled, and returned the people at the time of the Babylonian exile. He faithfully maintained them under foreign rule, and He sent His Messiah into the world at the time prophesied in His word.

And there stood Jesus, the fulfillment of all that God laid forth from the beginning. And yet, despite His works that validated His messiahship, the people refused to believe. The wise and sagacious of Israel, the stewards of God’s word, failed to believe their own writings –

“And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. 38 But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. 39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. 40 But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” John 5:37-40

Despite their failure to acknowledge the Son and thus the Father, there are those who believe. These are those to whom the Father and the Son are revealed –

“He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:11-13

The choice of revealing by God is not active in the sense that God says, “I will make this person believe and this person not believe.” Rather, the choosing spoken of here is in the sense of, “I will present My Son to the world. Some will believe Him, some will not. Those who do are those whom I have chosen to reveal Myself to.” Paul confirms this when he says –

“Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.” Acts 26:19, 20

Paul could have said, “I just cannot accept these things. I am checking into a hospital to clear my head and get back to my work. However, he had sufficient evidence to support his calling. He chose to accept it, and he continued on in his apostleship from there.

Life application: Because of what Jesus says in His words in Matthew 11:27, and because it aligns with everything He said and that the Bible proclaims concerning a right relationship with God, there is a formula we must consider.

Jesus is not physically here among us today. Jesus has claimed that we cannot know the Father without knowing Him. We cannot know Jesus, because of His absence, without knowing the word that tells of Him –

You cannot know God without knowing Jesus.

You cannot know Jesus without knowing the word that reveals Jesus.

Therefore, you cannot know God without knowing the word.

Read and know the Bible if you desire to know, be pleasing to, and have a right relationship with the God who created all things. And when you read it, look for Jesus. In finding Jesus, you will find the Father –

“Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” John 5:45-47

The word tells of Jesus. To accept the writings of the word, one must accept Jesus. And in knowing Jesus, God will be made manifest –

“No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” John 1:18

Jesus is the One who exegetes the Father, declaring Him to the world. Look to Jesus and you will find God.

Lord God, help us to fix our eyes on Jesus. In doing so, we will have our eyes on You because You have revealed Yourself through Him. May we always come to Your word with this in mind as we seek out Your glory in the manner You have chosen to reveal it. Amen.