God’s Ingenious Filter

David W Palmer

(Matthew 11:28–30 NLT) Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. {29} Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. {30} For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

This well-known passage concludes Matthew 11. The preceding content of the chapter describes what happened immediately after Jesus sent his apprentices on their first supervised mission to preach and demonstrate God’s kingdom: some of John the Baptist’s disciples came to talk to Jesus.

After answering their questions, he spoke to the multitude about John’s forceful ministry and the enemy’s forceful counter attack. Then, he turned his attention to those who were not heeding what John and he had been saying—especially the people in the towns where he had demonstrated God’s kingdom so clearly:

(Matthew 11:20–30 DKJV) Then Jesus began to reproach the towns in which most of his mighty miraculous works were done, because they did not repent: … {25} At that time, Jesus responding said, “I thank and agree fully with you Father, Lord of heaven and earth that you have hidden these things from the wise and intellectual, and have revealed them to infants. {26} Yes Father, for in this way something you desired came into being in front of you. {27} All these things have been entrusted to me by my Father, and no one fully knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone fully know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal him.”

Both Father and Jesus were disappointed by the lack of repentance in the towns where they displayed their mighty miracles. In verse 25, we see Jesus’s response; he acknowledged that God had used this situation as a filter. God was letting everyone see the miracles, but only imparting life-giving revelation to those who qualified for it. Jesus called the eligible people, “infants”—meaning inarticulate, childlike people. In contrast, he called those who didn’t qualify for revelation, “the wise and intellectual”; from them, God had “hidden these things.” Who are the “wise and intellectual,” and why were they unqualified for revelation?

The Holy Spirit reveals, “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble” (1 Pet. 5:5 EMTV). This implies that the so-called “wise and intellectual” were proud; we know this because God resisted giving them any revelation. To fully understand this obfuscating pride—so we can avoid it—we look at its history and its antagonism to God’s character and purpose.

Pride is the original sin that caused the fall of Lucifer (See: Eze. 28:17). Consequently, the enemy’s temptation to Adam and Eve was also full of pride; and it included them receiving his so-called wisdom:

(Genesis 3:3–6 ISV) “But as for the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You are not to eat from it, nor are you to touch it, or you will die.’” {4} “You certainly will not die!” the Shining One told the woman. {5} “Even God knows that on the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you’ll become like God, knowing good and evil.” {6} When the woman saw that the tree produced good food, was attractive in appearance, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. Then she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate some, too.

We see that before Eve succumbed to Satan’s temptation, she processed the situation intellectually; she compared and contrasted what both God and the tempter said to her. As a result, she sided with the vision the devil fed her; Eve fell. Ultimately, it was the intellectual process that killed her; it cut her off from the life of God’s word. The “tree of life” is about simple trust in what God says, and obedience to even his illogical instructions.

Remember, God’s process is: his word first—he speaks, we receive it into a willing heart and meditate on what he says; next, he gives specific but illogical instructions; and finally, trusting, implicit, exact obedience brings life, and produces miraculous fruit. For example, Peter fishing, disciples retrieving the donkey, preparing the upper room, etc.

On the other hand, the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” is about an intellectual process that leads to worldly wisdom—the ability to decipher the way forward and to make decisions for selfish gain. Thus, Satan’s temptation was that it was “desirable for making one wise”—but obviously not with God’s wisdom. God had already stated his wisdom, which was not to touch that tree. He wanted Adam and Eve to trust him and what he said.

The devil’s temptation was to distrust what God said. Instead, he enticed them to act independently—gaining and trusting counterfeit, worldly, prideful wisdom. In other words, to partake of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil—and in particular, intellectually comparing and contrasting potential outcomes, and then making a decision—benefiting self—in line with the intellectual conclusion.

Note: God wants us to meditate on his word; he didn’t design it to be analyzed, and then contrasted and compared with Satan’s deception to see which one we conclude is better advice. He simply wants us to trust him and to believe what he says. This way, the life that is in his word is transferred to us; thus, this is the tree of life; its fruit is life from God (See: Rev. 22:1). Receiving from him, including his life, health, and provision, is a spiritual exchange of the heart—not the intellect; it depends on wholehearted trust.

Therefore, the so-called wisdom and intellectualism—of the people that Jesus calls the “wise and intellectual”—are related to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is proud and always brings death, because it cuts off its partakers from the life that flows from God to us; and this only flows when we wholly trust his word (See: John 6:63). God certainly doesn’t want any of that worldly wisdom and intellectualism in the eternal kingdom he has planned for his family.

This explains Jesus’s statement in Mat. 11 that likens to a filter what happened when he preached and demonstrated God’s kingdom. God set up a system that precludes those relying on the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” but accepts those who trust the “tree of life.” In effect, God used the situation surrounding Jesus’s miracles and teaching to separate the proud, intellectual people from the humble, trusting ones. God is a genius; he turned this disappointing situation around, and used it for good; and that explains Jesus’s statement in verse 26:

(Matthew 11:26 DKJV) “Yes Father, for in this way something you desired came into being in front of you.”

What again was it that God desired? He wanted to find, enliven, and bless those who qualify for his eternal kingdom—those whose humble faith demonstrates their obedience in partaking the tree of life exclusively.

Now that we have the context, let’s read on to see what Jesus said next:

(Matthew 11:27 DKJV) “All these things have been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one fully knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone fully know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal him.”

The second thing we see in this passage is that the Father “entrusted” (transmitted) “these things” to his Son, Jesus; he revealed himself, his character, his past interactions with man, his vision, his plan, and his intended actions. Now Jesus reveals them to “anyone” to whom he wills to reveal them—give them “revelation.”

Revelation is not something we get by our own efforts; on the contrary, it is something Jesus (the living Word of God) decides to give us. It is very precious; we should receive it humbly and gratefully. When we do, we are literally partaking of the tree of life.

To whom then does he will to reveal the “things” entrusted to him by his Father?

(Matthew 11:25 NLT) At that time Jesus prayed this prayer: “O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike.”

I believe we can easily see whom to imitate in this scenario—the childlike. Do not copy those who are “wise and clever” in the world’s system; they partake the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We must stay away from that tree, and go for the tree of life.

Today, I encourage you to partake only the tree of life. Do it with childlike simplicity: begin with what Father says, meditate in it until he reveals his specific instructions to you, and then obey promptly and exactly. God bless you.

P.S. In the context we have seen today, perhaps we could paraphrase the last part of Mat. 11 like this:

Jesus, God’s living Word says, “Come to me, all you who are worn out by heavy labour and are over loaded—trying to get enough wisdom from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to finally be at peace and blessed. I will give you rest and refreshing. Take my yoke of humble, worshipful, submitted meditation and discipleship upon you, and learn from me, for I am meek and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is good, useful and kind, and my burden is light [and easy to carry].”

The tree of life does have a burden and it requires us to be yoked to the living Word of God. In other words, for it to work for us, we must take up the responsibility to meditate in it day and night, watching and imitating what we see and hear there—wholly trusting it with childlike humility. But thankfully, its burden is not heavy, and it gives the overflowing, abundant life that Jesus promised—making its yoke easy to bear.