One of the most profound statements in Scripture regarding the sovereignty of God over our salvation is to be found, not in the book of Romans or the Gospel of John, but in the Synoptics, in Matthew 11:25-27 and Luke 10:21-24.

The context is the returning of the seventy-two with delight in discovering the fact that the demons were subject to them in the name of Jesus. The Lord tells them not to rejoice that the demons were subject to them, but rather to rejoice in the fact that their names were written in heaven.

Then Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and thanked God the Father that he had hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to little children. He added, "Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure."

It is the good pleasure of God to hide the truths of the Kingdom from wise and prudent, and the good pleasure of the Father to reveal them to little children. God gains glory from the very fact that man in his wisdom cannot come to know God or the truths of salvation (1 Corinthians 1:21). Every time a skeptic in arrogance asserts that there is no God because in his wisdom and vast knowledge there just couldn't be, God is glorified. For He wants us to know that if we do believe in Him and understand salvation, it is because He is responsible, not we ourselves. God is glorified when we realize our need and confess that without Him we would have nothing, be nothing, and understand nothing. Anyone who tries to figure it out on his own, even from the Bible, and does not look to God for understanding, will come away deceived or confused. As it was with the Jewish leadership of Jesus' day, so it is with the sophisticated religionists of today.

But note that Jesus goes on to say that "No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." As we come to Christ only by the direct drawing of the Father (John 6:44), so we come to know God the Father only through the direct choice and revelatory activity of the Son.

If you believe and if you understand, thank and praise the Father and the Son. You do not deserve these blessings, neither do I. Do not forget that God takes pleasure in concealing as well as revealing, so that no flesh can glory in His presence!