Messiah Yeshua is the eternal Son of God who was sent by God the Father from Heaven, which is a very real place, to this fallen world made up of Jews and Gentiles, men and women, to meet our greatest needs – overcoming Satan, sin and death, and making perfect atonement, and reconciling us to God and enabling us to live forever and ever with God the Father, Messiah the Son, and the good angels, and the righteous men and women of all the ages, in the New Heavens and the New Earth and the New Jerusalem!

Messiah Himself first went through Israel, preaching and teaching and healing. Then, when His first 12 foundational disciples were trained, He then sent them out to do miracles, and tell people about their need to be transferred from the kingdom of the adversary to the kingdom of God. Then He expanded that group of 12, and sent 70 on a similar mission – to do miracles and tell a needy Israeli nation about the King who was endowed with salvation.

Moses appointed 70 elders to assist him; Israel’s ruling body, the Sanhedrin, had 70 leaders. These 70 formed the new and legitimate leadership of the faithful remnant of Israel. This new Sanhedrin of 70 – this new and authentic leadership of the faithful remnant of Israel, was not composed of the leading rabbis and sages and priests among the nation of Israel. It was not made up of the leading political and religious men, and the wealthy and powerful. The 70 were ordinary men – but men who were extraordinary because they had the faith to respond to the Messiah when they heard about Him, and then begin to faithfully follow Him. Far, far better an ordinary man or woman with faith in God and Messiah and the Scriptures than a great scholar without it!

In a fallen world that is demonically control and is opposed to God and Messiah and wrongly suppresses the truth; in a world where many rise to the top of the power structures and gain influence and wealth through pride and arrogance and by abusing power and cutting moral and ethical corners, it is great thing to know that it is simple, humble followers of the Jewish Messiah, men and women whom the world ignores, even rejects, who are truly praise-worthy. That is so right! That is so good! And, Yeshua knew that, and that made Him very happy!

At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit. He who is rightly called Immanuel was really close to God, and God the Father was really close to Him. The Spirit of God was directing Yeshua’s thoughts along these lines, and the Spirit of God was affecting Yeshua’s emotional state and enabling Him to be happy because of this – how God orders the world of men.

And He said, “I praise You, O Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. Hidden these thing – what things? The truth that leads to a meaningful life; true religion; salvation; the way to enter Heaven through simple faith in the Messiah; how to be genuinely reconciled to God; how gain eternal life)

Why was hiding these things very pleasing to God the Father, and why did it make the Son of God so happy? We like reversals, when the powerful and corrupt get their just desserts! That is so right! It makes us feel good when innocent victims are able to overcome their wicked oppressors! We like the irony of the innocent and righteous Joseph taken out of prison to become the powerful prime minister of Egypt. We love it when Joseph’s needy brothers, who sold righteous Joseph into slavery, have to appear before powerful Joseph and ask for food! Joseph was totally vindicated! When wicked Haman is hung on the gallows he built for righteous Mordecai, we are happy, because it is inherently just.

There is something that makes us feel good when ordinary men and women, who are laughed at and rejected by the rich and powerful and respected men and women of a corrupt world, turn out to the genuinely victorious ones, the honored and eternal sons and daughters of God – rich and powerful and successful beyond human comprehension; and the rich and powerful of this corrupt world turn out to be the losers!

The Son of God tells us that this was well-pleasing to His Father because Messiah knew that it is God’s plan to humble the proud and honor the humble; to raise up the righteous afflicted ones and lower the faithless arrogant ones. So, you had better humble yourself if you want to participate in the enjoyable part of God’s plan!

God’s decision is to hide salvation from arrogant human beings, but reveal it to humble human beings, who end their self-will, who end their rebellion against the King of the universe, who allow God to teach them and correct them and redirect them in the ways He wants them to go. Is that you? If not, are you willing to make that you?

Does God have the ability to hide salvation from the arrogant and powerful? Yes. Does He have the right to do this? Yes! Does that make Him unjust? No! The Lord God is in complete control of the salvation of the ruined and fallen sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. The Creator has the ability and the right to withhold salvation from the proud who refuse to be humbled; to deny the understanding of the truth that will save them to the arrogant who reject the truth, to the rebellious who will not end their rebellion.

The reality is that it is not wisdom and intelligence that the world values that is of the most value. It is the simple knowledge about the Father and the Son; it is the wisdom that acknowledges God and Messiah and the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation; it is humility; it is faithfulness to the Three-In-One God that is good and lasting and praise-worthy. The people of the world don’t understand or appreciate this. And they don’t understand or appreciate us. But, Messiah understands and appreciates us!

All things have been handed over to Me by My Father. Think of it! All things – the entire universe, everything visible and invisible, everything in the present and in the future, including those precious humble human beings who will be saved. God the Father has given to Messiah the Son those special human beings who become God’s eternal children. The redeemed and chosen ones are a precious gift from the Father to His beloved Son. They really and truly belong to the Son – who treasures them, loves them, saves and protects them, and eternally provides for them. Has the Father handed you over to the Son? Do you belong to Messiah Yeshua? You need to be handed over to the Son by the Father, and you need to know that you have been! Do you?

And no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. The Father knows the Son – fully, perfectly, completely. The Father knows that the Son is eternal, uncreated, fully God, the One through whom the universe was made; beloved of the Father; always well-pleasing to the Father. The Father knows that the Son is the Lord and the very special Messiah and the one and only Savior of the world.

It was the Father who sent the Son on His great mission to this world, so that human beings could come to know the Son in the way that they need to. It is the Father who draws human beings to the Son who atoned for us. It is the Father who makes it possible for us to come to Yeshua, who is the source of our Salvation, and be saved. It is the Father who draws men to the Son. You want, you desperately need the Father to help you know the Son the way you need to know the Son – truly, personally, salvifically! If you are wise, you should pray to God that He helps you know the Son.

If you are not a follower of Yeshua yet, and are not sure who He may be – if He really is the Son of God and the Messiah and the Savior, one of your most important prayers should be: God, You know all things! Show me the truth about Yeshua! Reveal to me who He really is! If He is Your Son and the Savior, give me the courage and the faithfulness to act on the truth that You show me – no matter what the cost! If you already are a believer, you too should be praying to God the Father to know the Son – that your Heavenly Father would reveal to you more and more who Yeshua is, in all of His greatness, so that you would know the Savior better and better!

Fallen human beings are confused about God. The world’s many religions are proof of this. We don’t know God the way we need to. We may know a little about Him, but we don’t know Him – personally, intimately, salvifically. We need to know Him! We need to know His ways. We need to know the path He has chosen for our salvation. We need to know His principles of atonement. We need to know what He has chosen, what He approves of and what He disapproves of. We need to know how to end our rebellion against Him, how to be reconciled to Him, how to genuinely be acceptable to Him, how to have real peace with Him, to live forever with Him. We dare not appear before Him on the day of judgment and find out that we never knew Him the way we needed to, or pleased Him or were acceptable to Him!

Yeshua of Nazareth alone – not Mohammed, not Buddha, not Einstein or Marx or Lenin or any political party – can help us do this! He knows the Father fully. The Son of God understand His God and His Father completely and perfectly. He knows the Father’s mind and will and heart. He knows the Father’s ways. He knows how to perfectly please the Father. He knows how to help us please the Father! He knows the way to the Father’s eternal kingdom. You want the Son to help you know the Father the way you need to know God!

And no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. God the Father and God the Son are both involved in the salvation of human beings. Therefore, if you are wise, don’t offend the Son! He is an essential part of human salvation, including your personal rescue from the overwhelmingly powerful and destructive and overmastering forces of Satan, sin and death!

The Son of God wills who to reveal the Father to, and He wills who not to reveal the Father to! Therefore, as Psalm 2 encourages us to: nash-koo Bar – kiss the Son! Honor Him! Treat Him with the greatest possible respect! Pay attention to Him! Don’t ignore Him. Don’t pretend He isn’t important! Don’t distrust Him! Humble yourself before Him, and learn about Him. Learn the Messianic prophecies. Read the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Learn about Him and from Him, and give Him the honor and respect He so richly deserves, and maybe He will reveal God the Father to you in the way you need Him to be revealed.

And nash-koo Bar – kiss the Son – show your respect to the Son soon, and don’t delay. You do not want Him to become angry, and you perish while you are still going along the way toward salvation and life, and you are still not there at the final destination. You don’t know when His righteous anger will strike out against you and your unbelief and your resistance and it will be too late! How blessed and happy and better off and more advantaged you will be, if you learn how to honor Him and take refuge in Him from a deadly and chaotic world!

No one knows who the Son is except the Father. The Father knows the Son, and by sending Him into this world, and giving us men like Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Paul, has made it possible for us to get to know the Son. Who is the Messiah? He is the visible manifestation of the eternal, infinite, holy God, whom no human being can see and live. The Son is fully God, but God coming down to our level so that we can see Him and not be destroyed. The Son is the exact representation of God the Father. The Son perfectly reflects the person and mind and will and heart and nature and character and essence and name of God. So, to know the Father, make sure you get to know Yeshua. Get to know Him. Study His life; know His teachings, His miracles, His death, burial, resurrection, ascension; the giving of His Spirit: His ongoing ministry to us as our High Priest.

It was not easy to be one of the twelve, or one of the 70. Like the Lord who sent them into the world like sheep among wolves, they suffered rejection. They were persecuted. Some of them later were executed. It was not easy being one of the 70, but it was worth it! Think about it! The Son of God, through whom the entire universe had been made was here, in His creation! Immanuel, the King, the Lord Messiah, had finally come, and was there on Earth, in Israel, among them in person, as a human being that they could relate to (not in a burning bush, nor as the frightening presence of God on Mount Sinai) teaching them the most amazing things; clarifying the errors that had crept into Judaism; doing many tremendous miracles; healing people of all of their diseases; raising the dead; removing demons from the lives of our people; feeding thousands from a few loaves and bread and some fish; stilling storms! What a privilege to live in the time in which He came! What an honor to see the One who made the Earth, the sun and moon and stars and vast galaxies! And what a tremendous thing to hear from the King Messiah, and be one of His disciples!

Turning to the disciples, He said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see, for I say to you, that many prophets and kings wished to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them.” Many of Israel’s most spiritually attuned people knew that the Seed of the Woman; the Redeemer; the Messiah; the prophet greater than Moses, was coming. Many knew that somehow God Himself would come to us and be revealed one day. What a fantastic, amazing time that would be! It would be the golden age! And, these prophets and wise and powerful kings looked forward to that time with eager anticipation. But, although they knew that Messiah would come, and that God would reveal Himself to Israel and to mankind, for those prophets and kings – for them it was a future hope that they could only anticipate – not experience.

People sometimes want and hope to get something, and when they get it, it turns out to be a disappointment. What they wanted doesn’t measure up to their expectations. But, the fulfillment of this hope of men like Isaiah and Jeremiah and king David turned out to be vastly better than the hope itself! The eyes and ears of the disciples were blessed, were more advantaged and were better off than the prophets and kings who only had hope.

What about us? Unless we have had some dramatic experience, like Rabbi Paul did on the way to Damascus, our eyes probably have not actually seen the Son of God. Our ears have probably not heard Immanuel speaking. Are our eyes and ears less blessed? Not if we have the eyes and ears of faith! Don’t we share the blessed eyes and ears of Matthew, Mark and Peter, Luke and John and Paul and others? Don’t we believe what these eyewitnesses saw and heard and wrote? Don’t we believe them? Don’t we trust them? Are they not reliable men? Then, aren’t our eyes and ears equally blessed and advantaged?

And then, shouldn’t we constantly be in a state of amazement that God has entered this world, and revealed Himself? That Messiah has come, and is coming again soon? Shouldn’t we be greatly stimulated and motivated by this knowledge, so that our lives, our goals, our agenda and priorities reflect these great realities? And, shouldn’t we with passion and zeal tell others what we know and understand?

May the Lord make it so in each one of us!