The Divine reserve.
From some the higher truth is hidden; to some the higher truth is revealed. This cannot be explained by what is called the "sovereignty" of God; because we must think of God as acting on good judgment, though the materials of his judgment may be more than we can comprehend, or beyond our power to appreciate aright. Here the difficulty of the Divine reserve is not great. We can easily recognize the wisdom of leaving those who think themselves wise to their fancied wisdom; and bestowing gifts on those who are conscious of their ignorance and want to be taught.
I. GOD REVEALS TRUTH FREELY, BUT WITH DISCRIMINATION. Jesus spoke quite freely; anywhere, everywhere, on all occasions, he dropped the seeds of Divine truth; and yet he observed that only some of the seeds went into the soul, germinated, and brought forth fruit. This found expression in his parables. This was sometimes a distress to him. Freely he had preached in Galilee, but the fickle people heard him for a while, and then turned against him. Capernaum saw his mighty works, but evil influences closed the avenues of faith, and the well-to-do, and the Pharisee proud of his religion, and the scribe proud of his learning, united to leave him alone to be the Friend of the poor, who "know not the Law." In the manner characteristic of the pious Jew, and eminently characteristic of himself, Jesus saw the workings of Divine wisdom in this. His revelation of God was proving a touchstone; God was making the truth tell on some, and fail in making its way to others. And apostles saw the gospel to be "a savour of life unto life, and of death unto death." Preached to all, the gospel is reserved from some.
II. THE DISCRIMINATION CONCERNS THE CHARACTER OF THE PROPOSED RECIPIENTS. Not their circumstances. Truth is not reserved for the poor only. The contrast presented by our Lord is between guileful, self-satisfied man and simple, receptive child. He does but give expression to a recognized universal law of teaching. The man who thinks he knows will not learn. The man who feels that he does not know is glad to learn. But our Lord searchingly suggests, what we well know to be the case, that these two men represent types of character. It is not that the one knows and the other does not know; it is that the one is guileful and conceited, and feels as if he knew; while the other is humble and diffident, and feels as if he did not know. Christ's revelation of the Father, and the redemption, never can be interesting to any but simple, childlike souls.—R.T.