I.　The first God-man, after reproaching the surrounding cities for not being willing to receive His teaching and repent (Matt. 11:20-24), prayed to the Father (vv. 25-26):

A.　In His prayer the Lord extolled the Father, acknowledging the Father as Lord of heaven and of earth:

1.　Although people, instead of responding to His ministry, slandered Him (vv. 16-19) and the leading cities rejected Him (vv. 20-24), He extolled the Father, acknowledging the Father's will:

a.　While the Lord was rebuking the cities, He fellowshipped with the Father; at that time, He answered the Father, speaking to Him the extolment—vv. 25-26.

b.　He did not seek prosperity in His work but sought the Father's will.

c.　His satisfaction and rest were not in being understood and welcomed by man but in being known by the Father—vv. 26-27.

2.　In the Lord's extolling address, Father refers to the Father's relationship with Him, the Son, whereas Lord of heaven and of earth refers to God's relationship with the universe:

a.　When God's people were defeated by His enemy, God was called "the God of heaven" (Ezra 5:12; Dan. 2:18, 37); but because Abraham was a man on the earth standing for God, he called God the "Possessor of heaven and earth" (Gen. 14:19, 22).

b.　The Lord as the Son of Man called the Father "Lord of heaven and of earth," indicating that He was standing on the earth for God's interest.

B.　The Lord praised the Father that He has hidden all the things mentioned in Matthew 11:27 (the knowledge of the Son and of the Father) from the wise and intelligent and has revealed them to infants:

1.　The wise and intelligent refers to all the peoples in the cities who rejected the Lord and who were wise and intelligent in their own eyes.

2.　The Father's will was to hide the knowledge of the Son and of the Father from such people and reveal it to the disciples, who are the infants—Matt. 19:13-14; 1 Cor. 1:26-28.

II.　Based upon His prayer, He gave an unveiling teaching to His disciples—Matt. 11:27-30:

A.　The Lord's teaching is regarding the eternal economy of God—Matt. 11:27:

1.　The Father has delivered all His elect to the Son for the building up of the Son's Body—v. 27a; John 6:37, 44, 65; 17:6b; 18:9.

2.　Only the Father knows the Son as the centrality and universality of His economy—Matt. 11:27b; cf. Col. 2:2; Matt. 16:15-17; Gal. 1:15-16; Eph. 3:4; Phil. 3:10:

a.　The economy of the Triune God is for Him to dispense Himself into His chosen and redeemed people to make them His expression—1 Tim. 1:4.

b.　Christ is the hub, the rim, and the spokes—the entire content—of God's economy—Col. 1:17-18; 3:10-11.

c.　The New Testament reveals Christ in the flesh in the Gospels (John 1:14), Christ as the life-giving Spirit in the Epistles (1 Cor. 15:45b), and Christ as the sevenfold intensified life-giving Spirit in Revelation (Rev. 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6).

d.　For us to know the Son, the Father must reveal Him to us—Matt. 16:17; Eph. 1:17.

e.　We should aspire, like Paul, to know the all-inclusive, all-extensive, and unlimited Christ—Phil. 3:8-10.

3.　Only the Son knows the Father as the source and Maker of His economy—Matt. 11:27c:

a.　No one fully knows the Father except the Son and those believers to whom the Son wills to reveal the Father.

b.　For us to know the Father, the Son must reveal Him to us—John 17:6, 26; cf. 14:8-10.

4.　The Son reveals the Father to His believers for the formation of His Body—Matt. 11:27d; John 17:6a:

a.　God's economy is for the expression of the Father through the Son with His organism, the Body of Christ.

b.　The Father as the source has a desire to have an organism through the Son, and the Son came to call God's elect to come to Him so that He can regenerate, sanctify, and transform them, making them His Body to be the organism of the Triune God.

B.　The Lord's teaching is regarding Himself, the first God-man, as the Head of the Body, the prototype, and the model—Matt. 11:28-30; Col. 1:18a; John 12:24; 1 Pet. 2:21:

1.　He was absolutely submissive to God and altogether satisfied with God—Matt. 11:26; 26:39, 42.

2.　He was meek, not resisting the opponents, and lowly, humbling Himself among men in His heart—11:29.

C.　The Lord's teaching is regarding His believers as the members of His Body, His reproduction, and His duplication:

1.　The Lord's believers answer His call in their heart and come to Him bodily, with their entire being—v. 28a; Rom. 12:1.

2.　The believers copy the Lord in their spirit by taking His yoke—God's will—and toiling for God's economy according to His model—Matt. 11:29a; 1 Pet. 2:21.

3.　The rest that we find by taking the Lord's yoke and learning from Him is for our soul; we share in our soul His rest in satisfaction—Matt. 11:28b, 29b, 30.

4.　The Lord's yoke (the Father's will) is easy, not bitter, and His burden (the work of carrying out the Father's will) is light, not heavy—v. 30.