The only way to get to God is Jesus. Understandably, that’s a fairly abstract thought. Jesus is a person, right? So how can we come through Him to God? The answer to that question is deeply theological with plenty of different points of view. So, suffice it to say that Jesus paved the way to God with His work on the cross. There, He took the price of our sin on His body, gave us the chance to be sinless through His blood, tore the veil that separated God’s presence from the people, and made the way for us to approach God’s throne of grace.
Bottom line: we can’t get to God without going through Jesus. That’s essentially what Jesus taught in Matthew 11:27.
All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
No one knew about God unless Jesus revealed Him. No one had access to God unless Jesus provided it. So Jesus was incredibly important to people who wanted a relationship with God.
Especially the people who already thought they knew Him.
In the verses leading up to Jesus’ statement in Matthew 11:27, Jesus had confronted a few Galilean villages because they had rejected Him, not recognizing that there was no access to God without Him.
Matthew 11:21-24
Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.
Harsh words, huh?
Jesus went through the towns, teaching and showing off God’s power, but the people didn’t recognize Him. They saw His great works and heard His great teachings, but their lives didn’t change at all. And as a result of their neglect, their fate for eternity will be worse than that of Sodom – and we all know about Sodom. In fact, Jesus told the Galileans that if the people of Sodom had witnessed what the Galileans saw, then God would have never destroyed the city – they would have changed their behavior instead.
So why didn’t the Galileans see Jesus’ teaching and power and change their lives? Why didn’t they follow Jesus when they saw His works?
Matthew 11:25
At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.
It wasn’t that the Galileans didn’t see Jesus or understand the words He said. Their problem was that they thought they already knew better. They thought they were wise enough. They thought they had enough knowledge about God.
His teaching was hidden from the wise, understanding people. They weren’t ready for it. The Jewish leaders were too full of themselves and their own teaching to accept Jesus’. The Pharisees were too concerned about their appearance as the religious elite to be bothered to listen to Jesus intently. The had Him in their midst, but they missed the point.
If we know His teaching but don’t show tangible, meaningful change in our lives, are we any better?
It’s very sad that Jesus’s message was lost in all the nonsense disseminated the Christian church after he departed.
His message was simple: God is our Father, he loves us all. We are all brothers, the children of God.and should love one another as He loves us. We can reach him and be led to eternal life by listening to His voice in our hearts, and doing his will.
He said nothing about washing away our sins with his blood. That sounds like pagan drivel added on by followers who did not know Him. We should focus on His love and the joy He brought in his message for us, instead of ranting about sin and damnation all the time.
Sure, the gospel message is love, but sin still has to be dealt with in some way. John tied Jesus’ blood to atonement (1 John 1:7).