"Then He began to upbraid the cities wherein most of His mighty works were done, because they repented not: Woe unto you, Chorazin! woe unto 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 unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you." (Matthew 11:20-22)
Before passing to the main subject, we may note that we have no record of any miracles that were performed in Chorazin, nor is there in the Bible any other reference to that place, except in the parallel passage in Luke. The Scripture is silent concerning those "mighty works" that were done there, and but for this incidental allusion, we would not know that any such place ever existed.
This is one of the things that proves that the gospels are not fictitious tales. A writer of fiction would have referred only to Capernaum, or to some other place already mentioned as the scene of mighty miracles; he would not have brought in Chorazin without first recording some miracles wrought there. But Matthew writes as one who deals with things of common report, and that were not done in a corner.
The question has sometimes been raised, "If Tyre and Sidon would have repented, if the works done in Bethsaida had been done in them, why were the works not done, and they thus given a chance to repent?"
Dean Alford answers this question thus: "Because every act of God for the rescue of a sinner from his doom is purely and entirely of free and undeserved grace, and the proportion of such means of escape dealt out to men is ruled by the counsel of His will who is holy, just, and true, and wills not the death of the sinner, but whose ways are past our finding out."
But there seems to be an answer that is more satisfactory. First we must remember that: "[God] is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9) "Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:4) "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy." (Psalm 103:8) "And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin." (Exodus 34:6-7)
He himself says, "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live." (Ezekiel 33:11)
Therefore it may be set down as a fact that God never brings judgments upon people without first giving them sufficient warning, and time for repentance. Whenever the wicked are destroyed, it is their own fault, and not because God has not given them enough chance to repent. See the case of the antediluvians. "And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years." (Genesis 6:3) "The longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water." (1 Peter 3:20)
In order fully to understand the matter, we must read also these verses, which immediately follow: "At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in your sight." (Matthew 11:25-26)
Here the same principle is involved, but in such a way that the answer is suggested. We are not to understand that Jesus rejoiced because any had failed to receive light and knowledge, but rather because there were some to whom it could be revealed. And we are to understand that "these things" were hid from "the wise and prudent," not because God willed that they should not know them, but because they refused to receive them; and here is the proof. Paul says, "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)
Here we are told that "these things" are hid only from those whose minds Satan has blinded; but Satan cannot blind the minds of any who do not willingly yield to him. "Know you not, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" (Romans 6:16)
Of the Jews the Lord said: "For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." (Acts 28:27) "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12)
These texts conclusively show that the truths of the gospel are hidden only from those who close their own eyes. When Christ said that "these things" were hid from "the wise and prudent," He referred to those who were wise in their own conceit, and not to the truly wise. Of the heathen we are told that: "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." (Romans 1:22)
They were so wise in their own estimation that they did not like to retain God in their knowledge; they felt, like modern Spiritualists, that their reason was fettered so long as they held to "the God-idea;" and so they were left to a mind void of judgment, to do all manner of iniquity.
The "wise and prudent" are the worldly wise, of whom Paul said: "For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wisemen after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty." (1 Corinthians 1:21-27)
It is very common to hear people speak of men who "know so much that nobody can teach them anything." It is not meant that the men are really wiser than anybody else in the world, but that they think themselves so very wise that they will not receive instruction from anybody.
So with the "wise and prudent" ones of this world. They imagine themselves to be so wise that they need not listen to the teaching of Christ, and so the glorious light of the gospel is hid from their eyes.
But one who doesn't think he knows it all already may be taught. So David says: "Good and upright is the Lord; therefore will He teach sinners in the way. The meek will He guide in judgment; and the meek will He teach his way. ... The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and He will show them His covenant." (Psalm 25:8-9,14)
The man who nurses his pride, shuts himself off from receiving the light which if received would guide him to life. Thus it was with the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon, and with Sodom. If the mighty works that were done in Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum had been done in them, they would have repented; but the mighty works could not be done in them. They themselves made it impossible for the mighty works to be done, because in their wicked pride they would not receive even the first principles of truth.
It was just so in Nazareth, of which place it is said: "And He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief." (Matthew 13:58)
Nazareth was proverbial for its wickedness: "And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?" (John 1:46)
As soon as Jesus began to teach there, the people rejected His words. "And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, He departed thence. And when He was come into His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence has this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? is not His mother called Mary? and His brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then has this man all these things? And they were offended in Him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and in his own house. And He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief." (Matthew 13:53-58) "And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And He closed the book, and He gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on Him." (Luke 4:16-20)
Before Jesus left them, however, He emphasized the point which we have noted, namely, that unbelief and hardness of heart will shut out the help that God is willing to give, by referring to the cases of the widow of Sarepta and Naaman the Syrian. There were many others as needy as these two, but they were not as willing to receive help.
In the city of Sodom everybody was saturated with wickedness. They were wholly abandoned to their own depraved lust, and therefore they were so hardened that the moment the message came to them from God, they mocked and tried to kill the messenger. If their hearts had been submissive enough to listen quietly to truth, mighty works might have been done, and many might have been converted, and the city thereby saved from destruction. But the works were not done, because they would not allow them to be done.
The Saviour closed His discourse with the following most beautiful and tender appeal: "Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)
There are two yokes and two burdens. The burden of sin is indeed heavy; if it is not lost at the foot of the cross, it will sink the bearer into perdition. To all who are heavily laden with sin, Jesus says, "Come unto me, ... and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)
There is no doubt about this. If they come, He says, "You shall find rest unto your souls." (Matthew 11:29)
Then why not go? Why carry a heavy burden, when somebody freely offers to carry it for you? In exchange He will give His own burden, which is light. The "yoke of bondage" is a galling yoke. From this Christ will set all free who will come to Him, and He says, "If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." (John 8:36)
A yoke implies service. Those who are entangled in the "yoke of bondage," are the servants of sin; they carry the heavy load. Christ's yoke is easy, but the fact that those who come to Him must take his yoke upon them, shows that those who come to Christ must engage in His service. They must be workers.
But Christ's service is not slavery. It is a pleasure to work when the yoke fits the neck. None can be followers of Christ unless they learn of Him to do His work. The earlier one becomes used to work, the more efficient will he be; so the prophet says: "It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth." (Lamentations 3:27)--November 3, 1887--Timeline: IV-32 (Jesus' Eulogy of John)--Matthew 11:20-24.