It is impossible to learn of anyone in whom we do not believe. Jesus is the greatest Teacher we can possibly have, but in order to learn of Him, we must come to Him in faith.
What if He does sometimes say things that are hard to be understood? Does not every teacher do the same? If He did not say anything except what we already know and believe, He would not be a teacher, and we should learn nothing.
We know that He is true, and the very embodiment of truth and mercy; of this we have abundance of evidence; therefore when we hear Him say something that seems to our dull minds to clash with what is just, then is the time to keep still and listen, that we may learn.
It ill becomes the pupil to criticize the teacher, and it is a most presumptuous thing for man to question the justice of God. We may be sure that the Judge of all the earth will do right, and so we need give ourselves no uneasiness concerning God's dealing with Tyre and Sidon and Sodom. "That be far from You to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from You: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Genesis 18:25) "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 had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Howbeit I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of Judgment, than for you. And you, Capernaum, shall you be exalted unto heaven? You shall go down into Hades; for if the mighty works had been done in Sodom, which were done in you, it would have remained until this day. Howbeit I say unto you, that it shall he more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of Judgment, than for you." (Matthew 11:20-24)
Was God then unjust in destroying all those cities, or allowing them to be destroyed? Not by any means. "The men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly." (Genesis 13:13)
They knew better, for they had the law, since sin is not imputed where there is no law, and they had also the example of righteous Lot: "And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation ofthe wicked: For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds." (2 Peter 2:7-8)
The city of Sodom was destroyed by fire from heaven, but it was not so with the cities of Tyre and Sidon. They perished at the hands of man, by siege, etc., in the way that many other cities have disappeared. So it was with Chorazin and Bethsaida, of which there is no more trace than there is of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Why did they disappear? Evidently because they did not have in them the elements of stability. The historian would say that "they fell by the hand of time;" but their fall was punishment visited upon them by God, just as surely as was that of Sodom and Gomorrah; and on the other hand, these cities fell because they had not in them the elements of stability, just as surely as did the other cities.
Whether destruction comes suddenly or slowly, as the manifest judgment of God or seemingly in the ordinary course of events, it comes only as the consequence of sin. If any of those cities had been righteous cities, they would not have fallen.
All Men Without Excuse
But someone will say that Tyre and Sidon and Sodom might have been saved if they had been given a chance; and arguing upon this basis, there are some who say that they must have another probation, and therefore they deduce the theory of probation for men after death. All such reasoning is but a cobweb of imagination.
We know full well that they all did have the opportunity to know the truth, and that they rejected it. We know also that God has done all that infinite power could do for the salvation of the world, since He has given himself; and what He has done for the world He has done for every individual. Therefore we may be sure that God did all for those wicked cities that it was possible to do for them.
He would not allow the inhabitants of Canaan to be destroyed until their cup of iniquity was full; and all His ways are equal. Further, we know that in some places Christ in His earthly ministry could not do many works, because of their unbelief: "And He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief." (Matthew 13:58)
Therefore we are justified in concluding that He could not do any more mighty works in Sodom and Tyre than He did do. He was doing mighty works there, as He does in every place, so that they were without excuse, because His everlasting power and Divinity were as clearly to be seen there as elsewhere. They had their chance, therefore.
The text itself, however, removes every possibility for complaint against God. Christ says that it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon and Sodom in the day of Judgment than for Capernaum and the other cities where the most mighty of His works were done. So we see that whatever claim they have for clemency in the day of Judgment will be accorded them.
Capernaum and the cities near had great opportunities. The fact that so many mighty works were there done by the Lord, shows that they were hopeful places in which to work. There was in them a spirit which made it easy to do work there; nevertheless they rejected all the light at the last. Their case in the Judgment will be worse than that of Sodom, although we have no reason to think that they were given up to such abominable wickedness as Sodom was.
From this we may learn that people of respectability and outward morality, who reject truth, are much worse in the sight of the just God than are the most degraded and shameless sinners, who have not had the same advantages. An outward morality, a respectability in the eyes of man, is a dangerous thing on which to rest one's hope of eternal life.
The Knowledge of God is the Highest Wisdom
Christ is the great Teacher, in that He reveals God to men. "No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." (John 1:18)
The things that are hid from the wise and prudent are revealed unto babes; and this helps to make more clear the case just referred to. God does not do what men call "mighty works" before babes; they could not understand them if He did; but He does reveal himself to them.
And the fact that God is revealed to babes, is in itself the strongest possible proof of the justice of the condemnation of all who are lost, no matter how great their ignorance of the truth. For since the deep things of God are so plainly revealed that babes can comprehend them, there is certainly no excuse for any person in the world. "All things are delivered unto me of my Father; and no man knows the Son, but the Father; neither knows any man the Father, save the San, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." (Matthew 11:27)
Here is marvelous instruction in self denial, which is the highest wisdom. Everything is delivered into the hands of Christ, and He uses the power only to reveal the Father to men, while He himself remains unknown.
We speak of knowing Christ, but in knowing Him we learn only the character of God. In seeing Him, we see God. "Jesus said unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? he that has seen me has seen the Father; and how do you say then, Show us the Father?" (John 14:9) "[He] emptied himself," (Philippians 2:7,RV) that the Father might appear. In all the universe no one knows the Son, save the Father. Such was and is the sacrifice of Christ. Looking down upon fallen humanity, His heart was filled with love and pity, and He said to the Father, "I will declare your name unto my brethren." (Hebrews 2:12)
So He was content to be despised and unknown, to be misunderstood and rejected, without any complaint, knowing that the Father understood Him. Is there not here instruction for us? Not His own claims, but those of the Father, would He press. Nobody save the Father can know Him, but through Him every creature may know the Father.
What Makes the Burden Light
After this how fitting is the call to come to Him, and to learn of Him, because He is meek and lowly in heart! "Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, andI 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)
How great His lowliness and meekness are, we should not know but for the fact just stated. He is content to be known by nobody, and to be considered nobody, if only the Father may be revealed and understood.
This is what makes Him the greatest teacher in the universe; for there is no teacher like Him; and through His meekness God is allowed to appear as He is. Only in meekness is there true wisdom. Only in meekness is there rest and peace.
And such rest! Who can describe it? It is "The peace of God, which passes all understanding." (Philippians 4:7)
It is rest from the burden of sin. This rest the Lord gives now, else there would be no reason in calling weary sinners to himself. The thing that is too hard for us, becomes easy in Christ. The sin that we could not overcome, and which we clung to with affection even while striving to be free from it, is in Christ thrown off as lightly as a feather, and to do so is a delight.
That which makes it easy is the fact that He gives us the power that upholds the worlds,--His own Word, himself. "God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Has in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." (Hebrews 1:1-3)
He bears all things, all the worlds, yet His burden is light; when we come to Him in childlike faith, He makes us sharers of His burden, and thereby sharers of the power by which it is sustained. How sad that so many are content to remain in ignorance of this wonderful piece of wisdom.--Present Truth, April 26, 1900--Original title: Christ the Great Teacher. Warning and Invitation--Timeline: IV-32 (Jesus' Eulogy of John)--Matthew 11:20-30.