Matthew 21:16
And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise? And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?
After driving out the traders and healing the blind and lame who came to him in the temple, Jesus was acclaimed by children echoing the shouts to the Son of David with hosannas and palm branches. When the chief priests and scribes in displeasure challenged him about what the children were saying, he answered yes and pointed to what was written as fulfilled, that God brings praise to perfection and completion through the mouths of even babes and sucklings. Their sincere, grateful and joyful praise fittingly testified to him as King and mighty healer, and he welcomed it with tenderness while the rulers failed to recognize him and rejected the evidence before them. That praise could not rightly be silenced or prevented, for if the children had been stopped even the temple pillars would have sounded his praise. As children proclaimed him at his first coming when rulers refused, so God uses children to proclaim his second coming and final warning when adult messengers are silenced.
Setting in the Temple
The saying was spoken in the temple after buyers and sellers had been driven out, the tables of the moneychangers overturned and the seats of the dove sellers overthrown, the house of prayer declared to have been made a den of thieves, and the blind and the lame had come there and been healed. It belongs to the triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the cleansing of the temple, which pointed to the coming doom of Jerusalem while the rejoicing showed the welcome given to Jesus. The court that had been filled with noisy trade became calm as the people listened to Jesus and praised Him for healing and for mercy and freedom from disease.
The children praising in the temple were echoing the joyful shouts acclaiming Jesus as the Son of David. They were repeating the hosannas and waving palm branches, and their joyful praise for His wonderful works declared what the leaders would not say. Many of those children had themselves been healed by Him.
After the priests fled, Jesus remained with the poor who stayed behind, turning to them with love and sympathy and tears and promising a deliverance that would glorify Him. He healed every disease, so that the mute opened lips in praise and the blind beheld their Restorer, and sufferers were filled with gladness and hope and peace and restoration of soul and body. The healed told of their pain and healing and vowed to devote life to His service, and parents placed palm branches in their children's hands and told them to lift up the voice and praise Him because He had saved life. Then voices of children and youth blended with fathers, mothers, friends and spectators in thanksgiving and praise, proclaiming His matchless love everywhere.
Those who thus praised from health of body and light to the soul knew Him to be their Saviour. Therefore at the crucifixion they did not join the cry for His death but sympathized with Him, afterward listened to the preaching of the apostles, gained understanding in heart, and became agents of mercy and instruments of salvation. Yet the children's palm branches and hosannas and baby voices lisping praise to the mighty Healer did not overcome the prejudice and jealousy of the priests and elders. When the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things He did and heard the children crying to the Son of David in the temple, they were sore displeased and challenged Jesus over whether He heard what they were saying.
Christ's Vindication of Praise
When challenged about the children's cries to him as the Son of David in the temple, Jesus answered yes and pointed his questioners to what stood written. Their praise was fitting and fulfilled Scripture, for God brings praise to perfection and completion through the mouths of even babes and sucklings, including infants and young children and the young and seemingly lowly. He thus affirmed their praise after he had healed the sick, even while the chief priests and scribes were displeased and objected to it.
Their praise fulfilled the foretold proclamation of Christ as King, for God had appointed even babes and sucklings to proclaim Christ's glory. He chose children to praise him and proclaim his work when the haughty rulers and priests refused that privilege of heralding him. Their voices would not be silenced, and if the children had been quiet even the temple pillars would have praised the Saviour.
Their praise affirmed his divine mission and kingship and gave fitting testimony to him as the mighty healer. The leaders failed to recognize what the children proclaimed and rejected the evidence set before them. That praise was sincere, grateful, innocent, joyful and unaffected, giving glory to God and honoring Jesus. Jesus welcomed their love and sympathy and affection with tenderness, and was pleased and refreshed by it amid the surrounding hypocrisy, while the indignation of the rulers exposed their hypocrisy.
The rulers could not rightly silence that praise, and their demand for silence failed because it did not recognize that the praise fulfilled prophecy. The praise would not be stopped and could not be prevented. If the children had been silenced, even the temple pillars would have sounded the Saviour's praise.
Prophetic Pattern and Application
The verse shows that praise from the youngest fulfills Scripture and cannot be silenced, for when adult messengers are intimidated into quiet God can use children to proclaim the coming of the Saviour. As children praised Jesus at His first advent, so children were also used to give the message of His second advent, in order that the proclamation of that coming would reach all peoples and tongues and nations.
In the same way, when servants who preached Christ's soon coming were silenced in Sweden, God put His Spirit upon children to proclaim the first message of Christ's near coming. When adult preachers of that soon coming were silenced in Scandinavia, God sent the message through children who were free to speak, making them instruments for proclaiming His warning.
The scene of children praising in the temple points to children in the last days proclaiming God's final warning. When adults are prevented from presenting the truth, the Spirit of God will come upon children and their simple words will astonish those who speak of higher education. Rightly educated children will then bear witness for Christ and carry forward work that older workers cannot do.
The lips of children will be opened to proclaim the mysteries of Daniel and Revelation that have been hidden from the minds of men. Those who receive Christ bring from those books truth inspired by the Holy Spirit and set in motion forces that cannot be repressed, and the opening of children's lips to declare those hidden mysteries belongs to that irrepressible work. God can move even small children to proclaim His message when it is presented simply enough for them to understand.
Praise and service for Jesus must not be silenced but must go forward, for if such voices were stilled even stones would cry out. No one should be condemned or discouraged from serving because he does not follow established methods or because he has little experience, since God can work through humble and less able workers.