In Matthew 11:19, what does ‘wisdom is justified by her children’ mean?
In order to understand these words spoken by the Lord Jesus, we will quote Matthew 11:16-19: “But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions, and saying: ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; We mourned to you, and you did not lament.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon,’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children” (NKJV).
Both John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus came with a true message from God. John’s main message is seen in Matthew 3:1-2: “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, ‘REPENT, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Jesus also told men to repent, but He added to it good news which would bring salvation. Mark 1:14-15 tell us: “Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent, and BELIEVE THE GOSPEL’.” Both messengers and their messages were rejected by the nation of Israel. Because of this, Jesus likened the people of Israel to little children who don’t know how to give a proper response to circumstances in life. The little children refusing to DANCE during happy moments in life and refusing to MOURN during sad times pictured the generation of Israelites in that day who refused to accept John’s solemn message to REPENT and Jesus’ gracious message of SALVATION. They didn’t like John pointing out their sins so they accused John of being demon-possessed. They failed to see their need of God’s grace in salvation so they accused Jesus of being a glutton and a drunkard.
But there were those who did accept John’s message to repent of their sins, which prepared them to receive Jesus’ message of salvation. As we said, John and Jesus were sent with a message from God and thus God’s WISDOM was revealed through these messages. By receiving these messages they were receiving God’s wisdom and thus they are looked at as the “children of WISDOM.” The statement “wisdom is justified by her children” simply means that their acceptance of Jesus as their Messiah, and their devotion to Him, justified the messages of wisdom that were brought to them by John and Jesus. The radical change (for good) in their lives proved the WISDOM of God’s Word! (215.7) (DO)