Jesus was the giver of rest

JESUS WAS THE GIVER OF REST
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Matthew 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
GreatTexts of the Bible
The GreatInvitation
1. There were severalreasons whichmade this gracious invitation and
glorious promise speciallyappropriate to the age in which it was spoken. It
was an age of political revolution. The old RomanEmpire was breaking up,
and already the seeds were being sownin it which left it, a few hundred years
afterwards, an easyprey to the incursions of the Goths. It was an age of moral
collapse. The old stern morality which had made Rome was breaking up like
rotten ice. Marriage became a mere temporary convenience, whichlastedfor
a time and then was laid aside. It was an age of socialunrest. It was an age of
much despair in individual souls. As always, with the decayof faith came in
the prevalence of suicide.
When all the blandishments of life are gone,
The cowardslinks to death, the brave live on.

And the great number of suicides at that time in the RomanEmpire pointed
to the despair which was creeping over soul after soul. It was in the midst of
such a world that Jesus Christ uttered this splendid invitation: “Come unto
me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
“Despairis the vilest of words.” That expresses Fitzjames’swhole belief and
character. Faithmay be shakenand dogmas fade into meaningless jumbles of
words: science maybe unable to supply any firm ground for conduct. Still we
can quit ourselves like men. From doubt and darkness he can still draw the
practicalconclusion, “Be strong and of a goodcourage.”And therefore,
Fitzjames could not be a pessimistin the proper sense;for the true pessimistis
one who despairs of the universe. Such a man can only preach resignationto
inevitable evil, and his best hope is extinction. Fitzjames goes outof his way
more than once to declare that he sees nothing sublime in Buddhism.
“Nirvana,” he says in a letter, “always appearedto me to be at bottom a
cowardlyideal. For my part I like far better the Carlyle or Calvinist notion of
the world as a mysterious hall of doom, in which one must do one’s fated part
to the uttermost, acting and hoping for the best and trusting that somehow or
other our admiration of the ‘noblest human qualities’ will be justified.”1
[Note:1 Leslie Stephen, Life of Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, 458.]
2. Those to whom Jesus spoke thatday in Galilee were conspicuouslythe
labouring and the heavy laden. They were a labouring and a heavy-laden
people, because they were in the worstsense a conquered people. The lake
district was rich in national products, the fields brought forth largely, and the
lake with its fishings was a very mine of wealth. But the land was overrun by
the invader. The conqueror’s tax-gathererwas everywhere to be seen, and the
wealth of Galilee went to feed the luxury of Rome. Hence the husbandmen
and fishermen in the worstsense laboured and were heavy laden. Their rich
crops fell to their sickle, their nets were often full to the point of breaking,
necessitating hardtoil to bring them to the shore, but the tax-gathererstood
over the threshing-floor and in the market, and swept the profits into the

emperor’s hands. Nordid their revolts bring them anything but harder
labours and a heavierload. Their wrestling and struggling only procured
them the sharp pricking of the goadand the firmer binding on their shoulders
of the yoke.
How large the taxes were in Palestine about the time of Christ will probably
never be known. Shortly after Herod’s death a committee of Jews statedto the
emperor that Herod had filled the nation full of poverty and that they had
borne more calamities from Herod in a few years than their fathers had
during all the interval of time that had passedsince they had returned from
Babylon in the reign of Xerxes. It is said that he exactedabout three million
dollars from the people. His children did not receive quite that amount, but to
raise what they receivedand what the Romangovernment demanded, nearly
everything had been taxed. There was a tax on the produce of land, one-tenth
for grain and one-fifth for wine and fruit. There was a tax of one denarius on
every person, exempting only agedpeople over sixty-five years, and girls and
boys under the age of twelve and fourteen respectively. Then there was an
income-tax. There were also taxes levied on trades, such as that of hosier,
weaver, furrier, and goldsmith, and on movable property, such as horses,
oxen, asses, ships, and slaves. The duties paid on imported goods varied from
two and one-half to twelve per cent. Then the homes were taxed, at leastthe
city homes, and there was bridge money and road money to be paid. There
was also a tax on what was publicly bought and sold, for the removal of which
tax the people pleaded with Archelaus, apparently in vain. Besides this, every
city had its localadministration, and raised money to pay its officials,
maintain and build synagogues,elementaryschools,public baths, and roads,
the city walls, gates, and other generalrequirements. Tacitus relates how the
discontent occasionedby the burdensome taxation in the year 17 A.D.
assumeda most threatening characternot only in Judea, but also throughout
Syria. Taxes were farmed out to the highest bidders, who in turn would farm
them out again. They who gotthe contractwere not paid by the government
from the taxes they collected, so that their support, or income, must be added
to the taxes. How large that was we cannotknow, but it was very large, as the
collectors would, taking advantage of their position, often be very

extortionate. Amid these unfortunate economic conditions—anarchy, war,
extravagance,and taxation—the people grew poorer and poorer. Business
became more and more interrupted, and want, in growing frequency, showed
its emaciatedfeatures.1 [Note:G. D. Heuver, The Teachings ofJesus
Concerning Wealth, 31.]
3. But the national feeling which held them togetheras a people, had it not its
side of faith? It had not. Faith, as it found expressionin the Rabbi’s words,
only added a thousand times to the labour and the yoke. What of money the
tax-gathererleft the priest devoured, and what the priest left the scribe laid
hands upon; and as the masses sank deeperand deeperin poverty, only the
more were there heaped upon them the curses of the law. Robbery, impiety,
cursing, were all the multitude saw in faith. Can we not picture that weary
crowdof waiting men and women, with, as Carlyle says, “hard hands,
crooked, coarse;their rugged faces all weather-tanned, besoiled;their backs
all bent, their straight limbs and fingers so deformed; themselves, as it were,
encrustedwith the thick adhesions and defacements of their hopeless labour;
and seeing no cause to believe in, and no hope for rest”? But Jesus spokeof
rest, and not idly, or to delude them with a dream. He, like themselves, was a
toiler, and offeredno hope that with His own hand He would drive out the
Roman, or even put the priest and scribe to flight. He did not speak of rest in
the sense ofrelief from labour. His exhortation, “Take my yoke upon you,”
makes that conclusive. His relief and rescue were along a totally different line.
Restcan be understood only when labour is properly undertaken. When work
is regardedas a task, then the only possible restis relief from it. If, however,
labour is undertaken as cordial service, it is quite different. Restmay then
mean additional labour; it does then mean harmony and peace ofmind and
soul.
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh
you.” It is thus that this saying of Jesus is rendered in the Latin Bible, and,
after it, in the versionof old John Wycliffe. And thus rendered, it was

associatedby the devout men of mediæval days with the sacredordinance of
the Supper. “Thou biddest me,” says St. Thomas à Kempis, “confidently
approachThee, if I would have part with Thee;and acceptthe nourishments
of immortality, if I desire to obtain eternal life and glory. ‘Come,’sayest
Thou, ‘unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh
you.’ ”1 [Note:D. Smith, The Feastof the Covenant, 123.]
I
The Call
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden.”
1. In the history of the world was ever an utterance made like this? Was ever a
claim of power or an assertionofsupremacy so vast, so calm, so confident?
Could we have endured it from one of the teachers ofthe world—from
Socrates, from Seneca,from Isaac Newton, from Kant, or from Shakespeare?
Would not its utterance have repelled and disgustedus? Its arrogance would
have been intolerable. And yet have these words from the lips of Christ ever
produced repulsion? Is it not the case thatthey have ever been regardedas
among the most gracious and lovely of the Saviour’s words? And why so? Has
it not been because it was knownand felt that these were the words of Him
who was God as well as Man? They follow in this chapter of St. Matthew the
verse in which Jesus has said, “All things have been delivered unto me of my
Father.” The beauty and the sweetnessofthe invitation, “Come unto me,”
depend upon the sovereignright to give it. He who is the Son of God as well as
the Sonof Man alone has the right. In His mouth alone such words possessnot
only beauty but also the force of genuineness.

Thus we see that beneath the tenderness of this evangelicalmessage, “Come
unto me,” lies the bed-rock foundation of the Christian faith, that Christ is
God as well as Man. Call it dogma; if dogma be the epitome of belief, it is the
dogma of dogmas. Callit Christian truth; it is the one truth without which
Christianity fades into an airy system of baselessspeculation, and its claims
shrink and shrivel to the dimensions of a human imposture. It is the Divinity
of our Lord that makes these words of His so splendid and inspiring in their
strength and comprehensiveness. There is no hesitationin their tone; they
strike no apologetic orself-depreciatorynote. It is not the outcome of long
argument to advance or prove His claims. It is not the vague pronouncement
of bliss and reward upon those who followedHis cause. No;it is the simple
authoritative personal invitation of Christ to the people of the world; it is an
imperial messagegivenin infinite love and proclaimed with infinite powerto
the souls of men and women. And we, whether we teach it to our children or
repeatit to the dying, can attachno adequate meaning to the words unless we
are convincedin our hearts that He who spoke them was God as well as Man,
and could really give what He promised.
We are making trial of the belief that in Christ we see the Powerby which the
world is governed—the Almighty. But the world, if we regard its present
condition in isolation, is most manifestly not governedby any such Power. The
Sin and Pain of the world we know cannot be themselves the goalof the
Purpose of God, if God is the Fatherof Jesus Christ. Either then Christ is not
the revelationof God, or else the world as we see it does not express its real
meaning. Only, in fact, as Christ is drawing men to Himself from generation
to generationis the victory over evil won, and His claim to reveal the Father
vindicated; we can only regard Him as Divine, and supreme over the world, if
we can regard Him as somehow including in His Personalityall mankind. If
the Life of Christ is just an event in human history, what right have we to say
that the Powerwhich directs that history is manifest here rather than in
Julius Cæsaror even Nero? We can only saythis, if He is drawing all men to
Himself so that in Him we see whatmankind is destined to become.1 [Note:
W. Temple, in Foundations, 245.]

2. The call is addressedto all who labour and are heavy laden. To all; not
merely to a few favoured souls, not merely to the Jews;it is an invitation to
mankind. Our Lord, when He uttered the words, was looking out with the
gaze of Omniscience acrossthe ages. He saw eachhuman soul, with its
capacityfor eternalblessedness orendless loss. Generationaftergeneration
sweptbefore His vision, as He longed that they might all come unto Him and
find rest. No one is excluded, for all need the healing of Christ. Christ saw—as
the painter of “The Vale of Tears” has vividly portrayed in his last picture—
all conditions of men, wearyof the sorrows, trials and burdens of human life,
as well as of its pleasures, ambitions and prizes, when He uttered the tender,
authoritative, universal invitation, “Come unto me.”
(1) First, He invites those who labour; or, perhaps more correctly, all who are
toiling. Can we venture to reconstructthe scene? Closebeside Him stand His
immediate disciples, who alone had been privileged to hear the language of
His prayer. But beyond the circle of His immediate followers is gathereda
crowdof the inhabitants of Capernaum, who had been passing homeward at
the close ofthe day. Labourers would be there in plenty, coming back from
their toil in the fields; women also, returning from the market or the well; and
fishermen too, doubtless, who had stoppedawhile to listen on the way to their
nocturnal labours on the deep. On the outskirts of the crowd there might be
others, shop-keepers, working men, and farmers; and perhaps womensuch as
Mary Magdalene, forMagdala was not far from Capernaum. Such, in some
degree at least, was the characterofthe multitude on whom our Lord’s eyes
could rest. And as He gazed upon that group of peasants, representative as
they were of human weariness andsuffering, there welled up in His heart a
greatcompassionfor the souls before Him, weigheddown with a load that was
too heavy for them to bear. So, conscious ofHis powerto alleviate the woes
and sorrows ofhumanity and to lighten the common burdens of mankind, He
who claimed a knowledge ofthe unknown God, and had been rejoicing in
communion with the Father, opened His arms to the listening multitude and

cried, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest.”
(2) But Christ callednot only those who labour or toil; He calledthose also
who are burdened or heavy laden to Him. As the idea of toil refers to what we
may call the active side of life, to what we do or attempt to do, so the term
“heavy laden” or “burdened” refers to the passive side, to that which we bear
or endure. Frequently this latter is a condition added to, or even responsible
for, the former. We may be toiling while we are heavy laden, or our work may
actually be toil because while we work we have also to bear a heavy burden. If
we consider the burdens of life they fall into two classes;we may term these
the self-imposedand the inevitable: those which are due, and those which are
not due, to our own actions. And many of us would be surprised, after a strict
self-examination, to find how large a proportion of the whole of our burdens
the self-imposedones are. We may not like to confess this, but still it is true.
The burdens imposed by carelessnessandthoughtlessness,by sin in the
present and in the past, by the force of evil habits which have been allowedto
grow unchecked, by our declining to exercise self-discipline and by our
refusing to submit to the wise discipline of others—allthese various not
inevitable burdens will be found to outweigh and outnumber the burdens
which are really outside our own control.
(3) What must especiallyhave distressedJesus and filled Him with pity was
that men turned their very religion into a burden and a toil. That which was
meant to give them strength to bear all other burdens they turned into an
additional load. Instead of using their carriage to carry themselves and all
their belongings, they strove to take it on their backs and carry it. All that
religion seemedto do for them was to make life harder, to fill it with a
thousand restrictions and fretting duties. They toiled to keepa multitude of
observanceswhich no man could keep;they bound heavy burdens of penances
and duties and laid them on their backs, as if thus they could please God. The
sinner was in despair, and the religious man a heartless performer. They had

fancied that God was like themselves, a poor little creature, revengeful,
spiteful, liking to see men suffering for sin and crushedunder His petty
tyrannies. They thought of a God who must be propitiated by careful and
exactperformances and to whom the sinner could find accessonly after
crushing penances. As if the pain of sin were not enough, and as if the
bitterness of a misspent life were not itself intolerable, they soughtto embitter
life still further by emptying it of all natural joy and by hampering it with
countless scruples.
The kernelof the law was found in the Jewishscriptures. But this was
augmented by four tremendous accumulations. First, there was the Mishna,
which was an elaborate reiterationof the law with innumerable
embellishments. Then there was the Midrash, which consistedofvolumes of
the minutest explanations of the meaning of every part of the law. Then there
were other bulky tomes calledthe Talmud, which was a formulation of the
law into doctrine at portentous length. And finally there was an intricate mass
of comments and legaldecisions ofthe Rabbis. And for a Jew to live right he
must be in complete harmony with all this mass of accumulatedtradition,
speculation, allegory, and fantastic comment. And as every Rabbi had the
right and, indeed, the duty to add to it, it is easyto see how the burden would
grow. Rabbis were saidto make the law heavy, to burden people, and many of
them regardedthis as their chief duty.1 [Note: N. H. Marshall.]
(4) But primarily Christ addressedHimself to the sin problem. Indisputably
sin is the cause of all unrest, the poisonwhich has fevered every life. Sin is the
root of all the weakness andweariness whichrob life of its true quality. Sin it
is that blurs the vision of God, and blinds men to His unfailing nearness and
help, as also to the true issues of life, for the realizing of which they do so
much need Him. And when Christ offers rest to the weary and heavy laden,
He is proposing to deal with the sin which has createdtheir need.

Sin is the greatestdisturbance of men’s souls, far deeper than any agitationor
perturbation that may arise from external circumstances. It is our unlawful
desires that shake us; it is our unlawful acts that disturb us, rousing
conscience, whichmay speak accusinglyor be ominously silent, and, in either
case, willdisturb our true repose. As our greatdramatist has it, “Macbethhas
murdered sleep.” There is no restfor the man whose conscience is stinging
him, as, more or less, all consciencesdo that are not reconciledand quieted by
Christ’s greatsacrifice. Suchan one is like the troubled sea “thatcannot rest,
whose waters castup mire and dirt”; whilst they who come to Jesus are like
some little tarn amongstthe hills, surrounded by sheltering heights, that
“hearethnot the loud winds when they call,” and has no more movement than
is enough to prevent stagnation, while its little ripples kiss the pure silver sand
on the beach; and in their very motion there is rest.1 [Note: A. Maclaren, A
Rosaryof Christian Graces, 152.]
Browning has suggestedthat, among those who heard the Lord Jesus invite
the wearyand heavy laden to come to Him, was one of the two robbers who
were eventually crucified at His side. The poem describes the emotions which
passedthrough the man’s soul, and he is made to say:
The words have power to haunt me. Long ago
I heard them from a Stranger—One who turned,
And lookedupon me as I went, and seemed
To know my face, although I knew Him not.

The face was weary;yet He spoke
Of giving rest—He needed rest, I think—
Yet patiently He stood and spoke to those
Who gatheredround Him, and He turned
And lookedon me. He could not know
How sinful was my life, a robber’s life,
Amid the caves and rocks. And yet He looked
As though He knew it all, and, knowing,
Longed to save me from it.
It may have been so, or it may not. Browning’s fancy may have a basis in fact;
we cannot tell. But this at leastwe know—that he who suffered by the side of
Jesus is one of those who have proved the truth of His saying, and have found
Him able to make goodHis word.2 [Note: H. T. Knight.]
II

The Gift
“I will give you rest.”
1. Rest, then, is a gift; it is not earned. It is not the emolument of toil; it is the
dowry of grace. It is not the prize of endeavour, its birth precedes endeavour,
and is indeed the spring and secretof it. It is not the perquisite of culture, for
betweenit and culture there is no necessaryand inevitable communion. It
broods in strange and illiterate places, untouchedby scholastic andacademic
refinement, but it abides also in cultured souls which have been chastenedby
the manifold ministry of the schools.It is not a work, but a fruit; not the
product of organization, but the sure and silent issue of a relationship. “Come
unto me, … and I will give you rest.”
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest.” Who but would test this gracious promise? Who is altogetherfree from
the heavy load of pain, either bodily, mental, or spiritual? Yet how many
spend half their lives in vainly seeking rest!If ever there was a question which
it concerns us all to answerit is this, Where is rest to be found? The larger
part of mankind seek it in wealth, in honours, in worldly ease;but they do not
find it. Covetousness, greed, envy, fraud, conspire to spoil all thought of rest
in the goodthings of this world. Others seek restin themselves, but what can
be expected from our weak, changeable natures? Society, literature, science
may occupy, but they cannotsatisfy or rest, the heart. There is no rest for the
heart of man save in God, who made him for Himself. But how shall we rest in
God? By giving ourselves wholly to Him. If you give yourselves by halves, you
cannot find full rest—there will ever be a lurking disquiet in that half which is
withheld; and for this reasonit is that so few Christians attain to a full,
steadfast, unchanging peace—theydo not seek restin God only, or give
themselves up to Him without reserve. True restis as unchanging as God

Himself—like Him it rises above all earthly things: it is secret, abundant,
without a regretor a wish. It stills all passion, restrains the imagination,
steadies the mind, controls all wavering:it endures alike in the time of
tribulation and the time of wealth; in temptation and trial, as when the world
shines brightly on us. Christ tells you of His peace whichthe world can neither
give nor take away, becauseit is God’s gift only. Such peace may undergo
many an assault, but it will be confirmed thereby, and rise above all that
would trouble it. He who has tastedit would not give it in exchange for all this
life cangive: and death is to him a passage fromthis rest to that of eternity.1
[Note:JeanNicolas Grou, The Hidden Life of God.]
2. Many of the greatgifts of life are not transmissible. Ask the artist for the
powerby which he gives us the inspired painting, ask the poet for the power
by which he is able to sing and touch men’s hearts into enthusiasm, and they
cannot give it. There is always just the inexpressible something which they can
never impart. It is the spirit of the thing, which is incommunicable, the Divine
touch; the fairy has not given her kiss at birth. But here is Christ who can
impart restfulness of soul, that which transforms the soul from being worldly
and agitatedto being a spirit possessedofcalm. It seems to be a miracle that a
subtle quality should be transmissible from the Lord to His disciples. Here He
stands above all other instructors in being able to pass on that which
otherwise is incommunicable, but which, in His hand, has been a real
persistentheritage in the Church.
On the way to Chapra from Ratnapur Miss Dawe, ofthe Church of England
Zenana Missionat Ratnapur, told me of a Hindu with whom God’s Spirit
workedbefore he met any missionary and gave him a sense ofsin, so that he
became dissatisfied. He visited various places of pilgrimage seeking rest. One
day he picked up a piece of paper on which were written the words: “Come
unto me, and I will give you rest.” He did not know where they came from and
went inquiring from one to another. At length a fakir who had heard
something of Christianity told him they were to be found in the Christian

books. Thenhe came to a C.M.S. MissionatKrishnagar, where he was
instructed, and a Bible given him, and he was baptized. Then his greatdesire
was for his wife. He wrote to her telling her he was a Christian, and asking
her to come to him. She was a remarkable woman, and had taught herselfto
read through her little brother, who went to school. She consentedto come to
him, as she was his wife. There was greatoppositionfrom the family, but he
carried her off. On his wayhe passeda tree where Miss Dawe was preaching,
and took his wife to her. Miss D. was astonishedthat she knew how to read,
and put a New Testamentinto her hand On opening it, her eye fell on: “Let
not your heart be troubled”—just the word for her. Miss D. pitched her tent
near her village and gave her a course ofinstruction every day for some
weeks.At the end she wished to be baptized. This was many years ago. They
are now in Calcutta, working in connexionwith the London Missionary
Society.1 [Note:Life Radiant: Memorials of the Rev. Francis Paynter, 144.]
3. The rest which Christ gives is based on a perfect reconcilementto God. He
gives us an eternalsettlement, adjusting us to a place which we feelto be
thoroughly suitable, and satisfying all in us which we feel deserves to be
satisfied. He gives us restby making life intelligible and by making it worthy;
by showing us how through all its humbling and sordid conditions we can live
as God’s children; by delivering us from guilty fearof God and from sinful
cravings;by setting us free from all foolishambitions and by shaming us out
of worldly greedand all the fret and fever that come of worldly greed;by
filling our hearts with realities which still our excited pursuit of shadows, and
by bringing into our spirit the abiding joy and strength of His love for us. We
enter into the truest rest when we believe that He takes part with us and that
we can depend upon Him.
What the man who is burdened with a bad conscienceneeds is the assurance
that there is a love in God deeper and stronger than sin. Nota love which is
indifferent to sin or makes light of it. Not a love to which the bad conscience,
which is so tragicallyreal to man, and so fatally powerful in his life, is a mere

misapprehension to be ignored or brushed aside as insignificant. No, but a
love to which sin, and its condemnation in conscience,and its deadly power,
are all that they are to man, and more; a love which sees sin, which feels it,
which is wounded by it, which condemns and repels it with an annihilating
condemnation, yet holds fast to man through it all with Divine power to
redeem, and to give final deliverance from it. This is what the man needs who
is weigheddown and broken and made impotent by a bad conscience, and this
is what he finds when he comes to Jesus.
I hear the low voice call that bids me come,—
Me, even me, with all my grief opprest,
With sins that burden my unquiet breast,
And in my heart the longing that is dumb,
Yet beats forever, like a muffled drum,
For all delights whereofI, dispossest,
Pine and repine, and find nor peace nor rest
This side the haven where He bids me come.

He bids me come and lay my sorrows down,
And have my sins washedwhite by His dear grace;
He smiles—whatmatter, then, though all men frown?
Naught can assailme, held in His embrace;
And if His welcome home the end may crown,
Shall I not hastento that heavenly place?1 [Note:Louise Chandler Moulton,
In the Garden of Dreams.]
4. The rest which Christ gives is not rest from toil, but restin toil. That toil
may be excessive,may be incompatible with health, may be very slightly
remunerative, may be accompaniedwith conditions which are disagreeable,
painful, depressing;but Christ does not emancipate the individual from this
toil. He does indeed slowly influence societyso that the slave awakes to his
rights and the slave-owneracknowledgesthem; and so that all grievances
which oppress the various sections ofsocietyare at length measuredby
Christ’s standard of righteousnessand charity, and tardy but lasting justice is
at length done. But until the whole of societyis imbued with Christian
principle thousands of individuals must suffer, and often suffer more intensely
because they are Christians. Yet even to ordinary toil Christ brings what may
well be called “rest.” The Christian slave has thoughts and hopes that
brighten his existence;he leads two lives at once—the overdriven, crushed,
hopeless life of the slave, and the hopeful, free, eternal, Divine life of Christ’s
free man. And, whereverin the most shameful parts of our socialsystemthe

underpaid and overdriven workman or workwomanbelieves in Christ, there
rest enters the spirit—the hunger, the cold, the tyrannous selfishness, the
blank existence are outweighedby the consciousnessofChrist’s sympathy,
and by the sure hope that even through all present distress and misery that
sympathy is guiding the soul to a lasting joy and a worthy life. And surely this
is glory indeed, that from Christ’s words and life there should shine through
all these centuries a brightness that penetrates the darkestshades ofmodern
life and carries to broken hearts a reviving joy that nothing else canattempt
to bring.
There is a sweetmonasteryin Florence, fragrantwith sacredmemories, rich
with blessedhistory to the religious soul. Its very dust is dear, for there the
saintly BishopAntonio lived as Christ lived, and there the prophetic
Savonarola wore out his noble heart, and there also lived the pious painter,
Fra Bartolommeo. It stands the forlorn relic of a dream. And even yet it
breathes of the true domestic peace, with secludedcloisters where the noise of
the city is hushed; with its little cells, whose bare whitewashedwalls are clad
with the pure delicate frescoes ofthe angelic painter—the reflectionof his own
pure soul. In the centre is a little garden kissedby the sunshine; and up from
it is seenthe deep blue of the Italian sky, speaking of eternalpeace. It is
natural to think that one might cultivate the soul there; might there forgetthe
world, its hate, ambitions, and fierce passions. It is a dream. Christ’s peace is
not a hothouse plant blighted by the wind; it rears its head to meet the storm.
Christ’s ideal is love in the world, though not of the world. It is rest for the
toil; it is peace for the battle. You must have a cloisterin your heart; you must
not give your heart to a cloister. You can have it—you, in your narrow corner
of life; you, amid your distractions and labours; you, with your fiery trials and
temptations; you, with your sorrow and your tears. It cannot be got for gold;
it cannot be lost through poverty. The world cannot give it; the world cannot
take it away. It is not given by any manipulation of outward circumstances;it
rules in the heart; it is an inward state. To be spiritually-minded is life and
peace.1 [Note:Hugh Black.]

My realfeelings about my work and duty have been so arousedby recent
experiences that I do not estimate these external matters as I used to do. And
it would be well indeed for my peace of mind—I do not see any other real
source of peace—ifI could rise above them altogether, and do all I do simply
from a sense ofduty, from thoughtful and quiet religious impulses, making
my work as thorough and as goodas I can, and leaving all the restto God.
That is the only rest, if one could only attain to it; but with an excitable,
sensitive nature like mine, so alive to the outside world, and with such an
excessive craving for sympathy, it is very difficult to do this. If I could only
learn quietness and patience, and not self-trust, which is simply self-delusion;
but I trust in God. If God will, I will learn this.2 [Note:Memoir of Principal
Tulloch, 202.]
The GreatInvitation
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Yoke Of Rest
Matthew 11:28-30
W.F. Adeney
It is a common mistake to divide these verses and to quote the first of them -
the invitation to the weary - without the others, which are really essentialto
the practicalcomprehensionof Christ's method of giving rest;because it is in
the conclusionof the whole passage thatwe discoverhow we may obtain rest
from Christ. We must, therefore, look both at the blessing offered and at the
means by which this blessing may be obtained.

I. THE BLESSING IS REST.
1. In what it consists. The soulof man in weariness andunrest craves for
peace and repose. This is more than the outward calm of quiet circumstances.
Many have that who are victims to a storm of unrest within - ship-wrecked
sailors tossing on the waves of their own passions. The true rest is not idleness.
While the heart is at restthe hand may be at work. We can never work so well
as with a restful mind. Neitheris this rest a state of mental torpor. The mind
may be wide awake, but calm and at peace - like the sea whenits waves are
still, and yet its deep waters teem with life, and greatfleets sweepoverits
surface.
2. Forwhom it is designed. Those who labour and are heavy laden. Some
people are naturally restful, constitutionally placid. But Christ desires to
bring rest to troubled souls. He has sympathy for the toiling multitude; he
brings peace to those whose lives are burdened. This may apply especiallyto
those whose toil is inward - in the effort to overcome temptation, and who are
heavily laden with the weightof sin.
II. THE BLESSING OF REST IS TO BE OBTAINED BY WEARING THE
YOKE OF CHRIST. Let us see what this involves.
1. A personalapproachto Christ. Jesus begins his words to the weary with the
gracious invitation, "Come unto me." Let not any heartbroken, despondent
person hold back in fear, for the invitation is just for him. "Arise; the Master
calleth thee!" But he cannot receive the blessing until he goes to Christ. Rest
begins in personalcontactwith Christ.
2. Submitting to the rule of Christ. Some have thought that by his reference to
the yoke our Lord meant to indicate that the weary might yoke themselves to
him, and that he and his tired disciple might walk under the same yoke - the
greaterpart of the weight of which he would bear. Certainly there is some
yoke to be borne by Christ's disciple. We do not escape from restlessnessby
plunging into lawlessnessand self-will. On the contrary, our self-will is the
source of our deepestunrest. When this is conqueredwe shall be at peace.
Therefore the service of Christ, which involves the suppressionof self, is the
way of inward restfulness. To bear his yoke, nay, even to carry his cross, is to

find rest. While we look for personalcomfort and escape from duty, we are
miserable and restless;when we ceaseto think of our own ease and give
ourselves up to Christ's service, to bear his yoke, we find peace.
3. Following in the way of Christ. They who would have restmust learn of
Christ. Then the rest does not come in a moment. It will be obtained just in
the degree in which the great lessonis learnt. Further, this is a lessonin
meekness andlowliness. Thenrest will come in proportion as we become meek
and lowly like Christ. - W.F.A.
Biblical Illustrator
Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden.
Matthew 11:28
The burdened directed to Christ
R May.
I. THE PERSON'S WHOM OUR LORD HERE ADDRESSES.

1. As burdened with convictions of sin and the keenremorse of a wounded
conscience.
2. That sinners under these circumstances labourto be releasedfrom their
burden.
(1)They resolve in their own strength to forsake their sins.
(2)There are others who are ignorant of the righteousness ofGod, and go
about to establishtheir own righteousness.
(3)In looking to the mercy of God irrespective of Christ's propitiatory
sacrifice.
II. OUR LORD'S TENDER SOLICITUDE FOR THE HAPPINESS OF
SUCH.
1. The invitation is condescending.
2. It is extensive and unconditional..
III. THE PROMISE ANNEXED.
1. Restin your consciencefrom the dread of Divine wrath.
2. Restin the will from its former corrupt propensities.
3. Heavenly rest for the people of God.
(R May.)
Restin Christ for the heavy-laden
C. Bradley.
I. WHAT IT IS. "Rest,"not restin sin, not restfrom trouble. It is rest from
sin — its guilt, misery, power. It is restin trouble.
II. OF WHOM IS THIS BLESSING TO BE OBTAINED. The conscious
greatness these few simple words indicate. Have you ever tried to comfort a

troubled heart? Beyond your power. It is the prerogative of Him who made
the soulto give it rest. There is more powerin Him to comfort than in the
world to disquiet.
III. WHO MAY OBTAIN THIS REST FROM HIM — "All that labour."
These words express the inward condition of man. We do indeed toil. Some
wearythemselves to work iniquity. The world has worn some of you out. The
burden of affliction; guilt — our corruptions.
IV. HOW THEY WHO DESIRE MAY OBTAIN IT — "Come."
1. Literally, when lie was on earth.
2. Faith in operation. Hagar went to the welland drank, and was saved. Those
who have found rest in Christ, remember where you found it. See on what
easyterms we may find rest. Some know they are sinners, but are not weary
of sin.
(C. Bradley.)
Restfor the weary
D. Rees.
1. The promise is faithful.
2. It is a precious promise.
3. It is an appropriate promise.
4. It is one of present accomplishment.
(D. Rees.)
The way of coming to Christ
H. W. Beecher.

1. The most obvious is Christ historically taught.
2. Men seek to come to Him speculatively. Who can find out a being by a pure
process ofthought?
3. There are those who seek Christby a sentimentaland humanitarian
method. This will not fire zeal. How then are men to come to Christ? Through
a series ofmoral, practicalendeavours to live the life which He has prescribed
for us.
(H. W. Beecher.)
Christ's word to the weary
W. G. Barrett.
There are three sorts of trouble.
1. There is head-trouble — to do what is right.
2. There is heart-trouble. The interior grief.
3. There is soul-trouble. Christ gives restfrom these.
(W. G. Barrett.)
A specialinvitation
C. H. Spurgeon.
1. It is personal — "Come unto me." God directs to Christ, not to His
members.
2. It is present — "Come " now, do not wait.
3. So sweetan invitation demands a spontaneous acceptance.
4. He puts the matter very exclusively. Do nothing else but come to
Him.Arguments which the Saviour used: —

1. BecauseHe is the appointed mediator — "All things are delivered unto me
of My Father."
2. Moreoverthe Fatherhas given all things into His hands in the sense of
government.
3. Christ is a well-furnished mediator — "All things are delivered unto Me."
He has all the sinner wants.
4. Come to Christ because He is an inconceivablygreatmediator. No man
knows His fulness but the Father.
5. BecauseHe is an infinitely wise Saviour. He understands both persons on
whose behalf He mediates.
6. He is an indispensable mediator — "Neitherknowethany man the Father
save the Son."
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Invitation basedon saving power
Matthew Hole.
In a previous verse our Lord had said, "All things are delivered unto me by
My Father:meaning that all poweris given unto Him for the instructing,
ruling, and saving of mankind; from whence He infers those comfortable
words in the text.
I. A gracious invitation made by our Saviour.
II. The persons invited.
III. A promise of ease andbenefit.
IV. The way and manner of coming to Christ.
V. A farther encouragementhereunto, from an inward sense and feeling of
the promised rest.

VI. A goodreasonto back and enforce it — "My yoke is easy."
(Matthew Hole.)
Ways of coming to Christ
Matthew Hole.
Coming to Christ and believing, are in Scripture used to signify one and the
same thing.
I. The first step in coming to Christ is by baptism.
II. The next stepis by prayer.
III. A farther step is by repentance and confessionofsin.
IV. We are said to come to God by hearing His Word, and receiving
instruction from Him.
V. Also by receiving His Holy Supper: and —
VI. By putting our whole trust and affiance in Him, relying upon Him for
salvation, and placing all our hopes and confidence in His merits and
satisfaction.
(Matthew Hole.)
Coming to Christ
W. Jay.
This implies three things.
I. ABSENCE:for what need is there of oarcoming to Christ unless we are
previously at a distance from Him? Such is the condition of every man.
Naturally, all are without Christ as to saving influence; as to a proper

knowledge ofHim, love to Him, confidence in Him, and union and
communion with Him.
II. ACCESSIBLENESS. We come to Him; we can find and approach Him.
Not to His bodily presence. As man He is absent; as God He is still present. He
said to His apostles, "Lo, I am with you always;even unto the end of the,
world."
III. APPLICATION. For this coming to Him is to deal with Him concerning
the affairs of the soul of eternity.
(W. Jay.)
Christ's rest
Stems and Twigs.
I. A NEGATIVE DESCRIPTION.(1)Rest, notlethargy. A condition in which
the powers of the soul are quickened, rendered alive to its capacities, duties,
and privileges.(2)Rest, not inactivity. Releasefrom weariness ratherthan
from labour.(3) Rest, not confinement. Not isolationor routine.(4) Rest, not
leisure. Not a brief seasonof relaxation, but a lasting state of peace and
strength.
II. A POSITIVE DESCRIPTION.(1)Rest, thatis, peace. Conscienceis at ease.
The mind is satisfied. The heart is filled with love.(2)Rest, that is, fearlessness.
Not only is there present satisfaction, but assuredconfidence in the future.(3)
Rest, that is, fortitude. The burden may not be removed, but Christ gives us
such a temper that we are as happy with our burden as though we were
without it.(4) Rest, that is, security. He shields us from every adverse power.
He gives us ground for our confidence.
(Stems and Twigs.)
Christ relieving us of natural burdens

Bishop Simpson.
1. Spiritual burdens.
2. Mentalburdens.
3. Providential burdens.
4. Physicalburdens.
(Bishop Simpson.)
Christianity lightens physical burdens
Bishop Simpson., Robert Hall, M. A.
Go to-day into heathen countries, into Mohammedanlands, and what do you
find'? The village on the hill top, the old wails, the spring down near the roost
of the hill, the watercarried by hand, the pitcher, the goatskin — just as it
was in ancient times. The burden is borne by men upon their backs. Go to
China, and travel from place to place. It is difficult, and oftentimes the
traveller must be carriedby men, and, if not by men, by a rude cart. When I
was in Palestine, a year ago, there was only one wheeledvehicle in the whole
territory, and that had been brought there by the RussianEmbassy. Burdens
were borne on the back, and in the simplest way-. Turn to Christian lands,
and what are they? See whatyou call civilization — that is, Christianity
affecting the minds and occupations ofmen — how it works!How is this city
of a million and a quarter supplied with water? A great engine pumps it up
from the river; iron pipes carry it to every house. You turn the tap and have it
in almost every room. There is no broken back or burdened frame carrying
from some spring this water. Go into countries partly civilized, and you find a
few public pumps or wells, and the multitudes go there. It is a mere physical
thing, you say. Yes; but it is God working in the subjugation of nature to
man's comfort. Moreover, you turn these taps in your room without thinking
of it; and yet you have here a proof that Godis taking care of the labour-
burdened, and ought to remember how Christ has said, "Come unto Me, all
ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Go out into the

fields. What was the old way? Men, boweddown in the heatof an August sun,
took the sickle in hand, and tried to reap the harvest. Now the reaping-
machine, drawn by horses, moves into the field, throws out its bound-up
sheaves without human toil: and the harvestis gatheredwithout man being
bowed down to the earth. What is it? "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Go into the house:long ago,
needlewomen, from early morn until night, and late into the night, stitched
carefully, slowly, regularly, on their endless task. Now look at the sewing-
machine, and see the amount of work that canbe done without, comparatively
speaking, human toil. Turn your eyes over to this light, and whence comes it,
and how? Look at the little lamp of old, with its lard and wick, then the tallow
candle; and now, wandering through all these pipes, comes this air or gas to
be lighted, and what a change in human labour i From the darkness, from the
atmosphere around us, men are gathering this electric fluid, and throwing
light over the darkestof streets and alleys of your city, and thus enabling
thousands of men to work as by daylight in your manufactories. What a
change in human labour! There must still be labour, but it is not to be of that
toilsome characterthat it once was.
(Bishop Simpson.)It is not a localcoming to Christ, which is now impossible,
but a movement of heart and mind to Him.
I. THE CLASS OF PERSONSthat our Saviourwan supposed to have in view.
1. Such as were laden with the burden of ceremonialobedience. The
observancesofChristianity were few and simple, neither occupying much
time, nor incurring much expense. They recommendedthemselves by their
significance and force.
2. Such as are oppressedand burdened with a sense of guilt.
3. Such as are endeavouring to erectan edifice of righteousness outof their
own performances.
4. Those who are overwhelmedwith worldly calamities — the victims of
worldly sorrow.

5. Those who are engagedin a restless, uncertainpursuit after felicity in the
present state.
6. Those who are heavy laden by speculative pursuits in matters of.religion.
(Robert Hall, M. A.)
A word in seasonto the weary
E. Johnson, M. A.
Causes ofweariness.
1. Wounded affections.
2. The disappointment of our desires.
3. Vacancyof mind and the sense ofmonotony.
4. The load of a guilty conscienceis fatiguing.
5. The burden of earnestthought and noble endeavour.
(E. Johnson, M. A.)
Desire outruns faculty anal causes weariness
E. Johnson, M. A.
The result would be something monstrous if their energies and abilities grew
as fast as their aspirations or their ambitions. As the eye carries the mind in
the flash of a moment over a space ofcountry which it would require hours to
traverse in the body, so the hot speedof human Desire outruns our slow and
pausing faculties. And this a greatcause of fatigue; we cannot keepup with
ourselves;one part of our nature lags behind another. Or, no sooneris the
goalwhich we had thought a fixed one reached, than another starts up in the
new distance, and Desire is still goading us on. refusing us rest.

(E. Johnson, M. A.)
Restnot found in mere ceremonialobservances
R. A. Bertram.
Both the Wesleys, andWhitefield also, fell for a time into the same mistake. In
their endeavours to obtain peace ofconscience, in addition to attending every
ordinary service of the church, they receivedthe sacramentevery Sunday,
fastedevery Wednesdayand Friday, retired regularly every morning and
evening for meditation and prayer; they wore the coarsestgarments, partook
of the coarsestfare, visited the sick, taught the ignorant, ministered to the
wants of the needy; and, that he might have more to give away, John Wesley
even for a time went barefoot. And yet, with all this, they did not obtain the
peace for which their souls craved.
(R. A. Bertram.)
The reality of rest
Thomas Brooks.
"Come," saithChrist, "and I will give you rest." I will not show you rest, nor
barely tell you of rest, but I will give you rest. I am faithfulness itself, and
cannot lie, I will give you rest. I that have the greatestpowerto give it, the
greatestwill to give it, the greatestright to give it, come, laden sinners, and I
will give you rest. Restis the most desirable good, the most suitable good, and
to you the greatestgood. Come, saithChrist — that is, believe in Me, and I
will give you rest; I will give you peace with God, and peace with conscience:I
will turn your storm into an everlasting calm; I will give you such rest, that
the world can neither give to you nor take from you.
(Thomas Brooks.)

Restonly in God
Lord, Thou madest us for Thyself, and we can find no rest till we find restin
Thee!
( Augustine.)
The wearywelcome to rest
The Sunday at Home.
A poor English girl, in Miss Leigh's home in Paris, ill in body and hopeless in
spirit, was greatlyaffectedby hearing some children singing, "I heard the
voice of Jesus say." When they came to the words, "weary, and worn, and
sad," she moaned, "That's me 1 That's me i What did He do? Fill it up, fill it
up!" She never resteduntil she had heard the whole of the hymn which tells
how Jesus gives restto such. By-and-by she asked, "Is that true?" On being
answered, "Yes," she asked, "Have you come to Jesus? Has He given you
rest?" "He has." Raising herself, she asked, "Do youmind my coming very
close to you? May be it would be easierto go to Jesus with one who has been
before than to go to Him alone." So saying, she nestledher head on the
shoulder of her who watched, and clutching her as one in the agony of death,
she murmured, "Now, try and take me with you to Jesus."
(The Sunday at Home.)
Restfor all
Samuel Rutherford.
There are many heads resting on Christ's bosom, but there's room for yours
there.
(Samuel Rutherford.)

Restnot inaction
F. W. Robertson.
It is not the lake lockedin ice that suggests repose, but the river moving on
calmly and rapidly, in silent majesty and strength. It is not the cattle lying in
the sun, but the eagle cleaving the air with fixed pinions, that gives you the
idea of repose with strength and motion. In creation, the rest of God is
exhibited as a sense ofpowerwhich nothing wearies. Whenchaos burst into
harmony, so to speak, Godhad rest.
(F. W. Robertson.)
RestIn trouble
R. Tuck, B. A.
I say that men want rest from their troubles, and that the only worthy restis
rest in our trouble. We have our first real impression of what toil is, when we
begin, as an apprentice, to learn some trade. Our first real impression of toil
brings the first real desire for rest. But all the restthe young man thinks of is
the restof laying down his tools, and leaving the workshopor the warehouse
to spend the evening in manly sports. He has no thought yet of that higher
rest, which will come, by-and-by, out of skilland facility in the use of tools.
(R. Tuck, B. A.)
Resting on the Bible
In Newportchurch, in the Isle of Wight, lies buried the Princess Elizabeth
(daughter of Charles the First). A marble monument, erectedby our Queen
Victoria, records in a touching way the manner of her death. She languished
in Carisbrook Castle during the wars of the Commonwealth— a prisoner,
alone, and separatedfrom all the companions of her youth, tilt death sether
free. She was found dead one day, with her head leaning on her Bible, and the
Bible open at the words, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy

laden, and I will give you rest." The menu. meat in Newportchurch records
this fact. It consists ofa female figure reclining her head on a marble book,
with our text engraven on the book. Think, my brethren, what a sermon in
stone that monument preaches. Think what a stunning memorial it affords of
the utter inability of rank and high birth to confer certainhappiness. Think
what a testimony it bears to the lessonbefore you this day — the mighty
lessonthat there is no true restfor any one excepting in Christ. -Happy will it
be for your soul if that lessonis never forgotten.
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(28) Come unto me.—As in the consciousness ofthis plenitude of power, the
Son of Man turns with infinite compassionto those whose weakness and
weariness He has shared, and offers them the restwhich none other can give
them.
Labour and are heavy laden.—The words arc wide enough to cover every
form of human sin and sorrow, but the thought that was mostprominent in
them at the time was that of the burdens grievous to be borne, the yoke of
traditions and ordinances which the Pharisees andscribes had imposed on the
consciencesofmen. (Comp. Matthew 23:4, Acts 15:10.)The first of the two
words gives prominence to the active, the latter to the passive, aspectof
human suffering, by whatevercause produced.
I will give you rest.—The I is emphasized in the Greek. He gives what no one
else cangive—restfrom the burden of sin, from the weariness offruitless toil.
MacLaren's Expositions
Matthew

THE REST GIVER
Matthew 11:28 - Matthew 11:29.
One does not know whether tenderness or majesty is predominant in these
wonderful words. A divine penetration into man’s true condition, and a divine
pity, are expressedin them. Jesus lookswith clearsightedcompassioninto the
inmost history of all hearts, and sees the toil and the sorrow which weigh on
every soul. And no less remarkable is the divine consciousnessofpower, to
succourand to help, which speaks in them. Think of a Jewishpeasantof thirty
years old, opening his arms to embrace the world, and saying to all men,
‘Come and rest on My breast.’Think of a man supposing himself to be
possessedof a charm which could soothe all sorrow and lift the weight from
every heart.
A greatsculptor has composeda group where there diverge from the central
figure on either side, in two long lines, types of all the cruel varieties of human
pains and pangs; and in the midst stands, calm, pure, with the consciousness
of power and love in His looks, and with outstretchedhands, as if beckoning
invitation and dropping benediction, Christ the Consoler. The artist has but
embodied the claim which the Mastermakes for Himself here. No less
remarkable is His own picture of Himself, as ‘meek and lowly in heart.’ Did
ever anybody before say, ‘I am humble,’ without provoking the comment, ‘He
that says he is humble proves that he is not’? But Jesus Christ saidit, and the
world has allowedthe claim; and has answered, ‘Though Thou bearestrecord
of Thyself, Thy recordis true.’
But my object now is not so much to deal with the revelation of our Lord
containedin these marvellous words, as to try, as well as I can, to re-echo,

howeverfaintly, the invitation that sounds in them. There is a very striking
reduplication running through them which is often passedunnoticed. I shall
shape my remarks so as to bring out that feature of the text, asking you to
look first with me at the twofold designationof the persons addressed;next at
the twofoldinvitation; and last at the twofold promise of rest.
I. Considerthen the twofold designationhere of the persons addressed, ‘Come
unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden.’
The one word expresseseffortand toil, the other a burden and endurance.
The one speaks ofthe active, the other of the passive, side of human misery
and evil. Toil is work which is distastefulin itself, or which is beyond our
faculties. Such toil, sometime or other, more or less, soonerorlater, is the lot
of every man. All work becomes labour, and all labour, sometime or other,
becomes toil. The text is, first of all, and in its most simple and surface
meaning, an invitation to all the men who know how ceaseless, how wearying,
how empty the effort and energy of life is, to come to this Masterand rest.
You remember those bitter words of the Book of Ecclesiastes, where the
preachersets forth a circle of labour that only comes back to the point where
it began, as being the law for nature and the law for man. And truly much of
our work seems to be no better than that. We are like squirrels in a cage,
putting forth immense muscular effort, and nothing to show for it after all.
‘All is vanity, and striving after wind.’
Toil is a curse;work is a blessing. But all our work darkens into toil; and the
invitation, ‘Come unto Me, all ye that labour,’ reaches to the very utmost
verge of the world and includes every soul.

And then, in like manner, the other side of human experience is set forth in
that other word. For most men have not only to work, but to bear; not only to
toil, but to sorrow. There are efforts that need to be put forth, which task all
our energy, and leave the muscles flaccid and feeble. And many of us have, at
one and the same moment, to work and to weep, to toil whilst our hearts are
beating like a forge-hammer; to labour whilst memories and thoughts that
might enfeeble any worker, are busy with us. A burden of sorrow, as well as
effort and toil, is, sooner or later, the lot of all men.
But that is only surface. The twofold designationhere before us goes a great
deal deeperthan that. It points to two relationships to God and to God’s law
of righteousness. Menlabour with vague and yet with noble effort, sometimes,
to do the thing that is right, and after all efforts there is left a burden of
conscious defect. In the purest and the highest lives there come both of these
things. And Jesus Christ, in this merciful invitation of His, speaksto all the
men that have tried, and tried in vain, to satisfy their consciencesand to obey
the law of God, and says to them, ‘Cease yourefforts, and no longercarry
that burden of failure and of sin upon your shoulders. Come unto Me, and I
will give you rest.’
I should be sorry to think that I was speaking to any man or womanwho had
not, more or less, tried to do what is right. You have laboured at that effort
with more or less of consistency, with more or less of earnestness. Have you
not found that you could not achieve it?
I am sure that I am speaking to no man or woman who has not upon his or
her conscience a greatweightof neglectedduties, of actualtransgressions, of
mean thoughts, of foul words and passions, ofdeeds that they would be
ashamedthat any should see; ashamedthat their dearestshould catcha
glimpse of. My friend, universal sinfulness is no mere black dogma of a
narrow Calvinism; it is no uncharitable indictment againstthe race;it is

simply putting into definite words the consciousnessthatis in every one of
your hearts. You know that, whether you like to think about it or not, you
have broken God’s law, and are a sinful man. You carry a burden on your
back whether you realise the fact or no, a burden that clogs allyour efforts,
and that will sink you deeper into the darkness and the mire. ‘Come unto Me,
all ye that labour,’ and with noble, but, at bottom, vain, efforts have striven
after right and truth. ‘Come unto Me all ye that are burdened,’ and bear,
sometimes forgetting it, but often reminded of its pressure by galled shoulders
and weariedlimbs, the burden of sin on your bent backs.
This invitation includes the whole race. In it, as in a blank form, you may each
insert your name. Jesus Christ speaks to thee, John, Thomas, Mary, Peter,
whateverthy name may be, as distinctly as if you saw your name written on
the pages ofyour New Testament, when He says to you, ‘Come unto Me, all ye
that labour and are heavy laden.’ For the ‘all’ is but the sum of the units; and
I, and thou, and thou, have our place within the word.
II. Now, secondly, look atthe twofold invitation that is here.
‘Come unto Me . . . Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me.’These two
things are not the same. ‘Coming unto Me,’ as is quite plain to the most
superficial observation, is the first step in the approachto a companionship,
which companionship is afterwards perfectedand keptup by obedience and
imitation. The ‘coming’ is an initial actwhich makes a man Christ’s
companion. And the ‘Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me,’is the
continuous actby which that companionship is manifested and preserved. So
that in these words, which come so familiarly to most of our memories that
they have almostceasedto present a sharp meaning, there is not only a
merciful summons to the initial act, but a descriptionof the continual life of
which that act is the introduction.

And now, to put that into simpler words, when Jesus Christ says ‘Come unto
Me,’He Himself has taught us what is His inmost meaning in that invitation,
by another word of His: ‘He that cometh unto Me shall never hunger, and he
that believeth on Me shall never thirst’; where the parallelism of the clauses
teaches us that to come to Christ is simply to put our trust in Him. There is in
faith a true movement of the whole soul towards the Master. I think that this
metaphor teaches us a greatdeal more about that faith that we are always
talking about in the pulpit, and which, I am afraid, many of our congregations
do not very distinctly understand, than many a book of theologydoes. To
‘come to Him’ implies, distinctly, that He, and no mere theologicaldogma,
howeverprecious and clear, is the Object on which faith rests.
And, therefore, if Christ, and not merely a doctrinal truth about Christ, be the
Object of our faith, then it is very clearthat faith, which grasps a Person,
must be something more than the mere actof the understanding which assents
to a truth. And what more is it? How is it possible for one person to lay hold of
and to come to another? By trust and love, and by these alone. These be the
bonds that bind men together. Mere intellectual consentmay be sufficient to
fastena man to a dogma, but there must be will and heart at work to bind a
man to a person; and if it be Christ and not a theology, to which we come by
our faith, then it must be with something more than our brains that we grasp
Him and draw near to Him. That is to say, your will is engagedin your
confidence. Trust Him as you trust one another, only with the difference
befitting a trust directed to an absolute and perfectobject of trust, and not to
a poor, variable human heart. Trust Him as you trust one another. Then, just
as husband and wife, parent and child, friend and friend, pass through all
intervening hindrances and come togetherwhen they trust and love, so you
come closerto Christ as the very soul of your soul by an inward real union,
than you do even to your dear ones, if you grapple Him to your heart with the
hoops of steel, which, by simple trust in Him, the Divine Redeemerforges for
us. ‘Come unto Me,’being translated out of metaphor into fact, is simply
‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.’

And still further, we have here, not only the initial actby which
companionship and union with Jesus Christ is brought about, but the
continual course by which it is kept up, and by which it is manifested. The
faith which saves a man’s soul is not all which is required for a Christian life.
‘Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me.’The yoke is that which, laid on the
broad forehead or the thick neck of the ox, has attachedto it the cords which
are bound to the burden that the animal draws. The burden, then, which
Christ gives to His servants to pull, is a metaphor for the specific duties which
He enjoins upon them to perform; and the yoke by which they are fastenedto
their burdens, ‘obliged’ to their duties, is His authority, So to ‘take His yoke’
upon us is to submit our wills to His authority. Therefore this further call is
addressedto all those who have come to Him, feeling their weakness andtheir
need and their sinfulness, and have found in Him a Saviour who has made
them restful and glad; and it bids them live in the deepestsubmission of will to
Him, in joyful obedience, in constantservice;and, above all, in the daily
imitation of the Master.
You must put both these commandments togetherbefore you get Christ’s will
for His children completely expressed. There are some of you who think that
Christianity is only a means by which you may escape the penalty of your
sins; and you are ready enough, or fancy yourselves so, to listen when He says,
‘Come to Me that you may be pardoned,’ but you are not so ready to listen to
what He says afterwards, whenHe calls upon you to take His yoke upon you,
to obey Him, to serve Him, and above all to copy Him. And I beseechyou to
remember that if you go and part these two halves from one another, as many
people do, some of them bearing awaythe one half and some the other, you
have got a maimed Gospel;in the one case a foundation without a building,
and in the other case a building without a foundation. The people who say that
Christ’s call to the world is ‘Come unto Me,’and whose Christianity and
whose Gospelis only a proclamation of indulgence and pardon for past sin,
have laid hold of half of the truth. The people who saythat Christ’s call is
‘Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me,’ and that Christianity is a
proclamation of the duty of pure living after the pattern of Jesus Christ our
greatExample, have laid hold of the other half of the truth. And both halves

bleed themselves awayand die, being torn asunder; put them together, and
eachhas power.
That separationis one reasonwhy so many Christian men and womenare
such poor Christians as they are-having so little real religion, and
consequentlyso little realjoy. I could lay my fingers upon many men,
professing Christians-I do not saywhether in this church or in other
churches-whose whole life shows that they do not understand that Jesus
Christ has a twofold summons to His servants; and that it is of no avail once,
long ago, to have come, or to think that you have come, to Him to getpardon,
unless day by day you are keeping beside Him, doing His commandments, and
copying His sweetand blessedexample.
III. And now, lastly, look at the twofold promise which is here.
I do not know if there is any importance to be attachedto the slight diversity
of language in the two verses, so as that in the one case the promise runs, ‘I
will give you rest,’ and in the other, ‘Ye shall find rest.’ That sounds as if the
rest that was contingentupon the first of the invitations was in a certain and
more direct and exclusive fashion Christ’s gift than the rest which was
contingent upon the second. It may be so, but I attachno importance to that
criticism; only I would have you observe that our Lord distinctly separates
here betweenthe restof ‘coming,’ and the restof wearing His ‘yoke.’These
two, howsoeverthey may be like eachother, are still not the same. The one is
the perfecting and the prolongation, no doubt, of the other, but has likewise in
it some other, I say not more blessed, elements. Dearbrethren, here are two
precious things held out and offered to us all. There is restin coming to
Christ; the rest of a quiet consciencewhichgnaws no more; the rest of a
conscious friendship and union with God, in whom alone are our soul’s home,
harbour, and repose;the rest of fears dispelled; the rest of forgiveness

receivedinto the heart. Do you want that? Go to Christ, and as soonas you go
to Him you will getthat rest.
There is restin faith. The very actof confidence is repose. Look how that little
child goes to sleepin its mother’s lap, secure from harm because it trusts.
And, oh! if there stealover our hearts such a sweetrelaxationof the tension of
anxiety when there is some dear one on whom we can castall responsibility,
how much more may we be delivered from all disquieting fears by the exercise
of quiet confidence in the infinite love and power of our Brother Redeemer,
Christ! He will be ‘a covertfrom the storm, and a refuge from the tempest’;
as ‘rivers of waterin a dry place, and the shadow of a greatrock in a weary
land.’ If we come to Him, the very actof coming brings repose.
But, brethren, that is not enough, and, blessedbe God! that is not all. There is
a further, deeper rest in obedience, and emphatically and most blessedlythere
is a rest in Christ-likeness. ‘TakeMy yoke upon you.’ There is repose in
saying ‘Thou art my Master, and to Thee I bow.’ You are delivered from the
unrest of self-will, from the unrest of contending desires, you getrid of the
weight of too much liberty. There is peace in submission; peace in abdicating
the controlof my own being; peace in saying, ‘Take Thou the reins, and do
Thou rule and guide me.’ There is peace in surrender and in taking His yoke
upon us.
And most especiallythe path of rest for men is in treading in Christ’s
footsteps. ‘Learn of Me,’it is the secretof tranquillity. We have done with
passionate hotdesires,-andit is these that breed all the disquiet in our lives-
when we take the meekness andthe lowliness ofthe Masterfor our pattern.
The river will no longerroll, broken by many a boulder, and chafedinto foam
over many a fall, but will flow with even foot, and broad, smooth bosom, to
the parent sea.

There is quietness in self-sacrifice,there is tranquillity in ceasing from mine
own works and growing like the Master.
‘The Cross is strength; the solemn Cross is gain.
The Cross is Jesus’breast,
Here giveth He the rest,
That to His best beloved doth still remain.’
‘Take up thy cross daily,’ and thou enterestinto His rest.
My brother, ‘the wickedis like the troubled sea that cannotrest, whose waters
castup mire and dirt.’ But you, if you come to Christ, and if you cleave to
Christ, may be like that ‘sea of glass, mingled with fire,’ that lies pure,
transparent, wavelessbefore the Throne of God, overwhich no tempests rave,
and which, in its deepestdepths, mirrors the majesty of ‘Him that sitteth upon
the Throne, and of the Lamb.’
BensonCommentary
Matthew 11:28. Come unto me — Our Lord here shows to whom he is pleased
to reveal the Father, and the things said above to be hid from the wise and
prudent; to those that labour, or, are weary, as κοπιωντες may be rendered,
and are heavy laden; namely, those that are weary of the slavery of sin and
Satan, and of the love of the world and the pursuit of its vanities, and desire
and labour after a state of reconciliationand peace with God, and restin him;
and who, till they enjoy these blessings, are heavy laden with a sense of the

guilt and powerof their sins, and of the displeasure of God due to them on
accountthereof. To these, and also to such as are burdened with the distresses
of life and various trials, Jesus graciouslysays, Come unto me — The original
word, Δευτε, come, expresses notso much a command, as a friendly request; a
familiar exhorting, desiring, and begging a person to do any thing,
particularly what is pleasant, and would be profitable to him if done. To come
to Christ, is to apply to him in faith and prayer for such blessings as we see we
want. And I — I alone, (for no one else can,)will give you freely, (what you
cannot purchase,)rest, namely, from the guilt of sin by justification, and from
the powerof sin by sanctification;rest, from a sense of the wrath of God and
an accusing conscience,in peace with God and peace of mind; rest, from all
carnalaffections, and fruitless worldly cares, disquietudes, and labours, in the
love of God shed abroad in your hearts; and rest in the midst of the afflictions,
trials, and troubles of life, in a full assurance thatall things shall work for
your good, and that, though in the world you may have tribulation, in me you
shall have peace. Some commentators, by the restoffered in this invitation,
understand that freedom from the burdensome services ofthe law which
Christ has granted to men through the promulgation of the gospel. And it
must be owned that this interpretation is favoured by the subsequent clause,
in which men are invited to take on them Christ’s yoke and burden, from the
considerationthat they are light and easy, namely, in comparisonof Moses’s
yoke. There is no reason, however, forconfining the rest of the soulhere
offered to that particular privilege of Christianity. It is more natural to think
that it comprehends therewith all the blessings ofthe gospelwhatsoever.
Christianity, when embraced in faith and love, and possessedin the life and
powerof it, gives restto the soul, because,1st, it clearly informs the judgment
concerning the most important points, removing all doubts concerning them;
2d, it settles the will in the choice ofwhat is for its happiness; 3d, it controls
and regulates the passions, andkeeps them under subjection to the peace and
love of God. Php 4:7; Colossians3:14-15. SeeDodd’s sermon on this text.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
11:25-30 It becomes children to be grateful. When we come to God as a
Father, we must remember that he is Lord of heaven and earth, which obliges
us to come to him with reverence as to the sovereignLord of all; yet with

confidence, as one able to defend us from evil, and to supply us with all good.
Our blessedLord added a remarkable declaration, that the Father had
delivered into his hands all power, authority, and judgment. We are indebted
to Christ for all the revelation we have of God the Father's will and love, ever
since Adam sinned. Our Saviour has invited all that labour and are heavy-
laden, to come unto him. In some senses allmen are so. Worldly men burden
themselves with fruitless cares forwealth and honours; the gayand the
sensuallabour in pursuit of pleasures;the slave of Satanand his own lusts, is
the merestdrudge on earth. Those who labour to establishtheir own
righteousness also labourin vain. The convincedsinner is heavy-laden with
guilt and terror; and the tempted and afflicted believerhas labours and
burdens. Christ invites all to come to him for rest to their souls. He alone gives
this invitation; men come to him, when, feeling their guilt and misery, and
believing his love and power to help, they seek him in fervent prayer. Thus it
is the duty and interest of wearyand heavy-laden sinners, to come to Jesus
Christ. This is the gospelcall; Whoeverwill, let him come. All who thus come
will receive restas Christ's gift, and obtain peace and comfort in their hearts.
But in coming to him they must take his yoke, and submit to his authority.
They must learn of him all things, as to their comfort and obedience. He
accepts the willing servant, howeverimperfect the services. Here we may find
rest for our souls, and here only. Nor need we fear his yoke. His
commandments are holy, just, and good. It requires self-denial, and exposes to
difficulties, but this is abundantly repaid, even in this world, by inward peace
and joy. It is a yoke that is lined with love. So powerful are the assistances he
gives us, so suitable the encouragements,and so strong the consolations to be
found in the way of duty, that we may truly say, it is a yoke of pleasantness.
The way of duty is the wayof rest. The truths Christ teaches are suchas we
may venture our souls upon. Such is the Redeemer's mercy; and why should
the labouring and burdened sinner seek forrest from any other quarter? Let
us come to him daily, for deliverance from wrath and guilt, from sin and
Satan, from all our cares, fears, andsorrows. But forcedobedience, far from
being easyand light, is a heavy burden. In vain do we draw near to Jesus with
our lips, while the heart is far from him. Then come to Jesus to find rest for
your souls.

Barnes'Notes on the Bible
All ye that labour and are heavy laden - The Saviour here, perhaps, refers
primarily to the Jews, who groanedunder the weightof their ceremoniallaws
and the traditions of the elders, Acts 15:10. He tells them that by coming to
him, and embracing the new system of religion, they would be freed from
these burdensome rites and ceremonies. There canbe no doubt, however, that
he meant here chiefly to address the poor, lost, ruined sinner: the man
"burdened" with a consciousnessofhis transgressions,trembling at his
danger, and seeking deliverance. Forsuchthere is relief. Christ tells them to
come to him, to believe in him, and to trust him, and him only, for salvation.
Doing this, he will give them rest - rest from their sins, from the alarms of
conscience, fromthe terrors of the law, and from the fears of eternal death.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
28. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest—Incomparable, ravishing sounds these—ifever such were heard in this
weary, groaning world! What gentleness, whatsweetnessis there in the very
style of the invitation—"Hither to Me"; and in the words, "All ye that toil and
are burdened," the universal wretchedness ofman is depicted, on both its
sides—the active and the passive forms of it.
Matthew Poole's Commentary
See Poole on"Matthew 11:30".
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
Come unto me,.... Christ having signified, that the knowledge ofGod, and the
mysteries of grace, are only to be come at through him; and that he has all
things relating to the peace, comfort, happiness, and salvationof men in his
hands, kindly invites and encouragessouls to come unto him for the same: by
which is meant, not a localcoming, or a coming to hear him preach; for so his
hearers, to whom he more immediately directed his speech, were come
already; and many of them did, as multitudes may, and do, in this sense, come
to Christ, who never knew him, nor receive any spiritual benefit by him: nor
is it a bare coming under the ordinances of Christ, submission to baptism, or

an attendance at the Lord's supper, the latter of which was not yet instituted;
and both may be performed by men, who are not yet come to Christ: but it is
to be understood of believing in Christ, the going of the soul to him, in the
exercise ofgrace on him, of desire after him, love to him, faith and hope in
him: believing in Christ, and coming to him, are terms synonymous, John
6:35. Those who come to Christ aright, come as sinners, to a full, suitable,
able, and willing Saviour; venture their souls upon him, and trust in him for
righteousness, life, and salvation, which they are encouragedto do, by this
kind invitation; which shows his willingness to save, and his readiness to give
relief to distressedminds. The persons invited, are not "all" the individuals of
mankind, but with a restriction,
all ye that labour, and are heavy laden; meaning, not these who are labouring
in the service of sin and Satan, are laden with iniquity, and insensible of it:
these are not weary of sin, nor burdened with it; not do they want or desire
any restfor their souls;but such who groan, being burdened with the guilt of
sin upon their consciences, andare presseddown with the unsupportable yoke
of the law, and the load of human traditions; and have been labouring till they
are weary, in order to obtain peace ofconscience, and restfor their souls, by
the observance ofthese things, but in vain. These are encouragedto come to
him, lay down their burdens at his feet, look to, and lay hold by faith on his
person, blood, righteousness, andsacrifice;when they should enjoy that true
spiritual consolation, whichcould never be attained to by the works of the
law.
And I will give you rest; spiritual rest here, peace ofconscience, ease ofmind,
tranquillity of soul, through an application of pardoning grace, a view of free
justification by the righteousness ofChrist, and full atonement of sin by his
sacrifice;and eternal resthereafter, in Abraham's bosom, in the arms of
Jesus, in perfect and uninterrupted communion with Father, Son, and Spirit.
The Jews say(y), that , "the law is rest"; and so explain Genesis 49:15 ofit:
but a truly sensible sinner enjoys no rest, but in Christ; it is like Noah's dove,
which could find no rest for the soles ofits feet, until it returned to the ark;
and they themselves expectperfect restin the days of the Messiah, andcall his
world rest (z).

(y) Tzeror Hammor, fol. 39. 3.((z) TzerorHammor, fol. 150. 2.
Geneva Study Bible
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
Matthew 11:28. Πάντες] gratia universalis. “In this all thou oughtest to
include thyself as well, and not suppose that thou dost not belong to the
number; thou shouldst not seek foranother registerof God,” Melanchthon.
κοπ. καί πεφορτ.]through the legaland Pharisaic ordinances under which the
man is exhausted and weigheddown as with a heavy burden, without getting
rid of the painful consciousnessofsin, Matthew 23:4. Comp. Acts 15:10;Acts
13:39.
κἀγώ]emphatic: and I, what your teachers and guides cannot do.
ἀναπαύσω]I will procure you rest, i.e. ἐλευθερώσω καὶ τοῦ τοιούτου κόπου
καὶ τοῦ τοιούτου βάρους (Euth. Zigabenus), so as to secure the true peace of
your souls, John 14:27;John 16:33;Romans 5:1. Matthew 11:29 tells in what
way.
Expositor's Greek Testament
Matthew 11:28-30. The gracious invitation. Full of O. T. reminiscences,
remarks Holtz., H.C., citing Isaiah14:3; Isaiah 28:12;Isaiah 55:1-3;Jeremiah
6:16; Jeremiah31:2; Jeremiah31:25, and especiallySir 6:24-25;Sir 6:28-29;
Sir 51:23-27. De Wette had long before referred to the last-mentioned passage,
and Pfleidererhas recently (Urch., 513)made it the basis of the assertionthat
this beautiful logionis a compositionout of Sirachby the evangelist. The
passagein Sirach is as follows:ἐγγίσατε πρὸς μὲ ἀπαίδευτοι, καὶ αὐλίσθητε ἐν

οἴκῳ παιδείας. διότι ὑστερεῖτε ἐν τούτοις, καὶ αἱ ψυχαὶ ὑμῶνδιψῶσι σφόδρα;
ἤνοιξα τὸ στόμα μου, καὶ ἐλάλησα, κτήσασθε ἑαυτοῖς ἄνευ ἀργυρίου. τὸν
τράχηλονὑμῶν ὑπόθετε ὑπὸ ζυγὸν, καὶ ἐπιδεξάσθω ἡ ψυχὴ ὑμῶν παιδείαν·
ἐγγύς ἐστιν εὑρεῖν αὐτήν·ἴδετε ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ὑμῶνὅτι ὀλίγονἐκοπίασα, καὶ
εὗρον ἐμαυτῷ πολλὴν ἀνάπαυσιν.[72]There are unquestionably kindred
thoughts and corresponding phrases, as even Kypke points out (“Syracides
magna similitudine dicit”), and if Sirachhad been a recognisedHebrew
prophet one could have imagined Matthew giving the gistof this rhetorical
passage, prefacedwith an “as it is written”. It is not eveninconceivable that a
reader of our Gospelat an early period noted on the margin phrases culled
from Sirach as descriptive of the attitude of the one true σοφός towards men
to show how willing he was to communicate the knowledge ofthe Father-God,
and that his notes found their way into the text. But why doubt the
genuineness ofthis logion? It seems the natural conclusionof Christ’s
soliloquy; expressing His intense yearning for receptive scholars ata time
when He was painfully conscious ofthe prevalent unreceptivity. The words do
not smell of the lamp. They come straight from a saddenedyet tenderly
affectionate, unembittered heart; simple, pathetic, sincere. He may have
known Sirachfrom boyhood, and echoes mayhave unconsciouslysuggested
themselves, and been used with royal freedom quite compatibly with perfect
originality of thought and phrase. The reference to wisdom in Matthew 11:19
makes the supposition not gratuitous that Jesus may even have had the
passagein Sirach consciouslypresentto His mind, and that He used it, half as
a quotation, half as a personalmanifesto. The passage is the end of a prayer of
Jesus, the Son of Sirach, in which that earlier Jesus, personating wisdom,
addresses his fellowmen, inviting them to share the benefits which σοφία has
conferredon himself. Why should not Jesus ofNazarethclose His prayer with
a similar address in the name of wisdom to those who are most likely to
become her children—those whose earsorrow hath opened? This view might
meet Martineau’s objection to regarding this logionas authentic, that it is not
compatible with the humility of Jesus that He should so speak of Himself (Seat
of Authority, p. 583). Why should He not do as another Jesus had done before
Him: speak in the name of wisdom, and appropriate her attributes?

[72] Of the above the R. V. gives the following translation: “Draw near unto
me, ye unlearned, and lodge in the house of in struction. Say wherefore are ye
lacking in these things, and your souls are very thirsty? I openedmy mouth
and spake. Gether for yourselves without money. Put your neck under the
yoke, and let your soul receive instruction. She is hard at hand to find. Behold
with your eyes how that I laboured but a little, and found for myself much
rest.”
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
28. Come unto me] Jesus does not give restto all the heavy laden, but to those
of them who show their want of relief by coming to Him.
28–30.Restforthe heavy laden
These words of Jesus are preservedby St Matthew only. The connecting
thought is, those alone shall know who desire to learn, those alone shall have
rest who feeltheir burden. The babes are those who feelignorant, the laden
those who feel oppressed.
Bengel's Gnomen
Matthew 11:28. Δεῦτε, come ye) sc. immediately.—See Gnomon on ch.
Matthew 4:19.—πρός Με, unto Me) Since the Pharisees, andeven John
himself, cannot satisfy you.—πάντες, all) Let not the limitation in Matthew
11:27 deter you.—οἱ κοπιῶντες, that labour) Referto this ζυγὸνand ζυγὸς,
yoke, in Matthew 11:29-30.—πεφορτισμένοι,heavyladen) To this should be
referred μάθετε, learn, in Matthew 11:29, and φορτίον, burden, in Matthew
11:30. The Hebrew ‫אשמ‬ signifies a burden, i.e., doctrine, discipline.—‫ך‬ᾀ‫ד‬ὼ,
and I) Though you have soughtelsewhere in vain, you will find it with Me,
Matthew 11:29.—ἀ‫בםבם‬ txen eht ni denialpxe si sihT (tser uoyekam lliw I,‫ףש‬
verse.—ὄ‫,יפ‬ ‫,.כ.פ.ך‬ because, etc.)“Iwill make you rest,” and “ye shall find
rest,” are correlative.
Pulpit Commentary

Verses 28-30. -In Matthew only. Ver. 28:An invitation to all who need him,
and an unconditioned promise of welcome. Ver. 29: A summons to submit to
his teaching, and a promise that those who do so shall find rest in it. Ver. 30:
For his "service is perfect freedom." Notice the sharp contrastbetweenthe
width of this invitation and the apparent limitation of the preceding statement
(ver. 27). The truths of prevenient grace and man's free-will may not be
separated. Verse 28. - Come ( thguohtssel si erehT .eton ,91:4 wehttaM ;(‫פו‬ῦ‫הו‬
of the process ofcoming than in the very similar invitation in John 7:37. Unto
me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden. The toilers and burdened (‫ן‬ἱ
did ylesoprup droL ruO .(‫בןי‬έ‫בוצןספיףל‬ ὶ‫ךם‬ ‫בפוע‬ῶ‫ךןבי‬not define in what the toil
and burden consisted;for he would include all, from whatever quarter their
toil and burden came. But since the spiritual is the central part of man
(Matthew 5:3, note), the more that the toil or burden is felt there so much the
strongerwould our Lord's reference to it be. He would therefore be inviting
most especiallythose that toil in legalways of righteousness (Romans 10:2, 3),
and are burdened under Pharisaic enactments (Luke 11:46). And I. Emphatic
(‫ך‬ἀ‫ד‬ώ). Howeverothers may treat you. Will give you rest(a)napau/sw u(ma =
). Notto be identified with the phrase in ver. 29 (see there). As contrastedwith
,(2 § ',snaisehpE',.tangI no dna 7:1 nomelihP no ,toofthgiLpohsiB ees) ‫ש‬ύ‫בם‬
ἀ‫םבםב‬ύ‫ש‬ refers to temporary rather than permanent cessationfrom work, and
it thus especiallyconnotes refreshmentof body and soul obtained through
such rest. In confortuity with this we find ἀ‫ב‬ά‫עיףץםב‬regularlyused in the
LXX. as a translation of sabbathon ("sabbath-keeping,"e.g. Exodus 16:23, for
which ‫לףיפםגגםף‬ό‫ע‬ comes in Hebrews 4:9 as an equivalent). The thought,
therefore, here is not that those who come to Christ will have no more work,
but that Christ will give them at once such rest and refreshment of soul that
they may be fit for work, should God have any in store for them.
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES

Matthew 11:28 "Come to Me, all who are wearyand heavy-laden, and I will
give you rest. (NASB: Lockman)
Greek:Deute (imperative) pros me pantes hoi kopiontes (2PPAP)kai
pephortismenoi, (2PRPP)kagoanapauso (1SFAI)humas.
Amplified: Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and
overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh
your souls.](Amplified Bible - Lockman)
Barclay:Come to me, all you who are exhausted and weighteddown beneath
your burdens, and I will give you rest.(WestminsterPress)
ESV: Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
NLT: Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry
heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. (NLT - Tyndale House)
Phillips: Come to me, all of you who are wearyand over-burdened, and I will
give you rest! (Phillips: Touchstone)
Wuest: Come here to me, all who are growing weary to the point of
exhaustion, and who have been loaded with burdens and are bending beneath
their weight, and I alone will cause you to cease fromyour labor and take
awayyour burdens and thus refresh you with rest. (Eerdmans)
Young's Literal: 'Come unto me, all ye labouring and burdened ones, and I
will give you rest,
COME TO ME ALL WHO ARE WEARY AND HEAVY-LADEN AND I
WILL GIVE YOU REST:Deute (imperative) pros me pantes hoi kopiontes
(2PPAP)kai pephortismenoi, (2PRPP)kagoanapauso (1SFAI)humas :
(Come: Isa 45:22-25 53:2,3 55:1-3 Jn 6:37 7:37 Rev 22:17)
(All: Mt 23:4 Ge 3:17-19 Job5:7 14:1 Ps 32:4 38:4 90:7-10 Eccl1:8,14 2:22,23
4:8 Isa 1:4 61:3 66:2 Mic 6:6-8 Ac 15:10 Ro 7:22-25 Gal5:1)
(And I will give you rest:: Mt 11:29 Ps 94:13 116:7 Isa 11:10 28:12 48:17,18
Jer 6:16 2Th 1:7 Heb 4:1)

COME TO ME!
J H Jowettwiselywrote that "This exquisite passageis like a flowerwhich one
is almost afraid to touch, lest he should spoil the delicate bloom. Yet to disturb
the flowermay awake a fragrance and distribute it to others.
J C Ryle - There are few texts more striking than this in all the Bible—few
that contain so wide and sweeping aninvitation—few that hold out so full and
comfortable a promise. (Come Unto Me)
Indeed, as I beganto compile the notes on this greatpassage, it became
obvious to me that the simple words of Jesus were so profound that an entire
book, even a library of books, couldnot exhausttheir meaning. C H Spurgeon
delivered at least12 sermons on Mt 11:28-30 and yet said that one could not
preach too often on these passages!Spurgeon also wrote that...
there are mines of instruction here. Superficially read, this royal promise has
cheeredand encouragedtens of thousands, but there is a wealth in it which
the diligent digger and miner shall alone discover. Its shallows are cooland
refreshing for the lambs, but in its depths are pearls for which we hope to
dive.
And so the following comments are meant only to give you food for thought as
you ponder these greatwords of our Savior. Let me strongly encourage you to
treasure Jesus'words in Matthew 11:28-30 in your heart (Memorize His
Word), so that you will be able to meditate on them (Meditation) and allow
your Teacherthe Holy Spirit to minister deeply to your soul. You will not be
disappointed.
THE GRAND INVITATION:
COME!
Come! The greatestinvitation that everissued from a Man's lips. "Come!"
Come the first time to salvation(Justification). In the context of Jesus'
preceding words in Matthew 11, this is the primary interpretation of His call
to come...
COME TO JESUS

FOR SALVATION
Come, Ye Sinners, Poorand Needy
written by JosephHart
(Sung by Fernando Ortega & Amy Grant)
(Sung by Todd Agnew)
Come, Ye Sinners, Poorand Needy
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity, love and power.
Refrain
I will arise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in His arms;
In the arms of my dear Savior,
O there are ten thousand charms.
Come, ye thirsty, come, and welcome,
God’s free bounty glorify;
True belief and true repentance,
Every grace that brings you nigh
Refrain

Come, ye weary, heavy laden,
Lost and ruined by the fall;
If you tarry till you’re better,
You will never come at all.
Refrain
View Him prostrate in the garden;
On the ground your Makerlies.
On the bloody tree behold Him;
Sinner, will this not suffice?
Refrain
Lo! th’ incarnate Godascended,
Pleads the merit of His blood:
Venture on Him, venture wholly,
Let no other trust intrude.
Refrain
Let not consciencemake you linger,
Not of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness He requireth
Is to feel your need of Him.
Refrain

While there must be this initial coming to Jesus for salvationrest, by way of
application, there is yet a need for every saint to daily "Come" andallow the
Spirit of Christ to grow us in grace and Christlikeness (2Pe 3:18-note)
(Sanctificationsee Three Tenses ofSalvation).
And then there will be a final invitation to "Come!" when Jesus invites us to
come awayto Him (if we pass awaybefore He returns) or to come up to Him
(if we are here to experience the Rapture - 1Th 4:17-note)and be with Him
forever and everin the eternal rest of Paradise!(Glorification). "Therefore
comfort (present imperative-command to continually encourage)one another
with" Jesus'invitation to "Come!". (1Th 4:18-note)
I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say
(Young Boy's Rendition)
I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Come unto me and rest;
Lay down, thou wearyone, lay down
Thy head upon my breast.”
I came to Jesus as I was,
Weary and worn and sad;
I found in Him a RESTING PLACE,
And He has made me glad.
-Horatius Bonar
(Chorale version)
Dearreader, at whateverstage ofyour life you find yourself, will you not hear
the gracious invitation that falls from His perfectlips?

Will you not come dear struggling sinner, trying to make yourself acceptable
to the Holy God?
Will you not come dear struggling saint, trying daily to earn your Father's
approval, trying daily to defeatthat besetting sin that only the Spirit of Christ
can defeatas you learn to cooperate with Him (Ro 8:13-note)?
And dear saint, will you not live in the light of His final call to "Come !",
allowing this firm anchormotivate a deep desire for daily purification (1Jn
3:3-note) and growth in likeness to Christ, your Lord?
And here is the greatassurance thatthe One Who calls us to "Come" now will
Himself come very soon, a coming for which we pray "Come Lord Jesus"...
He who testifies to these things says,
"Yes, I am coming quickly." Amen.
Come, Lord Jesus.
The grace ofthe Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.
Revelation22:20, 21
The End!
Come - Not "do this" or "don't do that" but simply "Come". Note alsothat
Jesus does not saycome to the church, to a creed, to a clergyman, to a
"denomination" or to anything but to Jesus Himself, to a vital, dynamic,
radical relationship with the Living Lord. As OswaldChambers says
"Personalcontactwith Jesus alters everything." Do nothing else but come to
Him, for He alone is the way, the truth, the life (Jn 14:6). There is salvation
rest in no one else, for there is no other Name under heaventhat has been
given among men, by which we must be saved(the first time and then every
day thereafter!). (Acts 4:12) Jesus is the narrow gate, the narrow way that
leads to the rest of eternal life (Mt 7:13, 14). Inherent in Jesus'callto come is
that the hearer come now and not wait nor procrastinate - when you hear His
invitation, that is the day of salvation(cp 2Cor 6:2).

J C Ryle exhorts us "Belovedbrethren, see that you refuse not Him who
speaks to you this day. If a letter came to you from the ruler of this country
you would not despise it. If you were sick, and advice came from a wise
physician, you would not rejectit. If you were in danger, and counselcame
from your best and truest friend, you would not make light of it. Then hear
the words that Jesus sends to you this day. Listen to the King of kings. Then
body and soul shall be His. (Come Unto Me)
Spurgeonas usual says it well "‘Come’;He drives none away;He calls them
to Himself. His favorite word is ‘Come.’(Ed: "Come" was the call to His first
disciples - Mt 4:19YLT) Not, go to Moses – ‘Come unto me.’ To Jesus Himself
we must come, (How?)by a personaltrust. Not to doctrine, ordinance, nor
ministry are we to come first; but to the personalSaviour.
How do we come to Jesus? The most "generic answer"is by faith and trust in
Jesus.
OswaldChambers adds that "The attitude of coming is that the will resolutely
lets go of everything and deliberately commits all to Him."
Adam Clarke says "Come to Me" "in the New Covenantimplies simply,
believing in Christ and becoming His disciple or follower." Are you a follower
of Christ? Have you come to Jesus?
William MacDonaldelaboratesonwhat it means to "Come" writing that "To
come means to believe (Acts 16:31);to receive (John 1:12); to eat (John 6:35);
to drink (John 7:37); to look (Isa. 45:22);to confess (1 Jn. 4:2); to hear (John
5:24, 25);to enter a door (John 10:9); to open a door (Rev. 3:20); to touch the
hem of His garment (Matt. 9:20, 21); and to acceptthe gift of eternal life
through Christ our Lord (Ro 6:23).
James Smith addresses believers writing that...
All true Christians know Christ—not with a mere theoreticalknowledge,
which may be obtained from books;but with a knowledge whichthe Holy
Spirit works in the heart. We know Christ . . . in the glory of His person, in
the perfectionof His work, and in the riches of His wondrous grace. We so
know Christ, that He stands out before us, as the chief among ten thousand,

Jesus was the giver of rest

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Jesus was the giver of rest