Jesus, the Giving Lord

We all need rest. Matt. 11:28-30 is an invitation to come to Jesus and experience rest. We see Jesus as the Giving Lord. He wants His children to come to Him and learn from Him so that they would live with Him forever. In these verses we see 5 interrelated truths.

1st truth, There is A Precise Call...Come to Me. What does Jesus mean when He says come to Me? There is a tie-in with John 6:35-40 that helps explain it: come and believe point to the same thing, as do hunger and thirst. To come to Jesus means to believe in Him. The call is to come to Jesus. Salvation is not through a church, a ritual, a creed, a pastor, a priest, or any human means, but only through Jesus Christ. This is an invitation to believe in Jesus.

2nd truth, There is A Pre-existing Condition...weary & heavy laden. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden. Weary means to work until you're totally exhausted spiritually, trying to please God and earn eternal life by your own effort. Heavy-laden points to some time in the past when a big burden was put on you. Weary is the internal exhaustion that comes from trying to work your way to God through human wisdom and understanding; heavy-laden is to be weighed down with the external burden of trying to gain righteousness by works. Echoes of the first beatitude 5:3 poor in spirit. Weary from your own sin, and weighed down with other's expectations. The invitation to come to Jesus is given to all who hear in such a way that the only ones who will respond to the invitation are those who are burdened by their own spiritual bankruptcy and the weight of trying to save themselves. Peter said in Acts 10:43, “To Him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.”

3rd truth, There is A Promised Certainty...I will give you rest.
Jesus promises to give something to those who come to Him. He says “I will give you rest.” We need to know what that rest is. The word Rest means to calm, comfort & refresh. Reflects the O.T. concept of rest as release from the pressures & tensions of life & the peace that follows. Relief. The rest He gives is eternal life. Heb. 4:9-10, refers to a Sabbath rest for the people of God, who cease from working for eternal life and rest in Christ's finished work on the cross. Peace with God flows from it (Rom. 5:1). Jesus promises to give believers eternal life, true rest.

4th truth, There is A Prescribed Commitment...take My yoke and learn. A yoke is a handmade wooden frame used to join 2 animals together so that they work together. It is used in 11:29 as metaphor to describe a person being subject to another. Yoke stood for submission to an occupation or obligation. For Jews a yoke was a common way to refer to the law. Acts 15:10 speaks of a yoke of legalism. Gal. 5:1 says don't be subject again to a toke of slavery, living under the humanly impossible rules and regulations of the law. Jesus' yoke is commitment to Him. Receiving and accepting His authoritative interpretation of God's truth. To learn from Jesus is to receive His revelation of what the law truly intended, Matt. 5:17-48. Being yoked to Christ means to rely on Him, give Him your burdens, accept the necessity of walking closely with Him. Learn of me. The rabbis used yoke for school. Taking Jesus’ yoke means you are signing up for His school. Learn means grow in Christ. 1st you come to Jesus/believe by faith, then you learn of Him/grow in Christ, grow as a Christian. You will know the truth that brings freedom in Christ now, and eternal freedom forever. We find Christ's rest as we grow in Christ, which happens, as 1 Pet. 2:2 says, as we long for the pure milk of the word, that by it we may grow with respect to salvation. Jesus is not offering the yoke of religus obligation, & neither is He offering freedom from all constraints. Jesus' yoke is a yoke of discipleship to Him. Jesus is gentle and humble in heart and gives rest to all who submit themselves to Him.

5th truth, There is A Perfect Confidence...you will find rest for your souls. You will find rest from the endless, fruitless effort to save yourself by works; permanent rest in the grace of God apart from works. Christ’s yoke is not easy in the way we use the word. It does not mean without effort, simple or something that requires no investment. It means good. Christ’s rest is given and found. It is given in forgiveness; it is found under His yoke and burden; as we learn of Him, aka grow in Christ. Jesus is referring to Jer. 6:16–20 which connects the blessing to a right covenant relationship with God. It says, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it [comparable to Jesus’ “light burden”], and you will find rest for your souls [Jesus’ covenant promise]. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it’ … Hear, O earth, I am bringing disaster on this people”. In Jer. 6, Jerusalem was experiencing disaster as a result of disobedience. History was about to repeat itself. They needed to turn to God. So do we.

If you are not yet a believer you need to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved (Acts 16:31). Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross, shedding His blood for sin, paid the debt of sin for all who will believe. Come to Jesus and find rest for your soul. Believe to the point of submitting yourself to His Lordship. Believe it and live.

If you are a believer maybe you have gotten stagnated, your growth has been stunted, from lack of hearing the Word or maybe you have become spiritually fat and lazy. You hear the Word often but are not a doer of the Word. You deceive yourself.

This is a sacred moment, right now, as you read these words. You can have true rest in Christ. If you already have it it is good to be reminded. If you don't have it, you need it. You need to settle where you stand with Jesus. I suggest you read Rom. 10:9-11 and do what it says.

Soli Deo Gloria