“Weary Christmas” Matt. 11:28
Ex. 3:7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;
Psa. 63:1 O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Psalms 23 "The Lord is my shepherd … He restores my soul.”
Is. 40:28-31 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Matt. 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
We Can’t Understand Christmas without understanding that Christmas was a rescue mission
Five Facts (Revelations) that Precede our understanding of God’s Rescue Plan.
1. We Cannot Find God Unless He Shows Himself to Us
John 6:44 For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up.
Matt 11:25 “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
2. Jesus is and has the full authority of God.
Matt 11:27 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, And no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
Heb. 1:3b The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
3. Only the Father fully understands Jesus.
Matt 11:27b … No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
4. Only Jesus fully understands the Father.
Matt 11:27b … No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
5. Jesus alone Reveals the Father to Us
Matt. 1:23 “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” — which means, “God with us.”
Phil 2:6a Who, being in very nature God … 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
Matt. 11:28-30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today.
God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted: “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.” -Heb. 4:6-7
Heb. 4:8-11 Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them this rest, God would not have spoken about another day of rest still to come. So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.
