"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." - Matthew 11:28
Have you heard of the beatitudes? They are the 8 blessings that Jesus teaches during the Sermon on the Mount. This verse, Matthew 11:28, is an echo of the first beatitude that Jesus teaches us, (Matthew 5:3).
This verse is an open invitation to all to hear, yet phrased in an extremely specific way. Even though this invitation is open to all, we see that the only ones who will respond are those who are burdened by their “own spiritual bankruptcy and the weight of trying to save themselves from the law” (John MacArthur). We see here that our stubbornness and our sinful rebellion from God (through sin) would lead to us forever refusing to acknowledge Jesus’ divinity and our own depth of spiritual poverty. It’s through God’s grace that we’ve been given a sovereign awakening and saved through Jesus’ sacrifice.
Look at the verse immediately preceding Matthew 11:28 (v. 27). We see Jesus telling us directly that it’s through the sovereign work of God that our salvation exists. He’s telling us exactly how it was given to us. I don’t want you to think that Jesus is contradicting himself here, because He’s absolutely not.
This divine election of God’s sovereign work calling us to salvation does not make Jesus’ free offer to all in the next two verses contradictory.
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” – Matthew 11:29-30
“…you will find rest…” In other words, we will find rest from the endless, and fruitless efforts to try to save ourselves by works of the law. Jesus is telling us here that through Him is permanent respite in the grace of God that is separate from our works (Matthew 11:30).
So, we are able to understand through the Bible and Jesus’ words that by no act of our own, can we earn our salvation. There is nothing we can do to earn God’s grace. And to think that there is, lessens the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, and lessons the gift of grace from God. Instead, we should find comfort and rest as believers in the gift of God’s grace. We can find comfort and rest in Christ’s sacrifice for us on the cross.
Spend today reflecting on what an absolutely incredible gift God’s grace is to us, especially in the light that with Jesus’ sacrifice, we would never know the kind of rest for our souls that His gift brings.
