Don't stop with that one verse. Continue on.
Let us do so, no problem.
Mat 11:28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
That labor and burden is not the physical, but the mental and spiritual. He says to them to "learn from Him".
Jim, I agree, the burden under consideration is
spiritual~and
to them, and them only he desires for them to learn of him.
To whom has Jesus revealed God? Who will learn from Him?
Jim, great question, and the word of God has the answer for us. We need not to travel very far to receive our answer.
Matthew 11:27
“All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and
he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.”
Context is king and as I have said many times over, it will drive our interpretation for us. Added to this:
John 17:6
“I have manifested thy name unto the men which
thou gavest me out of the world:
thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.”
Jesus revealed God and his truths to the men God gave to him, based upon the election of grace by God before the foundation of the earth~meaning, before they had done any good, or evil. Romans 9:11, etc.
So to whom does Jesus reach out? He reaches out to the disobedient and contrary, the sinner. It is to the sinner that Jesus, through the word, the Bible, reveals God.
What is the rest for our souls? I believe it is know God and Jesus. and in doing so, then to be born again
Jim, you are ignoring so many scriptures by taking Matthew 11:28-30 and applying them so the unregenerate. Consider:
If ever a passage of Scripture were mutilated and its meaning perverted, it is this one. Only a fragment of it usually is quoted, with the part most unpalatable to the flesh omitted. You know this is so.
Christ alluded here to the sovereignty of God in three details. First, by owning His Father as “Lord of heaven and earth,” that is, as sole Proprietor thereof. It is well to remember, especially when it appears Satan is master of this lower sphere, that God not only “doeth according to His will in the army of heaven,” but also “among the inhabitants of the earth,” so that “none can stay his hand” (
Daniel 4:35). Second, by affirming, “Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent.” The things pertaining to salvation are concealed from the self-sufficient and self-complacent, leaving them in nature’s darkness. Third, by declaring, “and hast revealed them unto babes.” By the effectual operation of the Holy Spirit a divine discovery is made by those who are helpless in their own esteem. “Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight,” expressed the Savior’s perfect acquiescence.
“All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him” (
Matthew 11:27). We cannot divorce vss 25-27 from 28-30!
Matthew 11:-28-30~
supplies the immediate connecting-link between the sovereignty of divine grace mentioned (vv. 25-26) and the communication of that grace through Christ (vv. 28-30). The settlements of divine grace were made and secured in the everlasting covenant; communication of it is by and through Christ as the Mediator of that covenant. First, here is the grand commission the Mediator received from the Father: all things necessary to the administration of the covenant were delivered unto Christ (cf.
Matthew 28:18;
John 5:22,
17:2). Second, here is the inconceivable dignity of the Son: lest a false inference be drawn from the preceding clause, the essential and absolute deity of Christ is affirmed. Inferior in office, Christ’s nature and dignity is the same as the Father’s. As Mediator, Christ receives all from the Father, but as God the Son He is, in every way, equal to the Father in His incomprehensible Person. Third, here the work of the Mediator is summed up in one grand item: that of revealing the Father to those given to Him.
“Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (
Matthew 11:28).
He now kindly invites to Himself those whom
He caused to be his disciples.
Who are the persons here invited? They are those who “labor” and are “heavy laden.” This
must here be limited to spiritual concerns, otherwise it will take in all mankind, even the most hardened and obstinate opposers of Christ and the Gospel~this would totally go
against the words mention earlier in
Matthew 11:20-24!
The persons invited are not “all” the inhabitants of mankind, but with
a restriction: “all ye that labor and are heavy laden,” meaning
not those who labor in the service of sin and Satan, are laden with iniquity and
insensible of it:
those are not weary of sin nor burdened with it, nor do they want or desire any rest for their souls; but such who groan, being burdened with the guilt of indwelling sin, and are pressed down with pleasing God, and have been laboring till they are weary, in order to obtain peace of conscience and rest for their souls. These are encouraged to come to Him, lay down their burdens at His feet and look to Him, and lay hold by faith on His person, blood and righteousness for them.
In more recent times most preachers have dealt with the text (
Matthew 11:28) as though the Lord Jesus was issuing an indefinite invitation, regarding His terms as sufficiently general and wide in their scope to include
sinners of every type. They supposed that the words, “ye that labor and are heavy laden,” refer to the misery and bondage which the fall brought upon the human race, as its unhappy subjects vainly seek satisfaction in the things of time and sense, and endeavor to find happiness in the pleasures of sin~yet, we know that they are insensible of their condition, so this cannot be the true meaning of this holy call to saints.
It is true the unregenerate “labor in the very fire” and they “weary themselves for very vanity” (
Habakkuk 2:13); it is true they “labor in vain” (
Jeremiah 51:58), and “what profit hath he that hath labored for the wind?” (
Ecclesiastes 5:16). It is true they “spend money for that which is not bread,” and “labor for that which satisfieth not” (
Isaiah 55:2), for
“the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing” (
Ecclesiastes 1:8).
It is equally true that the unregenerate are heavy laden, “a people laden with iniquity” (
Isaiah 1:4), yet they are totally insensible to their awful state.
“The labor of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city” (
Ecclesiastes 10:15).
Moreover,
“The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked” (
Isaiah 57:20-21).
They have neither peace of conscience nor rest of heart.
But it is quite another matter to affirm these are the characters Christ invited to come unto Him for rest. One must be first quickened to life before one truly is able/desires to respond to this call. .
